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I originally created this post a while ago : How to set Paper Size being passed from Printer Selection , and I never got it to work.

Here is my code:

PREPARE-PRINTER-WITH-STANDARD-PRINTER-DIALOG.
CALL "P$SETDIALOG" USING PrintDialog.
CALL "P$DisplayDialog".

IF DIALOG-RETURN = 0
    move SET-DEFAULT-PRINTER to default-option
    move dpb-len of MyDefaultPrinterBrowser to dp-len
    move dpb-body of MyDefaultPrinterBrowser(1:dp-len) o dp-body
    call "PC_PRINTER_SET_DEFAULT" using by value default-option
                                                                 by reference MyDefaultPrinter
     PERFORM OPEN-PRINTER-PARA
END-IF.

What I would like to do is grab what was changed in the Windows Printer selection box, and have it print correctly from my printer.  I found that there was a patch back in 2022 that fixed the issues I was having with this: https://portal.microfocus.com/s/article/KM000011471?language=en_US

But it does not tell me how to implement it.  I know I need to send an "PC_PRINTER_DEFAULT_PROPERTIES" command to the printer before setting the "PC_PRINTER_SET_DEFAULT", but I am not sure how to grab the information I need.   In RM COBOL we didn't need to do this - it just automatically did it. 

 

Because of all of this - We had to create our own printer dialog box - and it is not working correctly either - In that program - Whenever I select to change the number of copies - it overrides the Paper Orientation that was set in the program and uses what the default is on the printer. 

I originally created this post a while ago : How to set Paper Size being passed from Printer Selection , and I never got it to work.

Here is my code:

PREPARE-PRINTER-WITH-STANDARD-PRINTER-DIALOG.
CALL "P$SETDIALOG" USING PrintDialog.
CALL "P$DisplayDialog".

IF DIALOG-RETURN = 0
    move SET-DEFAULT-PRINTER to default-option
    move dpb-len of MyDefaultPrinterBrowser to dp-len
    move dpb-body of MyDefaultPrinterBrowser(1:dp-len) o dp-body
    call "PC_PRINTER_SET_DEFAULT" using by value default-option
                                                                 by reference MyDefaultPrinter
     PERFORM OPEN-PRINTER-PARA
END-IF.

What I would like to do is grab what was changed in the Windows Printer selection box, and have it print correctly from my printer.  I found that there was a patch back in 2022 that fixed the issues I was having with this: https://portal.microfocus.com/s/article/KM000011471?language=en_US

But it does not tell me how to implement it.  I know I need to send an "PC_PRINTER_DEFAULT_PROPERTIES" command to the printer before setting the "PC_PRINTER_SET_DEFAULT", but I am not sure how to grab the information I need.   In RM COBOL we didn't need to do this - it just automatically did it. 

 

Because of all of this - We had to create our own printer dialog box - and it is not working correctly either - In that program - Whenever I select to change the number of copies - it overrides the Paper Orientation that was set in the program and uses what the default is on the printer. 

I would also like to add that "P$DISPLAYDIALOG" in my program is a program.  This is what it does.

ENTRY "P$DisplayDialog".
       move BROWSE-DEFAULT-PRINTER to default-option
       move 127 to dp-len
       call "PC_PRINTER_SET_DEFAULT" using by value default-option
                                                                   by reference MyDefaultPrinterBrowser
                                                                   returning Printer-RetCode

       IF PRINTER-RETCODE = 0
                MOVE 0 TO DIALOG-RETURN
       ELSE
                MOVE 1 TO DIALOG-RETURN
       END-IF.
goback.

BROWSE-DEFAULT-PRINTER is set to h"0002" - which calls an old looking version of the printer selection box.  Is there another command I can send to bring up the newer one? 

I know there was an "P$DISPLAYDIALOG" program in RM COBOL - but I can't find any documentation on what that did. 

I would also like to add that "P$DISPLAYDIALOG" in my program is a program.  This is what it does.

ENTRY "P$DisplayDialog".
       move BROWSE-DEFAULT-PRINTER to default-option
       move 127 to dp-len
       call "PC_PRINTER_SET_DEFAULT" using by value default-option
                                                                   by reference MyDefaultPrinterBrowser
                                                                   returning Printer-RetCode

       IF PRINTER-RETCODE = 0
                MOVE 0 TO DIALOG-RETURN
       ELSE
                MOVE 1 TO DIALOG-RETURN
       END-IF.
goback.

BROWSE-DEFAULT-PRINTER is set to h"0002" - which calls an old looking version of the printer selection box.  Is there another command I can send to bring up the newer one? 

I know there was an "P$DISPLAYDIALOG" program in RM COBOL - but I can't find any documentation on what that did. 

Hi Amy,

The PC_PRINTER_SET_DEFAULT call was fixed in V5.0 PU26 and higher versions so that when you make the first call to browse for the printer any changes made to the properties in the Printer dialog box will be set for the printer when you do the second call to set the defaults.

We also changed the Printer dialog box that is used in managed code, so it is the standard one used in native code as well.

I am not sure if the dialog box change made it into the PU26 or if it is only available in later product release.

I just tested the following program here and it all worked fine under 9.0

       identification division.
       program-id. Program1.

       environment division.
       configuration section.
           select print-file assign to PRINTER
                             file status is file-status.
       data division.
       file section.
       fd print-file.
       01 print-rec  pic x(20).
       working-storage section.
       01 file-status pic x(2) value spaces.
       01 printer-default.
          03 pd-printer-name-grp.
             05 pd-printer-name-len    pic x(2) comp-5.
             05 pd-printer-name        pic x(128).
          03 pd-printer-browse REDEFINES pd-printer-name-grp.
             05 pd-printer-browse-hwnd pic x(4) comp-5.
             05 pd-printer-browse-namelen pic x(2) comp-5.
             05 pd-reserved            pic x(2) comp-5.
             05 pd-printer-browse-name pic x(128).

       01 Printer-RetCode         pic 9(4) comp-5.
       01 default-option          pic x(4) comp-5.
          
       78 SET-DEFAULT-PRINTER     value h"0001".
       78 BROWSE-DEFAULT-PRINTER  value h"0002".
       01 name-len                 pic x(2) comp-5 value zeroes.
       procedure division.
              
           perform 2 times
              move BROWSE-DEFAULT-PRINTER to default-option
              initialize printer-default
              move zeroes to pd-printer-browse-hwnd
              call "PC_PRINTER_SET_DEFAULT" using
                 by value default-option
                 by reference printer-default
                 returning Printer-RetCode
              end-call

              if Printer-RetCode not equal zero
                 display "Unable to browse for a default printer"
                 display " + Retcode = " Printer-RetCode
                 stop run
              end-if
              
              display "Browse Printer : "
                 pd-printer-name(1:pd-printer-name-len)

              move SET-DEFAULT-PRINTER to default-option
              
              call "PC_PRINTER_SET_DEFAULT" using
                     by value default-option
                     by reference pd-printer-name-grp
                     returning Printer-RetCode
              end-call

              if Printer-RetCode not equal zero
                 display "Unable to set a default printer"
                 display " + Retcode = " Printer-RetCode
                 stop run
              end-if
              open output print-file
              display file-status
              move all "A" to print-rec
              write print-rec
              display file-status
              close print-file
           end-perform
           goback.
.

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