How to use the LEADTOOLS Network Virtual Printer

Take the following steps to create and run a program that installs a LEADTOOLS Network Client Printer.

Start Visual Studio .NET.
Choose File-> New-> Project... from the menu.
In the New Project dialog box, choose either "Visual C# Projects" or "Visual Basic Projects" in the Projects Type List, and choose "Class Library" in the Templates List.
Type the project name as "Printer Driver Client Demo" in the Project Name field, and then choose OK. If desired, type a new location for your project or select a directory using the Browse button, and then choose OK.
In the "Solution Explorer" window, right-click on the "References" folder, and select "Add Reference..." from the context menu. In the "Add Reference" dialog box, select the ".NET" tab and browse to Leadtools For .NET "<LEADTOOLS_INSTALLDIR>\Bin\DotNet\Win32 " folder and select the following DLLs:
- Leadtools.Printer.Client.dll
Add a reference to System.Windows.Forms from the .NET tab of the Add References dialog.
Rename Class1.cs to MyVirtualPrinterClient.cs., and rename Class 1 to MyVirtualPrinterClient.

Add the following code to the beginning of the file: [Visual Basic]


              Imports System.Windows.Forms
              Imports Leadtools.Printer.Client.Interfaces

[C#]


              using System.Windows.Forms
              using Leadtools.Printer.Client.Installer;

Implement the IVirtualPrinterClient interface using the following code: [Visual Basic]


              Public Class MyVirtualPrinterClient
              Implements IVirtualPrinterClient

[C#]


             public class MyVirtualPrinterClient : IVirtualPrinterClient

The created class needs to implement the three IVirtualPrinterClient methods. Open MyVirtualPrinterClient.cs and implement the following methods:

bool IVirtualPrinterClient.Startup(string virtualPrinterName, byte[] initialData) - This function will get called by the Virtual Printer Driver at startup

virtualPrinterName: printer name
initialData: will hold the initialization data sent from server.

Implement the Startup with the following code: [Visual Basic]


                Private Function Startup(ByVal virtualPrinterName As String, ByVal initialData As Byte()) As Boolean Implements IVirtualPrinterClient.Startup
                   MessageBox.Show("Job received from " & virtualPrinterName & "printer")
                   Return True
                End Function

[C#]


                bool IVirtualPrinterClient.Startup(string virtualPrinterName, byte[] initialData)
                {
                   MessageBox.Show("Job received from " + virtualPrinterName + "printer");
                   return true;
                }

bool IVirtualPrinterClient.PrintJob(PrintJobData printJobData) - This function will be called as the print job is received by the driver
printJobData: contains printer data for this job

Implement the PrintJob method using the following code: [Visual Basic]


               Private Function PrintJob(ByVal printJobData As PrintJobData) As Boolean Implements IVirtualPrinterClient.PrintJob
                  MessageBox.Show("Job data Ip Address = " & printJobData. IpAddress & " Job ID = " & printJobData.JobID)
                  'the UserData will be sent to the server machine
                  'this data can be any user specified data format
                   printJobData.UserData = New Byte() { CByte("H"c), CByte("E"c), CByte("L"c), CByte("L"c), CByte("O"c) }
                  Return True
               End Function

[C#]


               bool IVirtualPrinterClient.PrintJob(PrintJobData printJobData) 
               {
                  MessageBox.Show("Job data Ip Address = " + printJobData. IpAddress + " Job ID = " + printJobData.JobID);
                  //the UserData will be sent to the server machine
                  //this data can be any user specified data format
                  printJobData.UserData = new byte[] { (byte)'H', (byte)'E', (byte)'L', (byte)'L', (byte)'O' };
                  return true;
               }

void IVirtualPrinterClient.Shutdown(string virtualPrinterName) - This function will be called as a shutdown event
virtualPrinterName: Printer name

Implement the Shutdown method using the following code: [Visual Basic]


               Private Sub Shutdown(ByVal virtualPrinterName As String) Implements IVirtualPrinterClient.Shutdown
                  MessageBox.Show("Shutdown received for " & virtualPrinterName & " printer")
               End Sub

[C#]


               void IVirtualPrinterClient.Shutdown(string virtualPrinterName)
               {
                  MessageBox.Show("Shutdown received for " + virtualPrinterName + " printer");
               }

Now the demo is ready, this Demo DLL should be installed and connected appropriately in the client machine, see tutorial for installing network printer client demo on client machine. Client.

How to use the LEADTOOLS Network Virtual Printer - Client Application