How to use the LEADTOOLS Network Virtual Printer - Server Application

Take the following steps to create and run a program that print using LEADTOOLS Network printer on the server machine.

1. Make sure you have IIS installed on the machine correctly. And make sure the LEADTOOLS virtual printer web service is configured correctly.

2. Start Visual Studio .NET.

3. Choose File-> New-> Project... from the menu.

4. In the New Project dialog box, choose either "Visual C# Projects" or "VB Projects" in the Projects Type List, and choose "Windows Application " in the Templates List.

5. Type the project name as "PRINTER DRIVER SERVER" 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.

6. 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 the Leadtools For .NET "<LEADTOOLS_INSTALLDIR>\Bin\Dotnet\Win32 " folder and select the following DLLs:

   • Leadtools.dll
   • Leadtools.Forms.DocumentWriters.dll
   • Leadtools.Codecs.dll
   • Leadtools.WinForms.CommonDialogs.File.dll
   • Leadtools.Printer.dll

7. Switch to Form1 code view (right-click Form1 in the solution explorer then select View Code ) and add the following lines at the beginning of the file:

   C#

   VB
   Imports System 
   Imports System.Text 
   Imports System.Diagnostics 
   Imports System.Drawing.Imaging 
   Imports System.Windows.Forms 
   Imports Leadtools 
   Imports Leadtools.Printer 
   Imports Leadtools.Codecs 
   Imports Leadtools.Forms.DocumentWriters 
                    
        

   using System; 
   using System.Text; 
   using System.Diagnostics; 
   using System.Drawing.Imaging; 
   using System.Windows.Forms; 
   using Leadtools; 
   using Leadtools.Printer; 
   using Leadtools.Codecs; 
   using Leadtools.Forms.DocumentWriters; 
                    
        

8. Declare the following private variable:

   C#

   VB
   Private WithEvents _printer as Printer 
                    
        

   Printer _printer; 
                    
        

9. Add an event handler to the Form1 Load event and code it as follows:

   C#

   VB
   Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) 
          Try 
                 Dim printerName As String = "LEADTOOLS Printer" 
                 If (Not Printer.IsLeadtoolsPrinter(printerName)) Then 
                    Dim printerPassword As String = "1234" 
                    Dim documentPrinterRegPath As String = "SOFTWARE\LEAD Technologies, Inc.\Printer\" 
                    Dim printerInfo As PrinterInfo = New PrinterInfo() 
                    printerInfo.ProductName = printerName 
                    printerInfo.PrinterName = printerName 
                    printerInfo.Password = printerPassword 
                    printerInfo.RegistryKey = documentPrinterRegPath & printerName 
                    printerInfo.RootDir = "C:\LEADTOOLS 19\Bin\Common\PrinterDriver\" 
                    printerInfo.Url = "https://www.leadtools.com" 
                    printerInfo.PrinterExe = Application.ExecutablePath 
                    Printer.Install(printerInfo) 
                 End If 
                 _printer = New Printer(printerName) 
                 _printer.EnableNetworkPrinting = True 
                 AddHandler _printer.EmfEvent, AddressOf Of EmfEventArgs 
                 AddHandler _printer.JobEvent, AddressOf Of JobEventArgs 
          Catch ex As Exception 
                 MessageBox.Show(Me, ex.Message) 
          End Try 
   End Sub 
                    
        

   private void Form1_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e) 
   { 
      try 
      { 
         string printerName = "LEADTOOLS Printer"; 
         if (!Printer.IsLeadtoolsPrinter(printerName)) 
         { 
            string printerPassword = "1234"; 
            string documentPrinterRegPath = @"SOFTWARE\LEAD Technologies, Inc.\Printer\"; 
            PrinterInfo printerInfo = new PrinterInfo(); 
            printerInfo.ProductName = printerName; 
            printerInfo.PrinterName = printerName; 
            printerInfo.Password = printerPassword; 
            printerInfo.RegistryKey = documentPrinterRegPath + printerName; 
            printerInfo.RootDir = @"C:\LEADTOOLS 19\Bin\Common\PrinterDriver\"; 
            printerInfo.Url = "https://www.leadtools.com"; 
            printerInfo.PrinterExe = Application.ExecutablePath; 
            Printer.Install(printerInfo); 
         } 
         _printer = new Printer(printerName); 
         _printer.EnableNetworkPrinting = true; 
         _printer.EmfEvent += new EventHandler<EmfEventArgs>(_printer_EmfEvent); 
         _printer.JobEvent += new EventHandler<JobEventArgs>(_printer_JobEvent); 
      } 
      catch (Exception ex) 
      { 
         MessageBox.Show(this, ex.Message); 
      } 
   } 
                     
                    
        

10. Add an event handler to the Emf event and code it as follows:

    C#

    VB
    Private Sub printerTest_EmfEvent(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EmfEventArgs) Handles printerTest.EmfEvent 
       System.IO.File.WriteAllBytes("c:\LEADTOOLS_IMAGE1.emf", e.Stream.ToArray()) 
       Dim metaFile As New Metafile(e.Stream) 
    End Sub 
                     
         

    void _printer_EmfEvent(object sender, EmfEventArgs e) 
    { 
      System.IO.File.WriteAllBytes(@"c:\LEADTOOLS_IMAGE1.emf", e.Stream.ToArray()); 
      Metafile metaFile = new Metafile(e.Stream); 
    } 
                      
                     
         

11. Add an event handler to the job info event and code it as follows:

    C#

    VB
    Private Sub _printer_JobEvent(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As JobEventArgs) 
       Dim printerName As String = e.PrinterName 
       Dim jobID As Integer = e.JobID 
       If e.JobEventState = EventState.JobStart Then 
          Try 
             'Data is a string. The user specifies the data to be sent from the client machine 
             'check user demo for more info 
             Dim enc As Encoding = Encoding.ASCII 
             Dim strData As String = enc.GetString(_printer.RemoteData.UserData) 
             MessageBox.Show(String.Format("Job {0} was started with remote data " & strData, jobID)) 
          Catch ex As Exception 
             MessageBox.Show(ex.Message) 
             Throw 
          End Try 
       Else If e.JobEventState = EventState.JobEnd Then 
          MessageBox.Show(String.Format("Job {0} was Ended", jobID)) 
          Process.Start("mspaint", "c:\LEADTOOLS_IMAGE1.emf") 
       End If 
    End Sub 
                     
         

    void _printer_JobEvent(object sender, JobEventArgs e) 
    { 
       string printerName = e.PrinterName; 
       int jobID = e.JobID; 
       if (e.JobEventState == EventState.JobStart) 
       { 
          try 
          { 
             // Data is a string. The user specifies the data to be sent from the client machine 
             // check user demo for more info 
             Encoding enc = Encoding.ASCII; 
             String strData = enc.GetString(_printer.RemoteData.UserData); 
             MessageBox.Show(string.Format("Job {0} was started with remote data " + strData, jobID)); 
          } 
          catch (Exception ex) 
          { 
             MessageBox.Show(ex.Message); 
             throw; 
          } 
       } 
       else if (e.JobEventState == EventState.JobEnd) 
       { 
          MessageBox.Show(string.Format("Job 0 was Ended", jobID)); 
          Process.Start("mspaint", @"c:\LEADTOOLS_IMAGE1.emf"); 
       } 
    } 
                     
         

    Note: when the job event is received, the _printer.RemoteDate will return the data sent from the remote machine, this data will be available until demo receives EventState.JobEnd _printer.RemoteDate will contain row data, this raw data will be specified by the user.

12. Build, and Run the program to test it.

13. Make sure to share the new printer after installing it.
14. Now the server demo is ready to receive print jobs from the client machine How To Use The Virtual Printer Driver Network Client.