How To Open the Printer Properties Dialog

If you need to create your own printer dialog, you can use the PrinterProperties API function to bring up a printer's properties dialog. Your users can then make most of the same changes they could if they brought up this dialog by hand. The only difference will be that some tabs may be missing.

Step-by-Step Example

1. Start a new project in Visual Basic. Form1 is created by default.
2. Add a CommandButton and a ListBox to the Form.
3. Paste the following code into the Form's module:
   

         Option Explicit
   
         Private Declare Function PrinterProperties Lib "winspool.drv" _
           (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal hPrinter As Long) As Long
   
         Private Declare Function OpenPrinter Lib "winspool.drv" _
           Alias "OpenPrinterA" (ByVal pPrinterName As String, _
           phPrinter As Long, pDefault As PRINTER_DEFAULTS) As Long
   
         Private Declare Function ClosePrinter Lib "winspool.drv" _
           (ByVal hPrinter As Long) As Long
   
         Private Type PRINTER_DEFAULTS
              pDatatype As Long ' String
              pDevMode As Long
              pDesiredAccess As Long
         End Type
   
         Private Const STANDARD_RIGHTS_REQUIRED = &HF0000
         Private Const PRINTER_ACCESS_ADMINISTER = &H4
         Private Const PRINTER_ACCESS_USE = &H8
         Private Const PRINTER_ALL_ACCESS = (STANDARD_RIGHTS_REQUIRED Or _
            PRINTER_ACCESS_ADMINISTER Or PRINTER_ACCESS_USE)
   
         Private Sub Form_Load()
            Dim I As Integer
   
            ' List all available printers
            For I = 0 To Printers.Count - 1
               List1.AddItem Printers(I).DeviceName
               If Printers(I).DeviceName = Printer.DeviceName Then
                  List1.Selected(I) = True  ' Select current default printer
               End If
            Next I
         End Sub
   
         Private Sub List1_Click()
            Dim Prt As Printer
   
            ' Find and use the printer just selected in the ListBox
            For Each Prt In Printers
               If Prt.DeviceName = List1.Text Then
                     Set Printer = Prt
                  Exit For
               End If
            Next
         End Sub
   
         Private Sub Command1_Click()
            Dim RetVal As Long, hPrinter As Long
            Dim PD As PRINTER_DEFAULTS
   
            PD.pDatatype = 0
            ' Note that you cannot request more rights than you have as a user
            PD.pDesiredAccess = STANDARD_RIGHTS_REQUIRED Or PRINTER_ACCESS_USE
            PD.pDevMode = 0
            RetVal = OpenPrinter(Printer.DeviceName, hPrinter, PD)
            If RetVal = 0 Then
                MsgBox "OpenPrinter Failed!"
            Else
                RetVal = PrinterProperties(Me.hwnd, hPrinter)
                RetVal = ClosePrinter(hPrinter)
            End If
         End Sub
   						

4. Run the project and click on Command1. The Properties dialog will open for the currently selected printer. Note that some tabs may be missing from what you see when bringing up these properties by hand.

(c) Microsoft Corporation 1999, All Rights Reserved. Contributions by Chris E. Jolley, Microsoft Corporation.