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PORetrieve port name for excel.ActivePrinter
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copied!<p>Hi for the print method to work on excel i need the printername and the port name like this: "printer On NE3" just as an example. The problem is, is that I use a virtual printer and the port is different, pretty much every time i need to use it.</p> <p>The program needs to run in the background, so open dialog boxes to choose is not an option. I have also tried to retrieve the port name from WMI with this:</p> <pre><code> protected string FindPrinterWithPort(string printerName) { StringBuilder query = new StringBuilder(); query.Append("SELECT * FROM Win32_Printer "); query.Append("WHERE DeviceID = \""+printerName+"\""); ObjectQuery objectQuery = new ObjectQuery(query.ToString()); var searcher = new ManagementObjectSearcher(objectQuery); foreach (ManagementObject mo in searcher.Get()) { return printerName +" On "+ mo["PortName"]; } return string.Empty; } </code></pre> <p>The portname i receive doing this gives me the full path to the virtual printer program. I previously used the methods below to change printer for excel, and i alway knew they should be changed eventually, the code is neither fast nor good, but it worked for a while, until I made it multi-threaded and its just a big blockade. Because i need to lock these methods not to change the default printer in windows.</p> <pre><code> private bool SetPrinterForExcel(string printerName){ string[] ports = new string[]{"Ne00:", "Ne01:", "Ne02:", "Ne03:", "Ne04:", "Ne05:", "Ne06:", "Ne07:", "Ne08:", "Ne09:", "Ne10:", "Ne11:", "Ne12:", "Ne13:", "Ne14:", "Ne15:", "Ne16:", "LPT1:", "LPT2:", "File:", "SMC100:"}; foreach (string port in ports) { string printerWithPort = printerName + " On " + port; bool success = SetAndTestPrinter(printerWithPort); if(success) return true; } return false; } private bool SetAndTestPrinter(string printerWithPort) { try { excel.ActivePrinter = printerWithPort; return true; } catch { return false; } } </code></pre> <p>Any Idea how to retrieve the port, or is there a way from WMI query i can get the correct port.</p> <p>Thanks in advance</p> <p>Edit:</p> <p>I have not gotten it work getting, what i have done to print now is change the default printer on windows and then just do the print method on my excel object. I Changed it by using:</p> <pre><code> [DllImport("winspool.drv", CharSet = CharSet.Auto, SetLastError = true)] public static extern bool SetDefaultPrinter(string Name); </code></pre> <p>And i lock it method and print. I have thought about trying to do a lock and save the ActivePrinter, even tho i believe performance will properly just as bad. Because the lock will stay until the default printer is changed, which takes sometimes up to 1 second, in a multi-threaded envirorment thats is a very long lock.</p> <pre><code> string printernamewithPort = string.Empty; lock (ActivePrinterLock) { SetDefaultPrinter(printername); printernamewithPort = excel.ActivePrinter; } foreach (Worksheet worksheet in workbook.Worksheets) { worksheet.PageSetup.PaperSize = XlPaperSize.xlPaperA4; worksheet.PageSetup.Orientation = XlPageOrientation.xlPortrait; worksheet.PageSetup.FitToPagesWide = 1; worksheet.PageSetup.FitToPagesTall = false; worksheet.PrintOutEx(ActivePrinter: printernamewithPort,Collate: true, Preview: false, PrintToFile: false); } </code></pre> <p>What i dunno is that, if the default printer changes right away from another thread, if it looses the port given to the virtual printer. I have not done proper testing of this. In normal circumstances it seems that my Method FindPrinterWithPort would work.</p>

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