Question

I need to get the available supported printer document features for a particular printer through the win32 api.

The options I’m referring to are displayed for a sample printer in the image below. You can get this dialog by right clicking the printer icon and the click preferences, and the clicking the advanced tab in the dialog.

Can anyone tell me the need api i need to call, and in what other?

I am targeting Windows Windows XP+ and using vb6.

Answer 1

What I think you are looking for is DeviceCapabilities from winspool.drv. Sample code from Microsoft. Most of the documentation online now days is for .Net, So I typed in the VB6 definition from Dan Appleman’s Visual Basic Programmer’s Guide to the Win32 API

The declaration for VB6 is:

Declare Function DeviceCapabilities& Lib "winspool.drv" Alias "DeviceCapabilitiesA" (ByVal lpDeviceName as String, ByVal lpPort as String, ByVal iIndex as Long, ByVal lpOutput as String, ByVal lpDeviceMode as Long)

---

Based on your Comment you would need to use DocumentProperties it can be used to retreive or modify a DevMode Structure. It may or may not have what you are looking for. Your best bet would be to get the above book, Chapter 12 has wealth of information. Also looking at your picture it looks like you are using somesort of a POS print, you should consult the manufacturers documentation about specific api’s that the printer might support.

Declare Function DocumentProperties& Lib "winspool.drv" Alias "DocumentPropertiesA" (ByVal  hwnd as Long, ByVal hPrinter as Long, ByVal pDeviceName as String, ByVal pDeviceModeOutput as Long, ByVal pDeviceModelInput as Long, ByVal fMode as Long)

DevMode Structure

Public Const CCHDEVICENAME = 32
Public Const CCHFORMNAME = 32

Type DEVMODE
    dmDeviceName as String * CCHDEVICENAME
    dmSpecVersion as Integer
    dmDriverVersion as Integer
    dmSize as Integer
    dmDriverExtra as Integer
    dmFields as Long
    dmOrientation as Integer
    dmPaperSize as Integer
    dmPaperLength as Integer
    dmPaperWidth as Integer
    dmScale as Integer
    dmCopies as Integer
    dmDefaultSource as Integer
    dmPrintQuality as Integer
    dmColor as Integer
    dmDuplex as Integer
    dmYResolution as Integer
    dmTTOption as Integer
    dmCollate as Integer
    dmFormName as String * CCHFORMNAME
    dpBitsPerPixel as Integer
    dmBitsPerPel as Long
    dmPelWidth as Long
    dmPelHeight as Long
    dmDisplayFlags as Long
    dmDisplayFrequency as Long
    dmICMMethod as Long
    dmICMIntent as Long
    dmMediaType as Long
    dmDitherType as Long
    dmReserved1 as Long
    dmReserved2 as Long
End Type