Question

I’m looking for a simple way to print DIN-A4 paper with data from a database on it. The data should be filled into multiple tables with borders. Some of the data should have a different text format p.e. bold or underlined. I should also be able to print multiple images onto that sheet.

The program should be a Windows Forms Application or a console application written in C#.

Which is the easiest / most common way to format data and print it like that?

Any suggestions apreciated 🙂

EDIT:

this is my current code with almost no success. It actually prints but what I get is simply the xml file printed.

        private void printButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {

        string printPath = System.Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.Desktop);
        fileToPrint = new System.IO.StreamReader(printPath + @"\test.xml");
        printFont = new System.Drawing.Font("Arial", 10);

        PrintDocument printDocument1 = new PrintDocument();
        printDocument1.PrintPage += new PrintPageEventHandler(printDocument1_PrintPage);
        printDocument1.Print();
        fileToPrint.Close();
    }

    private void printDocument1_PrintPage(object sender, System.Drawing.Printing.PrintPageEventArgs e)
    {
        float yPos = 0f;
        int count = 0;
        float leftMargin = e.MarginBounds.Left;
        float topMargin = e.MarginBounds.Top;
        string line = null;
        float linesPerPage = e.MarginBounds.Height / printFont.GetHeight(e.Graphics);
        while (count < linesPerPage)
        {
            line = fileToPrint.ReadLine();
            if (line == null)
            {
                break;
            }
            yPos = topMargin + count * printFont.GetHeight(e.Graphics);
            e.Graphics.DrawString(line, printFont, Brushes.Black, leftMargin, yPos, new StringFormat());
            count++;
        }
        if (line != null)
        {
            e.HasMorePages = true;
        }
    }

Answer 1

Printing in .NET is quite hard without additional tools.

1. Visual Studio 2008 and Report Wizard

   Its my favorite tool. It’s based on Microsoft Reporting Services which is available in Visual Studio 2008. It works similar to MS Access reports functionality.

   Unfortunatelly i was not able to run it and design reports in other Visual Studio versions. Reporting Services are available in .NET Framework and you can use them with any Visual Studio, but there is no Report Designer/Wizard tool in versions other than 2008).

2. Crystal Reports (expensive but really good).

3. If you have some time you may fight with pixels like this:

   Simplified .NET printing in C# Dave Brighton at codeproject.com

4. WebBrowser control, as @colosso wrote in another answer, but this depends on Internet Explorer version and i personally don’t like this method.