Question

We have an application that basically archives files and we give the user the possibility to print these files. They can be .txt, .doc, .pdf, .jpg nothing fancy.
Is there a .NET way to send these files to the printer without handling them further, ie opening them?

I already tried creating a process with the StartInfo.Verb = “print”

Process p = new Process();
p.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
p.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
p.StartInfo.FileName = fileName;
p.StartInfo.Verb = "print"
p.StartInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden

p.Start();

It still opens the file which I don’t want. Can someone help?

Any help would be appreciated.
Tobi

Answer 1

My understanding is that most apps will open (even briefly) when you print. Try right-clicking a MS Word document and hitting print. You’ll see Word open, print, and close.

However, you might want to add this to your code to keep the process hidden and to close when finished:

p.Start();
p.StartInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
if (p.HasExited == false)
{
   p.WaitForExit(10000);
}

p.EnableRaisingEvents = true;
p.CloseMainWindow();
p.Close();