Question and Answer Database
FAQ902D.txt — Detecting what direction a printer will rotate for a portrait
Category :Printing
Platform :All-32Bit
Product :
Question:
Some printers seems to rotate the portrait orientation to achieve
a landscape page differently than others. This seems to affect the
direction of a rotated font. How can I tell what direction a printer
will rotate output on a landscape page, and if landscape mode is
available on a given printer?
Answer:
The following example demonstrates how to call the Windows API
function DeviceCapabilities(), to find out how a portrait page is
rotated to achieve a landscape page, enabling you to adjust your
output accordingly. Generally, a print driver will rotate a
landscape page either 90 degrees, or 270 degrees from its portrait
orientation.
Example:
uses Printers;
{$IFDEF WIN32}
function DeviceCapabilitiesA(pDevice : PAnsiChar;
pPort : PAnsiChar;
fwCapability : Word;
pOutput : PAnsiChar;
DevMode : PDeviceModeA): Integer stdcall;
external 'winspool.drv' name 'DeviceCapabilitiesA';
function DeviceCapabilitiesW(pDevice : PWideChar;
pPort : PWideChar;
fwCapability: Word;
pOutput: PWideChar;
DevMode: PDeviceModeW): Integer stdcall;
external 'winspool.drv' name 'DeviceCapabilitiesW';
function DeviceCapabilities(pDevice : PChar;
pPort : PChar;
fwCapability : Word;
pOutput : PChar;
DevMode: PDeviceMode): Integer stdcall
external 'winspool.drv' name 'DeviceCapabilitiesA';
{$ENDIF}
procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
var
Device : array[0..255] of char;
Driver : array[0..255] of char;
Port : array[0..255] of char;
hDMode : THandle;
Rotation : integer;
begin
if PrintDialog1.Execute then begin
{Reset the printer}
Printer.PrinterIndex := Printer.PrinterIndex;
Printer.GetPrinter(Device, Driver, Port, hDMode);
Rotation :=
DeviceCapabilities(Device,
Port,
DC_ORIENTATION,
nil,
nil);
case Rotation of
0 : ShowMessage('This device does not ' +
'support landscape');
90 : ShowMessage('This device rotates the portrait ' +
'orientation 90 degrees ' +
'to support landscape');
270 : ShowMessage('This device rotates the portrait ' +
'orientation 270 degrees ' +
'to support landscape');
end;
end;
end;
4/2/99 11:21:21 AM
Last Modified: 01-SEP-99