I am using a windows service and i want to print a .html page when the service will start. I am using this code and it's printing well. But a print dialog box come, how do i print without the print dialog box?
public void printdoc(string document)
{
Process printjob = new Process();
printjob.StartInfo.FileName = document;
printjob.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = true;
printjob.StartInfo.Verb = "print";
printjob.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
printjob.StartInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
printjob.Start();
}
Have there any other way to print this without showing the print dialog box.
Thanks in advance,
Anup Pal
Here's the Holy Grail.
Taking advantage of StaTaskScheduler (taken from Parallel Extension Extras (release on Code Gallery)).
Features: waits for the printing completion, doesn't show print settings, hopefully reliable.
Limitations: requires C# 4.0, uses default printer, doesn't allow to change print template
TaskScheduler Sta = new StaTaskScheduler(1);
public void PrintHtml(string htmlPath)
{
Task.Factory.StartNew(() => PrintOnStaThread(htmlPath), CancellationToken.None, TaskCreationOptions.None, Sta).Wait();
}
void PrintOnStaThread(string htmlPath)
{
const short PRINT_WAITFORCOMPLETION = 2;
const int OLECMDID_PRINT = 6;
const int OLECMDEXECOPT_DONTPROMPTUSER = 2;
using(var browser = new WebBrowser())
{
browser.Navigate(htmlPath);
while(browser.ReadyState != WebBrowserReadyState.Complete)
Application.DoEvents();
dynamic ie = browser.ActiveXInstance;
ie.ExecWB(OLECMDID_PRINT, OLECMDEXECOPT_DONTPROMPTUSER, PRINT_WAITFORCOMPLETION);
}
}
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------
//
// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
//
// File: StaTaskScheduler.cs
//
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------
using System.Collections.Concurrent;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
namespace System.Threading.Tasks.Schedulers
{
/// <summary>Provides a scheduler that uses STA threads.</summary>
public sealed class StaTaskScheduler : TaskScheduler, IDisposable
{
/// <summary>Stores the queued tasks to be executed by our pool of STA threads.</summary>
private BlockingCollection<Task> _tasks;
/// <summary>The STA threads used by the scheduler.</summary>
private readonly List<Thread> _threads;
/// <summary>Initializes a new instance of the StaTaskScheduler class with the specified concurrency level.</summary>
/// <param name="numberOfThreads">The number of threads that should be created and used by this scheduler.</param>
public StaTaskScheduler(int numberOfThreads)
{
// Validate arguments
if (numberOfThreads < 1) throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException("concurrencyLevel");
// Initialize the tasks collection
_tasks = new BlockingCollection<Task>();
// Create the threads to be used by this scheduler
_threads = Enumerable.Range(0, numberOfThreads).Select(i =>
{
var thread = new Thread(() =>
{
// Continually get the next task and try to execute it.
// This will continue until the scheduler is disposed and no more tasks remain.
foreach (var t in _tasks.GetConsumingEnumerable())
{
TryExecuteTask(t);
}
});
thread.IsBackground = true;
thread.SetApartmentState(ApartmentState.STA);
return thread;
}).ToList();
// Start all of the threads
_threads.ForEach(t => t.Start());
}
/// <summary>Queues a Task to be executed by this scheduler.</summary>
/// <param name="task">The task to be executed.</param>
protected override void QueueTask(Task task)
{
// Push it into the blocking collection of tasks
_tasks.Add(task);
}
/// <summary>Provides a list of the scheduled tasks for the debugger to consume.</summary>
/// <returns>An enumerable of all tasks currently scheduled.</returns>
protected override IEnumerable<Task> GetScheduledTasks()
{
// Serialize the contents of the blocking collection of tasks for the debugger
return _tasks.ToArray();
}
/// <summary>Determines whether a Task may be inlined.</summary>
/// <param name="task">The task to be executed.</param>
/// <param name="taskWasPreviouslyQueued">Whether the task was previously queued.</param>
/// <returns>true if the task was successfully inlined; otherwise, false.</returns>
protected override bool TryExecuteTaskInline(Task task, bool taskWasPreviouslyQueued)
{
// Try to inline if the current thread is STA
return
Thread.CurrentThread.GetApartmentState() == ApartmentState.STA &&
TryExecuteTask(task);
}
/// <summary>Gets the maximum concurrency level supported by this scheduler.</summary>
public override int MaximumConcurrencyLevel
{
get { return _threads.Count; }
}
/// <summary>
/// Cleans up the scheduler by indicating that no more tasks will be queued.
/// This method blocks until all threads successfully shutdown.
/// </summary>
public void Dispose()
{
if (_tasks != null)
{
// Indicate that no new tasks will be coming in
_tasks.CompleteAdding();
// Wait for all threads to finish processing tasks
foreach (var thread in _threads) thread.Join();
// Cleanup
_tasks.Dispose();
_tasks = null;
}
}
}
}
To add to Vadim's limitation you can set the default printer before printing by using:
static void SetAsDefaultPrinter(string printerDevice)
{
foreach (var printer in PrinterSettings.InstalledPrinters)
{
//verify that the printer exists here
}
var path = "win32_printer.DeviceId='" + printerDevice + "'";
using (var printer = new ManagementObject(path))
{
printer.InvokeMethod("SetDefaultPrinter",
null, null);
}
return;
}
And changeing slightly the PrintHtml method with:
public void PrintHtml(string htmlPath, string printerDevice)
{
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(printerDevice))
SetAsDefaultPrinter(printerDevice);
Task.Factory.StartNew(() => PrintOnStaThread(htmlPath), CancellationToken.None, TaskCreationOptions.None, _sta).Wait();
}
Now I don't know how that will fair in a heavy printing environment considering there could be concurrency issues with changeing the default printer a lot. But so far this is the best I came up with to fix this limitation.
In windows service the Microsoft web browser control is not working. I had used that code it's working fine in windows application but when i am using within a windows service then the program getting stuck in this line
axWebBrowser1.Navigate(@"C:\mydoc.html", ref empty, ref empty, ref empty, ref empty);
thanks for reply,
Anup Pal