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An Easy Way to Customise the Default Print Dialog in an MFC App

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16 Jul 2002CPOL2 min read 229.8K   2.3K   42   57
A quick and easy way to customise the CPrintDialog object in an MFC application

Sample Image - PrintDialog.jpg

Overview

The CPrintDialog box is a standard system supplied resource used by just about every program under the sun that needs to print. But what if you need to customize it? What I present here is a quick and easy way to do this.

Stage 1: Copy the Common Dialogs Resource Template

The first stage is to create in your project an exact copy of the existing dialog template used by the CPrintDialog class. I did this by copying the default source of this and pasting it into my applications .rc file. The default content of these can be found in the file PrnSetup.Dlg of your Visual C++ VC98\Include directory. In fact, the default dialog templates for all the common dialog boxes can be found here, so if you need to know a particular control's ID number, this is the place to look! See also the file Dlgs.h which includes the #defines of the actual controls on all the common dialog templates.

C++
PRINTDLGORD DIALOG DISCARDABLE  32, 32, 288, 186
STYLE DS_MODALFRAME | WS_POPUP | WS_VISIBLE | WS_CAPTION | WS_SYSMENU |
      DS_CONTEXTHELP | DS_3DLOOK
CAPTION "Print"
FONT 8, "MS Sans Serif"
BEGIN
    GROUPBOX        "Printer",grp4,8,4,272,84,WS_GROUP
    LTEXT           "&Name:",stc6,16,20,36,8
    COMBOBOX        cmb4,52,18,152,152,CBS_DROPDOWNLIST | CBS_SORT |
                    WS_VSCROLL | WS_GROUP | WS_TABSTOP
    PUSHBUTTON      "&Properties",psh2,212,17,60,14,WS_GROUP
    LTEXT           "Status:",stc8,16,36,36,10,SS_NOPREFIX
    LTEXT           "",stc12,52,36,224,10,SS_NOPREFIX | SS_LEFTNOWORDWRAP
    LTEXT           "Type:",stc7,16,48,36,10,SS_NOPREFIX
    LTEXT           "",stc11,52,48,224,10,SS_NOPREFIX | SS_LEFTNOWORDWRAP
    LTEXT           "Where:",stc10,16,60,36,10,SS_NOPREFIX
    LTEXT           "",stc14,52,60,224,10,SS_NOPREFIX | SS_LEFTNOWORDWRAP
    LTEXT           "Comment:",stc9,16,72,36,10,SS_NOPREFIX
    LTEXT           "",stc13,52,72,152,10,SS_NOPREFIX | SS_LEFTNOWORDWRAP
    CONTROL         "Print to fi&le",chx1,"Button",BS_AUTOCHECKBOX |
                    WS_GROUP | WS_TABSTOP,212,70,64,12
    GROUPBOX        "Print range",grp1,8,92,144,64,WS_GROUP
    CONTROL         "&All",rad1,"Button",BS_AUTORADIOBUTTON | WS_GROUP |
                    WS_TABSTOP,16,106,64,12
    CONTROL         "Pa&ges",rad3,"Button",BS_AUTORADIOBUTTON,16,122,36,12
    CONTROL         "&Selection",rad2,"Button",BS_AUTORADIOBUTTON,16,138,64,
                    12
    RTEXT           "&from:",stc2,52,124,20,8
    EDITTEXT        edt1,74,122,26,12,WS_GROUP | ES_NUMBER
    RTEXT           "&to:",stc3,100,124,16,8
    EDITTEXT        edt2,118,122,26,12,WS_GROUP | ES_NUMBER
    GROUPBOX        "Copies",grp2,160,92,120,64,WS_GROUP
    LTEXT           "Number of &copies:",stc5,168,108,68,8
    EDITTEXT        edt3,240,106,32,12,WS_GROUP | ES_NUMBER
    ICON            "",ico3,162,124,76,24,WS_GROUP | SS_CENTERIMAGE
    CONTROL         "C&ollate",chx2,"Button",BS_AUTOCHECKBOX | WS_GROUP |
                    WS_TABSTOP,240,130,36,12
    DEFPUSHBUTTON   "OK",IDOK,180,164,48,14,WS_GROUP
    PUSHBUTTON      "Cancel",IDCANCEL,232,164,48,14
END

You will have to modify it slightly. In the example above, you would need to change the PRINTDLGORD to the name of the dialog resource you want to call it locally in your own application. In my case, this was IDD_PRINT. Make sure that when you do this, the #define IDD_PRINT x exists in your resource.h file.

Stage 2: Add Controls and Wrap the Dialog Template

Add any controls to the dialog and lay it out as you need, then invoke ClassWizard so that you can wrap your new dialog resource in a class object. Name it what you want, but make sure you select the base class as CPrintDialog. Once this has been created, you can add message handler, etc. for any extra buttons that you add to your dialog resource.

Stage 3: Using Your New CMyPrintDialog Class

To get your application to use this new CPrintDialog dialog, you need to add the following code to your CView::OnPreparePrinting() function:

C++
// replace the standard CPrintDialog with our custom one!
delete pInfo->m_pPD ; // release previous MFC allocated dialog object
pInfo->m_pPD = new CMyPrintDialog(false) ;
pInfo->m_pPD->m_pd.nMinPage = 1 ;
pInfo->m_pPD->m_pd.nMaxPage = 0xffff ;
pInfo->m_pPD->m_pd.hInstance = AfxGetInstanceHandle() ;
pInfo->m_pPD->m_pd.lpPrintTemplateName = MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDD_PRINT) ;
pInfo->m_pPD->m_pd.Flags |= PD_ENABLEPRINTTEMPLATE ;

Stage 4: Compile and Run Your Application

That's it! You just need to write your handler from there!

Enjoy!

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)


Written By
Software Developer (Senior) Sirius Analytical Instruments
United Kingdom United Kingdom
A research and development programmer working for a pharmaceutical instrument company for the past 17 years.

I am one of those lucky people who enjoys his work and spends more time than he should either doing work or reseaching new stuff. I can also be found on playing DDO on the Cannith server (Send a tell to "Maetrim" who is my current main)

I am also a keep fit fanatic, doing cross country running and am seriously into [url]http://www.ryushinkan.co.uk/[/url] Karate at this time of my life, training from 4-6 times a week and recently achieved my 1st Dan after 6 years.

Comments and Discussions

 
GeneralCustomizing PageSetupDlg Pin
rajas18-Jun-04 11:41
rajas18-Jun-04 11:41 
QuestionHow to enable Pages radio button? Pin
abicer29-Apr-04 0:20
abicer29-Apr-04 0:20 
AnswerRe: How to enable Pages radio button? Pin
Ineluki11-May-04 2:24
Ineluki11-May-04 2:24 
AnswerRe: How to enable Pages radio button? Pin
-Dy5-Aug-05 3:36
-Dy5-Aug-05 3:36 
GeneralProperties Dlg Not Working Pin
turab110-Mar-04 20:21
turab110-Mar-04 20:21 
GeneralNewbie question Pin
lapc3-Oct-03 3:42
lapc3-Oct-03 3:42 
QuestionAnybody knows how to port this .NET? Pin
jwang774507-Sep-03 10:55
jwang774507-Sep-03 10:55 
AnswerRe: Anybody knows how to port this .NET? Pin
Cloaca19-Jan-04 18:10
Cloaca19-Jan-04 18:10 
GeneralRe: Anybody knows how to port this .NET? Pin
Anonymous20-Jan-04 5:31
Anonymous20-Jan-04 5:31 
GeneralRe: Anybody knows how to port this .NET? Pin
TDWiseley23-Feb-07 5:56
TDWiseley23-Feb-07 5:56 
Generalit is not working for me Pin
Muhammad Kamran25-Aug-03 5:48
Muhammad Kamran25-Aug-03 5:48 
GeneralRe: it is not working for me Pin
Roj8-Sep-06 22:35
Roj8-Sep-06 22:35 
GeneralCaveat for resource only dll Pin
mikeh8-Aug-03 11:15
mikeh8-Aug-03 11:15 
GeneralProblem with Number of Copies Spin Control Pin
Hal Director7-Aug-03 5:48
Hal Director7-Aug-03 5:48 
GeneralRe: Problem with Number of Copies Spin Control Pin
Hal Director8-Aug-03 4:30
Hal Director8-Aug-03 4:30 
GeneralLink Dynamically with MFC Pin
Jeffrey Walton13-May-03 9:09
Jeffrey Walton13-May-03 9:09 
GeneralGood but how about Add Printer Listview Pin
alan9324-Oct-02 6:48
alan9324-Oct-02 6:48 
GeneralExcellent info...question Pin
Tom Pullara8-Oct-02 9:08
sussTom Pullara8-Oct-02 9:08 
GeneralCareful if loading into resource editor Pin
Anonymous7-Oct-02 23:43
Anonymous7-Oct-02 23:43 
GeneralCPageSetupDialog Pin
dours7-Oct-02 0:19
dours7-Oct-02 0:19 
QuestionHow to set Number of copies? Pin
ThomasKennedy11-Sep-02 19:12
ThomasKennedy11-Sep-02 19:12 
AnswerRe: How to set Number of copies? Pin
Roger Allen11-Sep-02 23:16
Roger Allen11-Sep-02 23:16 
AnswerRe: How to set Number of copies? Pin
Jeffrey Walton13-May-03 13:44
Jeffrey Walton13-May-03 13:44 
QuestionNot finding resource? Pin
drhender30-Aug-02 9:15
drhender30-Aug-02 9:15 
QuestionHow to initialize my own controls ? Pin
Anonymous29-Aug-02 2:06
Anonymous29-Aug-02 2:06 

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