MFC Print preview extension DLL for dialogs

Sample Image - preview.jpg

Introduction

After trying to make use of Koay's code to allow print preview in a dialog, I released that it was a lot of work to get print preview in a dialog working, so I took the code and wrapped it up in an MFC extension DLL which your MFC applications can link to. So now to get print and preview options working, you just need to derive your CDialog class from the exported class CPrintPreviewDialog. Once you have done that, then you can override the standard Doc/View print preview options to provide your printed output.

virtual BOOL OnPreparePrinting(CPrintInfo* pInfo);
virtual void OnBeginPrinting(CDC* pDC, CPrintInfo* pInfo);
virtual void OnPrepareDC(CDC* pDC, CPrintInfo* pInfo = NULL);
virtual void OnPrint(CDC* pDC, CPrintInfo* pInfo);
virtual void OnEndPrinting(CDC* pDC, CPrintInfo* pInfo);

Using the extension DLL

The PrintExtension project builds the library and DLL file that will be used by your project. Once that has been built, you will need to add the following statements in your MFC application to start making use of its features:

// generally, this would go in your stdafx.h file
#include "PrintExtension.h"

The library will be automatically linked to your project. You just have to make sure that the PrintExtension.DLL (PrintExtensiond.dll for debug) file is in the same directory as your application executable.

You then need to convert your CDialog derived class to derive from the CPrintPreviewDialog class. This can be done by doing a Find/Replace on the .h/.cpp dialog source files from CDialog to CPrintPreviewDialog.

To add the preview and print functionality, you need to add buttons or menu options for the ID's ID_FILE_PRINT and ID_FILE_PRINT_PREVIEW.

Override your required printing functions to generate output, usually a minimum of OnPrint() and OnPreparePrinting().

Everything else should work automatically.

Notes on use

If you are using this in a dialog application (non SDI/MDI), then you will also need to add a menu resource to your application. The menu content does not matter, it just needs to exist. It should have the ID IDR_MAINFRAME, and will be used when the hidden frame is created. As the frame is never seen by the user, the menu options never become active, but it is required for the frame window to be created successfully.

In OnPreparePrinting(), you must call the base class (CPrintPreviewDialog::OnPreparePrinting(pInfo);), before exiting the function so that a required print preview function is called. If you do not, you get an ASSERT as listed in some of the comments below.

Problems encountered

There were some fiddely problems to make sure that, when you clicked on Print in the preview view, the dialog handled the command and not any open background document (if doing this in an SDI or MDI MFC app).

Acknowledgements

This MFC extension DLL draws heavily on the code by Koay Kah Hoe in the article Print Previewing without the Document/View Framework.

Revision history

5th December 2002 - Version 1
27th December 2002 - Demo project added and some extra notes added to article text

Enjoy!

License

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

About the Author

Roger Allen

Software Developer (Senior)
Sirius Analytical Instruments

United Kingdom

Member

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.

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Re: memory leak

Michael Adamus

5:09 29 Apr '10

Hello,
There is a memory leak when running the print preview (clicking the Preview button). Memory is allocated in the function CPrintPreviewDialog::OnDialogPrintPreview (the memory is never deallocated):
CPrintPreviewState* pState = new CPrintPreviewState;

Is this line necessary? I've noticed that this same code is called in CDummyView::OnDoPrintPreview(), but there is no memory leak.

Regards,
Mike

Print Preview [modified]

Adeel Mirza

18:20 16 Feb '10

I am using an existing MS Office Addin developed in ATL COM.I want to provide this kind of print and print preview functionality to it. Now MFC Extension DLL can't be used in an ATL COM Application, so is it possible to create an MFC Regular DLL and then call it from my ATL COM application?? Maverick modified on Wednesday, February 17, 2010 1:44 AM
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Cannot compile,

angel420

13:31 25 Feb '09

Hi, I am using VC++ 2005, when I tried to compile the project I got the error message: LINK : fatal error LNK1104: cannot open file '..\PrintExtension\Debug\PrintExtensiond.lib' Couldn't find this PrintExtensiond.lib anywhere, anyone can help ? Thanks
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a problem and workaround

min_2_max

14:06 24 Dec '07

I encountered another problem:

sometimes I get the program crash closing the preview frame, after a long time of debugging, I found the following trace:

1. user clicking the close button of the preview frame wnd
2. CDummyView::OnEndPrintPreview() calls GetParentFrame()->DestroyWindow()
3. CFrameWnd->Onclose()
4. CFrameWnd->GetActiveDocument()

as the Document runtime class is given as NULL when the doc template was
created, then this call cause crash.

My workaround is as follows:

Create a CFrameWnd derived class CMainFrame, override the method:

CDocument* CMainFrame::GetActiveDocument()
{
return NULL;
}

as a side product, I can create a status bar, to make this print preview
exaclty as same as the standard preview: The current page number will be displayed automatically on the status bar.

min2max

Can that be part of my code, instead of a DLL

AlexEvans

21:45 18 May '07

Hello there, I don't like DLL's, never did - they solve some things, but open up other problems... How can I use the code as part of my project / source instead? Any help will be good Cheers Alex
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How can i break print/preview page for if i'm printing records ane by one from MS Access DAO database

Kushwaha

19:57 4 Sep '06

i want to break the print/preview page of records from database. i'm using MS ACCESS DAO database. i want to print only 6 (six) records onto a page and next six on to next page and so on upto the end of the records available.

how can i do it?

when i`m printing it it is showing all the records on to a single page and showing 8 or nine records onto first page... but it is not continuing after it to the next page.

plz help me in detail how can i print records on the next page after 6 records.

i'll be highly thankful to u.

regards!

Shiv
DRDO
INDIA

Another Assertion Error Figured Out

chris175

4:18 10 Jul '06

I created a dll and a test dialog with this class and everything was working just fine. I then tried to attach the dll project to another project (PROJECTB) and I was getting a generic assertion error. I drilled down the problem and found out that the string AFX_IDS_PREVIEWPAGEDESC was getting set into the variable pInfo->m_strPageDesc. Then later on in the code it was attempting to put the page number into pInfo->m_strPageDesc which was failing. The problem was AFX_IDS_PREVIEWPAGEDESC as a resource string id of 61508 which was used in PROJECTB as IDS_TEST_STRING123 with an id of 61508 which had a string something like "This is the error message %s.".

Anyway seeing this alerted me to many errors with string ids ranging from 61505-61512.

To Fix these errors....
PrintPreviewDialog.cpp:

BOOL CPrintPreviewDialog::OnPreparePrinting(CPrintInfo* pInfo)
{
	BOOL bRet = m_pView->DoPreparePrinting(pInfo);
	if (bRet == TRUE)
	{
		pInfo->m_strPageDesc = LoadStringFromDLL(AFX_IDS_PREVIEWPAGEDESC).c_str();
	}
	return bRet;
}

DummyView.cpp:

			// construct CFileDialog for browsing
			CString strDef(LoadStringFromDLL(AFX_IDS_PRINTDEFAULTEXT).c_str());
			CString strPrintDef(LoadStringFromDLL(AFX_IDS_PRINTDEFAULT).c_str());
			CString strFilter(LoadStringFromDLL(AFX_IDS_PRINTFILTER).c_str());
			CString strCaption(LoadStringFromDLL(AFX_IDS_PRINTCAPTION).c_str());
			CFileDialog dlg(FALSE, strDef, strPrintDef,
				OFN_HIDEREADONLY|OFN_OVERWRITEPROMPT, strFilter);
			dlg.m_ofn.lpstrTitle = strCaption;

MyPreviewView.cpp:

BEGIN_MESSAGE_MAP(CMyPreviewView, CPreviewView)
	//{{AFX_MSG_MAP(CMyPreviewView)
	...
	ON_UPDATE_COMMAND_UI(AFX_ID_PREVIEW_NUMPAGE, OnUpdateNumPageChange)
	//}}AFX_MSG_MAP
END_MESSAGE_MAP()
...
...
...
void CMyPreviewView::OnUpdateNumPageChange(CCmdUI* pCmdUI)
{
	CPreviewView::OnUpdateNumPageChange(pCmdUI);
 
	// set text of button to opposite of current state
	UINT nPages = m_nZoomState == ZOOM_OUT ? m_nPages : m_nZoomOutPages;
	pCmdUI->SetText(LoadStringFromDLL(nPages == 1 ? AFX_IDS_TWOPAGE : AFX_IDS_ONEPAGE).c_str());
}

MyPreviewView.h:

	//{{AFX_MSG(CMyPreviewView)
	...
	afx_msg void	OnUpdateNumPageChange(CCmdUI* pCmdUI);
	//}}AFX_MSG

If anyone has any more strings that should be defined or updated please let me know thanks...

Chris

Assert Message Figured Out

chris175

2:43 7 Jul '06

Wow. It took me 6 hours to figure out why I was getting an assertion failure when my program was trying to create the hidden frame.
This was the place where the assertion was occurring...

CView* CFrameWnd::GetActiveView() const
{
	ASSERT(m_pViewActive == NULL ||
		m_pViewActive->IsKindOf(RUNTIME_CLASS(CView)));
	return m_pViewActive;
}

If you run your code and get an error here make sure you have and IDR_MAINFRAME under the icon section of your resource file AND under the menu section of your resource file. In the menu section create a menu item called ignore like in the demo project.

Chris

Can I distribute it

cathyliu620

6:34 21 Mar '06

Hi Roger, I am writing an instrument control software for my company. It is a dialog based application. The dll you provided is really handy. I am wondering if I could include it in our commercial release of the software which will accompany the instrument. Thank you for a job well done!
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Did someone use DLL in DOTNET ?

Luke_21

3:06 6 Feb '06

Hi,

First, thx for Roger for all his contribution with his codes.

Well, I tried to use the DLL in my Doc / View App, with a Dialog based Class, and finally compiled it. But, when I click on my buttons nothing happen .... There are named ID_FILE_PRINT and ID_FILE_PRINT_PREVIEW and after following the code, there is no relationship between buttons and OnPreparePrinting function .... I just needed to adapt my CView print routine in a CDialog class, in CView it's automatic but in CDialog no. And I wonder if it is supposed to be with the DLL. For information, I'm in Static DLL project and can't change this propertie at all.

Hope to have news soon.

---------
| Luke_21 |
---------

Questions?

Muhammad Waqas Butt

22:21 12 Aug '05

Can we use C++ dlls in C#.Net. I am using C#.Net and i am faceing some probelm in Crystal Reports. If you have any idea about Crystal Reports Please Tell me. Muhamad Waqas Butt waqasb4all@yahoo.com
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Crashes when opening dialog

MrP2

4:27 27 May '05

I'm getting a crash when my dialog based on CPrintPreviewDialog is invoked. The crash occurs in dlgcore.cpp at the line "if (hWndParent != NULL && ::IsWindowEnabled(hWndParent))". I am using MFC in a static library. The dialog is not the dialog-based app's main dialog but one invoked from it. I think I followed all of Roger's steps, so I would appreciate anyone's input.
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Re: Crashes when opening dialog

Terry Beddingfield

7:32 30 Dec '05

I had the same problem. I also had my project settings set using MFC in a static library. I had to change that setup to using MFC in a shared DLL. This change is needed for both the Release and the Debug configurations. Another thing that I had to do to get the program to work in Debug mode was copy the "PrintExtensiond.dll" into the Debug folder of my project and then change the name of the file to "PrintExtension.dll". The executable will look for the "PrintExtension.dll" file regardless of whether your configuration is set up for Debug or Release. Of course, the original "PrintExtension.dll" should be copied into the Release folder for the release configuration. Both of these files will be found in the PrintExtension project folder, one in the Debug folder and one in the Release folder.

This made all of the functionality available to me. Roll eyes | :rolleyes:

I want to thank Roger for this. I have been looking for a way to print from a Dialog for eons, it seems.

Re-entrance in MultiView SDI App.

loadcom

13:35 4 Nov '04

First of all, it's a great work! Thank you.

I have incorporated you code into my multiView SDI app. But I encountered a problem. I/m using you code to print a seperate page from a modelless dlg, which is different from those pages you can get from the File/Print command via the main frame.

After activating the preview window, I can still shift to the dlg by Alt-Tab key combinition, and I can re-click the print/preview and even Close button, for the latter, which will make the program crash.

Do you have any good idea to get rid of this?

Thanks again for your good job and your attention.

B.Rgds
min2max

Re: Re-entrance in MultiView SDI App.

min_2_max

1:44 20 Dec '07

I've added a line in OnDialogPrintPreview() as follows,
attempting to hide also the dialog initiating the preview frame.

void CPrintPreviewDialog::OnDialogPrintPreview()
{
CFrameWnd* pOldFrame = (CFrameWnd*)AfxGetApp()->m_pMainWnd;
pOldFrame->ShowWindow(SW_HIDE);

// Max: 2007-12-20 also hide the initiating dialog
ShowWindow(SW_HIDE);
...
}

but unfortunately, it seems not work. The dialog doesn't hide as I
anticipated.

What's wrong?

Thanks for any hints.

min2max

Re: Re-entrance in MultiView SDI App.

min_2_max

13:55 24 Dec '07

Yes, this will work, with the following code midification: void CPrintPreviewDialog::EndPreviewMode() { // Max: 2007-12-20 let the dialog re-appear ShowWindow(SW_SHOW); m_bPrintPreview = false; }
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Crashes on close with close button

okjak

5:22 26 Oct '04

Unfortunately my application crashes when I try to close preview window with close button (not this one on toolbar, but th button in top-right corner of the window).
It crash on:
"CDocument* pDocument = GetActiveDocument();"
winfrm.cpp: line 775: in void CFrameWnd::OnClose();

I tryed to add something like this:

pState->lpfnCloseProc=NULL;

to "void CDummyView::OnDoPrintPreview()" method, but now closing preview window closes whole application alsow Frown | :(

Any idea how to solve this problem?

Kajko

Re: Crashes on close with close button

tangxingbin

20:53 22 Mar '05

you can remove sysmenu from FrameWnd ;
like this;

void CPrintPreviewDialog::OnDialogPrintPreview()

{

	CFrameWnd* pOldFrame = (CFrameWnd*)AfxGetApp()->m_pMainWnd;

	pOldFrame->ShowWindow(SW_HIDE);

	if (!m_pTemplate)

	{

		m_pTemplate = new CSingleDocTemplate(

			128,					// so load fram is happy. This matches the IDR_MAINFRAME value from your application!

			NULL,

			RUNTIME_CLASS(CFrameWnd),

			RUNTIME_CLASS(CDummyView));

		//AfxGetApp()->AddDocTemplate(m_pTemplate);

	}

	CFrameWnd* pFrameWnd = m_pTemplate->CreateNewFrame(NULL, NULL);

 

	// In derived classes, implement special window handling here

	// Be sure to Unhook Frame Window close if hooked.

 

	// must not create this on the frame.  Must outlive this function

	CPrintPreviewState* pState = new CPrintPreviewState;

	UNUSED_PARAMETER(pState);

	m_bPrintPreview = true;

	m_pTemplate->InitialUpdateFrame(pFrameWnd, NULL, FALSE);

	m_pView = (CDummyView*)pFrameWnd->GetActiveView();

	AfxGetApp()->m_pMainWnd = pFrameWnd;

	pFrameWnd->ModifyStyle(WS_SYSMENU,0) ;   //remove sysmenu 

	pFrameWnd->SetWindowText(_T("打印预览"));

	pFrameWnd->ShowWindow(SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED);

	m_pView->SetPrintDialog(this);

	m_pView->m_pOldFrame = pOldFrame;

	m_pView->OnDoPrintPreview();

}

tangxingbin

Re: Crashes on close with close button

N n MISHRA

4:39 11 Jun '05

When I am clicking ALT + F4 , application crashes. Please show me some way. N N Mishra N N MISHRA
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Re: Crashes on close with close button

varandas79

3:58 5 Mar '06

1 - Add the function OnDestroy, dont forget to comment CView::OnDestroy()
2 - Call OnDestroy inside OnEndPrintPreview

void CDummyView::OnEndPrintPreview(CDC* pDC, CPrintInfo* pInfo, POINT point, CPreviewView* pView)

{

	CView::OnEndPrintPreview(pDC, pInfo, point, pView);

	OnDestroy();

}

 

void CDummyView::OnDestroy()

{

	//CView::OnDestroy();

	// show the original frame

	m_pOldFrame->ShowWindow(SW_SHOW);

	// restore main frame pointer

	AfxGetApp()->m_pMainWnd = m_pOldFrame;

	m_pDialog->EndPreviewMode();

	m_pDialog->SetFocus();

	GetParentFrame()->DestroyWindow();

}

Still crashes on close with close button

Mr. S

4:08 3 Apr '06

Program still crashes on close with close button. Error in wincore.cpp line 1007: `// Should have been detached by OnNcDestroy ASSERT(pMap->LookupPermanent(hWndOrig) == NULL);` Any Idea how to fix it? THX Mr. S
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Re: Crashes on close with close button

Eduard Huguet

0:08 30 Nov '06

My solution (as this program seems to be abandoned...):

I've simply created a new CFrameWnd-derived class (CPrintPreviewFrame) with the OnClose() handler redefined to do nothing. Then I specify this class in the document template created in CPrintPreviewDialog::OnDialogPrintPreview(), so it gets used instead of the standard CFrameWnd:



class CPrintPreviewFrame: public CFrameWnd

{

public:

	CPrintPreviewFrame ();

	DECLARE_DYNCREATE (CPrintPreviewFrame);

 



protected:

	afx_msg void OnClose ();

	DECLARE_MESSAGE_MAP ()

};

 



IMPLEMENT_DYNCREATE (CPrintPreviewFrame, CFrameWnd);

 

CPrintPreviewFrame::CPrintPreviewFrame ()

{

}

 

BEGIN_MESSAGE_MAP (CPrintPreviewFrame, CFrameWnd)

	ON_WM_CLOSE ()

END_MESSAGE_MAP ()

 



void CPrintPreviewFrame::OnClose ()

{

	// nothing...

}

 

void CPrintPreviewDialog::OnDialogPrintPreview()

{

	if (m_bPrintPreview)

	{

		AfxGetApp()->m_pMainWnd->SetFocus();

		return;

	}

 

 	CFrameWnd* pOldFrame = (CFrameWnd*)AfxGetApp()->m_pMainWnd;

	pOldFrame->ShowWindow (SW_HIDE);

		if (m_pTemplate == NULL)

		{

			m_pTemplate = new CSingleDocTemplate(

				IDR_MAINFRAME,					// so load fram is happy. This matches the IDR_MAINFRAME value from your application!

				NULL,

				RUNTIME_CLASS(CPrintPreviewFrame), // <-- HERE!

				RUNTIME_CLASS(CDummyView));

			//AfxGetApp()->AddDocTemplate(m_pTemplate);

		}

	CFrameWnd* pFrameWnd = m_pTemplate->CreateNewFrame(NULL, NULL);

 

	// In derived classes, implement special window handling here

	// Be sure to Unhook Frame Window close if hooked.

 

	// must not create this on the frame.  Must outlive this function

	DEL (m_pState);

	m_pState = new CPrintPreviewState;

	

	

	m_bPrintPreview = true;

	m_pTemplate->InitialUpdateFrame(pFrameWnd, NULL, FALSE);

	m_pView = (CDummyView*)pFrameWnd->GetActiveView();

	AfxGetApp()->m_pMainWnd = pFrameWnd;

	pFrameWnd->SetWindowText(_T("Print preview"));

	pFrameWnd->ShowWindow(SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED);

	m_pView->SetPrintDialog(this);

	m_pView->m_pOldFrame = pOldFrame;

	m_pView->OnDoPrintPreview();

}

This way the close button on the caption bar remains unuseful, but at least it doesn't make the application crash.

Cheers
Eduard

Page setup

rpar

19:09 2 Aug '04

How do I add a page setup and print separately which gets reflected in the preview and print?
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Prev Page always disabled on Print Preview

Anonymous

4:26 26 Jul '04

I have written an with Print Preview capability and cant seem to get the Prev Page button working. Any ideas? The Next Page and Two Pages buttons work fine. I have tried setting the SetMaxPage and SetMinPage and m_nCurPage values in OnPreparePrinting thinking these would enable the button, but sadly these changes had no effect. Any help would be much appreciated. BTW! Great article Andy
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