Selecting A Printer

[jmb4370]

How can I build a selection list of installed printers, so that when the macro runs, the user can select a printer other than the default, run the macro, and then return back to the default printer? I know I could use the mouse and keyboard to get to the Printers and Faxes folder, but I think there must be an easier way, even reading a registry key.

 

Thanks everyone!

Michael

[floyd]

How about if you create a shortcut link to the Printers and Faxes within the Control Panel and then use the Launch Program command to fire it off. This would at least get you a window containing all of the printer names. You could also do a search for one of the printer names in your Registry to find out which hives contain the printer names.

[jmb4370]

I can read the registry value of the default printer in the registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows\Device

The list of installed printer doesn't seem to appear anywhere as data values, but as the keys themselves in:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Devices or HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\PrinterPorts

It seems that the best I can do is to export the Devices or PrinterPorts branch to a text file and then parse that file to retrieve the shortened names to be used in the Default Printer command (through a multiple choice dynamically built menu)

 

Any other suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Michael

[floyd]

Another solution is to use the msinfo32.exe program.

c:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSInfo\msinfo32.exe /report c:\Temp\printers.txt /categories +componentsprinting

Here is a macro that will create a file of the printer names using the above program (mxe attached):

// Program file
Variable Set String %T1% "msinfo32.exe"
Variable Set String %T2% "c:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSInfo"

// Output file
Variable Set String %T3% "printers.txt"
Variable Set String %T4% "c:\temp"

// Delete output file if it exists
If File Exists "%T3%"
 Delete File or Files: "%T3%"
End If

// Launch program
Program Launch: "%T1%"
Wait for File Exist: "%T3%"

// Strip the double-byte(?) characters
Variable Set String %T5% from File: "%T3%"
Variable Set Integer %N1% from Length of Variable %T5%
Repeat with Variable using %N1%
 Variable Modify String: Copy Part of %T5% to %T6%
 Variable Set %N6% to ASCII Value of %T6%
 If Variable %N6% > 0
   AND
 If Variable %N6% < 127
   Variable Modify String: Append %T6% to %T10%
 End If
Repeat End

// We only want the printer section
Variable Set Integer %N1% from Position of Text in Variable %T10%
Variable Modify Integer: %N1% = %N1% + 9
Variable Modify String: Delete Part of %T10%
Variable Modify String: Save %T10% to Text File
Macro Return

Note that, for whatever reason, the output file is created as double-byte characters ... or some such thing. So there is a loop that removes any characters from the string that are not between ASCII 01 and ASCII 126 and then re-saves the file.

 

The file that is created will still need to be processed. Hint: each "field" in each of the remaining lines is separated by a <Tab> character. You will only want the first field. Also, you will want to ignore the "header" line.

SystemPrinters.zip