Sending Data Directly to a Printer

It is sometimes necessary to bypass the driver and send printer-specific data directly to a printer.
The following code shows how this can be done for both local and networked printers.
This method can be used to replace the PASSTHROUGH escape and SpoolFile methods.

 

      // RawDataToPrinter - sends binary data directly to a printer
      //
      // szPrinterName: NULL-terminated string specifying printer name
      // lpData:        Pointer to raw data bytes
      // dwCount        Length of lpData in bytes
      //
      // Returns: TRUE for success, FALSE for failure.
      //
       BOOL RawDataToPrinter(LPSTR szPrinterName, LPBYTE lpData, DWORD dwCount)
      {
        HANDLE     hPrinter;
        DOC_INFO_1 DocInfo;
        DWORD      dwJob;
        DWORD      dwBytesWritten;

        // Need a handle to the printer.
        if( ! OpenPrinter( szPrinterName, &hPrinter, NULL ) )
          return FALSE;

        // Fill in the structure with info about this "document."
        DocInfo.pDocName = "My Document";
        DocInfo.pOutputFile = NULL;
        DocInfo.pDatatype = "RAW";
        // Inform the spooler the document is beginning.
        if( (dwJob = StartDocPrinter( hPrinter, 1, (LPSTR)&DocInfo )) == 0 )
        {
          ClosePrinter( hPrinter );
          return FALSE;
        }
        // Start a page.
        if( ! StartPagePrinter( hPrinter ) )
        {
          EndDocPrinter( hPrinter );
          ClosePrinter( hPrinter );
          return FALSE;
        }
        // Send the data to the printer.
        if( !WritePrinter( hPrinter, lpData, dwCount, &dwBytesWritten ) )
        {
          EndPagePrinter( hPrinter );
          EndDocPrinter( hPrinter );
          ClosePrinter( hPrinter );
          return FALSE;
        }
        // End the page.
        if( ! EndPagePrinter( hPrinter ) )
        {
          EndDocPrinter( hPrinter );
          ClosePrinter( hPrinter );
          return FALSE;
        }
        // Inform the spooler that the document is ending.
        if( ! EndDocPrinter( hPrinter ) )
        {
          ClosePrinter( hPrinter );
          return FALSE;
        }
        // Tidy up the printer handle.
        ClosePrinter( hPrinter );
        // Check to see if correct number of bytes were written.
        if( dwBytesWritten != dwCount )
          return FALSE;
        return TRUE;
      }