In this example we have a button which is used to start the printing process. You need to add Printers to the uses clause of the form. The Printer is the object you are directing your output to. BeginDoc is used to open the file for printing. You can change the style of the printing by accessing the printer.Canvas. In this example we are changing the Font size to 12. Next we are printing at certain places on a page the numbers 1 to 8 (I) using the canvas.textout. the number 572 is the number of Pixels needed to move approximately 1 inch. It is not a fixed number but can change with the type of printer. Theoretically it is the number of dots per inch (DPI). The first variable in the Canvas.text out is the X coordinates, the second is the Y coordinates and the last is the text itself.

Because you are creating the page and then sending it to the printer using the EndDoc command, you can position your text all over the page in the manner that is most convenient for you. Here is an example:

 Canvas.font.size := 8;
 Canvas.textout
  (170, I + 220, Table1Name.Value);
 Canvas.textout
  (2500, I + 220, Table1Name.Value);

In this case, the same text is placed on two places (170 and 2500 Pixels) on the same line.

Setting Trays and other printer features
Unfortunately although printers come with more and more features, getting to use them programmatically is rather difficult. The key to doing this is to realize that Windows has it's own printer dialog and QR has its own. These two sources of printer info do not talk to each other. Therefore you need to do some overriding of settings to be able to change a default for a specific report. Before you go crazy searching the windows API, try using the QuickRep settings that are there. Specifically there are paper size and Orientation settings which usually work well.

If you need to use a different printer than the default you may have to change the default printer programmatically, run your report and then change it back. Here is some sample code to do this:

procedure SetDefaultPrinter(PrinterName: String);
var
   I: Integer;
   Device : PChar;
   Driver : Pchar;
   Port   : Pchar;
   HdeviceMode: Thandle;
begin
 Printer.PrinterIndex := -1;  
 //Save for use later Defaultprintername
 //is a global variable. 
 DefaultPrinterName :=
   Printer.Printers[Printer.PrinterIndex];
 with Printer.printers do begin
 //Count is a printers property
  for I := 0 to Count-1 do begin
   if PrinterDevice(Objects[I]).Device :=
     PrinterName then begin	
	  Printername := Printer.printers[I];
      Device := PChar(TprinterDevice
	       (objects[I]).Device);
      Driver := Pchar(TprinterDevice
	       (objects[I]).Driver);
      Port   := Pchar(TprinterDevice
	       (objects[I]).Port);
      StrCat(Device, ',');
      StrCat(Device, Driver );
      StrCat(Device, Port );
      WriteProfile('windows', 'device', Device );
      StrCopy( Device, 'windows' );
      SendMesssage(HWND_BROADCAST, WM_WINICHANGE,
	               0, Longint(@Device));
      HDeviceMode := 0;
	end;
   end;
 end;
end;

   Other Resources
Anyone who is trying to get the most out of Quick Reports and/or printing in general should take advantage of these resources:

1. The QR samples found in the Demos subdirectory of Delphi.

2. The manual and other tutorials which are in the Downloads section of QuSoft.com or QuSoft.No web sites.

Don't forget to post your questions, concerns, views and comments to this article on the Delphi Programming Forum.