New
Features in the
Version 9.0 Printer Drivers
In addition to their increased printing speeds,
Version 9.0 of the Black Ice printer drivers contain
several additional enhancements which can greatly
assist developers.
Updated Messaging Interface
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The Messaging
Interface for all of the Black Ice printer
drivers have been updated to create a
unified messaging interface between the
XP/2000/NT, Terminal Servers, and Window 9X
printer drivers by using the newly added
StartCapture method.
Additionally,
developers can now access the Real Time
Printer Hook functionality using the Message
Capture OCX. Previously, the Real Time
Printer Hook could only be accessed directly
from the BLICECTR.DLL using C++. |
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StartCapture Method
StartCapture (PrinterName as String,
MessagingInterfaceMethod a Long) as
Integer
The StartCapture() method is used to
initialize the message capturing
process. PrinterName represents the
name of the printer which is
monitored, such as “Black Ice
Color”. The MessagingInterfaceMethod
selects the desired message capture
method to be used.
Possible values are:
1 – CopyData method
2 – Broadcast messages to all
applications
3 – Pipe interface is used. To use
the real Time Printer Hook, use this
option.
StartCapture returns 0 on success
and nonzero if an error occurs. |
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Print Progress reported in Group File
Starting with Version
9.0 of the Black Ice printer drivers, the status of
the print job is updated within the group file.
When printing is started, the Black Ice printer
driver will write the message “Printing started” in
the Group File header. Once printing has finished
successfully, the printer driver will update this
message to read "Printing finished successfully".
If an error occurred during the printing process,
the printer driver will write an error message in
place of the “Printing Finished successfully”
message.
The Black Ice
recommended application notification method is using
the messaging interface. However, this new addition
to the Black Ice printer driver allows developers to
write applications which monitor the group file to
determine when printing is finished and may be
useful in specific situations .
Modify Start Application Before Printing Timing
By adding an entry to
the INI file, developers can specify the amount of
time that the Black Ice printer drivers will wait
for an application which is launched before printing
to initialize. This way developers can force the
printer driver to wait for their application’s
messaging interface to fully start, ensuring that no
printer driver messages are missed due to slow
starting applications.
Developers can specify a
delay time by entering the following line into the
printer driver INI file
[Default Settings]
Start Application
Timeout=5000
The value is specified
in milliseconds. 5000 = 5 seconds.