Using PrintDlg on Vista x64 does not work, works fine on 32 bit and XP

Question

We've got an app with some legacy printer "setup" code that we are still using PrintDlg for. We use a custom template to allow the user to select which printer to use for various types of printing tasks (such as reports or drawings) along with orientation and paper size/source.

It works on XP and 32-bit Vista, but on Vista x64 it gets a CDERR_MEMLOCKFAILURE via CommDlgExtendedError(). I've tried running it with just the bare-bones input in the PRINTDLG structure, but if the parameters include PD_PRINTSETUP or PD_RETURNDEFAULT, I get that error.

Since the printer selection / page setup has been split into PageSetupDlg and PrintDlgEx, there is no apparent easy transition without changing a fair amount of code and/or changing completely how we present printing and printer setup to the user.

Has anyone seen this problem on 64-bit Vista, and have you found any work-arounds?

Notes:
Application runs as Administrator due to other constraints

Answer 1

I found a related post on the Microsoft forums: On Vista x64, DocumentProperties fails from UAC-elevated process

I've verified with a sample program that PrintDlg running as non-admin works.

Answer 2

I just ran into this problem as I was adding printing to my app. I was using the PrintDialog class and it works great if it is compiled as a 32-bit app, but doesn't even pop up when compiled in 64-bit mode. No error messages, no nothing. The call to ShowDialog just returns immediately. (Note that I am running 64-bit Vista.)

I tried using PrintDlg, but that has the same problem. I looked online and found a lot of people we're having similar problems though apparently not everybody who has 64-bit Vista sees this. Anyway, I finally decided to write my own version of PrintDialog (borrowing from code online), but this was a bit tricky (as some of the online code had bugs) and since I never did find a complete example online for this, I thought I would post my solution here.

Note, my version leaves a few things out of the dialog, like the "Print range", "Copies", and "Print to file". This should be easy to add but my app didn't need them. I also couldn't figure out what the "Type:" field was displaying so I left it out as well.

Here's what the dialog looks like:

alt text http://www.geocities.com/deancooper2000/PrintDialog64.jpg

And here's my code (I've left the designer code out as it should be pretty easy to recreate):

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Drawing.Printing;
using System.Printing;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using Zemetrics.Diagnostics;

namespace Utils
{
/// <summary>
/// The PrintDialog64 class replaces the standard PrintDialog with one that works in Vista x64
/// </summary>
public partial class PrintDialog64 : Form
{
    #region Private members 
    [DllImport("winspool.drv", EntryPoint="DocumentPropertiesW")]
    private static extern int DocumentProperties(IntPtr hWnd,IntPtr hPrinter,[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] string pDeviceName,IntPtr pDevMode,IntPtr devModeIn,int fMode);

    [DllImport("winspool.drv")] private static extern int    OpenPrinter(string pPrinterName,out IntPtr hPrinter,IntPtr pDefault);
    [DllImport("winspool.drv")] private static extern int    ClosePrinter(IntPtr phPrinter);
    [DllImport("kernel32.dll")] private static extern IntPtr GlobalLock(IntPtr hMem);
    [DllImport("kernel32.dll")] private static extern int    GlobalUnlock(IntPtr hMem);
    [DllImport("kernel32.dll")] private static extern int    GlobalFree(IntPtr hMem);

    private const int DM_PROMPT     = 4;
    private const int DM_OUT_BUFFER = 2;
    private const int DM_IN_BUFFER  = 8;

    private List<PrinterItem> printers;
    private string            printerName;
    private string            originalName;
    private IntPtr            hDevMode = IntPtr.Zero;
    #endregion

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the printer that prints the document       
    /// </summary>
    public PrinterSettings PrinterSettings { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets a value indicating the PrintDocument used to obtain PrinterSettings.       
    /// </summary>
    public PrintDocument Document { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Constructs a replacement for the standard PrintDialog with one that works in Vista x64
    /// </summary>
    public PrintDialog64()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
    }

    #region PrinterItem class
    /// <summary>
    /// The PrinterItem class holds a reference to a PrintQueue and allows us to sort a list based on printer name
    /// </summary>
    private class PrinterItem : IComparable<PrinterItem>
    {
        #region Private members
        private PrinterItem() {}
        #endregion

        /// <summary>
        /// Construct a PrinterItem by supplying a reference to the printer's PrintQueue class
        /// </summary>
        ///
        /// \param[in]  printer Reference to PrintQueue class for this printer
        public PrinterItem(PrintQueue printer)
        {
            Printer = printer;
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Reference to PrintQueue class for this printer
        /// </summary>
        public PrintQueue Printer { get; set; }

        /// <summary>
        /// The string for this class is simply the FullName of the printer
        /// </summary>
        public override string ToString()
        {
            return Printer.FullName;
        }

        #region IComparable<PrinterItem> Members
        /// <summary>
        /// Implements IComparable interface to allow sorting of PrinterItem classes (based on printer name)
        /// </summary>
        ///
        /// \param[in]  other The other PrinterItem class that we are to compare this one to
        public int CompareTo(PrinterItem other)
        {
            return other.Printer.FullName.CompareTo(this.Printer.FullName);
        }
        #endregion
    }
    #endregion

    private List<PrinterItem> GetPrinters()
    {
        List<PrinterItem> printers = new List<PrinterItem>();

        EnumeratedPrintQueueTypes[] Queue_types = {EnumeratedPrintQueueTypes.Local,EnumeratedPrintQueueTypes.Connections};

        try {
            using (LocalPrintServer server = new LocalPrintServer())
                foreach (PrintQueue printer in server.GetPrintQueues(Queue_types))
                    printers.Add(new PrinterItem(printer));                 
            } catch {}

        printers.Sort();
        return printers;                
    }

    private void PrintDialog64_Shown(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        originalName = Document.PrinterSettings.PrinterName;
        printers     = GetPrinters();
        int index=0, i=0;

        foreach(PrinterItem printer in printers) {
            nameComboBox.Items.Add(printer.ToString());

            if (printer.ToString() == originalName) index = i;
            i++;
            }

        nameComboBox.SelectedIndex = index;
    }

    private void nameComboBox_Leave(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        string text = nameComboBox.Text;

        foreach(Object field in nameComboBox.Items)
            if (((string) field).ToLower().StartsWith(text.ToLower())) nameComboBox.SelectedItem = field;

        if (nameComboBox.SelectedIndex < 0)
            nameComboBox.SelectedIndex = 0;
    }

    private void nameComboBox_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        PrintQueue printer = printers[nameComboBox.SelectedIndex].Printer;

        if (hDevMode!=IntPtr.Zero) GlobalFree(hDevMode);

        PrinterSettings.PrinterName = printerName = printer.FullName;
        hDevMode                    = PrinterSettings.GetHdevmode(Document.DefaultPageSettings);            

        statusValue .Text = printer.QueueStatus.ToString()=="None" ? "Ready" : printer.QueueStatus.ToString();
        whereValue  .Text = printer.Location=="" ? printer.QueuePort.Name : printer.Location;
        commentValue.Text = printer.Comment;
    }

    private void propertiesButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        IntPtr handle;
        OpenPrinter(printerName, out handle, IntPtr.Zero);

        IntPtr pDevMode = GlobalLock( hDevMode );
        DocumentProperties(this.Handle, handle, printerName, pDevMode, pDevMode, DM_IN_BUFFER | DM_PROMPT | DM_OUT_BUFFER);
        GlobalUnlock( hDevMode );

        PrinterSettings.SetHdevmode( hDevMode );
        PrinterSettings.DefaultPageSettings.SetHdevmode( hDevMode );
        ClosePrinter(handle);
    }

    private void pageDefaultsButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        PageSetupDialog setup = new PageSetupDialog(); 
        setup.PageSettings = Document.DefaultPageSettings;

        if (setup.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK) {
            if (hDevMode!=IntPtr.Zero) GlobalFree(hDevMode);

            hDevMode = PrinterSettings.GetHdevmode( Document.DefaultPageSettings = setup.PageSettings );
            }
    }

    private void okButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        if (hDevMode!=IntPtr.Zero) GlobalFree(hDevMode);
    }

    private void cancelButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        if (hDevMode!=IntPtr.Zero) GlobalFree(hDevMode);

        PrinterSettings.PrinterName = originalName;
    }
}
}

Answer 3

I found a post on the Quicken Community forum: Solution to Printing Problems Vista 64 Quicken 2008, and the related FAQ: What if I'm unable to print, or receive "Error communicating with printer"? and the recommendation to use an emulation printer.