VB/VBA Call to determine printer type? (Word 2000)

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Hi: I have a question; one that I cannot seem to find any information on anywhere … I feel it is a common-enough problem that many firms would have … It has to do with printing different paper types to different printers

OK, in my office I have several different types of HP printers: HP4+, HP5, HP4050. The only thing that is consistent about these printers is that they have the following tray setups: envelope feeder, MP/Tray1, Tray2, and Tray3.

I have more paper types than I do trays: draft, bond, 1stpageletterhead, 2ndpageletterhead, legal, labels, envelopes

So: I would like to standardize what trays will hold what type of paper:

Envelopes Envelope Feeder
MP/Tray1 2nd page letterhead
Tray2 1st page letterhead
Tray3 Draft

MP/Tray1 Legal, labels, etc.
(prompted)

I want to create a macro that will set the proper paper trays depending on the type of document produced: e.g. “Letter” would set the first page of the document to Tray2 and all subsequent pages to Tray3.
OK, I can do that. However, the macro only works for HP4050 printers. HP5 printers don’t have a “Tray3”, they have “Lower Bin”.

Now that I got that all out of the way, here is what I want: A macro that determines the “type” of printer (HP4+, HP5), and then sets the appropriate tray codes. I can get the tray codes my creating the macro for just one printer at a time (whatever my default printer is). What I can’t seem to figure out is whether or not I can tell what type of printer my default printer is, so that I can use a SELECT CASE or IF/THEN statement to set the tray codes. Is there a VB or VBA call that will return this information?

Thanks for whatever help you can give …

Andrew Harrell (VBA newbie)
Greenberg, Traurig
harrella@gtlaw.com

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Okay, just for historical reference, I found this code I used in a very old version of Word, probably Word95 (as interpreted by Word2000):

Dim fps2 As Object
Set fps2 = WordBasic.DialogRecord.FilePrintSetup(False)
WordBasic.CurValues.FilePrintSetup fps2
curPrinter$ = fps2.Printer
 
Rem Get printer [driver] type (i.e., 4 or 4si) from the local Registry
curPtrRegKey$ = _
    "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESystemCurrentControlSetcontrolPrintPrinters" + _
	curPrinter$
curPtrType$ = _
    WordBasic.[GetPrivateProfileString$](curPtrRegKey$, "Printer Driver", "")

Lovely, eh? To do this in VBA would be:

Sub DiscoverPrinter()
Dim strPrinter As String, strDriver As String
'retrieve full printer name and port string
strPrinter = Application.ActivePrinter
'strip port information
strPrinter = Left(strPrinter, InStr(1, strPrinter, " on ", vbBinaryCompare) - 1)
'look up driver name
strDriver = System.PrivateProfileString("", "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESystem" & _
        "CurrentControlSetcontrolPrintPrinters" & strPrinter, _
        "Printer Driver")
'report findings
MsgBox strPrinter & " is a(n) " & strDriver
End Sub

Hope this helps, and please post back with the working solution; you will earn lots of fans! (And then I won’t feel guilty about helping out the competition. )

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Will be happy to do so … will need to get with some of my more-experienced colleagues to apply … but will post back.

Many Thanks!!

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Close, but no cigar on our system… we’re running Win2k on Win2k Workstations and Win2k server…

Any suggestions?

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Oh, man. After an hour in the Registry it’s time to go home! Here is a version that works with Windows 2000 Professional on the one PC I could try it on:

Sub DiscoverPrinter()
Dim strPrinter As String, strDriver As String, strServer() As String
'retrieve full printer name and port info
strPrinter = Application.ActivePrinter
'strip port information from printer name (necessary for Win98)
strPrinter = Left(strPrinter, InStr(1, strPrinter, " on ", vbBinaryCompare) - 1)
'look up driver name
strDriver = System.PrivateProfileString("", "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESystem" & _
        "CurrentControlSetcontrolPrintPrinters" & strPrinter, _
        "Printer Driver")
'if driver name is blank, try key for Windows2000
If strDriver = vbNullString Then
    'parse server name from share name
    strServer = Split(strPrinter, "", , vbTextCompare)
    strDriver = System.PrivateProfileString("", "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftware" & _
        "MicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionPrintProvidersLanMan Print Services" & _
        "Servers" & strServer(2) & "Printers" & strServer(3), "Printer Driver")
End If
'report findings
MsgBox strPrinter & " is a(n) " & strDriver
End Sub

Let me know how it works out.

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Hey, thanks for the effort and the code! It did work — I found the same registry data earlier in the evening, and fumbled thru getting the strDriver parsed to get to the share name (not as elegant as you did it). And it did work!!

Next step is to put in the conditionals for the printer driver types … will post the code as soon as Karen and I have tested …. thanks again!

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OK, I’ve got the code … many thanks for what would have been the hard part for me to figure out — the registry lookup , etc …

A little info on the completed macro — I am not an HP printer expert. A big part of getting this macro to work was to check every printer(actually the driver) and then see what settings are made when different printers are used as the default printer.

Well …. Enjoy, and let me know what you think about my first effort here …….

‘*** Document Paper Type Macro ****************************
‘
‘Written by: Andrew Harrell on: 8/06/01
‘
‘**********************************************************

Option Explicit ‘turn on required var declaration
‘Give the paper types a name; easier to follow code
Private Enum gtPaperType
draft = 1
Letterhead = 2
Other = 3
End Enum

‘These next three subs form the macs for the toolbar
Public Sub SelDraftPaper()
Call DiscoverPrinter(draft)
End Sub
Public Sub SelLHPaper()
Call DiscoverPrinter(Letterhead)
End Sub
Public Sub SelOtherPaper()
Call DiscoverPrinter(Other)
End Sub

‘ **********************************************************
‘ Discover Default Printer (by printer driver)
‘ **********************************************************
Private Sub DiscoverPrinter(ByVal intChoice As gtPaperType)
Dim strPrinter As String, strdriver As String, strServer() As String

‘ *** Retrieve full printer name and port string
strPrinter = Application.ActivePrinter
‘ *** Strip port information
strPrinter = Left(strPrinter, InStr(1, strPrinter, ” on “, vbBinaryCompare) – 1)
‘ *** Parse server name from share name
strServer = Split(strPrinter, “”, , vbTextCompare)
‘ *** Look up driver name in Registry
strdriver = System.PrivateProfileString(“”, “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftware” & _
“MicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionPrintProvidersLanMan Print Services” & _
“Servers” & strServer(2) & “Printers” & strServer(3), “Printer Driver”)

‘ *** Now call the proper Printer subroutine to set the bins
Select Case strdriver
Case Is = “HP LaserJet 5”
Call HP5BINZ(intChoice)
Case Is = “HP LaserJet 5N”
Call HP5BINZ(intChoice)
Case Is = “HP LaserJet 4 Plus”
Call HP5BINZ(intChoice)
Case Is = “HP LaserJet 4000 Series PCL”
Call HP4000BINZ(intChoice)
Case Is = “HP LaserJet 4050 Series PCL”
Call HP4000BINZ(intChoice)
Case Else
MsgBox Prompt:=”You must manually set Paper trays” & vbLf & “for this Printer: ” & strdriver, _
Buttons:=vbOKOnly + vbInformation, Title:=”Set Paper Trays”
End Select

End Sub
‘ **********************************************************
‘ End of Macro
‘ **********************************************************

Private Sub HP5BINZ(ByVal intChoice As gtPaperType)
‘
‘ HP5BINZ Macro
‘ Macro recorded 8/01/2001 by Harrella
‘
With ActiveDocument.PageSetup

Select Case intChoice
Case Is = gtPaperType.draft
.FirstPageTray = wdPrinterDefaultBin
.OtherPagesTray = wdPrinterDefaultBin
Case Is = gtPaperType.Letterhead
.FirstPageTray = wdPrinterLowerBin
.OtherPagesTray = wdPrinterUpperBin
Case Is = gtPaperType.Other
.FirstPageTray = wdPrinterManualFeed
.OtherPagesTray = wdPrinterManualFeed
End Select

End With
End Sub

Private Sub HP4000BINZ(ByVal intChoice As gtPaperType)
‘
‘ HP4000BINZ Macro
‘ Macro recorded 8/01/2001 by Harrella
‘
With ActiveDocument.PageSetup

Select Case intChoice
Case Is = gtPaperType.draft
.FirstPageTray = wdPrinterDefaultBin
.OtherPagesTray = wdPrinterDefaultBin
Case Is = gtPaperType.Letterhead
.FirstPageTray = 260
.OtherPagesTray = 261
Case Is = gtPaperType.Other
.FirstPageTray = 257
.OtherPagesTray = 257
End Select

End With
End Sub

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API calls should help in identifying printer.

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Yeah, but which ones?

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A good source for this is the bible, ooops, I mean Dan Appleman’s Visual Basic Guide to the Win32 API (ISBN: 0672315904), check for best price at http://www.bookpool.com and http://www.bestbookbuys.com.

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