Using standard printing from windows

Word-BREAK: break-all" width="100%">Using standard printing from windows There are many applications where I don't really want to use the usual windows page print. Instead I want output to go directly to the printer using standard print i/o.  It's actually a topic that is hard to find in any of the books on Windows, at least I've never found anything on it. But to my surprise I recently learned that standard (DOS/Unix) printing is alive and well underneath windows.  All we need to do is open a printer port and print to it. If the printer is directly attached to the computer it's trivial. The method for obtaining a printer port when the printer is on the network isn't hard either. The example below shows how I use the Windows NET USE command to re-direct LPT1 to a shared printer on an NT Server.  The same technique applies for Novell networks with a slightly different syntax. Try this out by creating a new MFC Form-based project. Put a button on the form and attach this code to it. You can actually print with only 3 lines of code:         FILE *fp = fopen("LPT1", "w");         fprintf(fp,"What's up, Doc?\n");         fclose(fp); Instant print gratification!! While the program is open it hogs the printer port. In my shop that isn't a problem but be aware of the effect on your windows spooled output.       *********************************************************                         THE CODE       ********************************************************* // the headers for the conventional i/o routines #include #include #include using namespace std;      // makes string and ofstream                           // work without std:: qualifier void CLineprtView::OnButton1() {     // I could have used a CString instead of the buff[]     // but I wanted to show how this is used with lightweight     // ATL code and STD library          char buff[MAX_BUFF_SIZE];          // My printer is located on another server so I must re-direct the     // printer port.  If the printer is directly attached this extra step     // is not needed.     // on my network the printer is published as \\GREEN\hp5annex     // All those back-slashes escape the backslash in the path name          if (PRINTER_IS_REMOTE)     {         system("NET USE LPT1 /d");  // free up the port         system("net use lpt1 \\\\green\\hp5annex");     }          // old fashioned file handle with     // old fashioned open of the printer port     FILE *ptr = fopen("LPT1","w");          // laser printer setup string     sprintf(buff,"\033E\033(s0p4102t1b16.66H\033&l1O");     fprintf(ptr,buff);          // old fashioned print     fprintf(ptr,"Who of late doth make a thimble.\n");     fprintf(ptr,"Is a lower bunk a status symbol??\n");          // old fashioned close     fclose(ptr);          // now the same thing with stream io     ofstream optr("LPT1", ios::out);          string str_text = "Hey Doc, Ain't this a print test from windows\n";     str_text += "with more lines to follow?\n";     optr << str_text << endl;     optr << "Quiet, wabbit. I'm conversing with my muse!!\n";          optr << "That's all folks." << "\f" << flush;     // add a formfeed          // the printer connection is still open so close it     optr.close();          // drop the network link     if (PRINTER_IS_REMOTE)     {         system("net use lpt1 /d");     } } In practice I get printer path information from the registry on each machine, so the real live code is a little busier than this example, but not mUCh.