asp.net vb web application printing data to a sticky label machine from web server - vb.net

Question

I am developing a website where i'm pulling some data from a query and then needing to print this data to a brady pr300 plus label printer. I would like for the printing to happen automatically from the web server to the printer without having the print dialog box pop up on the client computer.
What is the best way to go about this? javascript, vb behind code?
I've been playing around with this without much luck. I created a printingclass with onbeginprint method and onprintpage method. When i call the print, it goes to the onbeginprint method, but for some reason it doesnt go to onprintpagemethod when i step through the code. The error i get is System.Drwaing.Printing.invalidprinterexception: no printers are installed.
I'm kind of stuck at the moment.
Public Sub PrintDocument()
Dim tprinter As New PCPrint
tprinter.PrinterFont = New Font("Verdana", 10)
tprinter.TextToPrint = "HELLO WORLD"
tprinter.PrintName = "testbrady"
tprinter.Print()
End Sub
Protected Overrides Sub OnBeginPrint(ByVal e As Printing.PrintEventArgs)
' Run base code
MyBase.OnBeginPrint(e)
'Check to see if the user provided a font
'if they didnt then we default to Times New Roman
If _font Is Nothing Then
'Create the font we need
_font = New Font("Times New Roman", 10)
End If
End Sub
Protected Overrides Sub OnPrintPage(ByVal e As Printing.PrintPageEventArgs)
' Run base code
MyBase.OnPrintPage(e)
'Declare local variables needed
Static curChar As Integer
Dim printHeight As Integer
Dim printWidth As Integer
Dim leftMargin As Integer
Dim rightMargin As Integer
Dim lines As Int32
Dim chars As Int32
'Set print area size and margins
With MyBase.DefaultPageSettings
printHeight = .PaperSize.Height - .Margins.Top - .Margins.Bottom
printWidth = .PaperSize.Width - .Margins.Left - .Margins.Right
leftMargin = .Margins.Left 'X
rightMargin = .Margins.Top 'Y
End With
MyBase.DefaultPageSettings.PrinterSettings.PrinterName = PrintName
'Check if the user selected to print in Landscape mode
'if they did then we need to swap height/width parameters
If MyBase.DefaultPageSettings.Landscape Then
Dim tmp As Integer
tmp = printHeight
printHeight = printWidth
printWidth = tmp
End If
'Now we need to determine the total number of lines
'we're going to be printing
Dim numLines As Int32 = CInt(printHeight / PrinterFont.Height)
'Create a rectangle printing are for our document
Dim printArea As New RectangleF(leftMargin, rightMargin, printWidth, printHeight)
'Use the StringFormat class for the text layout of our document
Dim format As New StringFormat(StringFormatFlags.LineLimit)
'Fit as many characters as we can into the print area
e.Graphics.MeasureString(_text.Substring(RemoveZeros(curChar)), PrinterFont, New SizeF(printWidth, printHeight), format, chars, lines)
'Print the page
e.Graphics.DrawString(_text.Substring(RemoveZeros(curChar)), PrinterFont, Brushes.Black, printArea, format)
'Increase current char count
curChar += chars
'Detemine if there is more text to print, if
'there is the tell the printer there is more coming
If curChar < _text.Length Then
e.HasMorePages = True
Else
e.HasMorePages = False
curChar = 0
End If
End Sub

Answer 1

Hello StackOverflow Members,
This is what i ended up doing to get the label printer to work.
Imports System.Drawing
Imports System.Drawing.Printing
Public Sub prt(variables)
Dim prn As New Printing.PrintDocument
Dim psz As New Printing.PaperSize With {
.RawKind = Printing.PaperKind.Custom,
.Width = 400,
.Height = 150
}
Using (prn)
prn.PrinterSettings.PrinterName = printer
prn.DefaultPageSettings.PaperSize = psz
prn.DefaultPageSettings.Margins.Left = 5
prn.DefaultPageSettings.Margins.Right = 5
prn.DefaultPageSettings.Margins.Top = 5
prn.DefaultPageSettings.Margins.Bottom = 5
AddHandler prn.PrintPage,
AddressOf Me.PrintPageHandler
prn.Print()
RemoveHandler prn.PrintPage,
AddressOf Me.PrintPageHandler
End Using
End Sub
Private Sub PrintPageHandler(ByVal sender As Object,
ByVal args As Printing.PrintPageEventArgs)
Dim shopnameX As Integer = 10, shopnameY As Integer = 10
Dim sfont As New Font("Arial Black", 14)
Dim strfomart As New StringFormat()
Dim StrRight As New StringFormat()
Dim StrLeft As New StringFormat()
strfomart.Alignment = StringAlignment.Center
StrRight.Alignment = StringAlignment.Far
StrLeft.Alignment = StringAlignment.Near
Dim dashValues As Single() = {5, 2, 5, 2}
Dim blackPen As New Pen(Color.Black, 1)
' blackPen.DashPattern = dashValues
Dim i As Integer, j As Integer
args.Graphics.DrawString(part.ToString, sfont, Brushes.Black, New
PointF(shopnameX, shopnameY))
End Sub