ACC2: Using the PrtDevMode Property to Change Page Orientation

• Microsoft Access version 2.0

SUMMARY

Moderate: Requires basic macro, coding, and interoperability skills.

This article demonstrates a sample user-defined Access Basic Sub procedure you can use to set a report's PrtDevMode property to change the page orientation before you print the report.

This article assumes that you are familiar with Access Basic and with creating Microsoft Access applications using the programming tools provided with Microsoft Access. For more information about Access Basic, please refer to the "Building Applications" manual.

MORE INFORMATION

When you change a report's page orientation by setting the PrtDevMode property, keep the following printer driver characteristics in mind:

• Set only those members that the printer driver supports. For example, if you set a custom page size for a driver that does not support a custom page size, you may encounter unexpected results.
• Set the PrtDevMode property's Fields member if you change any other member to let the printer driver know which members you are changing.
• Change only the first 68 bytes of the PrtDevMode property. Printer drivers are able to store driver-specific information after the first 68 bytes; therefore, it is important not to overwrite this information.

How to Change the Page Orientation

1. Create a module and enter the following statement in the Declarations section:

         Option Explicit
   

2. Enter the following procedure:

         Sub ChgRptOrient (ReportName As String)
            ' The zwtDevModeStr and zwtDeviceMode types are defined in the
            ' zwAllGlobals module in the WZFRMRPT.MDA file.
            Dim DevString As zwtDevModeStr
            Dim dm As zwtDeviceMode
            'Constant for the Fields member.
            Const DM_ORIENTATION = &H1
            Dim stDevModeExtra As String
            Dim rpt As Report
            Dim msg As String
            'Open the report in Design view.
            DoCmd OpenReport ReportName, A_DESIGN
            Set rpt = Reports(ReportName)
            If Not IsNull(rpt.PrtDevMode) Then
               'Copy the PrtDevMode property to a string.
               stDevModeExtra = rpt.PrtDevMode
               DevString.rgb = stDevModeExtra
               LSet dm = DevString
               'Display the current orientation.
               msg = "The Orientation is currently"
               If dm.dmOrientation = 1 Then
                  msg = msg & " Portrait. Change to Landscape?"
               Else
                  msg = msg & " Landscape. Change to Portrait?"
               End If
               response = MsgBox(msg, 4)
               If response = 6 Then
                  'User chose Yes.
                  'Initialize the Fields member.
                  dm.dmFields = dm.dmFields Or DM_ORIENTATION
                  'Set the orientation.
                  If dm.dmOrientation = 1 Then
                     'Set the orientation to Landscape.
                     dm.dmOrientation = 2
                  Else
                     'Set the orientation to Portrait.
                     dm.dmOrientation = 1
                  End If
                  'Update the first 68 bytes of the PrtDevMode property.
                  LSet DevString = dm
                  Mid$(stDevModeExtra, 1, 68) = DevString.rgb
                  rpt.PrtDevMode = stDevModeExtra
               End If
            End If
         End Sub
   
   

3. Choose Immediate Window from the View menu. Type the following line in the Immediate window, and then press ENTER

         ChgRptOrient "<Report1>"
   

   where <Report1> is the name of your report.

REFERENCES