FIX: VB-Created Controls Fail to Print w/UserControl_Paint

• Microsoft Visual Basic, Learning, Professional, and Enterprise Editions for Windows, version 5.0

SYMPTOMS

When printing forms, drawings within UserControls will not be printed. The problem occurs when you print forms from the Visual Basic 5.0 IDE using either the Print command on the File menu or the PrintForm method at run- time. The problem does not occur when the project is made into an EXE.

CAUSE

When a UserControl contains drawing methods within its Paint event, this event is not triggered in the IDE in the same way as it is when the UserControl is within a compiled application. The IDE disables this event when its Print functionality is used. This same behavior is apparent in Run Mode when using the PrintForm method.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. This bug has been fixed in Visual Studio 97 Service Pack 2.

For more information on the Visual Studio 97 Service Pack 2, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q170365
   TITLE     : INFO: Visual Studio 97 Service Packs - What, Where, and Why

   ARTICLE-ID: Q171554
   TITLE     : INFO: Visual Basic 5.0 Fixes in Visual Studio 97
               Service Pack 2

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

1. Create a standard EXE project.

2. Add a UserControl to this project.

3. Add the following code to the UserControl code window:

         Private Sub UserControl_Paint()
            Dim r As Single
            Dim smidX As Single
            Dim smidY As Single
   
            UserControl.DrawWidth = 3
            smidX = ScaleWidth / 2
            smidY = ScaleHeight / 2
            Do While smidX - r > 0
               Circle (smidX, smidY), r
               r = r + 200
            Loop
         End Sub
   
   

4. Close the code window and the UserControl designer.

5. Add an instance of the control to Form1.

6. Click Print from the File menu. Select the Form Image option. Note that

       the graphics painted in the UserControl_Paint event do not appear on
       the printed output.