Sending Output to a Printer

MS-DOS                      | WINDOWS   | WINDOWS NT

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft C for MS-DOS, versions 5.1, 6.0, 6.0a, and 6.0ax
• Microsoft C/C++ for MS-DOS, version 7.0
• Microsoft Visual C++ for Windows, versions 1.0 and 1.5
• Microsoft Visual C++ 32-bit Edition, versions 1.0, 2.0, and 4.0

SUMMARY

This article presents three methods an application can use to send output to a printer.

MORE INFORMATION

Method 1

The first method uses the fprintf() function with the preopened "stdprn" stream. The following code example demonstrates this technique:

   #include <stdio.h>
   main()
   {
      fprintf(stdprn, "a line of text\n");
   }

Method 2

Another method uses the fopen() function to open the LPT1, LPT2, or PRN device as a file and uses the fprintf() function to write data to the file handle returned by fopen(). The following code example demonstrates this technique:

   #include <stdio.h>
   main()
   {
      FILE *stream;

      stream = fopen("PRN", "w");
      fprintf(stream, "a line of text\n");
   }

Method 3

Finally, in MS-DOS, an application can use the int86() or int86x() functions to call one of the following BIOS printer services provided by Interrupt 17h:

   service 0: send byte to the printer.
   service 1: initialize the printer.
   service 2: get printer status.

REFERENCES

For more information on the int86() and int86x() functions, refer to the Microsoft C "Run-Time Library Reference" manual.