Using the AdvancedSetUpDialog() Configuration Call

• Microsoft Windows Device Development Kit (DDK) for Windows version 3.1

SUMMARY

Windows printer drivers are expected to export the ExtDeviceMode() function, which displays a configuration dialog box for the printer. This dialog box generally prompts the user for characteristics of the printout, such as orientation, paper size, and paper source. This box is displayed whenever an application or DLL calls into the ExtDeviceMode() function; for example, when the Configure button in the printer control panel application is clicked.

However, with the introduction of the common dialog box DLL, this top-level configuration dialog box has been generalized and is now being provided by the print common dialog box. Thus, those applications that configure the printer via the common print dialog box will raise a different top-level configuration dialog box than those applications that call ExtDeviceMode() directly for this purpose.

MORE INFORMATION

To still allow the user to configure driver-specific characteristics, Windows version 3.1 printer drivers can export the AdvancedSetUpDialog() procedure that, when invoked, raises another dialog box to prompt the user for additional print configuration information. If the common print dialog box detects the presence of this function in the driver, it activates a button labeled Options that, when clicked, calls the AdvancedSetUpDialog() function. The dialog box that is raised upon invocation of the ExtDeviceMode() function, however, frequently has the same Options button that, in turn, calls AdvancedSetUpDialog().

This approach bears the problem that a printer driver may want to know whether the AdvancedSetUpDialog() function has been called from the Options button of the common print dialog box or the top-level ExtDeviceMode() configuration dialog box. For example, if the printer driver offers a feature that is included in the ExtDeviceMode() dialog box, then this feature should also be available in the AdvancedSetUpDialog() box in case the top-level configuration box has been bypassed by the common print dialog box; however, IF the advanced dialog box has been selected through the ExtDeviceMode() dialog box, the feature should not be available in the advanced dialog box to avoid redundancy.

To work around this problem, the dialog box procedure for the top-level dialog box procedure should set a global flag that the advanced dialog box can test upon to determine whether it has been called from the driver's top- level configuration dialog box. In addition, the first parameter passed to AdvancedSetUpDialog()--the window handle that serves as the parent for the dialog box--can be used to determine where the AdvancedSetUpDialog() function was called from.

Microsoft recommends that applications use the common print dialog box wherever possible when setting up a printer, and that printer drivers do not duplicate functionality in the AdvancedSetUpDialog() and ExtDeviceMode() dialog boxes to prompt the user for printer-specific characteristics.

REFERENCE

The AdvancedSetUpDialog() function is documented on pages 134-135 in the Microsoft Windows version 3.1 "Device Driver Adaptation Guide."