FIX: Using the SelPrint Method of the Rich Text Control

ID: Q170126

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows, versions 5.0, 5.0a, used with:
- Microsoft Windows 95
- Microsoft Windows NT 4.0

SYMPTOMS

The example code from Help for the SelPrint method of the Microsoft Rich Text Control causes syntax errors when saving after it is pasted into the Click method of a command button as directed by Help. Additionally, once the syntax errors are fixed, the contents of the Rich Text control do not print on the Windows 95 platform but no error messages are received.

CAUSE

The example code in Help for the SelPrint method of the Microsoft Rich Text control is Visual Basic code.

Even after converting this code to Visual FoxPro code, the contents of the Rich Text Control cannot be printed on the Windows 95 platform. The specific cause of this behavior is under investigation.

RESOLUTION

The example code for the SelPrint method can be changed into the following Visual FoxPro code to eliminate the syntax errors and get the contents of the Rich Text control to print when Visual FoxPro is running on the Windows NT 4.0 platform.

As stated in Help, place the following code in the Click method of a command button. A CommonDialog control should also be placed on the form with a command button and a Rich Text control:


cdlPDReturnDC=256
cdlPDNoPageNums=8
cdlPDSelection=1
cdlPDAllPages=0

Thisform.CommDlg1.Flags = cdlPDReturnDC + cdlPDNoPageNums
If Thisform.RTF1.SelLength = 0
Thisform.CommDlg1.Flags = Thisform.CommDlg1.Flags ;
+ cdlPDAllPages
Else
Thisform.CommDlg1.Flags = Thisform.CommDlg1.Flags ;
+ cdlPDSelection
EndIf
Thisform.CommDlg1.ShowPrinter
Thisform.RTF1.SelPrint(Thisform.CommDlg1.hDC)

Note that the above code refers to CommDlg1 and RTF1 as the names of the ActiveX controls. When these controls are placed on a form, the names default to "OLEControl1" and "OLEControl2." Therefore, the name property for these two controls needs to be changed to "CommDlg1" and "RTF1," respectively, for the above code to work properly in Visual FoxPro.

The code in this article might cause the following error if you click Cancel instead of OK in the printer dialog box:

OLE Idispatch Exception code 0 from richttextctrl: Invalid HDC...

NOTE: Thisform.OleControl2.hDC returns a -1 when Cancel is chosen; therefore, the error occurs. To prevent this error, place an IF...ENDIF statement around the last line of the Click event code as follows:


IF Thisform.OleControl2.hDC>0
   Thisform.OleControl1.SelPrint(Thisform.OleControl2.hDC)
ENDIF

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. This bug was corrected in Visual FoxPro 6.0.

MORE INFORMATION

The name and version of the Rich Text control varies depending on which version of Visual FoxPro or Visual Basic has been installed on the computer.

Look in the Tools, Options dialog box, Controls tab in Visual FoxPro to check which version of a control is installed. Unfortunately the dialog box displaying the controls is not wide enough to show the version number of the Rich Text control. The actual file version can be obtained by viewing the properties of the .ocx file in Windows Explorer.

The Microsoft Rich Textbox Control, version 1.0.2922, is installed by Visual FoxPro 5.0. The file name is Richtx32.ocx and is found in either the Win95\System or the WinNT\System32 folder depending on the operating system.

The Microsoft RichText Control, version 5, version 5.00.3714, is installed by Visual FoxPro 5.0a. It is also named Richtx32.ocx and is found in the same locations as the version installed by Visual FoxPro 5.0.

After you click OK to print in the Print dialog box, it places that value in the Thisform.OleControl2.hDC. This value is not reset until you close the form. Therefore, you might see the behavior when someone clicks OK to print and then (without closing the form) clicks Cancel. The job prints anyway because the value has not been reset.

REFERENCES

Help for the Microsoft Rich Text Control: Access this by right-clicking on the control on the form and selecting Help from the shortcut menu. Click the Methods jump at the top of the page and select the SelPrint Method to Display from the Topics Found dialog box. The sample code is in the Example jump at the top of the page.

ActiveX Controls Overview Help topic. Type "HELP ActiveX Controls Overview" in the Visual FoxPro Command window to go directly to this topic.

For additional information about adding ActiveX controls to your applications, see Chapter 16, "Adding OLE," in the Developer's Guide.

The values for the constants, cdlPDReturnDC, cdlPDNoPageNums, cdlPDSelection, and cdlPDAllPages, used in the Resolution section above are from the Help file for the Common Dialog control, Flags Property(Print Dialog) topic. Right-click the Common Dialog control and select Help from the shortcut menu.

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbVFp500abug kbVFp500bug kbVFp600fix
Version : WINDOWS:5.0,5.0a,95
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbbug