Required Functions

The following table describes the entry points that a print processor must export to the local spooler and the data structures that are shared between the print processor and local spooler.

Entry Point Description
ClosePrintProcessor Closes an instance of the specified print processor.
ControlPrintProcessor Provides control over printing the document.
EnumPrintProcessorDataTypes Returns the data types supported by the print processor.
InitializePrintProcessor Sets up the function pointer table that registers with the spooler all the other entry points provided by the print processor (OpenPrintProcessor, ClosePrintProcessor, ControlPrintProcessor, EnumDatatypes, and PrintDocumentOnPrintProcessor).
OpenPrintProcessor Opens an instance of the print processor for printing.
PrintDocumentOnPrintProcessor Prints the document.

In the default print processor, this is the function that actually plays back the spooled file. The ReadPrinter function call gets a block of data from the spool file and the WritePrinter function call sends the block of data to the printer.


One data structure is also defined, PRINTPROCESSORDOCUMENTDATA. This is a global data structure defined in WINSPLP.H that is used to share information between the print processor component and other components of the spooler subsystem.