Function: Modify IE Footer, Header, & Margin Info for Printing

[kpsmith]

These functions let you programatically change a users Internet Explorer printing options found under IE's File | page setup menu. Specifically it changes the header, footer, and margins. This is especially useful if you are using the Web.Print action in an AMS project to print a report or other formatted document.

The CHANGEIESETTINGS accepts 6 arguments to manipulate the Header, Footer and 4 page margins.

The RESTOREIESETTINGS restores the original user specified settings.


Place this code into your Global Functions section

--***************************
--  CHANGE FOOTER, HEADER, & MARGINS
--***************************
--Changes the Header, footer, & Margin info used when printing from IE
function CHANGEIESETTINGS(Header, Footer, MarginTop, MarginBottom, MarginLeft, MarginRight)

--Get Current Registry Key Values if they exist
IEHeader = Registry.GetValue(HKEY_CURRENT_USER, "Software\\Microsoft\\Internet Explorer\\PageSetup", "header", true);
IEFooter = Registry.GetValue(HKEY_CURRENT_USER, "Software\\Microsoft\\Internet Explorer\\PageSetup", "footer", true);
IEMarginTop = Registry.GetValue(HKEY_CURRENT_USER, "Software\\Microsoft\\Internet Explorer\\PageSetup", "margin_top", true);
IEMarginBottom = Registry.GetValue(HKEY_CURRENT_USER, "Software\\Microsoft\\Internet Explorer\\PageSetup", "margin_bottom", true);
IEMarginLeft = Registry.GetValue(HKEY_CURRENT_USER, "Software\\Microsoft\\Internet Explorer\\PageSetup", "margin_left", true);
IEMarginRight = Registry.GetValue(HKEY_CURRENT_USER, "Software\\Microsoft\\Internet Explorer\\PageSetup", "margin_right", true);

--Set Values based on arguments of function
Registry.SetValue(HKEY_CURRENT_USER, "Software\\Microsoft\\Internet Explorer\\PageSetup", "header", Header, REG_SZ);
Registry.SetValue(HKEY_CURRENT_USER, "Software\\Microsoft\\Internet Explorer\\PageSetup", "footer", Footer, REG_SZ);
Registry.SetValue(HKEY_CURRENT_USER, "Software\\Microsoft\\Internet Explorer\\PageSetup", "margin_top", MarginTop, REG_SZ);
Registry.SetValue(HKEY_CURRENT_USER, "Software\\Microsoft\\Internet Explorer\\PageSetup", "margin_bottom", MarginBottom, REG_SZ);
Registry.SetValue(HKEY_CURRENT_USER, "Software\\Microsoft\\Internet Explorer\\PageSetup", "margin_left", MarginLeft, REG_SZ);
Registry.SetValue(HKEY_CURRENT_USER, "Software\\Microsoft\\Internet Explorer\\PageSetup", "margin_right", MarginRight, REG_SZ);
end


--***************************
--Restore Header, Footer, & Margins
--***************************
function RESTOREIESETTINGS()

--Restore User Header, footer, Margin values
Registry.SetValue(HKEY_CURRENT_USER, "Software\\Microsoft\\Internet Explorer\\PageSetup", "header", IEHeader, REG_SZ);
Registry.SetValue(HKEY_CURRENT_USER, "Software\\Microsoft\\Internet Explorer\\PageSetup", "footer", IEFooter, REG_SZ);
Registry.SetValue(HKEY_CURRENT_USER, "Software\\Microsoft\\Internet Explorer\\PageSetup", "margin_top", IEMarginTop, REG_SZ);
Registry.SetValue(HKEY_CURRENT_USER, "Software\\Microsoft\\Internet Explorer\\PageSetup", "margin_bottom", IEMarginBottom, REG_SZ);
Registry.SetValue(HKEY_CURRENT_USER, "Software\\Microsoft\\Internet Explorer\\PageSetup", "margin_left", IEMarginLeft, REG_SZ);
Registry.SetValue(HKEY_CURRENT_USER, "Software\\Microsoft\\Internet Explorer\\PageSetup", "margin_right", IEMarginRight, REG_SZ);
end

Here's an example funtion call to change the headers and set margins to .5 inches

-- Change header & footer to "My Custom Header/footer"  Change margins to .5 inch
CHANGEIESETTINGS("My Custom Header", "My Custom Footer", "0.50", "0.50", "0.50", "0.50")

Here's the function call to restore the original header, footer, & margins

--Restore User values for Header, Footer, & Margins
RESTOREIESETTINGS()

[Ted Sullivan]

That'll come in super handy for someone, I'm sure! Thanks for the contribution!

[bule]

Thank You!!!

[Corey]

Sweet! :yes :yes :yes :yes :yes :yes :yes :yes :yes :yes

[Worm]

This is definitely one of the top 10 tips on this forum.

KP is an animal!

[CyberRBT]

MSIE Header & Footer Macros

When you use the function above to change the header and/or footer, you can insert these MSIE pre-defined macros.

&& = ampersand
&b = right-justify
&d = date (user short format)
&D = date (user long format)
&t = time (user preference)
&T = time (military format)
&p = page
&P = number of pages
&u = URL (or file path)
&w = (window) title tag

Also with the web browser control, you can put one on your page as a 1x1 pixel dot (in a corner). Then, you can use your own html templates to create, display, and print pages (like we commonly do with PHP).

For example, design an HTML template (my_page_tpl.html) that has basic tags, but within the BODY you have this text: [REPLACE_THIS_CONTENT]. If you display this template in your browser, that's all you see. But, within AMS you use TextFile.ReadToString to open the document. Next, use String.Replace to change [REPLACE_THIS_CONTENT] to your dynamic runtime content. Finally, use TextFile.WriteFromString to create a presentation page (print or display) such as “my_page_final.html”.

To me, this is the AMS way to print customized pages. I've lurked and learned here for a while. This is my first public tip; hope someone finds this useful.

[CyberRBT]

More on HTML Templates in AMS

1. If you don't want to have the 1x1 pixel Web Browser Object, you can use File.Run to access the M$ Web Browser DLL directly. For example:

File.Run(_SystemFolder .. "\\rundll32.exe", _SystemFolder .. "\\mshtml.dll,PrintHTML \\"" .. _SourceFolder .. "\\AutoPlay\\HTML\\my_page_final.html" .. "\\"");

2. If you do use this technique, you can still allow the end-user to choose their printer preference. Simply, include this HTML code at the end of your actual BODY tag in your HTML template:

onload="window.print();"

3. If all you want to do is print an image (BMP, GIF, JPG, or PNG), with String.Replace just replace [REPLACE_THIS_CONTENT] with an HTML IMG reference to the absolute file path of the image that you want to print. The final HTML would contain something like this:

<img src="C:\MyProjectPath\AutoPlay\Images\this_image.jpg" border=0 />

[Worm]

Good stuff, thanks for the insight :yes