Virtual Printer for C++, C#, Delphi, VB.NET, VB

 

If you are a software developer, our Custom Virtual Printers will help you to do the following:

1. Generate an output in the form of standard raster or vector formats from your program (or from any other software application meant to produce printing forms).

   Supported output formats:

   ◊ EMF
   ◊ PDF
   ◊ TIFF with various compressions including the CCITT fax compression. Virtual printer also supports the special fax - resolutions such as 204x98 and 204x196 DPI.
   ◊ JPEG, BMP, PNG
   ◊ Plain text in different encodings (ANSI, UTF-8 or Unicode).

2. Redirect the print job to other printer. Thus, when sending the document to the printer, you can save it in the set format (PDF, BMP, JPEG, TIFF, PNG, TXT) and print it in paper form on the physical printer at the same time.
3. Modify a virtual-printed document before sending it for actual printing.
4. Import documents from other applications. Imported documents can be converted to your format with the use of an EMF format.

Virtual printer also supports the custom paper sizes of up to 33x46", various resolutions from 100 to 2400 DPI, and multilanguage interface. You will get a printer with desired name, driver installation and uninstallation module, and integration instructions with the samples. The fee that you pay when you purchase a virtual printer is your only expense. We do not charge any consecutive royalties. You can use the printer with your applications without any additional fees. We will make all additional customization to make sure that the printer fully conforms to your requirements. A source code is also available for purchasing. Its license allows the code modifications.

 

How the Virtual Printer works

1. The user prints a document to the virtual printer from any application.
2. The virtual printer intercepts the print job and saves each printed page as EMF file.
3. The virtual printer converts EMF files to specified output formats. All files are saved in the current user temporary directory or specified output directory.
4. The virtual printer creates an INI file with print job information and paths to the generated files.
5. The virtual printer sends the path of this INI file to a specified application using one of following transfer modes:

   ◊ Command line transfer mode. The virtual printer will run the specified application with the path of the INI file in the command line parameters.
   ◊ WM_COPYDATA transfer mode. The printer runs the specified application (or looks for a running instance) and sends it the path of the INI file using a WM_COPYDATA message.
   ◊ Clipboard transfer mode. (This is obsolete and intended for legacy applications.) The printer runs the specified application (or looks for a running instance), puts the path of the INI file on the clipboard and notifies the application.

6. Your application receives the INI file and parses it. Now you can perform any final actions (moving files, transferring files, etc.). You should delete files from the output directory when you are finished.

 

Virtual Printer demonstration

You can download Your Virtual Printer Example demo printer for Windows 2000/2000TS/XP/2003/Vista. It will demonstrate you the full capabilities of our virtual printer driver technology. Version for x64 systems is also available. You can download it here.

Install the driver, select "Your Virtual Printer Example" in the printers list, print any document with "Your Virtual Printer Example" and you will see the information about your print job:

All this information can be transferred into your application, so that your application can get the following data:

◊ printer name;
◊ document name;
◊ number of pages in the print job;
◊ horizontal and vertical printing resolution;
◊ page orientation;
◊ paper size;
◊ document (PDF), image (EMF, PDF, BMP, JPEG, TIFF, PNG) or text (TXT) file for every printed page.

You can view the generated files by double click on the line containing file path.

Few screenshots of virtual printer preferences:

Check Frequently Asked Questions ( FAQ ) page for more details about virtal printer driver.

 

Virtual Printer tutorials

You can see tutorials how to use our virtual printer technology in your applications.

 

Download

Your Virtual Printer Example (3.0M) - Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista
Your Virtual Printer Example, x64 edition (2.1M) - Windows XP x64/2003 x64/Vista x64

 

Pricing information

Learn more about Virtual Printer Development prices...

 

Our other software development tool

◊ PDF Printer Pilot converts files into PDF using the Virtual Printer. You can download demo example of the developer version of PDF Printer Pilot here:
PDF Printer Pilot Automated Example (1.3M)
This demo driver shows how PDF Printer Pilot can be automated and controlled through ActiveX/COM interfaces.

◊ The PDF Creator Pilot library is used in the Virtual Printer to generate PDF documents. More...

◊ PostScript Virtual Printer for Developers - PostScript virtual printer with your name for your software. More...

 

Contact us

If you are interested in the custom virtual printer, please contact us via our on-line form.