Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Batch Printing ArcMap MXD Documents

It seems like right clicking on an MXD file in Windows Explorer and trying to print never works right. Here's a simple utility that lets a user select a whole bunch of MXD files and sends them all to the printer without having to open ArcMap. Fast and easy.



This was written in Visual Basic using Visual Studio 2008 and requires that ArcMap 9.3 or later is already installed on the machine.








Here's the full Visual Studio Project:



And here's an installer if you just want the executable:



Here's some sample code that shows how the actual printing function works:


    Private Function PrintMXD(ByVal FullFileName As String) As Integer

        'Function PrintMXD
        '
        'This opens an MXD file specified by FullFileName and sends it to the printer
        'The map will be sent to whatever printer is specified in the MXD document's settings
        '
        'Function returns value 1 for success, 0 for failure

'-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

        'Verify that the file exists
        Dim aFileInfo As FileInfo
        Dim DocName As String
        aFileInfo = New FileInfo(FullFileName)
        If aFileInfo.Exists Then
            'Create a short string to send to the printer later
            DocName = aFileInfo.Name
        Else
            MessageBox.Show(FullFileName & " does not exist", "File not found", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error)
            PrintMXD = 0
            Exit Function
        End If

 
        '-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        'Get this Application's hWnd

        Dim aHWnd As Long
        Dim m As System.Reflection.Module
        m = Me.GetType.Module
        aHWnd = System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.GetHINSTANCE(m)

        '-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        'Make a MapDocument and open the specified file
        'If this fails, exit the function with error code

        Dim aDoc As IMapDocument = Nothing
        Try
            While aDoc Is Nothing
                aDoc = New MapDocument
            End While
            aDoc.Open(FullFileName)
        Catch ex As Exception
            MessageBox.Show("Unable to start ArcMap..." & vbNewLine & ex.Message, "Error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error)
            PrintMXD = 0
            Exit Function
        End Try
 
        '-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        'When using IMapDocument, it it necessary to Activate the Page Layout and each Map to update the displays
        Dim i As Integer
        Dim pActiveView As IActiveView
 
        'Activate each map
        For i = 0 To aDoc.MapCount - 1
            pActiveView = aDoc.Map(i)
            pActiveView.Activate(aHWnd)
        Next
        'Activate the Page Layout and keep a reference to it
        pActiveView = aDoc.PageLayout
        pActiveView.Activate(aHWnd)
 
        '-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        ' Get the printer's hDC, so we can use the Win32 GetDeviceCaps fuction to
        ' get Printer's Physical Printable Area x and y margins
        ' If this fails for some reason, batch printing won't work
        Dim pPrinter As IPrinter
        Dim hInfoDC As Integer
        Dim dpi As Double
        Try
            pPrinter = aDoc.Printer
            hInfoDC = CreateDC(pPrinter.DriverName, pPrinter.Paper.PrinterName, "", IntPtr.Zero)
            dpi = pPrinter.Resolution
        Catch ex As Exception
            MessageBox.Show("There was a problem with the printer settings for " & FullFileName & vbNewLine & _
                            "Please manually open and print this document.", "Print Settings Error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Hand)
            PrintMXD = 0
            Exit Function
        End Try
 
        '-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Dim docPrinterBounds As ESRI.ArcGIS.Geometry.IEnvelope
        Dim VisibleBounds As ESRI.ArcGIS.Geometry.IEnvelope
        docPrinterBounds = New EnvelopeClass()
        VisibleBounds = New EnvelopeClass()
 
        'Put the printer's physical bounds into docPrinterBounds
        aDoc.PageLayout.Page.GetDeviceBounds(pPrinter, 0, 0, dpi, docPrinterBounds)
 
        'userRect is used to specify the area on the page layout that is to be printed
        Dim userRECT As tagRECT
        userRECT.left = CType((docPrinterBounds.XMin - GetDeviceCaps(hInfoDC, 112)), Integer)
        userRECT.right = CType((docPrinterBounds.XMax - GetDeviceCaps(hInfoDC, 112)), Integer)
        userRECT.bottom = CType((docPrinterBounds.YMax - GetDeviceCaps(hInfoDC, 113)), Integer)
        userRECT.top = CType((docPrinterBounds.YMin - GetDeviceCaps(hInfoDC, 113)), Integer)
 
        ' Transfer offsetted PrinterBounds envelope back to the userRECT
        docPrinterBounds.PutCoords(0, 0, userRECT.right - userRECT.left, userRECT.bottom - userRECT.top)
        aDoc.PageLayout.Page.GetPageBounds(pPrinter, 0, 0, VisibleBounds)
 
        '-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        'Send the Page Layout to the printer
        Dim hDc As Long
        Try
            hDc = pPrinter.StartPrinting(docPrinterBounds, 0)
            pPrinter.SpoolFileName = DocName
            pActiveView.Output(hDc, Nothing, userRECT, VisibleBounds, Nothing)
            pPrinter.FinishPrinting()
        Catch ex As Exception
            MessageBox.Show(FullFileName & vbNewLine & ex.Message, "Print Error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Exclamation)
            PrintMXD = 0
            Exit Function
        End Try
 
        PrintMXD = 1
 
    End Function