Printer Objects Overview

Two ObjectWindows classes let you complete the following printing tasks:

• Create a printer object
• Create a printout object
• Print window contents
• Print a document
• Choose and configure a printer

TPrinter encapsulates printer behavior and access to the printer drivers. It brings up a dialog box that lets the user select the desired printer and set the current settings for printing.

TPrintout encapsulates the actual printout. Its relationship to the printer is similar to TWindow's relationship to the screen. Drawing on the screen happens in the Paint member function of the TWindow object, while writing to the printer happens in the PrintPage member function of the TPrintout object. To print something on the printer, the application passes an instance of TPrintout to an instance of TPrinter's Print member function.