BUG: Printer.DrawWidth Appears To Be Ignored with Windows 95/98 (190216)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Visual Basic Learning Edition for Windows 5.0, when used with:
    • the operating system: Microsoft Windows 95
    • the operating system: Microsoft Windows 98
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Learning Edition for Windows 6.0, when used with:
    • the operating system: Microsoft Windows 95
    • the operating system: Microsoft Windows 98
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Professional Edition for Windows 5.0, when used with:
    • the operating system: Microsoft Windows 95
    • the operating system: Microsoft Windows 98
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Professional Edition for Windows 6.0, when used with:
    • the operating system: Microsoft Windows 95
    • the operating system: Microsoft Windows 98
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Enterprise Edition for Windows 5.0, when used with:
    • the operating system: Microsoft Windows 95
    • the operating system: Microsoft Windows 98
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Enterprise Edition for Windows 6.0, when used with:
    • the operating system: Microsoft Windows 95
    • the operating system: Microsoft Windows 98
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Control Creation Edition for Windows 5.0, when used with:
    • the operating system: Microsoft Windows 95
    • the operating system: Microsoft Windows 98
This article was previously published under Q190216

SYMPTOMS

Printing lines and/or circles ignores your Printer.DrawWidth setting, producing thin lines with the default DrawWidth of 1 instead of the thicker lines desired.

RESOLUTION

This can often be resolved by adding the following line before any other printing or the setting of any Printer object properties: 
   Printer.Print

But a more reliable method is to print a Null circle with the following: 
   Printer.DrawWidth = 1
   Printer.Circle (0, 0), 0

before any other printing or setting the DrawWidth property to the desired value.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. We are researching this bug and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

  1. Open a New Standard EXE Project. Form1 is created by default.
  2. Insert the following code into the Form's module:
          Private Sub Form_Click()
       'Printer.Print    ' may work
       'Printer.DrawWidth = 1     ' To make sure Null Circle is not visible
       'Printer.Circle (0, 0), 0  ' Print Null Circle
       Printer.DrawWidth = 50
       Printer.Line (200, 500)-(Printer.ScaleWidth - 300, 1500), , B
       Printer.Circle (Printer.ScaleWidth \ 2, Printer.ScaleHeight \ 2), _
        Printer.ScaleWidth \ 3
       Printer.Line (200, 2500)-(Printer.ScaleWidth - 300, 2500)
       Printer.Line (200, Printer.ScaleHeight - 1200)- _
        (Printer.ScaleWidth - 300, Printer.ScaleHeight - 200), , B
       Printer.EndDoc
      End Sub
  3. Run the Project and click on the Form. Your printout will have a horizontal box across the top of the page, followed by a horizontal line, a large circle, and finally, a horizontal box across the bottom of the page. Note that at least the first box will be in thin lines rather than the thick lines expected for a DrawWidth of 50, indicating that the DrawWidth setting was ignored for the Printer object.
  4. Stop the Project.
  5. Uncomment the Printer.Print line and repeat step 3. The printout may now be the same or it may be correct with all objects drawn with a DrawWidth of 50.
  6. Stop the Project.
  7. Comment out the Printer.Print line and uncomment the next two lines to draw the Null circle, and then repeat step 3. Note that the lines and circle are now printed with thick lines as desired.

REFERENCES

For information on a related bug, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

176634 : BUG: Line/Circle Methods Don't Print as Transparent on Win95/98

Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:5/13/2003
Keywords:kbBug kbprint KB190216
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