How to: Print Graphics in Windows Forms

Frequently, you will want to print graphics in your Windows-based application. The Graphics class provides methods for drawing objects to a device, such as a screen or printer.

To print graphics

1. Add a PrintDocument component to your form.

2. In the PrintPage event handler, use the Graphics property of the PrintPageEventArgs class to instruct the printer on what kind of graphics to print.

   The following code example shows an event handler used to create a blue ellipse within a bounding rectangle. The rectangle has the following location and dimensions: beginning at 100, 150 with a width of 250 and a height of 250.

   Private Sub PrintDocument1_PrintPage(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Drawing.Printing.PrintPageEventArgs) Handles PrintDocument1.PrintPage
      e.Graphics.FillEllipse(Brushes.Blue, New Rectangle(100, 150, 250, 250))
   End Sub
   

   private void printDocument1_PrintPage(object sender, 
   System.Drawing.Printing.PrintPageEventArgs e)
   {
      e.Graphics.FillRectangle(Brushes.Blue, 
        new Rectangle(100, 150, 250, 250));
   }
   

   private:
      void printDocument1_PrintPage(System::Object ^ sender,
         System::Drawing::Printing::PrintPageEventArgs ^ e)
      {
         e->Graphics->FillRectangle(Brushes::Blue,
            Rectangle(100, 150, 250, 250));
      }
   

   (Visual C# and Visual C++) Place the following code in the form's constructor to register the event handler.

   this.printDocument1.PrintPage += new
      System.Drawing.Printing.PrintPageEventHandler
      (this.printDocument1_PrintPage);
   

   this->printDocument1->PrintPage += gcnew
      System::Drawing::Printing::PrintPageEventHandler
      (this, &Form1::printDocument1_PrintPage);
   

See Also

Reference

Graphics

Brush

Other Resources

Windows Forms Print Support