QPrinter

collycrk

I'm green around the 'gills'. And can not seem to get my arms around printing a form.
The UI is simple and has three widgets on it.
I can preview the form but it is blank, I can click the printer Icon on the preview and see the printer. But clicking print on the printer interface does not print anything, not even the blank form.
Here is the code:
void TestPrint::on_actionPrint_triggered()
{
QPrinter printer;

printer.setOutputFormat(QPrinter::NativeFormat);
printer.setOrientation(QPrinter::Portrait);

QPrintPreviewDialog preview(&printer);

preview.exec();

}
Will some one please help me, or just shoot me. I have spent months on this.
I am using:
Qt Creator 3.5.1 (opensource)
Based on Qt 5.5.1 (MSVC 2013, 32 bit)
Built on Oct 15 2015 01:55:47
From revision b4c52505ca
I
Merry Christmas (2015) to any and all who may view this post.

mrjj

hi
I prefer not to shoot you :)
Printing on QPrinter is much like drawing on screen.
I see you are using QPrintPreviewDialog
The trick with this object is that it will send a signal when it wants something to be printed
void QPrintPreviewDialog::paintRequested(QPrinter * printer)
so in your code you must hook up this signal
connect(&preview, SIGNAL(paintRequested(QPrinter *)),this, SLOT(printPreview(QPrinter *)));
and in the
printPreview slot, you must use the QPrinter parameter to actually draw something.
maybe read this for overview
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1405545&seqNum=5
here is sample that show the actual "print" function
http://www.dazzle.plus.com/linux/QtCreator/part11.htm

so to print a from, you would also need to scale it a bit.
since screen and paper have different resolution, you often want to scale the widgets up
a bit else they get really tiny.
http://doc.qt.io/qt-4.8/printing.html
see Printing Widgets
the
myWidget->render(&painter);
is the main thing to notice. it ask the widget to draw itself on the paint device which is
connected to the printer.
So you can do that for the form object.

collycrk

Thank you mrjj for the information.

This I have put into testprint.h;
Q_OBJECT
class QPrinter; // is this the correct place to put this?
public: //Added this public myself.
void on_action_Print_preview_triggered();

This is in testprint.cpp:
void TestPrint::on_action_Print_preview_triggered()
{
// display print preview dialog
QPrinter printer( QPrinter::ScreenResolution );
QPrintPreviewDialog preview( &printer, this );
connect( &preview, SIGNAL(paintRequested(QPrinter*)), SLOT(print(QPrinter*)) );
preview.exec();

}
Have not coded the print action at this point.
I am getting a compile error on the bolded line above.
testprint.cpp:40: error: incomplete type 'TestPrint::QPrinter' used in nested name specifier
QPrinter printer( QPrinter::ScreenResolution );
^
What does this error mean?

mrjj

HI
class QPrinter; //
this looks like a forward declaration
I don't think you need that.

but you need
#include <QPrinter>
and
Add to .pro:
QT += printsupport

for it to know the type.

"incomplete type "
Well i think you miss the #include <QPrinter>
The incomplete part comes from the forward
class QPrinter;
as u tell there is a class called QPrinter. and that all it knows.
So when you try to call a function in that class, it complains as
you only told name. not any functions.
But you just need include file and all be jolly

collycrk

Here is all the code:
.pro
QT += core gui
QT += printsupport

greaterThan(QT_MAJOR_VERSION, 4): QT += widgets

TARGET = MyPrint
TEMPLATE = app

SOURCES += main.cpp
testprint.cpp

HEADERS += testprint.h

FORMS += testprint.ui

.h
#ifndef TESTPRINT_H
#define TESTPRINT_H

#include <QMainWindow>

namespace Ui {
class TestPrint;
}

class TestPrint : public QMainWindow
{
Q_OBJECT

public:
void on_action_Print_preview_triggered();
void on_action_Print_triggered();

public:
explicit TestPrint(QWidget *parent = 0);
~TestPrint();

private slots:
void on_pushButton_clicked();
void on_action_Exit_triggered();

private:
Ui::TestPrint *ui;
};

#endif // TESTPRINT_H

.cpp
#include <QtPrintSupport/QAbstractPrintDialog> //Base implementation for print dialogs used to configure printers
#include <QPageSetupDialog> //Configuration dialog for the page-related options on a printer
#include <QPrintDialog> //Dialog for specifying the printer's configuration
#include <QPrintEngine> //Defines an interface for how QPrinter interacts with a given printing subsystem
#include <QPrintPreviewDialog> //Dialog for previewing and configuring page layouts for printer output
#include <QPrintPreviewWidget> //Widget for previewing page layouts for printer output
#include <QPrinter> //Paint device that paints on a printer
#include <QPrinterInfo> //Gives access to information about existing printers
#include <QPainter>

TestPrint::TestPrint(QWidget *parent) :
QMainWindow(parent),
ui(new Ui::TestPrint)
{
ui->setupUi(this);
}

TestPrint::~TestPrint()
{
delete ui;
}

void TestPrint::on_pushButton_clicked()
{
ui->lineEdit->setText("Merry Christmas, and a Happy new year.");
}

void TestPrint::on_action_Exit_triggered()
{
this->close();
}

void TestPrint::on_action_Print_preview_triggered()
{
// display print preview dialog
QPrinter printer( QPrinter::ScreenResolution );
QPrintPreviewDialog preview( &printer, this );
connect( &preview, SIGNAL(paintRequested(QPrinter*)), SLOT(print(QPrinter*)) );
preview.exec();
}

void TestPrint::on_action_Print_triggered()
{
// display print dialog and if accepted print
QPrinter printer( QPrinter::ScreenResolution );
QPrintDialog dialog( &printer, this );
if ( dialog.exec() == QDialog::Accepted ) print( printer ); //errors print not declared in this scope

  /*************************************** print ***************************************/

  //void  MainWindow::print( QPrinter* printer )
  //{
    // create painter for drawing print page

    QPainter painter( &printer );
    int      w = printer.pageRect().width();
    int      h = printer.pageRect().height();
    QRect    page( 0, 0, w, h );

    // create a font appropriate to page size
    QFont    font = painter.font();
    font.setPixelSize( (w+h) / 100 );
    painter.setFont( font );

    // draw labels in corners of page
    painter.drawText( page, Qt::AlignTop    | Qt::AlignLeft, "QSimulate" );
    painter.drawText( page, Qt::AlignBottom | Qt::AlignLeft, QString(getenv("USER")) );
    //painter.drawText( page, Qt::AlignBottom | Qt::AlignRight,
                   //   QDateTime::currentDateTime().toString( Qt::DefaultLocaleShortDate ) );

    // draw simulated landscape
    page.adjust( w/20, h/20, -w/20, -h/20 );
    //painter.drawText( &painter, page );
    painter.drawText( &painter, page );       //testprint.cpp:78: error: no matching function for call to 'QPainter::drawText(QPainter*, QRect&)'
     painter.drawText( &painter, page );
                                      ^
  Thanks for your help. I feel closer to getting a printed page than ever.

}

The two lines with //errors has the error

mrjj

Hi
it seems you made print in MainWindow::print
it should be in
TestPrint::print( QPrinter* printer )

That is why is says "print not declared in this scope" as
u seem to have pasted the code below it ?

That is ok. just correct code ( get rid of print call)

so first error is that you have no print function.
next error is that you miss the last argument for the text.
so yes, you are close to printing :)

if ( dialog.exec() == QDialog::Accepted )   
{
    // create painter for drawing print page
    QPainter painter( &printer );
    int      w = printer.pageRect().width();
    int      h = printer.pageRect().height();
    QRect    page( 0, 0, w, h );

    // create a font appropriate to page size
    QFont    font = painter.font();
    font.setPixelSize( (w+h) / 100 );
    painter.setFont( font );

    // draw labels in corners of page
    painter.drawText( page, Qt::AlignTop    | Qt::AlignLeft, "QSimulate" );
    painter.drawText( page, Qt::AlignBottom | Qt::AlignLeft, QString(getenv("USER")) );
    //painter.drawText( page, Qt::AlignBottom | Qt::AlignRight,
                   //   QDateTime::currentDateTime().toString( Qt::DefaultLocaleShortDate ) );

    // draw simulated landscape
    page.adjust( w/20, h/20, -w/20, -h/20 ); 
    painter.drawText( &painter, page );       //testprint.cpp:78: error: no matching function for call to 'QPainter::drawText(QPainter*, QRect&)'
     // here you have no text??
     // look at the others, you need the last argument  
}                                      ^