Print Xaml in background

Printing Xaml (WPF) files in background?  Is it possible? Yes, and it's easy!

The following code example will show you how.

Step 1: Create a console application

Step 2: Add references to ReachFramework.dll and WindowsBase.dll

Step 3: Create a xaml usercontrol

Step 4 Create your code in you main function

Xaml user Control example:

1: <Border BorderThickness="1" Height="57" Margin="12,37,267,0" Name="border1" VerticalAlignment="Top"> 

2:     <Border.BorderBrush> 

3:         <LinearGradientBrush EndPoint="1,0.5" StartPoint="0,0.5"> 

4:             <GradientStop Color="#FFF10202" Offset="0" /> 

5:             <GradientStop Color="#FF0CDEED" Offset="1" /> 

6:         LinearGradientBrush> 

7:     Border.BorderBrush> 

8:     <StackPanel Orientation="Vertical" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" VerticalAlignment="Center"> 

9:         <CheckBox Content="Test checkbox 1" Height="16" Name="checkBox1" Margin="5,0" BorderThickness="0" BorderBrush="{x:Null}" /> 

10:         <CheckBox Content="Test checkbox 2" Height="16" Name="checkBox2" Margin="5,0" IsChecked="True" BorderThickness="0" BorderBrush="{x:Null}" /> 

11:     StackPanel> 

12: Border> 

13: <Label Content="This is a test of printing to an XPS Document" Height="28" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="12,1,0,0" Name="label1" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="479" FontWeight="Black" Foreground="#FF0000E1" /> 

14: <Image Height="200" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="244,76,0,0" Name="image1" Stretch="Fill" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="247" Source="/WpfApplication;component/Images/Penguins.jpg" /> 

15: <TextBox Height="200" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="12,99,0,0" Name="textBox1" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="224" Text="Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum." TextWrapping="Wrap" BorderBrush="{x:Null}" /> 

16: <Rectangle Height="1" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="5,30,0,0" Name="rectangle1" Stroke="Black" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="485" />

17: 

Main fucnction code:

1: FixedDocument  myfixedDocumentToPrint = new  FixedDocument ();

2: FixedPage  myPageToPrint = new  FixedPage ();

3: PageContent  pc = new  PageContent ();

4: PrintPage  printpageXaml = new  PrintPage ();

5: 

6: myPageToPrint.SnapsToDevicePixels = true ;

7: myPageToPrint.VerticalAlignment = 

8:     System.Windows.VerticalAlignment .Stretch;

9: myPageToPrint.HorizontalAlignment = 

10:     System.Windows.HorizontalAlignment .Stretch;

11: myPageToPrint.Height = 11.69 * 96;

12: myPageToPrint.Width = 8.27 * 96;

13: 

14: myPageToPrint.Children.Add(printpageXaml);

15: ((IAddChild )pc).AddChild(myPageToPrint);

16: myfixedDocumentToPrint.Pages.Add(pc);

17: 

18: var  assembly = System.Reflection.Assembly .GetExecutingAssembly();

19: var  path = assembly.Location.Replace(assembly.ManifestModule.Name, "" );

20: 

21: XpsDocument  document = 

22:     new  XpsDocument ( path + @"\\sample.xps" , System.IO.FileAccess .Write);

23: XpsDocumentWriter  writer = 

24:     XpsDocument .CreateXpsDocumentWriter(document);

25: writer.Write(myfixedDocumentToPrint);

26: writer = null ;

27: document.Close();

28: 

Important remark: you function has to be STAThread.

You see, nothing difficult about this one ... have fun.

J.