PrintQueue.AddJob hangs when printing to non-xps based printers

Question

I am trying to print an xps document to printers (network printer, some virtual local printers, xps and non xps based) with the following code.

C# Source:

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    PrintServer printServer = new PrintServer(@"\\printserver.csez.zohocorpin.com");
    foreach (PrintQueue queue in printServer.GetPrintQueues())
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Printer: {0}, Port: {1}, ShareName: {2}, status: {3}, PrintingIsCancelled: {4}", 
            queue.Name, queue.QueuePort.Name, queue.ShareName, queue.QueueStatus, queue.PrintingIsCancelled);
        Program program = new Program();

        Thread printingThread = new Thread(() => program.Print_XPXFile(queue, @"D:\Assist\RemotePrint\Spool\Donalduck.xps"));
        // Set the thread that will use PrintQueue.AddJob to single threading.
        printingThread.SetApartmentState(ApartmentState.STA);

        printingThread.Start();
        printingThread.Join();
    }
}

public void Print_XPXFile(PrintQueue pQueue, String FilePath)
{
    // Create print server and print queue.
    bool fastCopy = pQueue.IsXpsDevice;
    FileInfo file = new FileInfo(FilePath);

    if (!file.Exists)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("There is no such file.");
    }
    else
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Adding {0} to {1} queue. share name : {2}", FilePath, pQueue.Name, pQueue.ShareName);

        try
        {
            // Print the Xps file while providing XPS validation and progress notifications.
            PrintSystemJobInfo xpsPrintJob = pQueue.AddJob(file.Name, FilePath, fastCopy);
            Console.WriteLine("Done adding.");
        }
        catch (PrintJobException e)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("\n\t{0} could not be added to the print queue.", file.Name);
            if (e.InnerException.Message == "File contains corrupted data.")
            {
                Console.WriteLine("\tIt is not a valid XPS file."); // Use the isXPS Conformance Tool to debug it.
            }
            else
            {
                Console.WriteLine("\tmessage : {0}", e.InnerException.Message); 
            }
        }
    }
}

When printing to Microsoft XPS Document Writer, Microsoft Print to PDF, etc it works fine.

I found that it is working fine with all XPS based printers. I even installed a XPS sample printer driver and added a virtual local printer to confirm this claim and as expected it worked.

For non-xps based printers, it actually gets stuck in the AddJob function. It neither throws any exception, nor it moves to the next statement.

I developed the code based on this msdn resource.

What is the cause and solution?

All thoughts are welcome.

Arjun Natarajan Arjun Natarajan · Accepted Answer · 2017-09-14T10:11:52

I can't seem to find the problem. But here is a more promising way to print XPS files:

        public static void PrintXPSToDefaultPrinter(string FilePath)
        {
            try
            {
                // Create the print dialog object and set options
                PrintDialog pDialog = new PrintDialog();
                pDialog.PageRangeSelection = PageRangeSelection.AllPages;
                pDialog.UserPageRangeEnabled = true;

                FileInfo file = new FileInfo(FilePath);
                XpsDocument xpsDocument = new XpsDocument(FilePath, FileAccess.ReadWrite);
                FixedDocumentSequence fixedDocSeq = xpsDocument.GetFixedDocumentSequence();

                pDialog.PrintDocument(fixedDocSeq.DocumentPaginator, file.Name);
            }
            catch (System.IO.IOException ex)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("The file is being used by some other process.");
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Exception occured : {0}", ex.Message);
            }
        }

You should call this in STA mode just like you have used:

static void Main(string[] args)
{ 
      Thread printingThread = new Thread(() => PrintXPSToDefaultPrinter(@"D:\Assist\RemotePrint\Spool\Donalduck.xps"));
      printingThread.SetApartmentState(ApartmentState.STA);
      printingThread.Start();
}

You can also mention any printqueue u want in the pDialog.PrintQueue property.

Hope this helps. Enjoy man !!!

PrintQueue.AddJob hangs when printing to non-xps based printers

2 Answers