How to Print in ASP.NET 3.5

One of the most common functionality in any ASP.NET application is to print forms and controls. There are a lot of options to print forms using client scripts. In the article, we will see how to print controls in ASP.NET 2.0 using both server side code and javascript.

Step 1: Create a PrintHelper class. This class contains a method called PrintWebControl that can print any control like a GridView, DataGrid, Panel, TextBox etc. The class makes a call to window.print() that simulates the print button.

Note: I have not written this class and neither do I know the original author. I will be happy to add a reference in case someone knows.

using System;

using System.Data;

using System.Configuration;

using System.Web;

using System.Web.Security;

using System.Web.UI;

using System.Web.UI.WebControls;

using System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts;

using System.Web.UI.HtmlControls;

using System.IO;

using System.Text;

using System.Web.SessionState;

public class PrintHelper

{

public PrintHelper()

{

}

public void PrintWebControl(Control ctrl)
{
StringWriter stringWrite = new StringWriter();
System.Web.UI.HtmlTextWriter htmlWrite = new System.Web.UI.HtmlTextWriter(stringWrite);
if (ctrl is WebControl)
{
Unit w = new Unit(100, UnitType.Percentage); ((WebControl)ctrl).Width = w;
}
Page pg = new Page();
pg.EnableEventValidation = false;

HtmlForm frm = new HtmlForm();
pg.Controls.Add(frm);
frm.Attributes.Add("runat", "server");
frm.Controls.Add(ctrl);
pg.DesignerInitialize();
pg.RenderControl(htmlWrite);
string strHTML = stringWrite.ToString();
HttpContext.Current.Response.Clear();
HttpContext.Current.Response.Write(strHTML);
HttpContext.Current.Response.Write("");
HttpContext.Current.Response.End();
}