VB6 printing through excel and selecting one of two printers

Question

I searched extensively for a solution to my problem but i fear that's its sitting in front of me and i cannot see it.

Problem: I have a VB6 application that calls excel and uses one excel file as a database to pull addresses from and a second sheet to put the address into for the "address labels" i need printed. This greatly reduced the typing errors in the addresses and allowed me to speedup the process by automating the creation of the PALLET X OF X. So all of this works great as long as the default printer is the printer that the pallet label needs to be printed on. I would like to incorporate a second style label into this program and i have successfully done this. the program will call up and fill in all required information and the depending on the selected option it will print with one of the two excel templates.

The problem i have is that i cannot for the life of me get it to print the large label to one printer while also having it print the other label to the small label printer. I have successfully created a stand alone program that i can at will print to whatever printer i want, but i cannot get my label app to do this. I have a feeling its something to do with the excel.application settings or something. the printer names that the stand alone program uses are listed in the program at what i thought was the correct location (command3 button)

Option Explicit
Dim SelectAll As Integer
Dim location As String
Dim location2 As String
Dim loadedlist As Integer
Dim big_small As String
Dim prt As Printer

'trying to preload excel

       Dim excel_app As Excel.Application
       Dim workbook As Excel.workbook
       Dim sheet As Excel.Worksheet
       Dim ws As Excel.Worksheet

Private Sub cmdframeclose_Click()
    SelectAll = List9.ListIndex
    List1.ListIndex = SelectAll
    List2.ListIndex = SelectAll
    List3.ListIndex = SelectAll
    List4.ListIndex = SelectAll
    List5.ListIndex = SelectAll

     'set text box with text
    Text1.Text = List9.Text
    Text2.Text = List1.Text
    Text3.Text = List2.Text & ", " & List3.Text & " " & List4.Text
    Text4.Text = List5.Text

    'auto hide frame after selection
    Frame1.Visible = False
End Sub

Private Sub CMDPRINT_Click()

    'check for empty boxes
    If Text1.Text = "" Then
        MsgBox "please enter a customer name"
        Text1.SetFocus
        Exit Sub
    End If

    If Text2.Text = "" Then
        MsgBox "please enter a street address"
        Text2.SetFocus
        Exit Sub
    End If

    If Text3.Text = "" Then
        MsgBox "please enter a city, state and zip"
        Text3.SetFocus
        Exit Sub
    End If

    If Text4.Text = "" Then
        MsgBox "please enter customer contact info"
        Text4.SetFocus
        Exit Sub
    End If

    If Text5.Text = "" Then
        MsgBox "please enter msu number"
        Text5.SetFocus
        Exit Sub
    End If

    If Text6.Text = "" Then
        MsgBox "please enter number of pallets"
        Text6.SetFocus
        Exit Sub
    End If


If Option1.Value = True Then

    'check path for blank sheet to work with
    big_small = "G15"
    If Text8.Text <> "" Then
    location2 = Text8.Text & "\" & "Pallet_Sheet.xlsx"
    Else
    MsgBox "Please Input a valid data path"
    Text7.SetFocus
    Exit Sub
    End If
    'set the printer to the correct one for the document, ***doesnt work***
    'Set Printer = Printers("\\ms-nauss-app1\MS-NAUSSA-PRN06")
Else
    'check path for blank sheet to work with
    big_small = "B8"
    If Text8.Text <> "" Then
    location2 = Text11.Text & "\" & "Small_Pallet_Label.xlsx"
    Else
    MsgBox "Please Input a valid data path"
    Text7.SetFocus
    Exit Sub
    End If
    'set the printer to the correct one for the document, doesnt work
    'Set Printer = Printers("ZDesigner GK420d")


End If

    'OPEN EXCEL

    ' Get the Excel application object.
    Set excel_app = New Excel.Application

    ' Make Excel visible (optional).
    excel_app.Visible = False

    ' Open the workbook read-only.
    Set workbook = excel_app.Workbooks.Open(location2, ReadOnly:=True)

    ' Get the first worksheet.
    Set ws = workbook.Sheets(1)

If Option1.Value = True Then

    'Fill in the cells with data large label
    ws.range("C3").Value = Text1.Text
    ws.range("C4").Value = Text2.Text
    ws.range("C5").Value = Text3.Text
    ws.range("C6").Value = Text4.Text
    ws.range("E11").Value = Text5.Text
    ws.range("I15").Value = Text6.Text
    Else
    'fill in the cells with data small label
    ws.range("B3").Value = Text1.Text
    ws.range("B4").Value = Text2.Text
    ws.range("B5").Value = Text3.Text
    ws.range("B6").Value = Text4.Text
    ws.range("B7").Value = Text5.Text
    ws.range("D8").Value = Text6.Text
    End If


    'create pallet numnbering x of x
Dim p As Integer
    Application.ScreenUpdating = False
    ws.range(big_small).Value = "1"

    'create and increment the pallet labels
    For p = 0 To (Text6.Text - 1)
    ws.Copy Before:=ws
    ws.range(big_small).Value = (p + 1)

    Next p

'create pallet excel document sheets x of x

  'Dim ws As Worksheet
  Dim i As Integer
  i = 0

  For Each ws In workbook.Worksheets
    If (i = 0) Then
        ws.Select
    Else
        ws.Select False

    End If

  i = i + 1
ws.PrintOut

  Next ws

'delete and clear screen for next shipping address

    '    Application.ScreenUpdating = False
        Application.DisplayAlerts = False
        ''For Each ws In Worksheets
        For Each ws In workbook.Worksheets
        If ws.Name <> "Sheet1" Then ws.Delete
        Next


        Set ws = workbook.Sheets(1)
        Text1.Text = ""
        Text2.Text = ""
        Text3.Text = ""
        Text4.Text = ""
        Text5.Text = ""
        Text6.Text = ""
     '   Application.ScreenUpdating = False

      workbook.Close SaveChanges:=False

            ' Close the Excel server.
            excel_app.Quit 
End Sub

Private Sub Command1_Click()


    If Text7.Text <> "" Then
    location = Text7.Text & "\" & "addresses.xlsx"
    Else
    MsgBox "Please Input a valid data path"
    Text7.SetFocus
    Exit Sub
    End If


Frame1.Visible = True
            List9.SetFocus
cmdframeclose.Default = True
    If loadedlist = 0 Then
        loadedlist = 1

            ' Get the Excel application object.
            Set excel_app = New Excel.Application

            ' Make Excel visible (optional).
          '  excel_app.Visible = False

            ' Open the workbook read-only.
            Set workbook = excel_app.Workbooks.Open(location, ReadOnly:=True)

            ' Get the first worksheet.
            Set sheet = workbook.Sheets(1)

            ' Get the titles and values.
            SetTitleAndListValues sheet, 1, 1, List9
            SetTitleAndListValues sheet, 1, 2, List1
            SetTitleAndListValues sheet, 1, 3, List2
            SetTitleAndListValues sheet, 1, 4, List3
            SetTitleAndListValues sheet, 1, 5, List4
            SetTitleAndListValues sheet, 1, 6, List5

            ' Save the changes and close the workbook.
            workbook.Close SaveChanges:=False

            ' Close the Excel server.
            excel_app.Quit
            Else
            Exit Sub
            End If
            List9.SetFocus
End Sub

' Set a title Label and the values in a ListBox. Get the title from cell (row, col).
' Get the values from cell (row + 1, col) to the end of the column.
Private Sub SetTitleAndListValues(ByVal sheet As Excel.Worksheet, _
    ByVal row As Integer, ByVal col As Integer, ByVal lst As ListBox)
Dim range As Excel.range
Dim last_cell As Excel.range
Dim first_cell As Excel.range
Dim value_range As Excel.range
Dim range_values() As Variant
Dim num_items As Integer
Dim i As Integer

    ' Get the values.
    ' Find the last cell in the column.
    Set range = sheet.Columns(col)
    Set last_cell = range.End(xlDown)

    ' Get a Range holding the values.
    Set first_cell = sheet.Cells(row + 1, col)
    Set value_range = sheet.range(first_cell, last_cell)

    ' Get the values.
    range_values = value_range.Value

    ' Convert this into a 1-dimensional array.
    ' Note that the Range's array has lower bounds 1.
    num_items = UBound(range_values, 1)
    For i = 1 To num_items
        lst.AddItem range_values(i, 1)
    Next i
End Sub

Private Sub Command3_Click()
    Text1.Text = ""
    Text2.Text = ""
    Text3.Text = ""
    Text4.Text = ""
    Text5.Text = ""
    Text6.Text = ""
    Text1.SetFocus      

End Sub

Private Sub Command4_Click()
            ' Close the Excel server.
            excel_app.Quit
End
End Sub

Private Sub Form_Load()
Frame1.Visible = False
Dim file_name As String

    file_name = Application.StartupPath

End Sub   

Private Sub List9_dblClick()        
    SelectAll = List9.ListIndex
    List1.ListIndex = SelectAll
    List2.ListIndex = SelectAll
    List3.ListIndex = SelectAll
    List4.ListIndex = SelectAll
    List5.ListIndex = SelectAll

     'set text box with text
    Text1.Text = List9.Text
    Text2.Text = List1.Text
    Text3.Text = List2.Text & ", " & List3.Text & " " & List4.Text
    Text4.Text = List5.Text

    'auto hide frame after selection
    Frame1.Visible = False
    CMDPRINT.Default = True

End Sub


Private Sub Form_KeyDown(KeyCode As Integer, Shift As Integer)

 If KeyCode = 27 Then
    Frame1.Visible = False
    End If

If KeyCode = 38 Then
    If List9.ListIndex > -1 Then
        List9.ListIndex = List9.ListIndex - 1

           'update listboxes
           SelectAll = List9.ListIndex
           List1.ListIndex = SelectAll
           List2.ListIndex = SelectAll
           List3.ListIndex = SelectAll
           List4.ListIndex = SelectAll
           List5.ListIndex = SelectAll

           'set text box with text
           Text1.Text = List9.Text
           Text2.Text = List1.Text
           Text3.Text = List2.Text & ", " & List3.Text & " " & List4.Text
           Text4.Text = List5.Text

    End If
ElseIf KeyCode = 40 Then
    If List9.ListIndex < List9.ListCount - 1 Then
        List9.ListIndex = List9.ListIndex + 1

           'update listboxes
           SelectAll = List9.ListIndex
           List1.ListIndex = SelectAll
           List2.ListIndex = SelectAll
           List3.ListIndex = SelectAll
           List4.ListIndex = SelectAll
           List5.ListIndex = SelectAll

           'set text box with text
           Text1.Text = List9.Text
           Text2.Text = List1.Text
           Text3.Text = List2.Text & ", " & List3.Text & " " & List4.Text
           Text4.Text = List5.Text
    End If
ElseIf KeyCode = 13 Then
           'update listboxes
           SelectAll = List9.ListIndex
           List1.ListIndex = SelectAll
           List2.ListIndex = SelectAll
           List3.ListIndex = SelectAll
           List4.ListIndex = SelectAll
           List5.ListIndex = SelectAll

           'set text box with text
           Text1.Text = List9.Text
           Text2.Text = List1.Text
           Text3.Text = List2.Text & ", " & List3.Text & " " & List4.Text
           Text4.Text = List5.Text
           Frame1.Visible = False
    End If

End Sub

Events:

1. load main screen with user text boxes and buttons
2. "load customer" loads a combo box with all the addresses and lets me pick a complete address based off the customer name. by double clicking the combo box selection you want
3. all of the address is loaded in the text boxes on the main screen, which can be verified and/or adjusted as needed.
4. input the order number and number of pallets on the shipment.
5. click print (this is where i want the change. i need it to print to the correct printer based off the two added option buttons.) if there is any data missing the program will prompt you and also set focus to the text box that is missing the data.
6. data is added to the excel template, the correct number of labels are created ( pallet x of x) and they are printed.
7. form clears itself and is now ready to be used again.

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

....................................EDIT.............................................................

After a good nights sleep i realized something. If i am calling the excel application through VB6, then changing the printer in VB6 might not be affecting the printer in excel. i do know about the extra features of the workbook object. I tried to set the printer but kept getting the same error message.

ws.printout(activeprinter:="ZDesigner GK420d")

as i finish typing the line of code i get the error message "error expected:=" As far as i know i have done the line of code correctly. there are a great many more functions that can be done with it as well. in the past i have used this to print multiple copies of stuff and once even set duplex.... all on the default printer though.

Thanks again for your time.

Answer 1

Try it without the parentheses, as in:

ws.printout activeprinter:="ZDesigner GK420d"

The PrintOut method does not return a value, so you can't use parentheses like you would with a function (that returns a value), at least in this way.