R – Change printer settings in reports at run time

The answer is that NO, you cannot unless you write your own solution. The report viewer control does not support this. Your options are either to create a custom printing solution, OR to manipulate your RDLC file to modify the settings manually.

If you decide to modify the RDLC file on the fly, you need to load the RDLC file into memory, modify the XML file to specify the new page settings, then reload the RDLC file in the report viewer.

If you decide to do manual printing, here is some VB.NET code to help you get started:

  Dim m_pageSettings As PageSettings          'Stores page settings for printout
  Dim m_currentPage As Integer                'Used for index of pages
  Private m_pages As New List(Of Stream)()    'Stores a stream for each pages

  'Event fires when printDocument starts printing - reset page index to zero
  Private Sub PrintDocument1_BeginPrint(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.Drawing.Printing.PrintEventArgs) Handles PrintDocument1.BeginPrint
    m_currentPage = 0
  End Sub

  'Function that prints all the pages included in the report
  Private Sub PrintDocument1_PrintPage(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.Drawing.Printing.PrintPageEventArgs) Handles PrintDocument1.PrintPage
    Dim pageToPrint As Stream = m_pages(m_currentPage)
    pageToPrint.Position = 0

    Dim pageMetaFile As Metafile = New Metafile(pageToPrint)      'create an image(metafile) of the report page
    Using (pageMetaFile)
      'Create a rectangle the size of our report - include margins
      ' Dim adjustedRect As Rectangle = New Rectangle( _
      '    e.PageBounds.Left - CType(e.PageSettings.HardMarginX, Integer), _
      '    e.PageBounds.Top - CType(e.PageSettings.HardMarginY, Integer), _
      '    e.PageBounds.Width, _
      '    e.PageBounds.Height)

      Dim adjustedRect As Rectangle = New Rectangle( _
    e.PageBounds.Left, _
    e.PageBounds.Top, _
    e.PageBounds.Width, _
    e.PageBounds.Height)

      e.Graphics.FillRectangle(Brushes.White, adjustedRect)   'Fill rectangle with WHITE background
      e.Graphics.DrawImage(pageMetaFile, adjustedRect)        'Draw report in rectangle - this will be printed
      m_currentPage = m_currentPage + 1
      e.HasMorePages = m_currentPage < m_pages.Count          'If more pages are left - keep processing
    End Using
  End Sub

  'Event fires when PrintDocument queries for PageSettings.  Return a copy of m_pagesettings.
  Private Sub PrintDocument1_QueryPageSettings(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.Drawing.Printing.QueryPageSettingsEventArgs) Handles PrintDocument1.QueryPageSettings
    e.PageSettings = CType(m_pageSettings.Clone, PageSettings)
  End Sub

  'Render the report in a EMF - This function creates metafiles(images) of each page in the report
  Private Sub RenderAllLocalReportPages(ByVal localReport As LocalReport)
    Dim deviceInfo As String = CreateEMFDeviceInfo()    'Enhanced MetaFile
    Dim warnings As Warning() = Nothing
    m_pages.Clear()
    localReport.Render("IMAGE", deviceInfo, AddressOf LocalReportCreateStreamCallback, warnings)
  End Sub

  'Callback function used with RenderAllLocalReportPages
  Private Function LocalReportCreateStreamCallback(ByVal name As String, ByVal extension As String, ByVal encoding As Encoding, ByVal mimeType As String, ByVal willSeek As Boolean) As Stream
    Dim stream As New MemoryStream()
    m_pages.Add(stream)
    Return stream
  End Function

  Private Function CreateEMFDeviceInfo() As String
    Dim paperSize As PaperSize = m_pageSettings.PaperSize
    Dim margins As Margins = m_pageSettings.Margins

    'The device info string defines the page range to print as well as the size of the page.
    'A start and end page of 0 means generate all pages.
    Return String.Format(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, "<DeviceInfo><OutputFormat>emf</OutputFormat><StartPage>0</StartPage><EndPage>0</EndPage><MarginTop>{0}</MarginTop><MarginLeft>{1}</MarginLeft><MarginRight>{2}</MarginRight><MarginBottom>{3}</MarginBottom><PageHeight>{4}</PageHeight><PageWidth>{5}</PageWidth></DeviceInfo>", ToInches(margins.Top), ToInches(margins.Left), ToInches(margins.Right), ToInches(margins.Bottom), ToInches(paperSize.Height), ToInches(paperSize.Width))
  End Function

  'Convert report printing size to inches
  Private Shared Function ToInches(ByVal hundrethsOfInch As Integer) As String
    Dim inches As Double = hundrethsOfInch / 100.0R
    Return inches.ToString(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture) & "in"
  End Function

Hopefully this helps.