ReadyState Property

Returns the current state of the control.

Syntax

val% = [form!]VSPrinter.ReadyState

Remarks

The values returned by the ReadyState property are described below:

Constant	Value	Description
vpstEmpty	0	The control is empty (there is no preview document).
vpstLoading	1	The control is loading a document from a disk file or URL.
vpstReady	2	The control has a preview document that can be saved or printed.
vpstOpen	3	The control is generating a document (StartDoc has been called, EndDoc has not).
vpstSaving	4	The control is saving a document to a disk file.
vpstPrinting	5	The control is printing a document.

When control state changes, the control sets the ReadyState property and fires the ReadyStateChange event.

There are many instances where an application may need to know the state of the control. For example, a Print button should be enabled only when the control has a document available for printing (vpstReady), and an Abort button should be enabled only while the control is generating a document (vpstOpen).

This property is especially useful for applications that create or load documents asynchronously. For example:

1. When generating long documents, you may want to add DoEvents statements to your document generation function to keep the application responsive while the document is generated. In this case, you should make sure the document generation function is not called recursively. The following code illustrates this technique:

Private Function GenerateDocument() As Boolean

' ** avoid recursive calls

If vp.ReadyState <> vpstReady Then Exit Function

' ** control is ready, so create document

vp.StartDoc

Dim i%

For i = 0 To 1000

GeneratePage i

DoEvents ' ** keep application responsive

If vp.Error <> 0 Then Exit For ' ** bail on errors

vp.EndDoc

' ** done

GenerateDocument = True

Exit Function

2. When the control is used on a Web page and a document is loaded using the URL property, the ReadyState property will be set to vpstLoading while the document is downloaded from the server and loaded into the control, and it will be set to vpstReady when the document is ready to be displayed. You can trap the ReadyStateChange event and enable some page elements (such as a Print button) when the document is ready. The following code illustrates this technique:

<html>

<head>

<title>VSPrinter8 ReadyState</title>

</head>

Sub vp_ReadyStateChange(ReadyState)

sStates = Split("Empty Loading Ready Open Saving Printing", " ")

document.all.ReadyDiv.innerText = "The VSPrinter is " & sStates(ReadyState)

End Sub

</script>

<body>

<p><div id=ReadyDiv>The VSPrinter control is Empty</div><p>

</object>

</p>

</body>

</html>

Data Type

ReadyStateSettings (Enumeration)