Inside Macintosh: QuickDraw GX Printing Extensions and Drivers /

Chapter 6 - Printing Resources / Printing Resources Reference

Resources Used for Printing Extensions and Printer Drivers

The Status ('stat') Resource

You need to include a status resource, of type statusType, to define the status messages that are displayed during the printing process. The driver forces status messages to be displayed by calling either the GXReportStatus function (for simple messages) or the GXAlertTheUser function (for messages that require user attention).

Figure 6-2 shows the structure of the status resource.

Figure 6-2 The status resource

The status resource contains a count of the status entries and an array of status definitions.

• Status owner. The signature of the printing extension or printer driver to which this status resource belongs.

Each status definition contains four values:

• Status type. The kind of status message that this is. The status type constants are shown in Table 6-3.
• Status ID. The ID of this status message within the status resource. You typically assign sequential numbers to the status messages within each status resource, as shown in the example at the end of this section.
• Status alert ID. The ID of the printing alert associated with this status message. Use the ID 0 to indicate that this status message does not require a printing alert.
• Status string. The status message string to display to the user.

Most of the status types produce side effects. For example, if you send a status message with status type gxSpoolingPageStatus, the page count is incremented in the spooling status that is displayed on the user's screen. Table 6-3 shows the status type constants and the side effects associated with each.

Table 6-3 Status types

Constant	Value	Explanation of side effects
gxNonFatalError	1	Affects the icon that is displayed during spooling
gxFatalError	2	Displays a printing alert during spooling
gxPrinterReady	3	Signals that alert mode is done
gxUserAttention	4	Signals initiation of a modal alert
gxUserAlert	5	Signals initiation of a printing alert
gxPageTransmission	6	Signals that a page has been sent to the printer and increments the printed page count
gxOpenConnectionStatus	7	Signals that animation of the printer icon is to begin
gxInformationalStatus	8	Displays an informational status message with no side effects
gxSpoolingPageStatus	9	Signals that a page has been spooled and increments the spooled page count
gxEndStatus	10	Signals the end of spooling
gxPercentageStatus	11	Signals the percentage of the current print job that is currently complete

Listing 6-3 shows an example of a status resource.

Listing 6-3 An example of a status resource

#define kDrvrCreatorType 'IWII'

resource statusType (kDriverStatus, sysHeap, purgeable)
{
   kDrvrCreatorType,
   {
   gxInformationalStatus, 1, 0, "Sending data to printer";
   gxUserAlert, 1, kDriverStatus,
                     "Please check that the printer is on-line";
   };
};

Listing 6-3 defines a status resource for the ImageWriter II printer driver. This resource defines two status text strings. The first text string is an informational message that does not require a printing alert box and is displayed in the desktop printer window. The second text string requires user attention and is displayed in a printing alert box.

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