Prev: names of debug registers
Next: Selecting Best Compatible Driver (Windows XP)
From: geekgrrl on 8 May 2008 09:44
Hi,

I'm trying to create a hidden local port, similar to XPSPort: used by
Microsoft's XPS Document Writer.

The print driver I am working on/with creates it's own named local
port upon install. This has been fine for Windows 2000 and XP, but in
Vista, creating a local port has the unfortunate (and annoying) side
effect of also creating a file of the same name in the user's My
Documents folder.

We orignally got around this by using a port name of NUL. The problem
with this is multiple copies of the printer all use the same port and
print jobs between the printers will block on the port name ( only one
print job running per port name) and you cannot easily do parallel
printing.

I was able to create a local port that was "hidden" using XcvData and
appending a colon (:) to the end of the port name, similar to how
Microsoft has named the port associated with their XPS Document
Writer.

With the : on the name, the driver cannot use the port, it throws an
error 123 - "The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is
incorrect." every time I print. I'm assuming that this is from the :
on the port name.

Is this even possible? How does Microsoft's XPS driver do this?

Thanks.
Geekgrrl.
 | 
Pages: 1
Prev: names of debug registers
Next: Selecting Best Compatible Driver (Windows XP)