How can I prevent the Print Progress dialog appearing when performing a print preview

Question

In my C# application, I'm attempting to generate a print preview without the progress dialog appearing on screen.

I believe you can use PrintDocument.PrintController to prevent this when printing for real (i.e. not a print preview), however it doesn't seem to work when performing a print preview.

My code is as follows:

public FrmDeliveryNotePrintPreview(DeliveryNote deliveryNote)
{
    InitializeComponent();

    this.Text = "Delivery Note #" + deliveryNote.Id.ToString();


    // The print preview window should occupy about 90% of the
    // total screen height

    int height = (int) (Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Height * 0.9);


    // Making an assumption that we are printing to A4 landscape,
    // then adjust the width to give the correct height:width ratio
    // for A4 landscape.

    int width = (int) (height / 1.415);


    // Set the bounds of this form. The PrintPreviewControl is
    // docked, so it should just do the right thing

    this.SetBounds(0, 0, width, height);

    PrinterSettings printerSettings = new PrinterSettings();
    PrintDeliveryNotes pdn = new PrintDeliveryNotes(
        new DeliveryNote[] { deliveryNote },
        printerSettings);
    PrintDocument printDocument = pdn.PrintDocument;
    printDocument.PrintController = new PreviewPrintController();
    ppcDeliveryNote.Document = printDocument;
}

The print preview works exactly as I want, apart from the fact that the print preview progress dialog is displayed.

Suggestions please?

Answer 1

I hate to answer my own question, but the solution was staring me in the face.

As I've already coded the ability to print a delivery note, my next step was to provide an on screen copy (i.e. no intention of printing a hard copy). The print preview dialog seemed like an easy way out.

In the end, I just created a custom form and painted directly on to it with no print preview control in sight.

Unfortunately, I got too focused on trying to get the print preview dialogue to behave as I wanted, rather than looking at the bigger problem.