Printing the Graphics Window Contents

QUESTION: How can I print the contents of the current graphics window automatically?

ANSWER: If what you want is simply a screen dump of the contents of the window sent to the default printer, you can easily use the PRINTER device to accomplish your goal.

Here is a little program named Print_It that automatically sends the contents of a specified window directly to the default printer. The program derived from a Tip of the Week published by Research Systems and help from people on the IDL news group (comp.lang.idl-pvwave), especially Armand Jongen, who won a book for his (considerable) efforts.

The code looks like this:

[Ed. Note: This program is fairly ancient. I have updated the program to take advantage of some of the new (IDL 5.3 or so) keywords for the PRINTER device. The new program is named PRINTWINDOW. You may want to try this one first.]

 PRO Print_It, wid, Landscape=landscape, NoScale=noscale, $
   NoCenter=nocenter

; This program sends the contents of the specified
; window to the default printer. The current window
; is used if a window index number is not provided.

; This program was originally written by David Fanning
; using advice from RSI. It was extensively modified and
; improved by Armand J.L. Jongen and others on the IDL newsgroup.

; KEYWORD PARAMETERS:
;
;   LANDSCAPE  If this keyword is set, the output is in Landscape
;              mode. Otherwise, Portrait mode is used.
;
;   NOSCALE    If this keyword is set, the output is not scaled
;              to fill the page, but is left in its actual
;              device coordinate size.
;
;   NOCENTER   If this keyword is set, the output is positioned
;              in the lower-left corner of the display. Otherwise,
;              the output is centered on the page.

   ; Check parameters.

IF N_Params() EQ 0 THEN wid = !D.Window
landscape = Keyword_Set(landscape)
noscale = Keyword_Set(noscale)
nocenter = Keyword_Set(nocenter)

   ; Make the window current. Get contents.

WSet, wid
contents = TVRD()

   ; Get the sizes of the window.

xsize = !D.X_Size
ysize = !D.Y_Size

   ; Change the current device to PRINTER. Copy color table.

thisDevice = !D.Name
Set_Plot, 'PRINTER', /Copy

   ; Reset the PRINTER for proper calculations.

Device, Scale_Factor=1, Portrait=1

   ; Get the sizes of the PRINTER device.
   ; If the Landscape keyword is set, swap PRINTER sizes.

IF landscape THEN BEGIN

   pxsize = !D.Y_Size
   pysize = !D.X_Size

ENDIF ELSE BEGIN

   pxsize = !D.X_Size
   pysize = !D.Y_Size

ENDELSE

   ; Calculate a scale factor for the printer.

IF noscale THEN scalefactor = 1 ELSE $
   scalefactor = 1.0 / ((Float(xsize)/pxsize) > (Float(ysize)/pysize))

   ; Do you want the output centered?

IF nocenter THEN BEGIN

   xoffset = 0
   yoffset = 0

ENDIF ELSE BEGIN

   ; Calculate offsets to center output. The offsets
   ; will be scaled later by the device so be sure to
   ; divide by the scale factor.

   xoffset = Fix((Float(pxsize)/scalefactor - xsize)/2.0)
   yoffset = Fix((Float(pysize)/scalefactor - ysize)/2.0)

ENDELSE

   ; Print it.

Device, Portrait=(NOT landscape), Scale_Factor=scalefactor
TV, contents, xoffset, yoffset, /Device
Device, /Close_Document

   ; Clean up.

Set_Plot, thisDevice

END

To run this program, type this:

file = Filepath(SubDirectory=['examples','data'], 'hurric.dat')
OpenR, lun, file, /Get_Lun
image = BytArr(440, 340)
ReadU, lun, image
Free_Lun, lun

Window, 5, XSize=440, YSize=340
TV, image
Print_It, 5

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