How to Install and Configure PrintDirect ActiveX in Windows Applications

Boost Printing Performance with PrintDirect ActiveX: Tips & Best PracticesPrinting from Windows applications can be deceptively complex. Developers often face bottlenecks related to rendering speed, driver compatibility, network delays, and inefficient use of the printing API. PrintDirect ActiveX is a common choice for embedding direct printing capabilities into desktop and web applications that rely on ActiveX-enabled environments. This article covers practical tips and proven best practices to get the most printing performance, reliability, and user experience from PrintDirect ActiveX.

What is PrintDirect ActiveX (brief)

PrintDirect ActiveX is an ActiveX control that enables applications to print directly to printers without requiring full printer dialogs or heavy driver interactions. It’s commonly used in legacy desktop apps, Internet Explorer-based web apps, and in environments where low-latency or automated printing is necessary (for example POS systems, label printers, and enterprise reporting tools).

Key performance factors to understand

• Rendering pipeline: application -> PrintDirect -> GDI/driver -> spooler -> printer.
• Data format: complex vector graphics and high-resolution images increase rendering time.
• Driver and firmware differences: PostScript vs PCL vs proprietary drivers perform differently.
• Network topology: network printers introduce latency; spooling behavior matters.
• Concurrency: multiple simultaneous jobs can saturate resources on client, server, or print spooler.

Best practices before coding

1. Pick the right printer and driver

   • Use a driver optimized for your print job type: PCL for text-heavy, PostScript for complex graphics, or manufacturer-recommended drivers for labels and receipts.
   • Prefer native drivers over generic drivers when possible — they handle device features and performance optimally.

2. Match paper and resolution to needs

   • Avoid unnecessarily high DPI. For most text and barcode tasks, 203–300 DPI is sufficient; use higher only when required.
   • Choose appropriate paper sizes and avoid frequent auto-trimming or scaling in the driver.

3. Preprocess images and assets

   • Downsample images to target print resolution.
   • Convert images to printer-friendly formats (e.g., black-and-white bitmaps for thermal/label printers).
   • Use vector formats (EMF, SVG where supported) for logos and line art to reduce rasterization cost.

Coding tips with PrintDirect ActiveX

1. Initialize once, reuse control instance

   • Avoid recreating the ActiveX control for each print job. Initialize a single instance and reuse it across jobs to reduce COM initialization overhead.

2. Use batch printing where possible

   • Combine multiple small documents into a single print job to avoid repeated spooling and driver negotiation.

3. Minimize use of dialog boxes and synchronous UI blocking

   • Use PrintDirect’s direct printing features to bypass system dialogs. This reduces user wait-time and removes unnecessary round-trips.

4. Control GDI resource usage

   • Release device contexts (DCs), fonts, and bitmaps promptly.
   • Use lightweight font choices and avoid excessive custom glyphs.

5. Prefer native printer commands for labels/receipts

   • If your printer supports native command languages (ZPL, EPL, ESC/POS), send those commands directly through PrintDirect rather than rendering images. Native commands are smaller, faster, and often more reliable.

6. Set appropriate timeouts and error handling

   • Implement robust error checking for printer status, paper-out conditions, and spooling errors. Retry logic with backoff reduces failed job rates.

Example workflow (pseudocode)

' VBScript-style pseudocode for reusing a single PrintDirect ActiveX instance Set prt = CreateObject("PrintDirect.Control") prt.InitializePrinter "PrinterName" For Each doc In DocumentsToPrint     prt.BeginJob     prt.SetPageSize doc.Width, doc.Height     prt.DrawText doc.Text, x, y, "Arial", 10     prt.DrawImage doc.ImagePath, x, y, width, height     prt.EndJob Next prt.Release 

Network and server-side strategies

• Use print servers for centralized spooling when many clients share printers; this offloads driver processing from thin clients.
• For cloud or web apps, consider a print relay service that converts documents to optimized printer formats near the device.
• Monitor network latency and packet loss; unreliable networks cause retransmissions and delays in job submission.

Profiling and measurement

• Measure end-to-end time: from job initiation to first page printed, and to job completion.
• Instrument at these points: application submission time, PrintDirect processing time, spooler queue time, printer acceptance time.
• Use Windows Performance Monitor counters for spooler and printer driver metrics. Log timings to find hotspots.

Troubleshooting common bottlenecks

• Slow first-page print: often driver initialization or font download — keep drivers warmed by periodic dummy jobs or reuse control instances.
• High CPU during print: rasterization of large images — downsample or convert to simpler formats.
• Intermittent failures: check spooler service, clear stuck jobs, and ensure drivers are updated.
• Multiple copies slow: prefer driver-level copies rather than printing the same job repeatedly from the app.

Security and compatibility considerations

• ActiveX is legacy technology and mostly supported only in Internet Explorer and specific desktop contexts. For broad compatibility, plan migration paths (e.g., native apps, web print APIs, or local print agents).
• Run the control with least privilege necessary; validate and sanitize any dynamic content sent to printers.
• Test across OS versions and driver versions; subtle differences in driver implementations can affect performance and output.

Migration alternatives to consider

• Use a local print agent or service (small background app) that accepts print jobs over a secure channel and uses native APIs — more flexible and modern than ActiveX.
• For web apps, explore the Web Print API, Google Cloud Print alternatives (deprecated) or platform-specific print SDKs.
• For label/receipt printers, libraries that emit raw printer commands (e.g., ZPL builders) are often faster than rendering through a GUI stack.

Quick checklist before deployment

• [ ] Selected optimal driver and DPI
• [ ] Reuse PrintDirect instance; avoid repeated initialization
• [ ] Preprocessed images/assets to target resolution
• [ ] Implemented batching for small jobs
• [ ] Added robust error handling and timeouts
• [ ] Profiled end-to-end timings in real environment
• [ ] Tested across expected OS and driver versions

Print performance often comes down to eliminating unnecessary work: reduce rasterization, minimize driver handshakes, reuse initialized resources, and prefer native printer commands when available. Applying the above tips will typically yield noticeable reductions in latency and greater reliability for printing workloads using PrintDirect ActiveX.