does anyone kno any command or method or anything that will enable me to
rpint text files directly.

for example, say you store data in test.txt. you press a button, and
voila, the printer is activated printing the file.

Keyur Patel
Houston, TX

'---------------------------------------------
x = FreeFile
Open "test.txt" For Input As x
  s$ = Input$(Lof(x),x)
Close x

Printer.Print s$;
Printer.EndDoc
'---------------------------------------------

If your files are larger than 64k or so, you'll have to read in the data in
chunks and print it.  Of course, this doesn't do any kind of formatting on
the text being printed.  That's a whole 'nuther ballgame.

--
Robert Simpson
Programmer at Large
BC Software
Phx, AZ

http://www.primenet.com/~simpson

Do While Not EOF(1)
        Line Input #1, t$
        Printer.Print t$
Loop

Close the file

HTH,
Ed Phillippe

Regards
        Ben "Glad to help" Taylor

--
My opinions are not necessarily those of Parallax Solutions

"Things that go away on their own, come back on their own"
 - Tip of the day, Visual C++ 4

--
Robert Simpson
Programmer at Large
BC Software
Phx, AZ

http://www.primenet.com/~simpson

Hope this helps

Alex

------
System report? RAM is ramming, electrons zinging.
All  systems go - or already gone.

Ok, I ripped this out of a piece of code I am working on.  It will
allow you to print any text file to printer pn$.  Parts of it were
stolen from the Helpfile but I can't remember where.

-DiscoStu

("Hey, Disco Stu doesn't advertise!")

    Final.MousePointer = 4    ' I think 4 is the hourglass
    Open "C:\MyFile" For Input As #1
    pn$ = "LPT1:"

        Dim X As Printer

        For Each X In Printers
            If X.Port = pn$ Then
                Set Printer = X
                Exit For
            End If
        Next

    Do While Not EOF(1)
        MyChar = Input(1, #1)
        Printer.Print MyChar;
    Loop
    Close
    Printer.EndDoc
    Final.MousePointer = 0      '0 is default pointer

Sub PrintTextFile_Click ()
    Dim DefaultFileName As String   ' Default filename for file dialog.
    Dim unwanted As Integer         ' For the unused return value of the WinExec function.
    Dim CommandLine As String       ' Build a DOS command line in this string.
    Dim Response As Integer         ' For Msgbox return value.

    DefaultFileName = "*.*"

    ' "Directory" is a global variable for the app's current working directory.
    CMDialog1.InitDir = Directory

    CMDialog1.DialogTitle = "Select a text file to print"
    CMDialog1.Filename = DefaultFileName

    ' Set filters.
    CMDialog1.Filter = "All Files (*.*)|*.*|Text Files (*.txt)|*.txt|Batch Files (*.bat)|*.bat"

    ' Specify default filter.
    CMDialog1.FilterIndex = 1

    ' Display the File Open dialog.
    CMDialog1.Action = 1

    ' Do nothing if the user cancels the dialog without selecting a file.
    If CMDialog1.Filename = DefaultFileName Then Exit Sub

    ' If a file was selected, get confirmation from the user before printing.
    Response = MsgBox("Copy " + CMDialog1.Filename + " to the printer port?", 33)
    If Response = 2 Then Exit Sub

    ' Compose a DOS command line.
    CommandLine = "copy " + CMDialog1.Filename + " lpt1:"
    ' Execute the DOS command.
    unwanted = WinExec("command.com /c " + CommandLine, SW_SHOWMINIMIZED)

End Sub

Regards
John