Device Control Properties

[Windows platform only; not supported by PHP and the Community Edition]

Returns / specifies how TrueType® fonts should be printed on the currently selected output device.

property DevTTOption [integer] VPE.DevTTOption

read / write; runtime only

Possible Values:

ActiveX / VCL	Value	Enum	Comment
VTT_BITMAP	1	Bitmap	Prints TrueType fonts as graphics. This is the default action for dot-matrix printers.
VTT_DOWNLOAD	2	Download	Downloads TrueType fonts as soft fonts. This is the default action for Hewlett-Packard printers that use Printer Control Language (PCL).
VTT_SUBDEV	3	Subdev	Substitute device fonts for TrueType fonts. This is the default action for PostScript® printers.

Remarks:

In case of an error, LastError is set to VERR_COMMON. An error may occur if the device does not support setting the TTOption. Setting this property doesn’t work with some printer drivers. For example it doesn’t work with our HP4 and HP5 printer drivers on WfW 3.11 and NT 3.51, but it works with both drivers on Win95. This is a driver problem.

Example:

ActiveX / VCL

Doc.DevTTOption = VTT_BITMAP

.NET

Doc.DevTTOption = DevTTOption.Bitmap

The following note is from Microsoft itself (MSDN column "Ask Dr. Gui")

These options are usually available in the printer properties dialog box under the Fonts, Device Options, or Advanced Settings tabs. Printer drivers for HP printers have an option called "Text As Graphics." This option, if turned on, prevents use of device fonts and draws the text using the operating system version of the font. PostScript printer drivers sometimes have options that are set per font and they usually have options to only download the font rather than rasterize it. Whenever these options are selected, the print job will get larger because the rasterized glyphs of the font are included within it.

It should save you lots of time and frustration to note that printer drivers are more different than alike, and that these settings are private settings for each printer. It may be necessary to explore the printer's settings to find the one that does the trick.

In theory, how a printer driver works with a TrueType font on the device is controllable by the member of a DEVMODE structure. In practice, however, Dr. GUI has diagnosed plenty of ill printer drivers that do not use this member of the DEVMODE structure correctly. This is a pity, because it places the burden of configuring the printer to use the operating system's fonts on the shoulders of an application's users.