REFERENCE GUIDE

FunctionDeviceCapabilitiesDeviceModeExtDeviceModeDescriptionRetrieves capabilities of a printer devicedriver.Sets the current printing modes for adevice by prompting the user with a dialogbox.Retrieves or modifies device initializationinformation for a given printer driver ordisplays a driver-supplied dialog box forconfiguring the driver.Printer-escape functionThe Escape function allows an application to access facilities of aparticular device that are not directly available through GOL ThenEscape parameter of this function specifies the escape function tobe performed. When an application calls Escape for a printerdevice context, the escape functions regulate the flow of printeroutput from Windows applications, retrieve information about aprinter, and alter the settings of a printer.Creating outputon a printerWindows applications use only the standard Windows functionsto access system memory, the output device, the keyboard, andthe mouse. Each application interacts with the user through oneor more windows that are created and maintained by the user.GOl assists an application in creating output by passing deviceindependentfunction calls from the application to the devicedriver. The device driver first translates these device-independentfunction calls into device-dependent operations that create imageson a device's display surface, and then sends them to PrintManager (the spooler). Print Manager serves two purposes: Itcollects translated commands from one application and storesthem in a corresponding job, and it passes a complete job to thedevice for output.If only one Windows application were allowed to run at anygiven time, Print Manager and many of the escape functionswould be unnecessary. However, Windows allows severalapplications to run at once. If two or more of these applicationssend output simultaneously, each application's output must beseparated and remain separated during printing or plotting. Print128Software development kit