Print Templates, Part III: HeaderFooter

In this column we continue our series on print templates. Print templates first appeared in Internet Explorer 5.5, and were later improved in Internet Explorer 6. In column 89, Print Templates, Part I, we showed you how to assemble a print template with two out of the four elements of print templates: LayoutRect and DeviceRect. In Column 91 (Print Templates, Part II: TemplatePrinter) we added the TemplatePrinter element. In this column, we cover the fourth and last element of print templates, HeaderFooter. The HeaderFooter behavior assembles the header's and footer's HTML. It uses both instuctions and data in the synthesis process. In this column, we'll show you how to control and impact the HTML generation for the header and footer.

The only way to call HeaderFooter is through C++ code. Relax, we are not going to teach you C++ in this column. Luckily, Microsoft wrote an application to which you can feed your own print templates and the documents you want to print. This application comes with sample print templates that our columns are based on. In this column we introduce the usage of HeaderFooter with two templates, template4 and template5. They differ in the way we update the total number of pages after laying out all pages.

In this column you will learn:

• How to add a HeaderFooter element to a print template
• How to add headers and footers after rendering
• How to assemble the header and footer
• How to add headers and footers while rendering
• How to update headers and footers

You can see the full code listing of template4 on Page 7 and the code listing of template5 on Page 8. Load them both from the enclosed zipped file.

Next: How to add a HeaderFooter element