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Searched the Feb 2001 SDK and could not find such a function. Here is what I did find in the Windows GDI section... Printer Output Just as an application requires a display device context (DC) before it can begin drawing in the client area of a window, it needs a printer DC before it can begin sending output to a printer. A printer DC is similar to a display DC in that it is an internal data structure that defines a set of graphic objects and their associated attributes and specifies the graphic modes that affect output. The graphic objects include a pen (for line drawing), a brush (for painting and filling), and a font (for text output). Unlike a display DC, printer DCs are not owned by the window management component, and they cannot be obtained by calling the GetDC function. Instead, an application must call the CreateDC or PrintDlgEx function. If you call the CreateDC function, you must supply a driver and port name. To retrieve these names, call the GetPrinter or EnumPrinters function. If your application calls the PrintDlgEx function and specifies the PD_RETURNDC value in the Flags member of the PRINTDLGEX structure, the system returns a handle to a device context for the printer selected by the user. For more information, see Print Property Sheet and Using the Print Property Sheet. Microsoft® Windows® 95, Windows 98, and Microsoft Windows NT® versions 4.0 and earlier do not support the PrintDlgEx function. If your application needs to run on these platforms, use the PrintDlg function with the PD_RETURNDC value. For more information, see Print Dialog Box and Displaying the Print Dialog Box.

Vom-bonjour:-() This is easy to explain.

GetPrinterDC proc uses ebx

        LOCAL dwNeeded:DWORD
		LOCAL dwReturned:DWORD
        LOCAL hdc:HDC 

	  invoke GetVersion		; No parameters reqd

	  .if eax & 80000000h		; If high bit's set then its Win95/98

;					; **** If here, its Win95/98 ****
							  
	    invoke  EnumPrinters, PRINTER_ENUM_DEFAULT, 0, 5, 0, \
                    0, ADDR dwNeeded, ADDR dwReturned	; Find how much memory we need (dwNeeded)

;	Use GlobalAlloc instead of malloc to allocate memory; eax returns handle to memory
	
	    invoke  GlobalAlloc, GMEM_MOVEABLE or GMEM_ZEROINIT, dwNeeded
	    mov	    hMemory, eax
	    invoke  GlobalLock, eax	; Lock the memory block & return pointer to memory	
	    mov	    pinfo5, eax		; Save it
	    mov	    ebx,eax		; Set reg to memory
					      			
            invoke  EnumPrinters, PRINTER_ENUM_DEFAULT, 0, 5, pinfo5, \
                                  dwNeeded, ADDR dwNeeded, ADDR dwReturned
	      
	    invoke  CreateDC, 0, PRINTER_INFO_5.pPrinterName, 0, 0
	    mov	    hdc,eax
	    
	    invoke  GlobalUnlock, pinfo5	; Invalidate pointer to memory block
	    invoke  GlobalFree, hMemory		; Free the memory


	  .else					; **** Else its Windows NT ****			
 
	    invoke  EnumPrinters, PRINTER_ENUM_LOCAL, 0, 4, 0, \
                                  0, ADDR dwNeeded, ADDR dwReturned

	    invoke  GlobalAlloc, GMEM_MOVEABLE or GMEM_ZEROINIT, dwNeeded
	    mov	    hMemory, eax
	    invoke  GlobalLock, eax	; Lock the memory block & return pointer to memory	
	    mov	    pinfo4, eax		; Save it
	    mov	    ebx,eax
								
            invoke  EnumPrinters, PRINTER_ENUM_LOCAL, 0, 4, pinfo4 , \
                                  dwNeeded, ADDR dwNeeded, ADDR dwReturned

	    invoke  CreateDC, 0, PRINTER_INFO_4.pPrinterName, 0, 0
	    mov	    hdc,eax
	  
	    invoke  GlobalUnlock, pinfo4	; Invalidate pointer to memory block
	    invoke  GlobalFree, hMemory		; Free the memory

	  .endif

	mov	eax, hdc

 	ret 

GetPrinterDC     endp		 

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