Can you post your API code? Maybe it can be modified to grab the port  name
also, to be stored  for later when you need it.

I think Stan Getz’ Access Cookbook book is well known to have a really good
section on changing the printers  from inside Access, most of which should be
transferable to Excel.

This web site:

safari.phptr.com/.../accesscook-CHP-5-SECT-4

has a lot of info  on the subject, however, it seems to be a reference to
other sources only, some of which are fee-based. It might be a jackpot, or
it might not be. For what it’s worth.

What I would like to do is to create  an array  then with

Friendly Name , Friendly Name & "on" Port Number

I not ever done a multi dimension array so any tips would be appreciated


As I currently call this function once then send the info  to a sort routine
and then populate the combobox

This is the module code

Option Explicit

Const PRINTER_ENUM_CONNECTIONS = &H4
Const PRINTER_ENUM_LOCAL = &H2
Const PRINTER_INFO = &H4

Private Declare Function EnumPrinters Lib "winspool.drv" Alias
"EnumPrintersA" _
(ByVal flags As Long, ByVal name As String, ByVal Level As Long, _
pPrinterEnum As Long, ByVal cdBuf As Long, pcbNeeded As Long, _
pcReturned As Long) As Long

Private Declare Function PtrToStr Lib "kernel32" Alias "lstrcpyA" _
(ByVal RetVal As String, ByVal Ptr As Long) As Long

Private Declare Function StrLen Lib "kernel32" Alias "lstrlenA" _
(ByVal Ptr As Long) As Long


Public Function ListPrinters() As Variant

Dim bSuccess As Boolean
Dim iBufferRequired As Long
Dim iBufferSize As Long
Dim iBuffer() As Long
Dim iEntries As Long
Dim iIndex As Long
Dim strPrinterName As String
Dim iDummy As Long
Dim iDriverBuffer() As Long
Dim StrPrinters() As String

iBufferSize = 3072

ReDim iBuffer((iBufferSize \ 4) - 1) As Long

'EnumPrinters will return a value False if the buffer is not big enough
bSuccess = EnumPrinters(PRINTER_ENUM_CONNECTIONS Or _
PRINTER_ENUM_LOCAL, vbNullString, _
1, iBuffer(0), iBufferSize, iBufferRequired, iEntries)

If Not bSuccess Then
If iBufferRequired > iBufferSize Then
iBufferSize = iBufferRequired
Debug.Print "iBuffer too small. Trying again with "; _
iBufferSize & " bytes."
ReDim iBuffer(iBufferSize \ 4) As Long
End If
'Try again with new buffer
bSuccess = EnumPrinters(PRINTER_ENUM_CONNECTIONS Or _
PRINTER_ENUM_LOCAL, vbNullString, _
1, iBuffer(0), iBufferSize, iBufferRequired, iEntries)
End If

If Not bSuccess Then
'Enumprinters returned False
MsgBox "Error enumerating printers."
Exit Function
Else
'Enumprinters returned True, use found printers  to fill the array
ReDim StrPrinters(iEntries - 1)
For iIndex = 0 To iEntries - 1
'Get the printername
strPrinterName = Space$(StrLen(iBuffer(iIndex * 4 + 2)))
iDummy = PtrToStr(strPrinterName, iBuffer(iIndex * 4 + 2))
StrPrinters(iIndex) = strPrinterName
Next iIndex
End If

ListPrinters = StrPrinters

End Function

Well, the key here is the Win32 API EnumPrinters.

msdn.microsoft.com/.../prntspo
l_9fjn.asp

Lots of info  there.

The key is that EnumPrinters returns data  into a buffer of either type
PRINTER_INFO_1, PRINTER_INFO_2, PRINTER_INFO_4, or PRINTER_INFO_5. There are
links to these data structures in the above article.

The docs, which should be read  carefully if you’re going to try to use this,
indicate that you have your choice of which PRINTER_INFO data structure you
want to return. It recommends PRINTER_INFO_4 as the one to use because it’s
the quickest and most lightweight. Your code is using PRINTER_INFO_1, as
determined by the 3rd parameter in the EnumPrinters call. PRINTER_INFO_1 may
work fine too.



PRINTER_INFO_4 docs:

msdn.microsoft.com/.../prntspo
l_8vle.asp

PRINTER_INFO_4 just has the printer  name, the server name, and a
local/network attribute. MAYBE the server name is what you need. I don’t
know, haven’t tried it.

However, the docs also say that it just gets this info right out of the
registry, so if you find that easier, there you go.



In order to user  PRINTER_INFO_4 instead of PRINTER_INFO_1, you’ll need to
change iBufferSize to the correct number of bytes for the data structure (I
don’t know what that is), and you’ll also need to hack up the result using
code similar to what you currently have after the comment in your code that
says “get printer name”. I don’t know if that kind of byte-twiddle coding is
within your scope or not.



It may just be easier to pull the info from the Registry – I’m finding the
exact info you want at:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version\Devices

It’s got the port  name and everything.

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version\PrinterPorts

has most of the same info, but with some extra timeout values, probably
unnecessary for your purposes.

I would go with the registry…