How to Print with a Dialog in C#

Input

The quarterly-report.pdf passed to ShowPrintDialog, a styled corporate Q3 financial summary with KPI metric cards and division revenue tables, representing a typical business document sent to the print dialog.

:path=/static-assets/print/content-code-examples/how-to/print-with-dialog/print-with-dialog-show-print-dialog-open-and-print.cs

using IronPrint;

// Open the print dialog and print
Printer.ShowPrintDialog("quarterly-report.pdf");

Imports IronPrint

' Open the print dialog and print
Printer.ShowPrintDialog("quarterly-report.pdf")

Output

Native print dialog opened by ShowPrintDialog for the quarterly report.

The method accepts a file path as a string or raw file data as a byte[]. IronPrint detects the document format, renders it through the appropriate engine, and presents the dialog. When the user confirms, the document prints with their chosen settings. The print document tutorial walks through the full printing lifecycle in more detail.

Input

The invoice.pdf pre-loaded with A4 portrait settings at 300 DPI: a professional billing invoice with line items, discount, tax, and wire transfer instructions, showing a realistic document where the application already knows the required paper size and orientation.

:path=/static-assets/print/content-code-examples/how-to/print-with-dialog/print-with-dialog-preconfigure-dialog-settings.cs

using IronPrint;

// Pre-configure default dialog settings
var settings = new PrintSettings
{
    PrinterName = "HP LaserJet Pro",
    PaperSize = PaperSize.A4,
    PaperOrientation = PaperOrientation.Portrait,
    Dpi = 300,
    NumberOfCopies = 2,
    Grayscale = false
};

// Open the dialog with pre-filled settings
Printer.ShowPrintDialog("invoice.pdf", settings);

Imports IronPrint

' Pre-configure default dialog settings
Dim settings As New PrintSettings With {
    .PrinterName = "HP LaserJet Pro",
    .PaperSize = PaperSize.A4,
    .PaperOrientation = PaperOrientation.Portrait,
    .Dpi = 300,
    .NumberOfCopies = 2,
    .Grayscale = False
}

' Open the dialog with pre-filled settings
Printer.ShowPrintDialog("invoice.pdf", settings)

Output

Native print dialog opened with pre-configured A4 portrait settings.

This is useful when the application knows the likely printer or paper format in advance. For example, a point-of-sale system that always prints receipts on a specific thermal printer can default PrinterName to that device. The user still has the option to change it in the dialog.

To discover which printers are available on the system, we call Printer.GetPrinterNames(), which returns a List<string> of all installed printers. Similarly, Printer.GetPrinterTrays() returns available paper trays for a given printer.

The full list of configurable properties includes PrinterName, PaperSize, PaperOrientation, Dpi, NumberOfCopies, Grayscale, PaperMargins, Flatten (for PDF form fields), and Tray. The print settings how-to covers each property with code examples. Any property not set in PrintSettings defaults to the selected printer's standard configuration.

Input

The report.pdf awaited asynchronously: a multi-section IT infrastructure and security report, representing the kind of long-form document where non-blocking dialog presentation keeps the UI responsive while the file loads.

:path=/static-assets/print/content-code-examples/how-to/print-with-dialog/print-with-dialog-show-print-dialog-async.cs

using IronPrint;

// Open the print dialog asynchronously
await Printer.ShowPrintDialogAsync("report.pdf");

Imports IronPrint

' Open the print dialog asynchronously
Await Printer.ShowPrintDialogAsync("report.pdf")

Output

Native print dialog opened asynchronously via ShowPrintDialogAsync, with the console confirming non-blocking execution.

ShowPrintDialogAsync() accepts the same parameters as the synchronous version: a file path or byte array, plus an optional PrintSettings object. The async pattern follows the same Task-based Asynchronous Pattern used throughout modern .NET development.

IronPrint works across WinForms, WPF, MAUI, and console applications. The dialog appearance adapts to the host platform and OS version, so the user always sees the native print window they expect.

Input

monthly-report.pdf read into a byte[], representing a document retrieved from a database or generated in memory before being sent to the dialog.

:path=/static-assets/print/content-code-examples/how-to/print-with-dialog/print-with-dialog-print-dialog-image-and-byte-array.cs

using IronPrint;

// Print an image with the dialog
Printer.ShowPrintDialog("product-photo.png");

// Print from a byte array
byte[] reportData = File.ReadAllBytes("monthly-report.pdf");
Printer.ShowPrintDialog(reportData);

Imports IronPrint

' Print an image with the dialog
Printer.ShowPrintDialog("product-photo.png")

' Print from a byte array
Dim reportData As Byte() = File.ReadAllBytes("monthly-report.pdf")
Printer.ShowPrintDialog(reportData)

Output

The dialog opens as seen in the examples above. Format detection is automatic: whether we pass a file path or a byte[], IronPrint renders the document and presents the same native dialog.

The code examples page shows additional format-specific scenarios. For PDF-specific workflows (generating a PDF and printing it immediately), IronPDF pairs naturally with IronPrint.