# Printing More Than One Record

> Queue database records in a list box and print each merged document with a hidden TXTextControl in Visual Basic 6 using SaveToMemory and PrintPage.

- **Product:** TX Text Control ActiveX
- **Section:** Documentation
- **Kind:** Topic
- **Path:** TX Text Control ActiveX > Mail Merge > Printing More Than One Record
- **871 words**
- **Web URL:** https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-activex/mail-merge/multiple-records/
- **LLMs URL:** https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-activex/mail-merge/multiple-records/llms.txt
- **LLMs-Full URL:** https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-activex/mail-merge/multiple-records/llms-full.txt

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A print queue collects records and prints them together. The second part of the Visual Basic mail merge sample sets one up: the user browses through the database and merges single records into the document, as in [Merging Database Data and Text](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-activex/mail-merge/merging-data/llms-full.txt), adds single records to the queue and starts printing the queue on command.

The source code of this part is in the *Samples\\vb6\\MailMerge\\Step2* directory.

### How the Print Queue Works

The queue is a list box. Adding a record adds the company name of the current record to it, and this name stands for the record: when the queue is printed, it is replaced by the actual data of the record.

The document is printed in the background. For this, *Form2* of the sample project has a second, invisible `TXTextControl` named `TXHidden`, which is filled with the template and receives the merged data.

### Reuse the Merge Routine

The sample doesn't need a second routine for merging. The `Merge` routine of the first part is changed a little and defined globally. It now receives the `TXTextControl` in which the merging takes place as a parameter, so that it works with the visible and the hidden control. In addition, the records from the database are now merged into the Marked Text Fields and no longer into the label captions.

### Print the Queue

Calling `StartPrinting` in *Form2* starts printing:

```vbscript
Sub StartPrinting()
   Dim data() As Byte
   Dim i As Integer
   ' Copy document to hidden TX
   data = Form1.TXTextControl1.SaveToMemory(3, False)
   Form2.TXHidden.LoadFromMemory data, 3, False
   ' Print queue
   While (doPrint And Form2.List1.ListCount > 0)
      Merge Form2.TXHidden, Form2.List1.List(0) ' Merge data
      For i = 1 To Form2.TXHidden.CurrentPages
         Printer.Print
         Form2.TXHidden.PrintDevice = Printer.hDC
         Form2.TXHidden.PrintPage i
         Printer.NewPage
      Next i
      Printer.EndDoc
      ' First item printed, remove it from queue
      RemoveItem (0)
   Wend
End Sub
```

The code works as follows:

- [SaveToMemory](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-activex/reference/txtextcontrol/savetomemory-method/llms-full.txt) and [LoadFromMemory](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-activex/reference/txtextcontrol/loadfrommemory-method/llms-full.txt) copy the complete content of the visible document into the hidden `TXTextControl`.
- A `While` loop works off the queue until the list box has no more entries.
- In each pass, `Merge` does the merging first. It receives the hidden `TXTextControl` and the string at position 0 of the list box, which is the company name of the record to print.
- The loop then prints the document page by page: [CurrentPages](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-activex/reference/txtextcontrol/currentpages-property/llms-full.txt) gives the number of pages, [PrintDevice](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-activex/reference/txtextcontrol/printdevice-property/llms-full.txt) receives the device context of the Visual Basic `Printer` object and [PrintPage](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-activex/reference/txtextcontrol/printpage-method/llms-full.txt) prints one page.
- Finally, `RemoveItem` removes the printed record from the list box.

### Next Steps

- [Dynamic Template Generation](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-activex/mail-merge/dynamic-templates/llms-full.txt): let the user select a database and insert its fields into the template.
- [Merging Database Data and Text](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-activex/mail-merge/merging-data/llms-full.txt): the `FindField` and `Merge` routines this part reuses.
- [Printing](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-activex/document-editor/printing/llms-full.txt): print documents with `TXTextControl`.

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## Nearby

- **Previous:** [Merging Database Data and Text](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-activex/mail-merge/merging-data/llms-full.txt)
- **Next:** [Dynamic Template Generation](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-activex/mail-merge/dynamic-templates/llms-full.txt)