runtime error 2448 you cant assign a value to this object

Question

I am using David-W-Fenton\'s answer to this question to try to allow users to print a report when they click on a control, but I am getting the following error message:

Answer 1

The code posted cannot work, because when a form is opened as a dialog:

DoCmd.OpenForm "dlgPrinter", , , , , acDialog, strReport

no other logic after this line is executed until the form has been closed, at which point control returns to the next line after this one, and logic continues on - except of course you can no longer reference anything in that form, because it is now closed.

Ok, now there is a question, where is the button the user clicks to print a report?

What I'm thinking is to split the logic in PrintReport into two methods, one that launches it, and tells the form to configure itself (doing the stuff suggested in the comment), but the rest of PrintReport then needs to happen after the user clicks OK (or Cancel);

So if I assume that you've got a form which can launch one or more reports, and the button is on this form, what I would suggest is this:

In the click event for that button - no changes to what you've got.

In that buttons form, add this:

Public Sub DialogAccept()
    With Forms!dlgPrinter
        If .Tag <> "Cancel" Then
            Set Reports(strReport).Printer = Application.Printers((!cmbPrinter))
            Reports(strReport).Printer.Orientation = !optLayout
            Application.Echo False
            DoCmd.SelectObject acReport, strReport
            DoCmd.PrintOut acPages, !txtPageFrom, !txtPageTo
            PrintReport = True
        End If
    End With
    DoCmd.Close acForm, "dlgPrinter"
    DoCmd.Close acReport, strReport
    Application.Echo True
End Sub

Change PrintReport to:

Public Function PrintReport(strReport As String, strVarName As String, numVal As Long) As Boolean
    ' open report in PREVIEW mode but HIDDEN
    DoCmd.OpenReport strReport, acViewPreview, , strVarName & " = " & numVal, acHidden

    'DoCmd.OpenReport strReport, acViewPreview, , , acHidden
    ' open the dialog form to let the user choose printing options
    DoCmd.OpenForm "dlgPrinter", , , , , , strReport
    Forms!dlgPrinter.Configure
End Function

In the OK/Cancel button click events on dlgPrinter put (after existing code, but removing any instances of "Docmd.close"):

Forms!Calling_Form_Name.DialogAccept

This then calls that method, to do the stuff that is meant to happen after the user says "I'm done with the dialog".

Finally add the configure method to dlgPrinter:

Public Sub Configure()
    With Reports(Me.Tag).Printer
        Me!cmbPrinter = .DeviceName
        Me!optLayout = .Orientation
    End With
    Dim numPages As String
    numPages = Reports(Me.Tag).Pages
    Debug.Print "numPages = " & numPages
    TypeName(Me.txtPageTo) 'added this line as a test after
    Me.txtPageTo.Value = numPages
End Sub

And remove this code section from Form_Load.

Hoep this helps.

Lastly, if the form on which the button launching dlgPrinter can vary, change this line:

DoCmd.OpenForm "dlgPrinter", , , , , acDialog, strReport

to:

DoCmd.OpenForm "dlgPrinter", , , , , acDialog, strReport & ";" & me.Name

In form_load of dlgPrinter, break up me.Openargs using left() & mid() with instr(), and save me.Name into the tag of something on the form (which you're not already using the tag of).

In the OK/Cancel button click events, change the code above to:

Forms(Object.Tag).DialogAccept