9 Apr
Printing without the Dialog
One day, one of our clients came to us with a very unusual request - they wanted to be able to print something directly from the browser, but without displaying the usual print dialog box. I don't have much time in the webdev business, but I've never heard of this kind of request, and neither had anyone else in the office.
Initially, we didn't think that it was possible. The browser File > Print command uses a dialog box. So does the javascript print() function. The only reason that we knew this was possible was that the client's current system was already doing it. With a little research, we figured out how to print directly from the browser without displaying a dialog box.
Tools you'll need:
1 local Unix or Linux server
A pinch of Javascript
1 PHP exec() call
PHP to format your data
First: your server MUST be a local server, on the same network as the printer. This is because we'll be using the lp command to shoot off the print job.
Second, to get this to work from the browser, you need a little javascript to call a file using XMLHttpRequest that will call the lp command and execute the print job.
The actual command to start off the print job looks something like this:
Initially, we didn't think that it was possible. The browser File > Print command uses a dialog box. So does the javascript print() function. The only reason that we knew this was possible was that the client's current system was already doing it. With a little research, we figured out how to print directly from the browser without displaying a dialog box.
Tools you'll need:
1 local Unix or Linux server
A pinch of Javascript
1 PHP exec() call
PHP to format your data
First: your server MUST be a local server, on the same network as the printer. This is because we'll be using the lp command to shoot off the print job.
Second, to get this to work from the browser, you need a little javascript to call a file using XMLHttpRequest that will call the lp command and execute the print job.
The actual command to start off the print job looks something like this:
lpr -p printer file.txtIn the end, we were able to get this whole thing working, but only because Dustin over at out co-location facility knew what needed to be done. Part of the command line printing involves manually creating a print spool - a task not for the faint of heart. The spool is defined in /etc/printcap, and looks something like this:
printer:\
:ml=0:\
:mx=0:\
:sd=/var/spool/lpd/printer:\
:af=/var/spool/lpd/printer/printer.acct:\
:sh:\
:rm=XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX:\
:rp=text:\
:if=/etc/magicfilter/ibmpro-filter:\
:lpd_bounce=true:Replace the XXX string with your printer's IP address. Then, when you click on a print button, the javascript fires off the XMLHttpRequest, which calls the PHP script to create the print file, and executes the command to print that file. Or, you can call the script with a PHP function on a page load.
Shout outs to Dustin and Andrzej, for making the printing work, and for getting the scripts to call the print action.
From the Workbench, Javascript, Odds 'n Ends, PHP
by Dave Poole | 4/9/2007 4:36pm
by Dave Poole | 4/9/2007 4:36pm
hi,
'Printing without the Dialog ' is what am looking out for.
Will it be possible to view the script for the same?
Regards,
Fatema.
Left by Fatema | Jan 16, 2010
hi,
basically what i need is Printing without the Dialog .
Furthermore, file1 needs to get printed on Printer 1 and
file2 needs to get printed on Printer 2
Left by Fatema | Jan 16, 2010