Not sure how this might work in PHP, but there is something called WSH
(go to MS and poke around) that gives you access to a ton of really
interesting Windows bits and pieces. The following is a script I run in
Lotus Notes (LotusScript is rather like VBA) and it allows you to set
the default printer to something which you then just print to and reset
the default to whatever it was. PDFCreator is a 'printer' that
generates PDF files (you probably don't want this since use of
PDFCreator includes it's own set of user interactions but the WSH
concept may still work).
Warning - I'm not a WSH expert and I never figured out how to properly
reset the printer to the user's default so I don't actually use this
script. Still, someone smarter than me may have the magic touch - give
it a whirl.
Sub Initialize
Dim net
pName$ = "PDFCreator"
Set net = CreateObject("WScript.Network")
net.SetDefaultPrinter pName$
End Sub
Doug
-----Original Message-----
From: tg-php@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:tg-php@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Tuesday, October 25, 2005 10:50 AM
To: php-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; php-windows@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: dave.lists@xxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: PDF printing under windows.
Two (and a half) things:
1. Even though DOS/Windows machines don't have, specifically,
/dev/printer or /dev/lpr or whatever the *nix specific is, it does have
a LPTx: device
According to the page listed below, it may be possible to do:
copy /b filename LPTx
The /b indicates it's a binary file. How it'd handle PDF fonts and
such, I'm not sure, but I know that some printers can decode PDF's
internally so that'd work out great.
2. Second point... If all you need is a simple print function and you
have exec() privs, why not try to find a DOS based printing solution.
The copy command above was mentioned on this page:
http://www.lerup.com/printfile/
It says it works with Windows 3.1 to XP. And it even works with command
line options:
"PrintFile also works well with command line (DOS) programs. It has
several command line options and can read data from command line
standard input, e.g. a command line pipe. A command like:
dir | prfile32"
So I guess it sets up it's own print device that you can pipe to.
And finally... the half a point. All of this may not be necessary
because you can configure Windows printers to support DOS (although I
havn't done this in ages, I assume you still can in XP) so in theory the
normal DOS "print" command would pipe through Windows drivers and print
handling to the printer of choice.
So in general, there's probably zero need to use COM to print. One of
these options should pipe the file through Windows which in turn, could
possibly send it through the proper printing method. If not, you might
be able to look in your registry and find the right-click "Print..."
option and see if it's something you can execute from command line.
Ok, I know this email's too long already, but I know someone's going to
say "How do you do that?" So here's the 50 cent tour:
1. Pull up "regedit"
2. Search for the file extension ".pdf"
3. Make note of the "(Default)" value, in this case "AcroExch.Document"
(I think this is specific to having the full Acrobat installed) 3. Below
the area where all the file extensions are in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT there
are the actual named app section (that way, ".gif" and ".jpg" can both
point to Photoshop.document" or something.. get it?) So search for
"AcroExch.Document" in this case 4. Expand that tree and look for
"shell". These are all the things that show up on your right-click menu.
In this case, we have a "print" section. Under each of these entries,
there should be (but sometimes not) a "command" branch. This is what's
run when you select that option from the right-click menu. And voila!
We find that the command to use Acrobat to print (which can be executed
from command line on a Windows machine) is:
"C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 5.0\Acrobat\Acrobat.exe" /p /h "%1"
Substituting the %1 for the filename.
Using that command line in a php exec() call should exactly simulate
selecting right-click PRINT on a PDF file.
Crossposting this to PHP-Win for their benefit too since this is more
Windows related than PHP General.
I see lots of ways to potentially solve this problem without using COM.
I loved messing with COM (with or without PHP) for a while, but it's not
a great general solution to things unless you absolutely HAVE to control
the app (which is very cool and slick sometimes, but not for something
as simple as printing).
Hope this gives you some new avenues to persue. Best of luck!
-TG
= = = Original message = = =
Richard Lynch wrote:
>On Mon, October 24, 2005 1:48 pm, Dave Lists wrote:
>
>
>>I'm generating PDFs under windows using PDFlib and all is easy. What I
>>am wondering though, and google reveals nothing usefull, can I print
>>the PDF to a network printer from windows? I'm presuming to print the
>>file I would ahve to use COM and open it under Acrobat? Anyone done
>>this before and have any pointers? I'm printing out invoices and what
>>to automate the task.
>>
>>
>
>If, for some weird reason, you want to allow the user (authenticated,
>logged in, trusted) to print to a networked computer on the WEB SERVER,
>then your best bet is probably to figure out how to print that PDF from
>MS-DOS and then to use http://php.net/exec to print it, I would
>guess...
>
>
It's from a cli PHP install on a local machine :-)
>You might be able to use PHP to open up a COM object to convince
>Adobe/Windows/whatever to print...
>
>
COM makes me want to cry ;-) At the moment I'm trying to convince
OpenOffiice it wants to play with PHP and COM.
I have tried to exec print on the windows box but that just hung.
>If it was a Un*x server, you'd just send the document to lpr or CUPS or
>something, and be done with it, probably in a half-hour of work, even
>allowing for a protracted battle with file/exec permissions.
>
>
>
I'm not sure I could just fire a PDF at lpr, but no doubt it would be
much easier under Unix :-)
Dave.
___________________________________________________________
Sent by ePrompter, the premier email notification software.
Free download at http://www.ePrompter.com.
_______________________________________________________________________
This e-mail message has been sent by Kollsman, Inc. and is for the use
of the intended recipients only. The message may contain privileged
or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient
you are hereby notified that any use, distribution or copying of
this communication is strictly prohibited, and you are requested to
delete the e-mail and any attachments and notify the sender immediately.
--
PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/)
To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
