HELP!!! Programmers Unite.

[Uniquex]

Hi fellow programmers,

I desperately need advice regarding the following, sorry if it is a bit lengthy :

In short, currently I have a program written in visual basic for windows that does the following :
- Get and holds detailed printer information and stores it in a pre-defined Structure
- Gets and holds print jobs¡¯ detailed information in the window printer queue in a pre-defined Structure
- Sends a print job from one printer queue to another
- Allows the above to be done on a local network

Note: the above program uses A LOT of pre-defined win32 APIS and the structures and most of the functions used are already defined by the language itself.

Now, I am given the task to transfer this program to PHP language and the program must be able to work on Windows & Linux platforms.

I¡¯ve did a bit of reading on PHP myself, but I can¡¯t seem to be able to find comprehensive functions for interacting between the platform & printer. Or maybe I missed it!

Does PHP has extensive pre-defined functions for interacting with the printer ? e.g.
Libraries in JAVA, Win32 APIs in VB

I¡¯m completely new to Linux, any advice would be appreciated.
If PHP isn¡¯t suitable for this task, can you guys recommend a language to me? The language must be able to get detailed print job/printer information on Windows & linux platform.

Thanks a zillion in advice!!

Druda

[morphy_6deex]

funny prob... mmm not so funny...
never heard of that capability but im not a guru ehehe so...

dont know bout java but instead of php it should surely connect to printers so... jsp? servlet? java within php?

im watching at the window....

[planetsim]

Yes there is.. look up printer in the php manual there is a whole load of things PHP can do with the printer.

I doubt that you wont find what you need.

[lostcarpark]

Although PHP for Windows has a selection of printer functions, I don't think these include printer queue management functions, so that's probably not the right route for you.

You could use the W32api functions, and adapt your current API calls to PHP, but these are experimental and may blow up in your face (make sure you read the user notes in the manual if you try them).

Your best bet might be to keep the API calls in VB, but compile them into a COM object in a DLL. You could then call these functions from PHP using the COM functions, which are more established.

Hope these suggestions help.

James