Sending information to a fax or other printing device using PHP.

scriptkiddie

Hi all.

I am making a webpage for a restaurant, and I want people to be able to reserve a table over the internet. But the problem is, that the employees aren't too familiar with pc's, and they won't be able to log in to a pc and chech for reservations.

So, I am thinking about an alternative solution. And in that case I am wondering:

Can PHP send information submitted from a form, to a fax machine or other printing device, so that the employees can just walk by and pick up the piece of paper where all the information stands?

I will appreciate other ideas as well!

In advance,
thank you!

Regards,
Ole Faltinsen.
Norway.

zingbats

What version of PHP do you have? And do u have root access to the php.ini file?

scriptkiddie

Originally posted by zingbats
What version of PHP do you have? And do u have root access to the php.ini file?

PHP 4.3.2

Most likely, I will get access to php.ini.

zingbats

actually, I don't think it is possible with PHP.

Maybe they could just press the print button on the internet explorer page?

scriptkiddie

Hehe, that really would make things a lot easier. Well.. Do you have any other ideas how to get this done, using another script/programming language?

zingbats

JAVA can do it.. but the print button is your best option.!!!

scriptkiddie

Ok. Thank you.

tekky

check out this link here for a possible javascript solution 😉

maybe try that in an onLoad() event? 🙂

Jeb_

http://www.php.net/manual/en/ref.printer.php

Only works under Windows OS though.

If you're not running under Windows, you may be able to call the print spooler program from the exec functions and pass it the name of the file you auto-generate, maybe something like:

system("lp $filename")