PHP print functions

scoyle74

Hopefully there is someone who can help me with this problem. I am trying to create a script that will allow the users to print a word document by simply clicking a link. I have created this successfully by hardcoding the printer info into the code ie) $word->ActivePrinter = "HP LaserJet 2200 Series PCL 6";

this works great.

My problem is that I don't know what printer(s) the users have set to their default and I can't get the printer_list() to tell me properly. This is what I am using

 
$list_printers = printer_list(PRINTER_ENUM_NETWORK | PRINTER_ENUM_DEFAULT);

// get the name of the first returned printer

$this_printer = $list_printers[0]["NAME"];

echo $this_printer;

From what I understand this should return the name of the network printer that is listed as the default, but it doesn't. Could it be that their PC's (running windows 2000/XP) have the nework printers path as '\DOMAIN\Printername'?

Also, eventually I would like to put this on our netware server, so does anyone have an idea where I could find the netware .nlm equivalent to php_printer.dll?

thanks,
Scott

AstroTeg

You are aware that PHP is server-side, right? Meaning, PHP doesn't have a clue what the user has available on their machine, including printers. For something like this, I think you'll need JavaScript. Here's some JavaScript stuff on printing: http://developer.irt.org/script/print.htm

TheDefender

From the Manual:
PRINTER_ENUM_NETWORK: (WinNT/2000 only) enumerates network printers in the computer's domain. Only valid if level is 1.

I am not familiar with the print functinos within php, but from what I read in the manual, it seems like you need to have the level defined in your printer_list() function...

$list_printers = printer_list(PRINTER_ENUM_NETWORK | PRINTER_ENUM_DEFAULT, 1);

I am going to follow this thread, beacuse this is interesting.

dnast

The printer functions only work on printers that are connected to the server.

Your idea is very interesting, though. If you get something working (probably using JavaScript), I'd like to see what you came up with.

AstroTeg

JavaScript has no clue about the printers. All its able to do is trigger the browsers JavaScript API to call up the browsers print dialog window. And all that does is call up Windows print dialog API which produces the default print window you're used to seeing.

As dnast said, PHP can only access those printers attached to the server, not the client.

scoyle74

Thanks for the replies, I am aware that it should only detect those printers that are connected to the server, however if I use


printer_list(PRINTER_ENUM_LOCAL | PRINTER_ENUM_DEFAULT); 

// get the name of the first returned printer 

$this_printer = $list_printers[0]["NAME"]; 

echo $this_printer;

this returns the printer that I have connected locally to my computer. Should this not only work if I tell it to find whatever the users default printer is, be it local or networked?

Tracer

Nope.... That should only work for Networked Printers...

I had a similar problem.... Finaly decided to just convert the document to PDF's and then push the PDF to the browser from the server...Let Acrobat figure out which default printer they use.....This will also make sure that the document will print the same on every workstation/printer combination...and I am unaware of any platforms which do not support PDF's

TheDefender

From what I am reading, there really is no way to pick ou tjust the default printer in a 2K/XP environment, as the PRINTER_ENUM_DEFAULT is for WIn9x only.

I have been playing around with this a bit, and figured out how to list, and or loop through my list to print to various printers in my domain (in my 172.16.x.x class) but I also have remote workstations in the 192.168.x.x classes as well, and the PRINTER_ENUM_NETWORK doesn't find those.

The only way it finds those is if I map to those printers, and run PRINTER_ENUM_CONNECTIONS, but it all goes back to the fact that you can't pick out the default printer.

This has been a fun experiment, and I will watch this thread for developments, but for now, I am moving on...

I agree with Tracer that using the PDF functions is a better alternative. (Our documents here are already PDFs, so I don't even use the PDF functions myself, since I only have to point to the files in question, and don't have to generate dynamic files).

Anyhow, good luck, and keep us posted.

scoyle74

Thanks all for your help and information. I unfortunately have had to complete this task using javascript. However, as I mentioned earlier, I did get it working successfully when dealing with only a local computer.

I never really had a chance to try it on the network because we use a novell netware server and I was unable to find the appropriate printer module (*.nlm) that is the equivalent to the php_printer.dll file.

I will keep looking for this file and keep trying to do this with php, and once I do I will post the code for all to see.

thanks,
Scott🙂