Rails - Apr 2006 - AJAX automatic print to specific printer??

Is it possible to print directly to an XP Pro default printer without 
having to go through an intermediate dialog?  The clients are XP Pro 
with IE. The printer is accessed directly through the network, but could 
easily be setup as a Windows shared printer if that helps us out.  I''ve
seen where I can use window.print but the user still has to click OK.  I 
would like to avoid any clicks at all for this particular page.

The application only runs on our LAN and users would like this part 
automated since they are printing 100 times a day to the same printer 
from the RoR app.  Automating the print function would save 300-400 
clicks a day.

I would prefer to do this through JavaScript, but could result to CGI 
for messy solution.  CGI would require me to have printing configured on 
Linux which I''m trying to avoid.  JavaScript solution is also more 
flexible long term.

thanks for your help,
Sean


-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

you''re always going to have to go through the windows print dialog.
There''s
no way around that, especially from a web application. you''re
restricted by
the print functionality built into the browser.

On 4/12/06, Sean Clark <sclark@pellahealth.org>
wrote:
>
> Is it possible to print directly to an XP Pro default printer without
> having to go through an intermediate dialog?  The clients are XP Pro
> with IE. The printer is accessed directly through the network, but could
> easily be setup as a Windows shared printer if that helps us out. 
I''ve
> seen where I can use window.print but the user still has to click OK.  I
> would like to avoid any clicks at all for this particular page.
>
> The application only runs on our LAN and users would like this part
> automated since they are printing 100 times a day to the same printer
> from the RoR app.  Automating the print function would save 300-400
> clicks a day.
>
> I would prefer to do this through JavaScript, but could result to CGI
> for messy solution.  CGI would require me to have printing configured on
> Linux which I''m trying to avoid.  JavaScript solution is also more
> flexible long term.
>
> thanks for your help,
> Sean
>
>
> --
> Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
> _______________________________________________
> Rails mailing list
> Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
>
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Thanks, Shane.  That''s a bummer.

for an ugly hack, is it possible to have RoR fork out and return the 
HTML to the browser by also print the resulting HTML directly to the 
network printer?  Does anyone have experience with linux web server to 
HP network printers (or Windows print server)?

If the answer is a book, then I probably don''t what to travel that dark
road.  We''re talking about saving 1 measily click or keypress.



-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

Sean Clark wrote:
> Thanks, Shane.  That''s a bummer.
> 
> for an ugly hack, is it possible to have RoR fork out and return the 
> HTML to the browser by also print the resulting HTML directly to the 
> network printer?  Does anyone have experience with linux web server to 
> HP network printers (or Windows print server)?
> 
> If the answer is a book, then I probably don''t what to travel that
dark
> road.  We''re talking about saving 1 measily click or keypress.
I have almost no knowledge about it about this may help...

http://raa.ruby-lang.org/project/ruby-cups/
http://www.cups.org/

It seems perfectly reasonable that you should be able to print to most 
network printers this way.


-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

Thanks, Michael.  That''s definitely my dark road.  I''m going
to try and
get away with just using the onLoad window.print stuff.  If the users 
get pitchforks out, then I''ll look into the CUPs stuff. Thanks again.

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

Hi Sean,
> Is it possible to print directly to an XP Pro default printer without 
> having to go through an intermediate dialog?  The clients are XP Pro 
> with IE. 
I assume that this is an intranet application and that the clients can
add this application to the "Trusted Sites" in IE (otherwise they will
get an ActiveX warning).
If thats the case, it is possible:

For IE, you have to add some javascript to the page your want to print
(found in a forum post some months ago):
<script language="JavaScript">
function printWithoutDialog() {
    self.focus();
    var OLECMDID_PRINT = 6;
    var OLECMDEXECOPT_DONTPROMPTUSER = 2;
    var OLECMDEXECOPT_PROMPTUSER = 1;
    var WebBrowser =''<OBJECT ID="WebBrowser1" WIDTH=0
HEIGHT=0 '' +
       
''CLASSID="CLSID:8856F961-340A-11D0-A96B-00C04FD705A2"></OBJECT>'';
    document.body.insertAdjacentHTML''beforeEnd'',WebBrowser);
    WebBrowser1.ExecWB(OLECMDID_PRINT,OLECMDEXECOPT_DONTPROMPTUSER);
    WebBrowser1.outerHTML =''''
}
</script>


For Firefox, there''s even a simpler solution if you have the
possibility
to alter the prefs of the clients (I''ve done this for a kiosk-mode
application):
In your firefox, browse to "about:config" and right click to add a new
*boolean* value named "always_print_silent" (true). Done.

Both solutions will print to the default printer of the system.
In FF, you can change the printer with the "print_printer" value.

HTH,
Max

> For Firefox, there''s even a simpler solution if you have the
possibility
> to alter the prefs of the clients (I''ve done this for a kiosk-mode
> application):
> In your firefox, browse to "about:config" and right click to add
a new
> *boolean* value named "always_print_silent" (true). Done.
> 
> Both solutions will print to the default printer of the system.
> In FF, you can change the printer with the "print_printer" value.
> 
> HTH,
> Max
por favor me aclaran este post sobre imprimir sobre Firefox, que no lo
entiendo y tengo la necesidad de imprimir directamente a la impresora
por default, sin que se habilite la pantalla de impresion.

gracias
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Creo que no es possible, por que mal websites queire imprimir mal
cosas.

Lo siento, mi espanol es muy mal. Otros personas aqui probablament no
habla espanol.

-Ryan

On Jan 19, 9:30 am, William Fernando <rails-mailing-l...@andreas-
s.net> wrote:
> > For Firefox, there''s even a simpler solution if you have the
possibility
> > to alter the prefs of the clients (I''ve done this for a
kiosk-mode
> > application):
> > In your firefox, browse to "about:config" and right click to
add a new
> > *boolean* value named "always_print_silent" (true). Done.
>
> > Both solutions will print to the default printer of the system.
> > In FF, you can change the printer with the "print_printer"
value.
>
> > HTH,
> > Max
>
> por favor me aclaran este post sobre imprimir sobre Firefox, que no lo
> entiendo y tengo la necesidad de imprimir directamente a la impresora
> por default, sin que se habilite la pantalla de impresion.
>
> gracias
> --
> Posted viahttp://www.ruby-forum.com/.
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