Printer utility functions

Functions
int	WBPrintPostScriptFile (const char *szPrinterName, const char *szFileName)
	Send postscript file to a printer (using lpr-cups or lpr on POSIX systems) More...
char *	WBGetPrinterList (void)
	Get a list of printer names. More...

Detailed Description

Utility functions for sending prepared output to a printer, querying printer capabilities, and listing available printers.

Function Documentation

WBGetPrinterList()

char* WBGetPrinterList

(

void

)

Get a list of printer names.

Returns

a 'WBAlloc() pointer to a list of zero-byte terminated strings containing the printer names, ending with 2 zero-bytes

Use this function to get a list of printer names that can be used with WBPrintPostScriptFile(). On POSIX systems, it will be information from '/usr/local/etc/printcap' or '/etc/printcap'. When CUPS is installed, the '/usr/local/etc/printcap' or '/etc/printcap' file is maintained by CUPS. On non-POSIX systems, this function generates a system-dependent list of printers, which might consist of port names, or actual printer names, or a combination thereof.
NOTE: for IPP see RFC2911 section 4.4 and other related RFCs to request printer info. 'ipptest' may help resolve how to make these things work.
NOTE 2: for CUPS, use 'lpstat -s' and filter the output to get the printer names. URL should be http://localhost:631/printers/printername
NOTE 3: fallback to /etc/printcap /usr/local/etc/printcap and other sources

Header File: platform_helper.h

Definition at line 5268 of file platform_helper.c.

WBPrintPostScriptFile()

int WBPrintPostScriptFile	(	const char *	szPrinterName,
		const char *	szFileName
	)

Send postscript file to a printer (using lpr-cups or lpr on POSIX systems)

Parameters

szPrinterName	the unique (system) name of the printer
szFileName	the name of the file containing the postscript data

Returns

Zero on success, non-zero on error.

Use this function to send pre-prepared postscript data to a printer. On POSIX systems, it invokes 'lpr-cups' or 'lpr'. On non-POSIX systems, its operation is system-dependent. The version of 'lpr' that is run will be the CUPS version, whenever it is installed. On some systems this may require installing the 'bsd' compatible CUPS utilities
NOTE: This function may need to translate the postscript data into the raw printer format on non-POSIX systems, as needed. The 'ghostscript' package can do this, if present. Other options may be added as required. Entries in the 'printcap' file can configure the ghostscript filter for raster printers.
NOTE 2: some Linux packages require installing the cups version of lpr separately and possibly EXCLUSIVELY from the system version, example debian 'cups-bsd' vs 'lpr'.
NOTE 3: newer Linux versions don't support printcap mods based on CUPS. Using the IPP protocol to discover printers is probably a better idea.
NOTE 4: may need to dynamically link to CUPS libraries, as needed, or invoke ghostscript and/or lpd directly. Additional support for PDF, etc. may be in order.
NOTE 5: 'ipptool' may be the best CUPS method of sending files to a printer
example: ipptool -4 -t http://localhost:631/printers/printername get-printer-attributes.test

Header File: platform_helper.h

Definition at line 5245 of file platform_helper.c.