Assuming that I have all the details of a PDF file (file name, printer name, pages etc). Is there any way/code using which I can print a PDF document? (Send it to the printing queue)
But there are three conditions: 1. I have already used the Process.startinfo method and need something else. 2. I cant use any external COM or any other object like AdobePDF 3. I cant open the file and then let the user print manually.
Sorry if I am putting too many conditions, but that's how I need it.
Thanks!
In order to a print a PDF it must be rendered as an image first. The same goes if you just want to display the PDF on screen in your application. The idea is that PDF is the electronic version of a printed piece of paper. So the same basic steps are required to view/print.
Is it technically possible to write code that prints a PDF to the printer without using any external COM/object? Yes, absolutely. Is it easy? Absolutely not. You would have to write your own PDF rendering engine and that is thousands of hours of work.
So in order to accomplish this task you will need to use a 3rd party library to handle the rendering of the PDF to an image which can then be sent to the printer.
It looks like PDFBox has recently added a PrintPDF option which is unfortunately Java based, but there aren't actually a whole lot of free options in this area. My companies production Quick PDF Library has a PrintDocument feature which will print the PDF for you, but it's not free and it's an external COM.
In short: it's unlikely that you will be able to do what you're trying to do without adjusting your requirements and using a 3rd party library.
You should check out ABCpdf.
Try using lvbprint via command line and the following code:
http://www.lvbprint.de/html/gsbatchprint1.html
for example: C:\temp\gsbatchprint64\gsbatchprintc.exe -P \server\printer-N A3 -O Port -F C:\temp\gsbatchprint64\Test*.pdf -I Tray3
' print a pdf with lvbrint
Private Function UseLvbPrint(ByVal oPrinter As tb_Printer, fileName As String, portrait As Boolean, sTray As String) As String
Dim lvbArguments As String
Dim lvbProcessInfo As ProcessStartInfo
Dim lvbProcess As Process
Try
Dim sPrinterName As String
If portrait Then
lvbArguments = String.Format(" -P ""{0}"" -O Port -N A4 -F ""{1}"" -I ""{2}"" ", sPrinterName, fileName, sTray)
Else
lvbArguments = String.Format(" -P ""{0}"" -O Land -N A4 -F ""{1}"" -I ""{2}"" ", sPrinterName, fileName, sTray)
End If
lvbProcessInfo = New ProcessStartInfo()
lvbProcessInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden
lvbProcessInfo.FileName = LvbLocation
lvbProcessInfo.Arguments = lvbArguments
lvbProcessInfo.UseShellExecute = False
lvbProcessInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = True
lvbProcessInfo.RedirectStandardError = True
lvbProcessInfo.CreateNoWindow = False
lvbProcess = Process.Start(lvbProcessInfo)
'
' Read in all the text from the process with the StreamReader.
'
Using reader As StreamReader = lvbProcess.StandardOutput
Dim result As String = reader.ReadToEnd()
WriteLog(result)
End Using
Using readerErr As StreamReader = lvbProcess.StandardError
Dim resultErr As String = readerErr.ReadToEnd()
If resultErr.Trim() > "" Then
WriteLog(resultErr)
lvbProcess.Close()
Return resultErr
End If
End Using
If lvbProcess.HasExited = False Then
lvbProcess.WaitForExit(3000)
End If
lvbProcess.Close()
Return ""
Catch ex As Exception
Return ex.Message
End Try
End Function
It sounds like you need to send raw data straight to the printer! (sorry it's in C#)
I did manage to silently print to a network printer by converting the PDF to a byte array and then sending it directly to the printer using TCP.
If you know your printer's IP address it might be possible to send the file directly to the printer using TcpClient. I've got this to work for my printer, but have only tried it for PDFs so I don't know how well it will work for other printers/file types.
You will have to change your printer settings so that it is using a tcp port (In devices and printers select your printer (single click), then click print server properties, in the wizard that opens you can add a new TCP port). You will also have to set the [printer to raw rather than lpc][2] settings
I then used something similar to the following method;
Public Sub SilentPrint(filePath As String, printerIPAddress As string)
Dim bytes = System.IO.File.ReadAllBytes(filePath)
Dim client = new TcpClient(printerIPAddress, 9100) '9100 is the default print port for raw data
using myStream = client.GetStream()
myStream.Write(bytes, 0, bytes.Length)
myStream.Close()
End Using
End Sub
It worked for me but I can't be certain it will work in all cases.
