Printing a report without print dialog

[dfricke10]

Anyone know if there's a way to click a button and have a report print out on a normal laser printer without opening it as a pdf and clicking 'Print'? I would ideally like the report to be sent to the printer upon the click of the button.

Using a UX on a browser web application.

Right now I have the button opening a report as a PDF, then click Print on the PDF, then selecting printer, then hit print. The default printer i need is selected in the print dialog, but want to avoid these steps.

[Jay Talbott]

Re: Printing a report without print dialog

Since the browser cannot directly force the report to the printer, one way is to use a third party software to watch the folder and print the file to the printer as soon as the pdf hits the folder. The pdf file can then be moved to another folder or deleted.
We use Watch Directory from http://www.watchdirectory.net/

Hope this helps.
Jay

[dfricke10]

Re: Printing a report without print dialog

That looks promising. Thanks! Can you point me to info on manipulating PDF files on the computer?

[lgrupido]

Re: Printing a report without print dialog

What type of manipulation are you looking for?

Alpha has several functions for manipulating PDF files built in.

[Jay Talbott]

Re: Printing a report without print dialog

The Watch Directory has a pretty good interface for manipulating pdf files after they are printed. These options include renaming and moving the files.
The program has a free 30 day test period and another 30 day money back guarantee.

[dfricke10]

Re: Printing a report without print dialog

What function would write the pdf to the directory? I would think just a simple write to the directory and then delete once printed.

[lgrupido]

Re: Printing a report without print dialog

Look at Report.SaveAs and a5w_report_saveas

[dfricke10]

Re: Printing a report without print dialog

I've been messing with this and it seems as simple as

function saveReceipt as c (e as p)
	

a5w_report_saveAs("C:\inetpub\merchtrack\wwwroot\Sales_Receipt3.a5rpt","PDF","","","C:\inetpub\merchtrack\wwwroot\myReport.pdf",global_variables())	

end function

But I get this error:

Error executing Ajax callback. Error executing Ajax callback function 'saveReceipt ': Report Server: Amyuni Low Level Print: Layout name: C:\inetpub\merchtrack\wwwroot\Sales_Receipt3.a5rpt Layout type: report Error loading \: The system cannot find the file specified. \.DBF at line: 552

Any idea? Do you have a sample function?

[dfricke10]

Re: Printing a report without print dialog

I take that back. Got it to work just fine with that. It doesn't run on the Development server. Have to run on the App server.

Now, for the question of how to get it to save to the actual computer that's running the web app? The report saves on the server just fine, just the way I want, but I need it on the client computer. Any idea on that?

[Jay Talbott]

Re: Printing a report without print dialog

Look at the Action Javascript for File Download, and incorporate that into the saveReceipt Function you have.
Jay

[dfricke10]

Re: Printing a report without print dialog

Found an easy way out. Not the ideal, but easy. Set the download directory in the properties of the browser. (I use Chrome). Add the Disable Download Bar extension (this turns off any visible downloading of the file), and in the Open a Report, Label or Letter Layout, select Download as the Target. Then configure Watch Directory to watch the folder and set the printer.

AND...

Now another way thanks to Jay. Using the Ajax callback to generate the file and then the File Download using the Ajax callback in that to download the newly generated file from the server.

2 ways to do it.

Thanks, guys for the help!