CODEWITHSUNDEEP
windows-7-x64jscript
nixda
nixda

Reputation: 2707

How to print a file with Jscript

Goal

I want to print a file via a PDF printer which isn't the default printer. I was able to temporary change the normal printer to the PDF printer.

Problem

But I don't know how to print a .doc, .txt or .xls via Jscript. Also, I can't find a way to save the default printer name so I can switch back after I've printed the file.

Jscript code

var objShell = new ActiveXObject("Shell.Application");
var objFSO = new ActiveXObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject");    

try {
  var PDFCreatorQueue = new ActiveXObject("PDFCreatorBeta.JobQueue");
  PDFCreatorQueue.Initialize();

  var sourceFile   = WScript.Arguments(0)
  var sourceFolder = objFSO.GetParentFolderName(sourceFile)
  var sourceName   = objFSO.GetBaseName(sourceFile)
  var targetFile   = sourceFolder + "\\" + sourceName + ".pdf"  

  //HERE GOES THE COMMAND TO SAVE THE CURRENT DEFAULT PRINTER NAME TO A TEMP VARIABLE
  objNet.SetDefaultPrinter("PDFCreator");
  //HERE GOES THE PRINT COMMAND WHICH I DON'T KNOW
 // HERE GOES THE COMMAND TO CHANGE BACK TO THE OLD DEFAULT PRINTER

  if(!PDFCreatorQueue.WaitForJob(3)) {
    WScript.Echo("The print job did not reach the queue within " + 3 + " seconds"); 
  }
  else {
    var job = PDFCreatorQueue.NextJob;  
    job.SetProfileByGUID("DefaultGuid");
    job.ConvertTo(targetFile);

    if(!job.IsFinished || !job.IsSuccessful) {
        WScript.Echo("Could not convert the file: " + targetFile);
    }
  }  
  PDFCreatorQueue.ReleaseCom();
}
catch(e) {
  WScript.Echo(e.message);
  PDFCreatorQueue.ReleaseCom();
}

Upvotes: 4

Views: 1466

Answers (2)

Hans Passant
Hans Passant

Reputation: 942247

Use the ShellFolderItem.InvokeVerbEx() function. The JScript example code in the MSDN article shows how to use it. Make the first argument "print" and the second argument the name of the printer. So you can remove the code that tinkers with the default printer.

Upvotes: 6

Matteo Corti
Matteo Corti

Reputation: 494

Printing web page from js is quite easy, you could use window.print() method over an iFrame ( this works only with file format wich can be displaied into a web page so it doesn't work with .doc extension)

<iframe id="textfile" src="text.txt"></iframe>
<button onclick="print()">Print</button>
<script type="text/javascript">
function print() {
    var iframe = document.getElementById('textfile');
    iframe.contentWindow.print();
}
</script>

These will show you a message box to select what printer you want to use a so on. What are you asking for seems to be silent printing but it isn't standarized over all the broswer.

P.S. I think that isn't a good idea to use the printer to save this file to pdf, I think taht you could look at jsPDF (a js tools to create pdf) or you should consider to make the pdf generation serverside.

Upvotes: 0

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