Re: Invoke Local System service through Web Client
Lalit wrote:
Why not offer the document itself to the web-surfer?
Let them decide whether they want to print it.
Actually my application is Enetrprise i.e. J2EE and user may have to
print in bulk. User needs to print Barcodes on a Barcode Printer and
that can be 10 or 20 in one go. So can not bug the user 20 times.
However involvement for allowing the applet by user is no problem.
Can such a solution like........"On clicking a button on JSP, an applet
launches which takes data from JSP e.g. 20 Barcode numbers and prints
on the printer.." will work?
Yes. Well, sort of..
After the applet is loaded (and assuming it is only ever
called when the user wants to print) it might automatically
initiate a print - but the user is asked to confirm it is OK.
So that is 'two clicks' from the time the user wants
to print the data, to when they see a print dialog.
For a print to take a 'couple of clicks' would be no
surprise to most users - so I don't see it as a
problem if the want the print.
But do the barcodes need any special formatting?
(Is it possible to present them on the web-page in such
a way that the user can simply print the web-page itself?)
Sorry - I am not that familiar with printing barcodes.
Assuming the barcodes *do* require special formatting,
then - yes, the applet can theoretically print them in one
go - send them all in the same print-job - after the end-user
has OK'd the print-job just once.
(BTW - are these barcodes in the JSP as text, or
images, or something else?)
..If yes, can you tell me the implementation
of such an approach.
No. I have never dealt with the print API, and am not
very familiar with bar-codes.
I sugggest you split this into two separate problems
1) Printing the barcodes.
2) Printing from an applet.
Note that you might experiment with printing (some generic
and simple document) from an applet, just to check the
way the security model works - assure yourself that the user
can 'OK' a print of one - or many - pages with a single click.
OTOH I would advise doing most of your work with the
printing API from an *application*. You might write your
class so it works as both.
Applications are much quicker and easier to develop and
debug, especially when the project requires access to
priviledged resources like the printer.
I hope that makes it a bit more clear (and that I have
not misunderstood what Thomas mentioned - that
was a surprise to me).
Andrew T.