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Advanced printing techniques

Starting with Adobe AIR 2, the PrintJob class has additional properties and methods, and three additional classes are supported: PrintUIOptions, PaperSize, and PrintMethod. These changes allow additional printer workflows and give authors greater control over the printing process. Changes include:

  • Page setup dialogs: Both standard and custom page setup dialogs can be displayed. The user can set page ranges, paper size, orientation, and scaling before printing.

  • Print view: A viewing mode can be created which accurately shows paper size, margins, and the position of content on the page.

  • Restricted printing: Authors can restrict printing options, such as the range of printable pages.

  • Quality options: Authors can adjust the print quality for a document and allow the user to select resolution and color options.

  • Multiple print sessions: A single PrintJob instance can now be used for multiple printing sessions. Applications can provide consistent settings each time the page setup and print dialogs are displayed.

The new print workflow consists of the following steps:

  • new PrintJob(): Creates a PrintJob instance (or reuse an existing instance). Many new PrintJob properties and methods, such as selectPaperSize(), are available before the print job starts or during printing.

  • PrintJob.showPageSetupDialog(): (optional) Display the page setup dialog without starting a print job.

  • PrintJob.start() or PrintJob.start2(): In addition to the start() method, the start2() method is used to initiate the print spooling process. The start2() method allows you to choose whether to display the Print dialog and customize the dialog if it is shown.

  • PrintJob.addPage(): Add content to the print job. Unchanged from existing process.

  • PrintJob.send() or PrintJob.terminate(): Send the pages to the selected printer or terminate the print job without sending. Print jobs are terminated in response to an error. If a PrintJob instance is terminated, it can still be reused. Regardless of whether the print job is sent to the printer or terminated, the current print settings are retained when you reuse the PrintJob instance.

Page setup dialog​

The showPageSetupDialog() method displays the operating system's Page Setup dialog, if the current environment supports it. Always check the supportsPageSetupDialog property before calling this method. Here is a simple example:

import flash.printing.PrintJob;

var myPrintJob:PrintJob = new PrintJob();
//check for static property supportsPageSetupDialog of PrintJob class
if (PrintJob.supportsPageSetupDialog) {
    myPrintJob.showPageSetupDialog();
}

The method can optionally be called with a PrintUIOptions class property to control which options are displayed in the Page Setup dialog. The min and max page numbers can be set. The following example limits printing to the first three pages:

import flash.printing.PrintJob;

var myPrintJob:PrintJob = new PrintJob();
if (PrintJob.supportsPageSetupDialog) {
    var uiOpt:PrintUIOptions = new PrintUIOptions();
    uiOpt.minPage = 1;
    uiOpt.maxPage = 3;
    myPrintJob.showPageSetupDialog(uiOpt);
}

Changing print settings​

The settings for a PrintJob instance can be changed at any time after it is constructed. This includes changing settings between addPage() calls and after a print job has been sent or terminated. Some settings, such as the printer property, apply to the entire print job, not individual pages. Those settings must be set before a call to start() or start2().

The selectPaperSize() method can be called to set the default paper size in the Page Setup and Print dialogs. It can also be called during a print job to set the paper size for a range of pages. It is called using constants defined in the PaperSize class, as in this example, which selects a number 10 envelope size:

import flash.printing.PrintJob;
import flash.printing.PaperSize;

var myPrintJob:PrintJob = new PrintJob();
myPrintJob.selectPaperSize(PaperSize.ENV_10);

Use the printer property to get or set the name of the printer for the current print job. By default it is set to the name of the default printer. The printer property is null if no printers are available or the system does not support printing. To change the printer, first get the list of available printers using the printers property. That property is a Vector whose String elements are available printer names. Set the printer property to one of those String values to make that printer the active one. The printer property of an active print job cannot be changed. Attempts to change it after a successful call to start() or start2() and before the job is sent or terminated fail. Here is an example of setting this property:

import flash.printing.PrintJob;

var myPrintJob:PrintJob = new PrintJob();
myPrintJob.printer = "HP_LaserJet_1";
myPrintJob.start();

The copies property gets the value for the number of copies set in the operating system's Print dialog. The firstPage and lastPage properties get the page range. The orientation property gets the paper orientation setting. These properties can be set to override the values from the Print dialog. The following example sets these properties:

import flash.printing.PrintJob;
import flash.printing.PrintJobOrientation;

var myPrintJob:PrintJob = new PrintJob();
myPrintJob.copies = 3;
myPrintJob.firstPage = 1;
myPrintJob.lastPage = 3;
myPrintJob.orientation = PrintJobOrientation.LANDSCAPE;

The following read-only settings associated with PrintJob provide helpful information on the current printer setup:

  • paperArea: The rectangular bounds of the printer medium, in points.

  • printableArea: The rectangular bounds of the printable area, in points.

  • maxPixelsPerInch: The physical resolution of the current printer, in pixels per inch.

  • isColor: The ability of the current printer to print color (returns true if the current printer can print color).

See Printing example: Page setup and print options.