How to print multiple files to client printers from ASP.NET
Suppose you have an ASP.NET website and you need to print two different documents or reports to two different printers installed at the client machine. Let's
say you want to print an "Invoice" to Printer1 and a "Dispatch Form" to Printer2. Both Printer1 & Printer2 are available at the client machine.
The new PrintFileGroup feature of WebClientPrint for ASP.NET will allow you to get that working by just writing a few lines of code. The great
thing about this is that you can print those files without displaying any print dialog to the user i.e. a silently printing approach!
In this walkthrough, you'll learn how to print multiple files or documents (like MS Word *.doc or *.docx; MS Excel *.xls or *.xlsx; Adobe PDF; Text files or
images) from an ASP.NET website to different printers installed at the client machine without displaying any print dialog. Best of, this solution works with
any browser on Windows OS like IE (6 or later), Chrome, Firefox, Opera & Safari!
Requirements
Development/Server-side
- WebClientPrint 2.0 for ASP.NET (or greater)
- ASP.NET 3.5 (or greater)
- Visual Studio 2010 / VWD 2010 (or greater)
- jQuery 1.4.1 (or greater)
Client-side
- WebClientPrint Processor 2.0 for Windows
- Microsoft Word for printing *.doc/*.docx files
- Microsoft Excel for printing *.xls/*.xlsx files
- Adobe Reader or Foxit Reader (recommended) for printing *.pdf files
Follow up these steps
- Download & install WebClientPrint for ASP.NET
- Open Visual Studio and create a new ASP.NET 3.5 Website naming it PrintMultipleFilesSample
- Add a reference to Neodynamic.SDK.WebClientPrint.dll to your project
- Open your web.config file and add the following entries:
<system.web>
...
<httpHandlers>
...
<add verb="*" path="wcp.axd" type="Neodynamic.SDK.Web.WebClientPrint, Neodynamic.SDK.WebClientPrint"/>
...
</httpHandlers>
...
</system.web>
<system.webServer>
...
<handlers>
...
<add name="WCP" verb="*" path="wcp.axd" type="Neodynamic.SDK.Web.WebClientPrint, Neodynamic.SDK.WebClientPrint"/>
...
</handlers>
...
</system.webServer>
- Open the default.aspx page and paste the following markup. The task of this page is to try to detect the WCPP and inform the user to install it if
it's missing.
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head runat="server">
<title></title>
<style>
body{font: 13px 'Segoe UI', Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;}
</style>
<%-- WCPP-detection meta tag for IE10 --%>
<%= Neodynamic.SDK.Web.WebClientPrint.GetWcppDetectionMetaTag() %>
</head>
<body>
<form id="form1" runat="server">
<div id="msgInProgress">
<div id="mySpinner" style="width:32px;height:32px"></div>
<br />
Detecting WCPP utility at client side...
<br />
Please wait a few seconds...
<br />
</div>
<div id="msgInstallWCPP" style="display:none;">
<h3>#1 Install WebClientPrint Processor (WCPP)!</h3>
<p>
<strong>WCPP is a native Windows app (without any dependencies!)</strong> that handles all print jobs
generated by the <strong>WebClientPrint ASP.NET component</strong> at the server side. The WCPP
is in charge of the whole printing process and can be
installed on Windows 98, 2000, Me, XP, Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 (Desk-mode). It can print to Serial Port RS232 (e.g. COM1),
Parallel Port (e.g. LPT1), your Windows-Installed Printers (USB) and Network/IP Ethernet printers.
</p>
<p>
The <strong>WCPP</strong> utility <strong>is digitally-signed with a Windows Authenticode</strong> issued by <a href="http://www.digicert.com">DigiCert,
Inc.</a>. <strong>Install WCPP only if the <u>Publisher is Neodynamic SRL</u></strong>, otherwise do not proceed. <br /><br />
<a href="http://www.neodynamic.com/downloads/wcpp20-installer.exe" target="_blank">Download and Install WCPP from Neodynamic website</a><br />
</p>
<h3>#2 After installing WCPP...</h3>
<p>
<a href="PrintMyFiles.aspx">You can go and test the printing page</a>
</p>
</div>
</form>
<%-- Add Reference to jQuery at Google CDN --%>
<script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.8.2/jquery.min.js"></script>
<%-- Add Reference to spin.js (an animated spinner) --%>
<script src="http://fgnass.github.io/spin.js/dist/spin.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
var wcppPingDelay_ms = 10000;
function wcppDetectOnSuccess(){
<%-- WCPP utility is installed at the client side
redirect to WebClientPrint sample page --%>
<%-- get WCPP version --%>
var wcppVer = arguments[0];
if(wcppVer.substring(0,1) == "2")
window.location.href = "PrintMyFiles.aspx";
else //force to install WCPP v2.0
wcppDetectOnFailure();
}
function wcppDetectOnFailure() {
<%-- It seems WCPP is not installed at the client side
ask the user to install it --%>
$('#msgInProgress').hide();
$('#msgInstallWCPP').show();
}
$(document).ready(function () {
<%-- Create the Spinner with options (http://fgnass.github.io/spin.js/) --%>
var spinner = new Spinner({
lines: 12,
length: 7,
width: 3,
radius: 10,
color: '#336699',
speed: 1,
trail: 60
}).spin($('#mySpinner')[0]);
});
</script>
<%-- WCPP detection script --%>
<%= Neodynamic.SDK.Web.WebClientPrint.CreateWcppDetectionScript() %>
</body>
</html>
- Finally, add a new ASPX page and name it PrintMyFiles.aspx (be sure to UNSELECT the "Place code in separate file" checkbox)
Here we'll construct the code that allows many files to be printed to different printers at the client side. To get a file to be printed to a specified
printer, you must specify a file name with the following format:
fileName + "_PRINT_TO_" + printerName + fileExtension
So, if we have an Invoice.doc file that we want to print to Printer1 on the client machine, then the file name must be formatted to this
Invoice_PRINT_TO_Printer1.doc
Please paste the following markup and code depending on your preferred language i.e. C# or VB on your PrintMyFiles.aspx file.
VB
<%@ Page Language="VB" %>
<%@ Import Namespace="System.Data" %>
<%@ Import Namespace="System.Collections.Generic" %>
<%@ Import Namespace="System.IO" %>
<%@ Import Namespace="Neodynamic.SDK.Web" %>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<script runat="server">
Protected Sub Page_Init(sender As Object, e As System.EventArgs)
If (WebClientPrint.ProcessPrintJob(Request)) Then
'Create a ClientPrintJob
Dim cpj As New ClientPrintJob()
'set client printer, for multiple files use DefaultPrinter...
cpj.ClientPrinter = New DefaultPrinter()
'set files-printers group by using special formatting!!!
'Invoice.doc PRINT TO Printer1
cpj.PrintFileGroup.Add(New PrintFile(context.Server.MapPath("~/files/Invoice.doc"), "Invoice_PRINT_TO_Printer1.doc"))
'DispatchForm.xls PRINT TO Printer2
cpj.PrintFileGroup.Add(New PrintFile(context.Server.MapPath("~/files/DispatchForm.xls"), "DispatchForm_PRINT_TO_Printer2.xls"))
'send it...
cpj.SendToClient(Response)
End If
End Sub
</script>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head runat="server">
<title>How to print multiple files to client printers from ASP.NET</title>
</head>
<body>
<%-- Store User's SessionId --%>
<input type="hidden" id="sid" name="sid" value="<%=Session.SessionID%>" />
<form id="form1" runat="server">
<h1>How to print multiple files to client printers from ASP.NET</h1>
Please change the source code to match your printer names and files to test it locally
<br /><br />
<input type="button" style="font-size:18px" onclick="javascript:jsWebClientPrint.print();" value="Print Files..." />
</form>
<%-- Add Reference to jQuery at Google CDN --%>
<script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.8.2/jquery.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<%-- Register the WebClientPrint script code --%>
<%=Neodynamic.SDK.Web.WebClientPrint.CreateScript()%>
</body>
</html>
C#
<%@ Page Language="C#" %>
<%@ Import Namespace="System.Data" %>
<%@ Import Namespace="System.Collections.Generic" %>
<%@ Import Namespace="System.IO" %>
<%@ Import Namespace="Neodynamic.SDK.Web" %>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<script runat="server">
protected void Page_Init(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (WebClientPrint.ProcessPrintJob(Request))
{
//Create a ClientPrintJob
ClientPrintJob cpj = new ClientPrintJob();
//set client printer, for multiple files use DefaultPrinter...
cpj.ClientPrinter = new DefaultPrinter();
//set files-printers group by using special formatting!!!
//Invoice.doc PRINT TO Printer1
cpj.PrintFileGroup.Add(new PrintFile(context.Server.MapPath("~/files/Invoice.doc"), "Invoice_PRINT_TO_Printer1.doc"));
//DispatchForm.xls PRINT TO Printer2
cpj.PrintFileGroup.Add(new PrintFile(context.Server.MapPath("~/files/DispatchForm.xls"), "DispatchForm_PRINT_TO_Printer2.xls"));
//send it...
cpj.SendToClient(Response);
}
}
</script>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head runat="server">
<title>How to print multiple files to client printers from ASP.NET</title>
</head>
<body>
<%-- Store User's SessionId --%>
<input type="hidden" id="sid" name="sid" value="<%=Session.SessionID%>" />
<form id="form1" runat="server">
<h1>How to print multiple files to client printers from ASP.NET</h1>
Please change the source code to match your printer names and files to test it locally
<br /><br />
<input type="button" style="font-size:18px" onclick="javascript:jsWebClientPrint.print();" value="Print Files..." />
</form>
<%-- Add Reference to jQuery at Google CDN --%>
<script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.8.2/jquery.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<%-- Register the WebClientPrint script code --%>
<%=Neodynamic.SDK.Web.WebClientPrint.CreateScript()%>
</body>
</html>
- That's it! Run your website and test it. Remember to change the file names & printer names in the source code to match yours there.
Links:
This Demos
Demos
Download WebClientPrint for ASP.NET
More Information about Neodynamic WebClientPrint for ASP.NET
Neodynamic
NET Components & Controls
http://www.neodynamic.com
