Tcl packages for Windows Files

Tclprinter - Tcl interface to the Windows printing system.


Example 1. List installed printers.

puts [printer names]


Example 2. Print to the matrix printer directly.

printer write -name "EPSON LX-300+ /II" [encoding convertto $text]


Example 3. Print to the laser printer via Windows GDI.

printer print -name "Canon LBP2900" $text


Tcl printer uses two windows printing interfaces: "raw" (Print Spooler API) and "gdi" (GDI Print API).
To create a handle to the API use  'printer open -raw'  or 'printer open -gdi'


Example 4. Draw a page using GDI API

# open gdi handle
set h [printer open -gdi -name "Canon LBP2900"]

# start a job
$h start

# start a page
$h startpage

# draw a rectangle
$h rectangle -rect {100 100 2000 1000}

# place a text into rectangle
$h place -rect {100 100 2000 1000} -align {center wordbreak} -font {Courier 10} $text

# draw a gray ellipse
$h ellipse -rect {100 1100 2000 2000} -brush ltgray

# close all
$h endpage
$h end
$h close


Example 5. Pause all printer jobs using Spooler API.

set h [printer open -raw -name "EPSON LX-300+ /II"]
foreach id [$h document select id] {
    $h document pause $id
}
$h close


Example 6. Print and control the job using Spooler API.

set h [printer open -raw -name "EPSON LX-300+ /II"]
$h start -document "Example 6"
$h startpage
$h write [encoding convertto $text]
$h endpage
$h end
for {set i 0}  {true}  {incr i} {
    if {[catch {$h document status}]} {
        puts "End of the job"
        $h close
        break
    }
    if {$i >= 10} {
        puts "Timed out"
        $h abort
        break
    }
    after 1000
}


Example 7. Print using GDI API and control the job using Spooler API.

set document "Example 5 - [clock clicks]"
set printer [printer open -gdi -name "Canon LBP2900"]
$printer start -document $document
$printer startpage
$printer print $text
$printer endpage
$printer end

# GDI API does not provide interface to the printer job, create a "raw" handle
set monitor [printer open -raw -name "Canon LBP2900"]

# Locate the job 
set documentid [lindex [$monitor document select id -document $document] 0]

for {set i 0} {true} {incr i} {
    if {[catch {$monitor document status $documentid} result]} {
        puts "End of the job"
        break
    }
    puts "Current job status: $result"
    if {$i >= 10} {
        $monitor document delete $documentid
        puts "Timed out"
        break
    }
    after 1000
}

$monitor close
$printer close


Changes...

2014-03-04 - start
2014-03-16 - alpha 1. GDI interface
2014-03-20 - alpha 2. RAW interface
2014-03-27 - alpha 3. Job control (rawcommand document)
2014-04-02 - alpha 4. Compatibility fixes and cleanups
                      Tcl 8.5/8.6 - all tests passed
                      Gcc 4.8.1 (mingw) - all tests passed
                      VC 6.0 / Windows 98 - failed on test 6-1-3/4 and some errorcodes


What's Missing?

1. Documentation.
2. Error reporting (TclWinConvertError, Tcl_SetErrorCode).
3. Callback for startpage/endpage.
4. Noninteractive printer setup (page form, orientation, copies etc).
5. Image printing.
6. XPS interface?
7. Testing, testing, testing... Different Windows versions, different printers.