[reportlab-users] Printing Help

[Dave Rogers]

Hi,

I use ReportLab to generate PDF files as part of a python windows service.  First of all, is there any kind of printing mechanism with ReportLab?  As I'm not aware of  any printing interface with ReportLab, I know this may not seem 100% related, but I'm in dire straits here, so I thought I'd ask the PDF experts.

Environment:

OS: Win2K
Py: 2.1 with Windows extensions
reportlab 1.15
Acrobat Reader: 5.1

I use the os.spawnv() method with a parameter of _P_DETACH (4) to fire up acrobat reader with a command line argument of /t which sends the file to the printer.  (the args of /p /h seem to be less robust than /t and do not allow you to pick the printer)

I've experienced a lot of really weird behavior such as:

o Acrobat process stays running
o If I try to print too fast (too many files in rapid succession), Acrobat drops some of the files and also prints them out of order
o If try to print too slow (false delays inserted to help Acrobat), Acrobat gets confused and separate processes linger for each failed document...failed meaning that it never printed out

I've had little luck in 3rd party apps like "BatchPDF print".

I guess I could write some sort of DDE interface to Acrobat but that sounds like more Windows garbage than I want to delve in to.

Again, I apologize if this content is straying from the mainstream of reportlab, but with my frustration, it seems like this is an area reportlab would benefit from helping make better.  I know at this point, I could get approval to spend at least a $1-2K on a robust real time automated PDF printing solution.  Of course, that's the kind of money that buys an already developed solution, not enough to fund a new one unless DDE is much easier than my gut tells me... :-\

Thanks for any advice/suggestions!
--
Dave Rogers
DaveRogers@StockAlerts.com
http://StockAlerts.com