[reportlab-users] OT: Batch-Printing PDFs on MS Windows and Duplex mode

[John Pywtorak]

I don't have a Windows batch printing solution.  However it seems that
the extraordinary amount of effort you have went to, why not run a small
linux, or freebsd install?  I think some of the live cd's like knoppix
would allow you to run it without installing it and solve your batch
printing issues using cups.  I am not trying to push linux, or other,
just sometimes it might be easier to learn a little about another
environment that has what you need rather than trying to make Windows do
something it was not really designed well to do.

Johnny P

Henning von Bargen wrote:
> This is slightly off-topic, on the other hand the topic
> may be essential to a great part of the RL users.
> I'd like to share some experience and maybe get a clue
> for a very specific printing problem.
> 
> First of all, the printing problem:
> Using Ghostscript to print a PDF file to a HP Color LaserJet 4600
> printer with the pswrite device, the printer always prints in
> Duplex mode, which we did not want and did not specify in any way
> (and the printing fails anyway because the printer produces paper jam
> when trying to turn the paper).
> 
> I hope someone on this list can give me a clue how to explicitely
> tell GS/the printer that I don't want duplex printing.
> 
> Now our experiences:
> 
> In our application, we are producing PDF files in several ways
> (RL is one of them, but we're using Oracle Reports as well).
> 
> The task is to print these files on different printers in
> a MS Windows environment without user-interaction
> (in fact we are using a Windows Service).
> 
> To implement the essential task of printing one PDF file to a printer
> (not the default printer), we tried several ways:
> 
> - Using command line options or DDE to control Adobe Reader 7
> - Controlling the user interface of Adobe Reader 7
> - Several programs we found in the internet that were so bad
>   that it is better to not mention them
> - pdprint from www.pdf-tools.ch
> - GPL Ghostscript 8.15
> 
> Each of them has its pros and cons:
> 
> - Unfortunately Adobe seems to decrease support for useful
>   command line or DDE options with each new version of AR.
>   We found that they were not working reliable enough
>   (files stay open and locked, sometimes output gets lost).
> 
> - Controlling the Adobe Reader UI worked reliable, but
>   it is very clumsy and depends on the language and version of AR.
> 
> - pdprint works very well and very fast, but it is quite expensive.
> 
> - GPL Ghostscript 8.15 has some bugs handling TrueType fonts
>   and in the PXL (=PCL6) devices and for landscape PDF files.
> 
> We finally decided to use Ghostscript, because it is working
> rock-solid and we could work around the TT font problems and 
> the landscape problems.
> The PXL problems are gone in AFPL Ghostscript 8.51 (which we don't
> use, however), but we probably do not need that device.
> 
> We have some knowledge of the printing environment by making use
> of the wonderful win32print API, and based on this information
> (Printer name and driver name), we are using some logic to choose 
> one of the GS devices.
> For HP LaserJet printers, the logic chooses the pswrite device;
> except for some cheaper/older printers that do not understand 
> Postscript - the ljet4 device is selected for those.
> For other printers, the logic chooses either the pswrite, pxlcolor 
> or mswinpr2 device.
> The mswinpr2 device works for printers that do neither understand 
> neither PS nor PCL, but it is very slow (because internally, the page
> is rastered with the max PDI the printer supports).
> 
> Unfortunately, AFAIK the hpijs or gimp-print IJS devices do not 
> work in MS Windows environments.
> 
> How do other users handle batch-printing PDFs on MS Windows?
> 
> Henning
> 
> P.S. Please excuse my bad English, I can never remember if it
> should be "reliable" or "reliably"...