Well, a couple of things here. You might be fighting a problem that isn't really there or at least hasn't developed yet. In a related point, if they can print off their local printer - there's a ton of things that can go wrong with that approach. This sounds like more of a business level problem you're being force to solve in the code. Sorry, but that almost never works.

There's a few ways to handle this..
1) Do some type of hack. This is more than likely to have problems and it will be directly on you to solve them each time there is an issue. In the short, all the crap will fall on you. 2) Centralize printing and avoid the potentially bigger problem that can come up with local printing. I tend to think this is a reasonable solution. This, I think, will be your best option. 3) Train the temps. This may sound silly, but if they are smart enough to type and answer a phone, then it's reasonable to have them be able to print to the correct printer. May not be likely, but I think it's worth a try to avoid option 1.

Just my 2 cents,

John
[email protected]


On 9/8/10 2:21 PM, Laurence MacNeill wrote:
We need the program to decide which printer the output goes to, based on the
information in the database.  The temp-workers we hire aren't smart enough
to do this properly every time -- it must be automated.  Pop-ups give them
the chance to mess things up.

L.

On Wed, Sep 8, 2010 at 2:19 PM, John Mason<[email protected]>  wrote:

  Interesting. What is the problem again with using pop-ups?

John




On 9/8/10 1:57 PM, Laurence MacNeill wrote:

No, unfortunately there are occasions where it does need to go to
client-side printers...

L.

On Wed, Sep 8, 2010 at 1:53 PM, John Mason<[email protected]>   wrote:

  Everytime I look back on this thread I see more layers added in and
things
getting more complex. We're just making this app extremely fragile and
difficult to maintain.

So looking back at things. Correct me if I'm wrong. You have a Flex or
Air
app which has to do a print operation (with no pop ups) to 1 or 2 prints
depending on the item being printed. I'm assuming the printing is
centralize
in the office and these print jobs aren't going off to external (client
side) printers.

Since the printers are centralize, then the server processing the print
job
can also be centralize. Have a simple CF component using the cfprint tag
to
direct print jobs to either of the printers. In the cfc you can also
build
out the pdf to be printed. Then simply have your Flex or AIR ping the CFC
when it needs an item printed.

John
[email protected]







On 9/8/10 1:13 PM, Laurence MacNeill wrote:

To do that, I'd have to move the code that builds the FlexPrintJob object
to
the AIR app...  Kinda wanted it to stay in the Flex app...  But perhaps
it'll just have to be a part of the AIR app, then...

Or, if I were choose the serialization option -- I have no idea how I
would
go about serializing a FlexPrintJob object...  LOL  Is it possible to
save
an object to a file and pass the file's URL to the AIR app?  Maybe
that'd
work? How does one serialize an object, anyway?

Thought it was gonna be so easy -- just build the FlexPrintJob like I'm
doing it now, and pass it to the AIR app...  But I guess it's not going
to
be quite as easy as I first thought.

L.
On Wed, Sep 8, 2010 at 1:05 PM, Douglas Knudsen<
[email protected]

wrote:

you can send some info.  I'd expect the AIR app to except a couple bits
of

info to build your FlexPrintObject.  Another option, and wow we keep
adding
layers to this, is to have the Flex app send the serialized
FlexPrintObject
to the server, retrieve a GUID of sorts for it, pass this GUID to AIR,
then
have AIR retrieve and de-serialize.

  Douglas Knudsen
[email protected]



   On Sep 8, 2010, at 12:25 PM, Laurence MacNeill wrote:

  Which means I can't have the Flex app launch the AIR app...  :-(

L.



On Wed, Sep 8, 2010 at 12:24 PM, Scott Talsma<[email protected]

wrote:

You can pass variables if the Flex app is a child of the Air app.

On Tue, Sep 7, 2010 at 8:04 PM, Laurence MacNeill<
[email protected]

wrote:
So I cannot send a FlexPrintObject over an L.C., is what you're
saying?
Hmmmm...  Is there a way to send a FlexPrintJob object directly from
the
Flex app to the AIR app?

On Sep 7, 2010 7:15 PM, "Scott Talsma"<[email protected]>
wrote:

The local connention idea will only work if you can serialize your
data

to a
string (XML). You cannot send serialized data over an lc. If you can
do
that, then compose the XML and send it in chunks w an
anknowledgemenr

each
time from the reciever sent over a 2nd lc. When you are out of data
to

send,
the flex app calls a secondary fn that starts tearing down the 2 LCs.
Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 7, 2010, at 6:47 PM, Laurence MacNeill<
[email protected]>
wrote:

The launching of the AIR app from the Flex app sounds like a better

idea,
actually... Then the Flex app has the control over the AIR app, which
is
what I want, it would seem...
I'm thinking the AIR app would be just a simple thing, taking the
FlexPrintJob object and a printer-name of some sort, and just
sending

the
job straight to that printer...
So, once the AIR app is open, Flex wouldn't need to open it again,
obviously. It would seem that I would need to make a LocalConnection
to

the
AIR app -- but documentation on that is pretty spotty, it seems. And
there
also seems to be a limit on the amount of data you can pass over a
LocalConnection -- 40KB, I think? How do I pass a large FlexPrintJob
through that, with that kind of limit on it?

Any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks,
L.

On Mon, Sep 6, 2010 at 10:18 PM, Douglas Knudsen
<[email protected]>wrote:

Yet another possibility is to create a Air based app for the
printing
and
have the Flex application open it, passing needed data to it for the

printing.

A example of opening launching a AIR app from Flex can be found
here




http://www.medoix.com.au/2009/11/06/install-launch-air-application-from-flex-web-page/

Note there is a way to do this without the Adobe air.swf, but its no
documented :)


Douglas Knudsen
[email protected]



On Sep 6, 2010, at 4:53 PM, Scott Talsma wrote:

Another approach would be to create an AIR wrapper that
encapsulates

your
print functionality. The AIR wrapper then loads the Flex app

(mx:Application). You simply put together what you want to have

printed
(FlexPrintJob) and then pass the instance up the parent chain. That
way you
can continue to maintain your Flex app as you are currently while
slowly
getting your feet wet in the AIR world w/o committing the entire
application
to AIR. (Additionally, you can continue to host the Flex portion
online for
update purposes; you just point the AIR "print client" at its URL.)

On Mon, Sep 6, 2010 at 4:10 AM, Darin Kohles<[email protected]>

wrote:
  As (now) a desktop app. vs a web served swf:

If you want to do it by hand, you'll have to change the main file
from
  <mx:Application>    to<mx:WindowedApplication>; do a diff on the "."

files in

  the project folder (compare to a generic Air app), 'cause there are

a
few
  changes.

If you want to add network sensitivity there is a bit more coding,
otherwise have your "not connected"/"fault" errors handled

appropriately.
That's about it! ... of course there is digital signing, update

awareness,
  @etc;.

On Sat, Sep 4, 2010 at 2:39 PM, Laurence MacNeill<

[email protected]
  wrote:

  To clarify, I'm aware that FB4 has a "convert from Flash to AIR"
wizard... I don't trust wizards to actually do the right thing,
in

most
  cases... In fact, I generally find that they break more than they
fix...
  So, I guess I'm asking for your experiences with this wizard, if
you

have
  any...
  Thanks,
L.



On Sat, Sep 4, 2010 at 5:31 PM, Laurence MacNeill<
[email protected]>    wrote:

So... With all this discussion of printing from Flash Player and

whatnot, it seems almost certain that we're going to have to
switch

to
   AIR...
  Has anyone here ever taken a fairly mature app from Flash Player
to
AIR? I'm certain it can't be as simple as checking the "AIR App"

button in
   the FB4 Project Properties window -- there must be something
else

  (or many
   things) that I'm going to have to change/adjust/re-write... The
app

  currently interacts a great deal with our CF server, and I'd
imagine that's
   going to have to change somehow, yes? User authentication would
  probably
   have to change as well, I would assume?
  Can anyone offer any advice along these lines? If anyone here has
ever
   done what I'm thinking about doing, please let me know about
your

  experiences.
Thanks,
Laurence MacNeill
Mableton, Georgia, USA



--
Darin Kohles
Adobe Certified Developer


--
Scott Talsma
CTO, echoEleven




--
Scott Talsma
CTO, echoEleven



-------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this list, simply email the list with unsubscribe in
the subject line

For more info, see http://www.affug.com
Archive @ http://www.mail-archive.com/discussion%40affug.com/
List hosted by http://www.fusionlink.com
-------------------------------------------------------------





-------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this list, simply email the list with unsubscribe in
the subject line

For more info, see http://www.affug.com
Archive @ http://www.mail-archive.com/discussion%40affug.com/
List hosted by http://www.fusionlink.com
-------------------------------------------------------------






-------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this list, simply email the list with unsubscribe in the 
subject line

For more info, see http://www.affug.com
Archive @ http://www.mail-archive.com/discussion%40affug.com/
List hosted by http://www.fusionlink.com
-------------------------------------------------------------


Reply via email to