On Tue, Oct 14, 2008 at 6:25 PM, Ashley Sheridan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Tue, 2008-10-14 at 19:15 -0300, Miles Thompson wrote: >> On Tue, Oct 14, 2008 at 6:23 PM, Dušan Novaković <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> >> > I have some request to sent text to matrix printer to print ticket for >> > theater. Is it possible to do that whit some php functions? Main point >> > is how to control length of paper that will be drawn inside and to >> > print text on a specific place. It would be nice if somebody can write >> > the code about this as example. >> > >> > Thnx, Dusan >> > >> > -- >> > made by Dusan >> > >> >> Decide on the font you will use - either 10 or 12 characters per inch. >> A line is usually 1/8" high. >> >> So you essentially have a matrix running at "n" characters per inch >> horizontally, and "m" fractions of an inch vertically. >> >> Fit your print into this matrix - some people do it with an array, others >> just work the spaces. >> >> Provide a "test" ticket so the operator can get the printer lined up. With >> a tractor feed, after that you are good for a whole box of tickets. >> >> Oh - one more thing - you may have to advance a number of lines so the >> ticket can be torn off after printing, then reverse feed the same number. >> >> Another tip - set your page length just to the height of the ticket. >> >> You really want to exploit the basic native font built into the printer. >> >> Hope this helps - Miles > > I'm not sure I would have chosen PHP as the ideal language for this kind > of thing, as it's strengths are mainly in the web server field. I > suppose it could be done with the PHP CLI. Have you found a spec for the > printer, i.e. what inputs it accepts, or is there a driver API that you > know it uses? > > > Ash > www.ashleysheridan.co.uk
I don't know the OP's requirements, but I have seen more than one project where a web-based app needed to print (to a machine connected to the server, not on the client, obviously.) One was a nifty app for the doctors in an office that let them write drug prescriptions on a PDA connected to the office Wi-Fi. The prescription became part of the patient's electronic medical record and was also sent to one of a couple special printers located around the office. I think in this case the print job was picked up by another program/process rather than being called directly from the web server. I know PHP has a Windows-only extension for working with printers. (I've never tried it, though.) I'm not sure how you'd do the same for *nix. Since it's a dot-matrix, is it possible for PHP open a stream to the printer and write the correct control codes directly just as though it were a file? Andrew
