WebPrint

Print directly to printers using Javascript.

WebPrint is a fork of QZ-print: https://github.com/qzindustries/qz-print

It uses postMessage API and/or ajax calls to communicate with the Java applet. This differs from QZ-print, that uses Java Web Start and the Java deployment framework for communication.

The Java deployment framework is set to be removed in early 2015, I wanted to find another way to use QZ-print, which provides a seamless printing experience for web applications.

See an example.html/webprint.js for usage or click here for a live version of the example.

If WebPrint has helped with your project, please donate to support it's future development.

OS Compatability

The main Webprint applet (hosted here) is compatible with Windows, OSX and Linux.

Android support is provided via the Android app: https://github.com/micwallace/webprint-android NOTE: Serial and HTML printing is not currently supported on Android.

The javacript library will prompt you to install or open the correct applet if it is not running.

HTTPS usage

If you site uses HTTPS, requests to HTTP server are almost certainly blocked by default due to mixed-content restrictions. Thankfully, WebPrint uses an innovative solution to avoid this by using an intermediary browser tab/window and the postMessage API. This negates the need for end-users to change their browser settings. For an example on how to use this feature, see example.html in the project. Note that the example prints ESC/P formatted data which may not be compatible with all printers.

How this came about

Mid last year I developed an android applet that essentially accepts http requests and forwards them to the specified socket or network printer. https://github.com/micwallace/HttpSocketAdaptor

After a few months I found this solution stopped working due to stronger mixed-content restrictions in most browsers. Thanks to the postMessage API I was able to securely avoid these restrictions.

After that WebPrint was just a matter of time.

Thanks

A big thanks to the qz-print guys for allowing this project to happen and EJ Technologies for providing their excellent cross platform installer.

Install4j: Multi-platform installer builder

Install Dependencies

https://github.com/qzind/tray/wiki/install-dependencies

Compiling

https://github.com/qzind/tray/wiki/Compiling

Steps

1. First, install dependencies (jdk, git, ant, nsis/makeself) per Install Dependencies

JDK

JDK7 is sufficient for building QZ Tray/QZ Print 1.9

Windows

Install ⚠️JDK 7 or higher:

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/

Download and extract Apache Ant:

https://ant.apache.org/bindownload.cgi

Setup environment variables JAVA_HOME, PATH, etc:

Assume Ant is installed in c:\ant. The following commands set up the environment:

 set ANT_HOME=c:\ant
 set JAVA_HOME=c:\jdk1.7.0_51
 set PATH=%PATH%;%ANT_HOME%\bin

http://ant.apache.org/manual/install.html#setup

Install NSIS 3.0+:

http://nsis.sourceforge.net/Download

Install git:

https://git-scm.com/download/win

Mac

Install command line tools for OS X (installation methods vary)

Install ⚠️JDK 7 or higher via: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/

Install homebrew via:

ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

Install brew dependencies via:

brew install ant makeself nsis

Install git:

https://git-scm.com/download/mac

Ubuntu

Install all dependencies (:warning:jdk7, ant, nsis, makeself) via:

sudo apt-get install git openjdk-7-jdk ant nsis makeself

Fedora

Install all dependencies (:warning:jdk, ant, nsis, makeself) via:

sudo yum install git java-1.?.0-openjdk-devel java-1.?.0-openjdk-openjfx-devel ant nsis makeself

2. Clone the source code per Clone Source Code

3. Pull in the latest source code

cd tray
git pull

4. Compile

ant

Optional: Start the software up using this command.

Basic syntax (after closing all instances of QZ Tray)

java -Xms512M -jar qz-tray.jar

Windows (after closing all instances of QZ Tray)

java -Xms512M -jar "%PROGRAMFILES%\QZ Tray\qz-tray.jar"

Mac OS X (after closing all instances of QZ Tray)

/Applications/QZ\ Tray.app/Contents/MacOS/QZ\ Tray

Linux/Other (after closing all instances of QZ Tray)

java -Xms512M -jar /opt/qz-tray/qz-tray.jar

QZ Tray launches with 512MB of memory. We must specify -Xms512M in the command in order to prevent unexpected behavior and crashing. This unnecessary for Mac unless following the basic syntax (java -jar qz-tray.jar) . More memory can be allocated but should not be necessary.

5. Package

ant nsis       # <-- Windows installer
ant pkgbuild   # <-- Apple installer
ant makeself   # <-- Linux installer

6. QZ Tray places log files in the following locations:

Windows: %APPDATA%\qz Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/qz Linux: ~/.qz

Note: The installer will be placed in ./out/qz-tray-x.x.x.x, (i.e. .exe, .run, .pkg)