airprint tutorial - simple print file ! < 30 lines of code !!

[twerner]

After days of google and brilliant help from an user of this forum and studying the xcode 4.2 example photoprint, i managed to print much easier via a simple ibaction and a predefined local resource file, here is the code -
sdk 4.2, uikit framework included,demo.jpg is a local resource file could be also a pdf or doc file instead:

and think different and above all think simple!!!!

in .h:
#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
@interface xyviewController : UIViewController <...,UIPrintInteractionControllerDelegate> {

UIPrintInteractionControllerDelegate should be delegate
}
-(IBAction)printdoc;
in .m:

-(IBAction)printdoc
{



NSString *path = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"demo" ofType:@"jpg"];
NSData *myData = [NSData dataWithContentsOfFile: path];


UIPrintInteractionController *pic = [UIPrintInteractionController sharedPrintController];

if(pic && [UIPrintInteractionController canPrintData: myData] ) {

pic.delegate = self;

UIPrintInfo *printInfo = [UIPrintInfo printInfo];
printInfo.outputType = UIPrintInfoOutputGeneral;
printInfo.jobName = [path lastPathComponent];
printInfo.duplex = UIPrintInfoDuplexLongEdge;
pic.printInfo = printInfo;
pic.showsPageRange = YES;
pic.printingItem = myData;

void (^completionHandler)(UIPrintInteractionController *, BOOL, NSError *) = ^(UIPrintInteractionController *pic, BOOL completed, NSError *error) {
//self.content = nil;
if (!completed && error) {
NSLog(@"FAILED! due to error in domain %@ with error code %u", error.domain, error.code);
}
};

[pic presentAnimated:YES completionHandler:completionHandler];

}

}

Note: for testing on hardware device, be sure airport is enabled and logged to printing wifi network, if you use a shared usb printer on a mac - enable sharing (think of AirPrintHacktivator if you can't share your usb printer) real wifi printer work should work without problems.
If the no airprint printer is available in the wifi network printing popover will not be shown and if you are pressing the ibaction button nothing happens !!!

hope it helps you
Tobias

[bluewindow99]

Very nice, thank you! I see my next problem will be how to place a file on my iPhone that I can print! I'm a newb....

[87vert]

Thanks for the tutorial

Here is my code for putting in Airprint into my iPad app. It is activated from an Actionsheet. It is grabbing the strings from two UITextViews and printing.

-(void)printdoc
{
    NSMutableString *printBody = [NSMutableString stringWithFormat:@"%@, %@",self.encoded.text, self.decoded.text];
    [printBody appendFormat:@"\n\n\n\nPrinted From *myapp*"];
    
     UIPrintInteractionController *pic = [UIPrintInteractionController sharedPrintController];
     pic.delegate = self;
     
     UIPrintInfo *printInfo = [UIPrintInfo printInfo];
     printInfo.outputType = UIPrintInfoOutputGeneral;
     printInfo.jobName = self.titleLabel.text;
     pic.printInfo = printInfo;
     
     UISimpleTextPrintFormatter *textFormatter = [[UISimpleTextPrintFormatter alloc] initWithText:printBody];
     textFormatter.startPage = 0;
     textFormatter.contentInsets = UIEdgeInsetsMake(72.0, 72.0, 72.0, 72.0); // 1 inch margins
     textFormatter.maximumContentWidth = 6 * 72.0;
     pic.printFormatter = textFormatter;
     [textFormatter release];
     pic.showsPageRange = YES;
     
     void (^completionHandler)(UIPrintInteractionController *, BOOL, NSError *) =
     ^(UIPrintInteractionController *printController, BOOL completed, NSError *error) {
     if (!completed && error) {
     NSLog(@"Printing could not complete because of error: %@", error);
     }
     };
  
    [pic presentFromBarButtonItem:self.rightButton animated:YES completionHandler:completionHandler];
        
}

Check if printing is supported with:

 if (![UIPrintInteractionController isPrintingAvailable])
    {
}

[Mcmoo]

Hi

ive got the print function to work on my app with the demo png but i would like to print text written on a UITextview. Thanks really stuck

[lilzz]

c

[twerner]

It seem that my code above, does not work under iOS 5.0 even if compiled for 4.x the uipopover for printing does not open under iOS 5.0 !!!
I'm working on it...

[baja_yu]

Originally Posted by twerner

It seem that my code above, does not work under iOS 5.0 even if compiled for 4.x the uipopover for printing does not open under iOS 5.0 !!!
I'm working on it...

Does the Apple sample code for printing work on iOS 5? If there are compatibility issues I'm sure they update the sample to address the issue.

[twerner]

please have look at my code above, what could be wrong ??

[iphonig]

Originally Posted by twerner

After days of google and brilliant help from an user of this forum and studying the xcode 4.2 example photoprint, i managed to print much easier via a simple ibaction and a predefined local resource file, here is the code -
sdk 4.2, uikit framework included,demo.jpg is a local resource file could be also a pdf or doc file instead:

and think different and above all think simple!!!!

in .h:
#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
@interface xyviewController : UIViewController <...,UIPrintInteractionControllerDelegate> {

UIPrintInteractionControllerDelegate should be delegate
}
-(IBAction)printdoc;
in .m:

-(IBAction)printdoc
{



NSString *path = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"demo" ofType:@"jpg"];
NSData *myData = [NSData dataWithContentsOfFile: path];


UIPrintInteractionController *pic = [UIPrintInteractionController sharedPrintController];

if(pic && [UIPrintInteractionController canPrintData: myData] ) {

pic.delegate = self;

UIPrintInfo *printInfo = [UIPrintInfo printInfo];
printInfo.outputType = UIPrintInfoOutputGeneral;
printInfo.jobName = [path lastPathComponent];
printInfo.duplex = UIPrintInfoDuplexLongEdge;
pic.printInfo = printInfo;
pic.showsPageRange = YES;
pic.printingItem = myData;

void (^completionHandler)(UIPrintInteractionController *, BOOL, NSError *) = ^(UIPrintInteractionController *pic, BOOL completed, NSError *error) {
//self.content = nil;
if (!completed && error) {
NSLog(@"FAILED! due to error in domain %@ with error code %u", error.domain, error.code);
}
};

[pic presentAnimated:YES completionHandler:completionHandler];

}

}

Note: for testing on hardware device, be sure airport is enabled and logged to printing wifi network, if you use a shared usb printer on a mac - enable sharing (think of AirPrintHacktivator if you can't share your usb printer) real wifi printer work should work without problems.
If the no airprint printer is available in the wifi network printing popover will not be shown and if you are pressing the ibaction button nothing happens !!!

hope it helps you
Tobias

Very cool! Would this work to print a local pdf file?

[twerner]

After some time of research (my neck hurts) i have found out the following:

My 30 lines KISS code does not work on iOS 5.x anymore even if it is compiled for iOS 4.0 on the iPad. It seems to work fine for iPhones iOS 5.0 but also not on universal apps.

The reason is simple but was hard to find, as there are not many tutorials for AirPrint and iOS 5.0, exactly zero ones...

Starting with iOS 5.0 you have to check on which device you are running your printing request ! This is actually done by:

 if (UI_USER_INTERFACE_IDIOM() == UIUserInterfaceIdiomPad) {
        [pic presentFromBarButtonItem:self.printButton animated:YES
            completionHandler:completionHandler];
        } else {
        [pic presentAnimated:YES completionHandler:completionHandler];

God knows why Apple changed this in IOS 5.0 - this will be a problem for all universal apps and iPad only apps like mine !!

So I make it simple and transfer it again to the KISS principal for an iPad only app:

in the .h file add:
IBOutlet UIBarButtonItem *printButton;
@property (retain, readwrite) UIBarButtonItem *printButton;
in the .m file add:

// Don't forget to connect your UIBarbuttonitem in xbuilder with the file's owner

-(IBAction)printdoc
{
	
NSString *path = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"demo" ofType:@"jpg"];
    NSData *myData = [NSData dataWithContentsOfFile:path];

    UIPrintInteractionController *pic = [UIPrintInteractionController sharedPrintController];
    if  (pic && [UIPrintInteractionController canPrintData:myData] ) {
        pic.delegate = self;
        
        UIPrintInfo *printInfo = [UIPrintInfo printInfo];
        printInfo.outputType = UIPrintInfoOutputGeneral;
        printInfo.jobName = [path lastPathComponent];
        printInfo.duplex = UIPrintInfoDuplexLongEdge;
        pic.printInfo = printInfo;
        pic.showsPageRange = YES;
        pic.printingItem = myData;
        
        void (^completionHandler)(UIPrintInteractionController *, BOOL, NSError *) =
        ^(UIPrintInteractionController *pic, BOOL completed, NSError *error) {
           
            if (!completed && error)
                NSLog(@"FAILED! due to error in domain %@ with error code %u",
                      error.domain, error.code);
        };
       // iPad only printing
        [pic presentFromBarButtonItem:self.printButton animated:YES
                    completionHandler:completionHandler];
        }
}

For an universal app you have to change the line below // iPad only printing to the following lines:

if (UI_USER_INTERFACE_IDIOM() == UIUserInterfaceIdiomPad) {
        [pic presentFromBarButtonItem:self.printButton animated:YES
            completionHandler:completionHandler];
        } else {
        [pic presentAnimated:YES completionHandler:completionHandler];
    }

or for an iPhone only app like in the first <30 line example:

 [pic presentAnimated:YES completionHandler:completionHandler];

Checkout:Example will work if you press the UIButton and the printing uipopover pops up !!

[stealthypanda11]

When I click "Select Printer", it says "Looking for Printers..." for a few seconds and then says "No Printers Found". I'm running your iPad only version, and it works great until this part! Like you said, there's little to no tutorials online, so I was hoping you could give me some feedback! Thanks!

[stealthypanda11]

Just in case anyone else was stuck on that same issue, I found out that you have to download Airprint Activator on your computer in order to share the printer with iOS devices. You can find several tutorials online for it, and it should fix that problem of not being able to find these hidden printers. Thanks for the code though!

[Duncan C]

Originally Posted by stealthypanda11

Just in case anyone else was stuck on that same issue, I found out that you have to download Airprint Activator on your computer in order to share the printer with iOS devices. You can find several tutorials online for it, and it should fix that problem of not being able to find these hidden printers. Thanks for the code though!

There's also Printopia, the one I use. It's commercial, and costs like 15 dollars. It's well worth it. It also lets you save to a folder on your Mac or to your DropBox, if you have one.