Web Printing Without Previewing

Pro Edition You can print a report from a web application without making your users preview it when you use the WebViewer in ActiveReports Professional Edition. In this article, I'll show you a couple of ways to print a report directly to the client printer. Important considerations:

• With the WebViewer, you can't send reports to the printer without displaying the Print dialog.
• The WebViewer control is available only in ActiveReports Professional Edition.

Printing with the Flash Viewer

To use the Flash viewer, add a WebViewer control to your web form and set its ViewerType property to FlashViewer. There are two ways to print a report using the Flash viewer:

• using the StartPrint property
• using client scripts

StartPrint Property

Expand the FlashViewerOptions, then the PrintOptions, and set theStartPrint property to True. This displays the system Print dialog when the Flash viewer loads in the browser so you can print the report without previewing it. For more details, see the following topics in the User Guide: Flash Viewer | Provide One-Touch Printing in the WebViewer (Professional) | ActiveReports Web Pro

Client Scripts

In the source view of your web form, add JavaScript like the following to create an event handler for the OnLoadProgress event. You can use the State property to detect when the report finishes loading and use the Print method to display the system Print dialog, allowing you to print the report without previewing it.

//javascript  
viewer.setEventsHandler({  
　　OnLoadProgress: function(e) {  
　　　　if (e.State == "Completed") {  
　　　　　　// Set printing options  
　　　　　　var ops = viewer.CreatePrintOptions();  
          // Modify paper orientation  
　　　　　　ops.AdjustPaperOrientation = "Auto";　  
　　　　　  // Modify page scaling  
　　　　　　ops.ScalePages = "Auto";  
　　　　　　// Clear page range settings  
　　　　　　ops.ClearPageRanges();  
　         // Set page range  
　　　　　　ops.AddPageRange(1, e.PageCount);  

　　　　　　// Start printing  
　　　　　　viewer.Print(ops);  
　　　　}  
　　}  
})

For more information, see the following topics in our User Guide: ActiveReports Web Pro | Customizing the Flash Viewer UI

Printing to PDF

To print using PDF, add a WebViewer control to your web form and set its ViewerType property to AcrobatReader.

OnlyForPrint Property

Expand the PdfExportOptions and set the OnlyForPrint property to True. This displays the Adobe Acrobat Reader Print dialog when the viewer loads in the browser so you can print the report without viewing it in the Acrobat Reader. Important: When generating a PDF with a password using the Encrypt property, the OnlyForPrint property setting is invalid.