Printing Receipt from Django Web Application

Question

I am developing a web-based POS. Unfortunately, POS must print through a thermal receipt printer (TM-T88IV, Epson). The web application is based on Django. Is there any idea on

Answer 1

I see two ways to accomplish it:

First method - Configure your browser

Notes

Good solution if you have one printer for every client (because you can use the default printer only). Keep in mind that you can remove your print server (useful for very resource limited devices) making a script that the browser should automatically execute for open your file. You can use something like this:

#!/bin/bash
printer="/dev/usb/lp0"
encoding_needed=true #false

if $encoding_needed; then
    iconv -c -t 437 $1 > $printer
else
    cat $1 > $printer
fi

Firefox

• Manual setup:
  1. Open about:config
  2. Create a new boolean value called print.always_print_silent and set it to True
  3. Create a new boolean value called print.show_print_progress and set it to False
• Use an extension, like: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/attendprint/

Keep in mind that there are other extensions for making kiosks, for example:

• https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/r-kiosk/
• https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/mkiosk/

Chrome

You can start it with those options: --kiosk --kiosk-printing

Internet Explorer

For kiosk mode see: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/154780

Second method - Server handles every printer

Notes

Good solution if:

1. You have more clients than printers (few money or faulty printers)
2. More printers than clients (different printers or paper colors for different needs)
3. Clients that can't print directly (PDA/smartphones)
4. You want to know the printer status

How to do

1. Connect printers (to the clients and/or to the server)
2. Share printers connected to clients over the network
3. Manage every printer from your Django server