How to print in iOS 4.2?

Question

I want to integrate the print functionality in my app.

The document I want to print will be in .doc or .txt format. I am not very experienced in iPhone development y

Answer 1

hi this may help you out try it and post if have any query.

-(IBAction)printFromIphone:(id)sender {

    UIPrintInteractionController *pic = [UIPrintInteractionController sharedPrintController];
    pic.delegate = self;

    UIPrintInfo *printInfo = [UIPrintInfo printInfo];
    printInfo.outputType = UIPrintInfoOutputGeneral;
    printInfo.jobName = self.documentName;
    pic.printInfo = printInfo;

    UISimpleTextPrintFormatter *textFormatter = [[UISimpleTextPrintFormatter alloc]
                                                 initWithText:yourNSStringWithContextOfTextFileHere];
    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);
        }
    };
    if (UI_USER_INTERFACE_IDIOM() == UIUserInterfaceIdiomPad) {
        [pic presentFromBarButtonItem:sender animated:YES completionHandler:completionHandler];
    } else {
        [pic presentAnimated:YES completionHandler:completionHandler];
    }
}

Answer 2

Check out the Drawing and Printing Guide for iOS -- I linked to the printing section. There's sample code and good links to more sample code there.

Edit: I see now that you indicate you find the documentation difficult to follow.

Word documents are complicated -- you'll need to parse through the data, which is quite difficult.

Text and HTML are easier. I took Apple's example for HTML and changed it for plain text:

- (IBAction)printContent:(id)sender {
    UIPrintInteractionController *pic = [UIPrintInteractionController sharedPrintController];
    pic.delegate = self;

    UIPrintInfo *printInfo = [UIPrintInfo printInfo];
    printInfo.outputType = UIPrintInfoOutputGeneral;
    printInfo.jobName = self.documentName;
    pic.printInfo = printInfo;

    UISimpleTextPrintFormatter *textFormatter = [[UISimpleTextPrintFormatter alloc]
                                                 initWithText:yourNSStringWithContextOfTextFileHere];
    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);
        }
    };
    if (UI_USER_INTERFACE_IDIOM() == UIUserInterfaceIdiomPad) {
        [pic presentFromBarButtonItem:sender animated:YES completionHandler:completionHandler];
    } else {
        [pic presentAnimated:YES completionHandler:completionHandler];
    }
}

Answer 3

First of all add UIPrintInteractionControllerDelegate and create variable

    UIPrintInteractionController *printController;

Below code to print all images, documents, excel, powerpoint , pdf files works for me:

[self printItem:SomeData withFilePath:YourFilePath];

In above code you provide your NSData of your document/image and URL (filePath) and below further code of printItem:withFilePath: method

-(void)printItem :(NSData*)data withFilePath:(NSString*)filePath{
printController = [UIPrintInteractionController sharedPrintController];
printController.delegate = self;

UIPrintInfo *printInfo = [UIPrintInfo printInfo];
printInfo.outputType = UIPrintInfoOutputGeneral;
printInfo.jobName = [NSString stringWithFormat:@""];
printInfo.duplex = UIPrintInfoDuplexLongEdge;
printController.printInfo = printInfo;
printController.showsPageRange = YES;


//If NSData contains data of image/PDF
if(printController && [UIPrintInteractionController canPrintData:data]) {
    printController.printingItem = data;

}else{
    UIWebView* webView = [UIWebView new];
    printInfo.jobName = webView.request.URL.absoluteString;
    [webView loadRequest:[NSURLRequest requestWithURL:[NSURL fileURLWithPath:filePath]]];

    printController.printFormatter = webView.viewPrintFormatter;

}

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

    // Check wether device is iPad/iPhone , because UIPrintInteractionControllerDelegate has different methods for both devices
    if([UIDevice currentDevice].userInterfaceIdiom == UIUserInterfaceIdiomPad) {
        [printController presentFromRect:self.view.frame inView:self.view animated:YES completionHandler:completionHandler];
    }
    else {
        [printController presentAnimated:YES completionHandler:completionHandler];
    }
}

I hope it will help. Thanks

// For Swift and if you want to just print image First create IBoutlet for image

@IBOutlet var qrImage : UIImageView?

and then on click of print button just add below code

//In your view controller
@IBAction func printButton(sender: AnyObject) {

    let printInfo = UIPrintInfo(dictionary:nil)
    printInfo.outputType = UIPrintInfoOutputType.general
    printInfo.jobName = "My Print Job"

    // Set up print controller
    let printController = UIPrintInteractionController.shared
    printController.printInfo = printInfo

    // Assign a UIImage version of my UIView as a printing iten
    printController.printingItem = self.qrImage?.image

    // Do it
    printController.present(from: self.view.frame, in: self.view, animated: true, completionHandler: nil)
}