[X2go-dev] Python-X2go printing on Windows

[Mike Gabriel]

Hi Dick, hi x2go-dev list,

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Context: Dick Lindix contracted me to make PyHoca-GUI usable for his  
company software. We are currently testing functionality heavily to  
get it ready for roll-out in his company. I post this mail to the  
x2go-dev list as there might be someone who has an opinion and/or idea  
about the described problem.
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I am currently not really happy with the X2goPrintActionPRINT  
implementation of Python X2go on Windows (print incoming X2go print  
job directly to a printer). Till now, I have used a win32api  
ShellExecute call to print the incoming PDF document (that gets posted  
to the client by x2goprint). The ShellExec API calls the standard app  
for PDF (Acrobat Reader X on my system), but the Acrobat Reader X  
(might be an issue of this version only) does not handle the printing  
well: an empty Acrobat Reader window remains open after the print job  
has been handed over to the GDI print spooler...

What I am currently implementing as first choice printing in Python  
X2go is usage of gsprint.exe from gsview/Ghostgum. To use this  
printing method the Ghostscript and the Ghostview application has to  
be installed on the client. This seems to be the cleaner approach to  
printing (that is: diverting the Acrobat Reader). However, this means  
an extra app to be either side-installed next to PyHoca-GUI or to be  
shipped with PyHoca-GUI itself (which would inflate the setup.exe  
tremendously...).

I am currently still playing with gsprint to see if it really works  
for PyHoca-GUI, I suppose it will. However, if gsprint is not  
installed on the client there will always be a fallback to the  
system's standard PDF app via win32api (that is Acrobat Reader in most  
cases).

However, maybe someone on the list has another idea about PDF Windows  
printing from a Python environment...

Greets + Thanks,
Mike

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