Cordova Printer-Plugin

A bunch of printing plugins for Cordova 3.x.x

by Sebastián Katzer (github.com/katzer)

Supported Platforms

iOS (Print from iOS devices to AirPrint compatible printers)

Adding the Plugin to your project

Through the Command-line Interface:

cordova plugin add https://github.com/katzer/cordova-plugin-printer.git

Release Notes

Version 0.2.0 (11.08.2013)

Added iOS support
Based on the Print iOS plugin made by Randy McMillan

Using the plugin

The plugin creates the object window.plugin.printer with two methods:

isServiceAvailable()

Printing is only available on devices capable of multi-tasking (iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 etc.) running iOS 4.2 or later. You can use this function to hide print functionality from users who will be unable to use it. Function takes a callback function, passed to which is a boolean property.

/*
 * Find out if printing is available. Use this for showing/hiding print buttons.
 */
window.plugin.printer.isServiceAvailable(
    function (isAvailable) {
        alert(isavailable ? 'Service is available' : 'Service NOT available');
    }
);

print()

Function takes an html string and (optionally) a success callback and a failure callback.

// Get HTML string
var page = document.body.innerHTML;

/*
 * Pass an HTML and - optionally - success function, error function.
 */
window.plugin.printer.print(page);

Testing in the iOS Simulator

There's no need to waste lots of paper when testing - if you're using the iOS simulator, select File->Open Printer Simulator to open some dummy printers (print outs will appear as PDF files).

Adding Page Breaks to Printouts

Use the 'page-break-before' property to specify a page break, e.g.

<p>
First page.
</p>

<p style="page-break-before: always">
Second page.
</p>

See W3Schools for more more information: http://www.w3schools.com/cssref/pr_print_pagebb.asp

Note: you will need to add an extra top margin to new pages.

Printing on Real Printers

Printing is only supported on AirPrint-enabled printers or with the use of third-party software on your computer. The following pages contain more information:

AirPrint-enabled printers: http://www.apple.com/ipad/features/airprint.html
Enabling AirPrint on your computer: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19512_7-20023976-233.html, or http://www.ecamm.com/mac/printopia/

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