Share string/text to "Real printer" from app

[tlinnet]

Hi!

Wuhuuu!
In 4 evenings I have for the first time developed my own UI for iPhone through pythonista.

I know python, but I don't know Xcode/swift. And my 3 previous attempts has failed miserably.

But now. :) Wow it works! So, first of all. THANK YOU!

To the question:

I have developed an app, which contacts a REST api at a webserver.
It uses pythons request module, to ask for a list of "free vouchers" or to "generate a new voucher".

And it works beautifully. :)

A ui.TableView() contains the list of free vouchers, and a ui.TextView() contains the newest generated voucher code.

Now, I was wondering to buy a small thermal bluetooth printer. Like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Portable-Bluetooth-Printer-Wosports-Thermal/dp/B01H1NA7CE/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1480102437&sr=1-1&keywords=Thermal+Receipt+Printer+bluetooth+ios

The question:
Is it possible to share a string or text to a "real printer" ?
Is there a "print" console button?

Thanks again!

[tlinnet]

The "hack" around the problem is to mark the "Voucher code" in the ui.TextView().

"Share it" to iPhones "Notes" app, and from there "Share it" to a printer.

But the click-path is too long. :)

[omz]

You could shorten the click path by using dialogs.share_text instead of highlighting the text manually, and selecting Share from the menu.

You could also use the Objective-C bridge (objc_util) to use the iOS printing dialog directly. Here's a simple example:

from objc_util import *

@on_main_thread
def print_text(text):
	UIPrintInteractionController = ObjCClass('UIPrintInteractionController')
	UIPrintSimpleTextFormatter = ObjCClass('UISimpleTextPrintFormatter')
	controller = UIPrintInteractionController.sharedPrintController()
	formatter = UIPrintSimpleTextFormatter.alloc().initWithText_(text).autorelease()
	controller.setPrintFormatter_(formatter)
	controller.presentAnimated_completionHandler_(True, None)

print_text('Hello World')

[tlinnet]

Thanks!
This works great! :) I can get it all to work as expected.
Now the last little thing. :)

---

Can I change the font?

I try to "help" myself by understanding the objc
http://omz-software.com/pythonista/docs/ios/objc_util.html.

From Apple I get:
https://developer.apple.com/reference/uikit/uisimpletextprintformatter

Creating a Simple-Text Print Formatter
Returns a simple-text print formatter initialized with attributed text.

init(attributedText: NSAttributedString)

Returns a simple-text print formatter initialized with plain text.

init(text: String)

Getting and Setting the Text. A string of attributed text.

var attributedText: NSAttributedString?

A string of plain text.

var text: String?

Text Attributes for Printed Content; The font of the printed text:

var font: UIFont?

---

From the code:

@on_main_thread
def print_text(self, text):
    UIPrintInteractionController = ObjCClass('UIPrintInteractionController')
    UISimpleTextPrintFormatter = ObjCClass('UISimpleTextPrintFormatter')
    controller = UIPrintInteractionController.sharedPrintController()
    formatter = UISimpleTextPrintFormatter.alloc().initWithText_(text).autorelease()
    controller.setPrintFormatter_(formatter)
    controller.presentAnimated_completionHandler_(True, None)

I guess I should change "formatter".
But I can figure out how to combine the information. :)

[tlinnet]

Preferably the font: COURIER and size 10?

[omz]

@tlinnet Here you go:

from objc_util import *

@on_main_thread
def print_text(text, font_name='Helvetica', font_size=12):
	UIPrintInteractionController = ObjCClass('UIPrintInteractionController')
	UIPrintSimpleTextFormatter = ObjCClass('UISimpleTextPrintFormatter')
	controller = UIPrintInteractionController.sharedPrintController()
	formatter = UIPrintSimpleTextFormatter.alloc().initWithText_(text)
	font = ObjCClass('UIFont').fontWithName_size_(font_name, font_size)
	if font:
		formatter.setFont_(font)
	controller.setPrintFormatter_(formatter)
	controller.presentAnimated_completionHandler_(True, None)

print_text('Hello World', 'Courier', 10)

[ccc]

Like https://github.com/ColdGrub1384/Pyto/issues/197