Craig,
Thank you very much for your response. I've interspersed my questions in
your reply.
If you have answers to my question I would be extremely gratefull for your
assistance!
Thanks.
Jim Collins
----- Original Message -----[color=blue]
> From: "Craig Ringer" <craig@postnews papers.com.au>
> To: "Jim & Joanne Collins" <jjcollins@cabl eone.net>
> Cc: <python-list@python.org >
> Sent: Monday, December 20, 2004 11:34 PM
> Subject: Re: Printing
>
>[color=green]
> > On Tue, 2004-12-21 at 06:45, Jim & Joanne Collins wrote:
> > I've completed a semester of computer programming in Python and one
> > thing we didn't learn was how to send data to a windows printer
> > instead of the screen.[/color]
>
> It would be helpful to know what graphical toolkit and canvas widget you
> are using, as this may well be significant.[/color]
I'm not using any widget or any graphics. I've done programs in Basic for
years and they have all been strict data handling. I want to convert some
to Python
as Windows XP doesn't like 16 bit Basic.
If I have a line in basic that says "print "This is a test print"" how do I
direct that line to the printer
instead of the console? And to send an escape sequence with it for printer
control in PCL
what is the syntax/format required?
[color=blue][color=green]
> > Any help would be greatly appreciated!
> >
> > My usual approach is actually to generate a PDF document using ReportLab
> > and send that to the printer. Under *nix this is easy - if available,
> > CUPS can handle PDF directly, or you use acroread -toPostScript to
> > generate postscript and send that. Under Windows, I expect you can use
> > COM to call acrobat if there isn't a simpler method.
> >
> > If you're using an existing canvas widget for your drawing, it depends
> > on the canvas widget. Some can be saved to a bitmap, some can save
> > vector data, etc.
> >
> > If you could explain how you're doing your screen drawing, that would
> > help a lot.[/color][/color]
No screen drawing - no graphics - just data and printer controls.
[color=blue][color=green]
> > Also, is there any way to send a shell command to access some function
> > of the basic windows operating system such as sort?
> >
> > import os[/color][/color]
How does one use the operating system after importing it? Syntax and
commands?
[color=blue][color=green]
> > help(os.system)
> > help(os.popen)
> >
> > for more advanced use, COM is an option.[/color][/color]
What is the syntax for using COM?
[color=blue][color=green][color=darkred]
> > > Or to do a DOS directory and send it directly to a file to be accessed
> > > as needed?[/color]
> >
> > I'm afraid I just don't understand that. "Do" a DOS directory? If you
> > want to list the contents of a directory, see help(os.listdir ) .[/color][/color]
In basic I write "shell"dir c:\temp\*.*>fil es.tem" and it does the same as
a dir command
at a DOS prompt and stores it in "files.tem" for me to access later.
--[color=blue][color=green]
> > Craig Ringer
> >[/color]
>[/color]