Printing in iOS

Posted by Daniel Vela on January 3, 2018

Doc

Install

In order to test the printing system from the iOS Simulator is required to install the ‘Printer Simulator’. This app is included inside Additional Tools for Xcode 9 (inside folder Hardware) in Developer Downloads

Usage

To print for iPhone/iPad is necesary to obtain the shared instance of UIPrintInteractionController y configure it. To do that, you must create an instance of UIPrintInfo an set all the necessary values as:

  • Work name to identify it in the print queue
  • Orientation
  • Type of impression: text, image, other.
  • The content to print, in one of the follogin formats:
    • NSData, NSURL, UIImage, o ALAsset
    • Array of NSData, NSURL, UIImage, or ALAsset
    • UIPrintFormatter (this allows to define the layout)
    • UIPrintPageRenderer

Last, you must to present the controller in the screen using some method like presentFromBarButtonItem.

Sample Code

- (IBAction)btnPrintTapped:(id)sender {
    [self doPrint];
}

- (void)doPrint {
    UIPrintInteractionController* controller = [self configurePrinting:@"printerX"];
    NSURL* url = [self urlForPDF];
    controller.printingItem = url;
    [self printWithController:controller];
}

- (UIPrintInteractionController*)configurePrinting:(NSString*)printerId {
    UIPrintInteractionController* controller = [UIPrintInteractionController sharedPrintController];
	
    UIPrintInfo* printInfo = [UIPrintInfo printInfo];
    // Configure printinfo
    printInfo.jobName = @"Sextante app print";
    printInfo.orientation = UIPrintInfoOrientationPortrait;
    printInfo.outputType = UIPrintInfoOutputGeneral; // For photos and text
//    printInfo.printerID = // Se puede indicar la anterior impresora

    controller.printInfo = printInfo;
    controller.delegate = self;
	
    return controller;
}

- (void)printWithController:(UIPrintInteractionController*)controller {
    [controller presentFromBarButtonItem:self.btnPrint
                                animated:YES
                       completionHandler:^(UIPrintInteractionController * _Nonnull printInteractionController, BOOL completed, NSError * _Nullable error) {
						   
                       }
     ];
}


# pragma mark - Printer delegate
//- ( UIViewController * _Nullable )printInteractionControllerParentViewController:(UIPrintInteractionController *)printInteractionController
//
//- (UIPrintPaper *)printInteractionController:(UIPrintInteractionController *)printInteractionController choosePaper:(NSArray<UIPrintPaper *> *)paperList;
//
//- (void)printInteractionControllerWillPresentPrinterOptions:(UIPrintInteractionController *)printInteractionController;
//- (void)printInteractionControllerDidPresentPrinterOptions:(UIPrintInteractionController *)printInteractionController;
//- (void)printInteractionControllerWillDismissPrinterOptions:(UIPrintInteractionController *)printInteractionController;
//- (void)printInteractionControllerDidDismissPrinterOptions:(UIPrintInteractionController *)printInteractionController;
//
//- (void)printInteractionControllerWillStartJob:(UIPrintInteractionController *)printInteractionController;
- (void)printInteractionControllerDidFinishJob:(UIPrintInteractionController *)printInteractionController {
	
    int a = 0 ;
}

//- (CGFloat)printInteractionController:(UIPrintInteractionController *)printInteractionController cutLengthForPaper:(UIPrintPaper *)paper NS_AVAILABLE_IOS(7_0);
//- (UIPrinterCutterBehavior) printInteractionController:(UIPrintInteractionController *)printInteractionController chooseCutterBehavior:(NSArray *)availableBehaviors NS_AVAILABLE_IOS(9_0);