Printer bugs on MacOS

? Offline

Are there any known bugs or issues to be aware of with Mac Print Drivers for Qt?

I'm having an issue of an app not being able to print on 1 beta testers machine MacOS 10.5.x & 10.6.x. The tester switched to 10.6.x and the app would print. He then purchased a new printer and the app will not print..but he can print from other apps.

It works fine on my Mac Mini dev environment (MacOS 10.6.x) and 2 in-house Mac laptops I've tested it on. It works fine on 2 other beta testers machines (MacOS 10.6.x & 10.7.x).

The print output is just a graphics scene that that gets rendered to a painter device that is a physical printer.

@
// scene is built..wait to render it until after the printer has been selected

// create a printer object and assume it's a physical printer NOT a file
QPrinter *printer = new QPrinter(QPrinter::HighResolution);

// the Mac print dialog can't be set to PDF or PS format
// set printer to a known conditions
printer->setOutputFormat( QPrinter::NativeFormat );
printer->setOutputFileName("X");

// global status bar message
gsb->showMessage("selecting a printer");
qApp->processEvents();

//print issue..works on dev macs(10.6.x), but not on tester's iMac(10.5.8)

// enum pdWhat { pdHUH=-2, pdREJECTED=-1, pdFINISHED, pdACCEPTED };
pdstatus = pdHUH;
pdmsg1 = "";
pdmsg2 = "";

QPrintDialog *printDialog = new QPrintDialog( printer, this );

// hook print dialog signals so we can set progress and result messages
connect(printDialog, SIGNAL(accepted(QPrinter *)), this, SLOT(PrintAccepted(QPrinter *)));
connect(printDialog, SIGNAL(rejected()), this, SLOT(PrintRejected()));
connect(printDialog, SIGNAL(finished(int)), this, SLOT(PrintFinished(int)));

// if the user clicked PDF in the Mac print dialog, the outputFileName is NOT ""
int resultofexec = printDialog->exec();

pdprintername = printer->printerName();
pdprinterfilename = printer->outputFileName();

// pdstatus is set by the SLOTs connected to the printDialog
if ( pdstatus == pdACCEPTED )
{
//** print dialog has closed but it will MAGICALLY pipe or direct output to the **
//** selected destination ONLY if you run through painter->printer code below **
//
// PDF redirects to a file ONLY if you run through painter->printer code below
// if dialog used PDF option..output file name will be != "X" && != ""
//
// Preview redirects to printer ONLY if you run through painter->printer code below
// if dialog used Preview or Print options..output file name will be == ""
//
qApp->setOverrideCursor(QCursor( Qt::WaitCursor ));
// global status bar message
gsb->showMessage("formatting print output");
qApp->processEvents();

// should be OK to initialize
printer->setFullPage( true );

qreal tm,lm,rm,bm;
printer->getPageMargins(&lm,&tm,&rm,&bm,QPrinter::Inch);

// adjust the bottom margin..or try to..doh!
printer->setPageMargins(lm, tm, rm, 0.25, QPrinter::Inch);

// see if the page margin change took effect

// the selected printer as the painter destination

QPainter painter;
if ( painter.begin( printer ) )
{
  // able to start the device
  painter.setRenderHint( QPainter::Antialiasing );
  // draw scene to the printer
  scene->render( &painter );
  // tell printer to "go"
  painter.end();

  // we've now sent the print output wherever the hell it's going
  if ( pdprinterfilename == "X" )
  {
    // sent to the printer via the print button
    pdmsg1 = "sending print to ";
    pdmsg2 = pdprintername;
  }
  else if ( pdprinterfilename == "" )
  {
    // sent to the printer via the preview button
    pdmsg1 = "showing a preview to ";
    pdmsg2 = pdprintername;
  }
  else
  {
    // print dialog accepted...but really saved to PDF
    pdmsg1 = "printing redirected to ";
    // outputfilename is full path..snag the last section
    pdmsg2 = "'" + pdprinterfilename.section('/', -1) + "'";
  }
}
else
{
  // unable to start printer..we're hosed
  pdmsg2 += "failed at painter.begin";
}

}
else
{
// print dialog closed with cancel, reject, etc
}

qApp->restoreOverrideCursor();
// leave the message in the status area for ~60 seconds
gsb->showMessage( "done - " + pdmsg1 + pdmsg2, 1000*60 );
}

void PageManager::PrintAccepted( QPrinter * )
{
// slot for accept button clicked
pdstatus = pdACCEPTED;
pdmsg1 = "OK to print";
}

void PageManager::PrintFinished( int result)
{
// slot for dialog finished..just eat signal

pdstatus = pdFINISHED;
}

void PageManager::PrintRejected()
{
// slot for anything but accept button clicked
pdstatus = pdREJECTED;
pdmsg1 = "printing cancelled";
}

void PageManager::PrintOther(const QPoint &clickpos )
{
// slot for other button clicked
pdstatus = pdREJECTED;
pdmsg1 = "printing to PDF or Preview";
}

@

? Offline

This code works on the system having the "print problem"..so it appears it may be something associated with "rendering to a painter" code in the previous post...not the Mac Print drivers.

@
QString detail;
QTextStream out(&detail);

// stream the report in HTML format
// NOTE: html rules are ignored byt the setHtml function..
// specifically nested tables are not allowed
// setting column sizes to a specific % not allowed
out << "<table width="100%"><caption><b>" + QCoreApplication::applicationName() + "-" + QCoreApplication::applicationVersion() + "</b></caption>";
out << "<tr><td>User Record Summary for: " << ur->loadedname ;
out << "</table><hr size=1>";

QPrinter *printer = new QPrinter(QPrinter::HighResolution);
printer->setFullPage( true );

QPrintDialog *printDialog = new QPrintDialog( printer );
if (printDialog->exec() == QDialog::Accepted)
{
printer->setFullPage( true );

QTextDocument qtd;
qtd.setHtml( detail );
qtd.print( printer );
}

@

It doesn't make sense that the render to printer stuff works on most Macs, but one Mac has a problem. Argh!

LeeWhite2019

This post is deleted!