Controlling printing and printer

[Bobby_Ezell@adobeforums.com]

I am trying to control Adobe Pro (create OLE object of AcroExch) during the printing phase with a number of different options for a print shop. So far so good with a couple of exceptions:

a) If Adobe is up when we go to set the printer, I cannot, the print job comes out on the last printer used. Is there a way around this?

b) In most cases I am printing the same number of pages as before, i.e. splitting a 4000 page job into x-number of pages (in order to staple automatically at EOJ) - but the "sub-jobs" are not coming out in the spool in order for some reason.

c) The customer wants to save (to use later) and change certain settings, i.e. staple, fold, ... through my external application. These types of items are not usually in the printer DevMode, though occasionally some are. Is there a way to pass a DevMode or an extended DevMode through Acrobat object calls to reset/set different print options for a specific run?

Bobby

[Leonard_Rosenthol@adobeforums.com]

The type of work you are doing is MUCH BETTER done as a custom plugin to Acrobat where you have deeper access to the printing process.

[Bobby_Ezell@adobeforums.com]

A plug-in seems like overkill for a single application and a single-run for a print shop - especially once you start reading the fine print and cost on the plug-ins.

A secondary question would be - does the Acrobat object know if it has other instances running whereby we might post a Windows message to shut down?

[Leonard_Rosenthol@adobeforums.com]

There is no cost to write a plugin for Acrobat...

[Bobby_Ezell@adobeforums.com]

Kind of a mis-quote on my behalf. I was refering to the Reader IKLA costs, but I could/should do this under Pro. So ignoring that point...

From AcrobatPro I still have the same questions:
a) I need to automate all the printing and splitting of a document. Can this all be automated where a specific plug-in runs on startup?

b) If Acrobat is running (via a user), can I manipulate the printer and it's settings for a new instance? This cannot be done under the OLE model, setting the pritner seems to be ignored.

[Leonard_Rosenthol@adobeforums.com]

a) Sure, your plugin can do that.

b) Your a plugin written in C/C++, you can call any OS API calls that you wish. OR you can pass specific settings to the printer APIs available to a plugin - if relevant. You can also intercept the print stream and add your own "code" if you want.