printing - HTML / Javascript One Click Print (no dialogs)

Question

Is it possible to have a print option that bypasses the print dialog?

I am working on a closed system and would like to be able to pre-define the print dialog settings; and process the print as soon as I click the button.

From what I am reading, the way to do this varies for each browser. For example, IE would use ActiveX. Chrome / Firefox would require extensions. Based on this, it appears I'll have to write an application in C++ that can handle parameters passed by the browser to auto print with proper formatting (for labels). Then i'll have to rewrite it as an extension for Chrome / Firefox. End result being that users on our closed system will have to download / install these features depending on which browser they use.

I'm hoping there is another way to go about this, but this task most likely violates browser security issues.

Answer 1

I ended up implementing a custom application that works very similar to the Nexus Mod Manager. I wrote a C# application that registers a custom Application URI Scheme. Here's how it works:

1. User clicks "Print" on the website.
2. Website links user to "CustomURL://Print/{ID}
3. Application is launched by windows via the custom uri scheme.
4. Application communicates with the pre-configured server to confirm the print request and in my case get the actual print command.
5. The application then uses the C# RawPrinterHelper class to send commands directly to the printer.

This approach required an initial download from the user, and a single security prompt from windows when launching the application the first time. I also implemented some Javascript magic to make it detect whether the print job was handled or not. If it wasn't it asks them to download the application.