Printer Express

Share standard printers via JSON API

Usage

Standalone

Clone repository:

git clone git@github.com:yevgenko/printer-express.git

Install dependencies:

cd printer-express
npm i

Run the server (default port is 3000, but can be adjusted via environment variable PORT):

node standalone.js

ExpressJS Middleware

Install printer-express package with npm:

npm i printer-express --save

Use middleware with Express application:

var express = require('express'),
    printerExpress = require('printer-express'),
    app = express(),
    port = process.env.PORT || 3000;

// mount point for JSON API, i.e. /cloudprint/printers and /cloudprint/jobs
app.use('/cloudprint', printerExpress);
app.listen(port);

JSON API

GET /printers

Get the list of printers installed on the hosting system:

curl -v http://localhost:3000/printers

or with jQuery:

$.getJSON("http://localhost:3000/printers");

POST /jobs

Submit new printing job:

curl -v -X POST http://localhost:3000/jobs -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"data":"Hello, World!", "type":"RAW", "printer":"stkPrinter"}'

or with jQuery:

$.ajax({
  type: 'POST',
  url: "http://localhost:3000/jobs",
  data: JSON.stringify({data: 'Hello, World!', type: 'RAW', printer: 'stkPrinter'}),
  dataType: 'json',
  contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8"
});

To print from file, i.e. PDF, simply replace data and type attributes with url pointing to the publicly accessible file, for example:

curl -v -X POST http://localhost:3000/jobs -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"url":"http://example.com/print.pdf", "printer":"stkPrinter"}'

We can also omit the printer attribute, in which case system default printer will be used.