print-it

Windows service for printing files to a local or network printer in the background.

Note: This repository differs from the upstream repo in a few key ways.

• The route paths for the service now start with api/
• The app can also be hosted as a normal web app instead of a windows service
• Supports multiple file types (.pdf, .docx, images)

Usage instructions

Host as Service

1. Download the project, build it
2. Get the executable for your build from .\src\PrintIt.ServiceHost\bin place the package where you can find it. f.e. C:\print-it
3. Create print-it as a Windows service from an elevated command line: sc create "PrintIt" binPath="C:\print-it\PrintIt.ServiceHost.exe" start=auto
4. Start the service from the command line: sc start PrintIt
5. Check if the service is listening on port 7000 by running: netstat -a | find ":7000"

By default, PrintIt.ServiceHost is listening on http://localhost:7000. The endpoint is configurable in appsettings.json.

Host as Web App

1. Download the project, build it
2. Get the executable for your build from .\src\PrintIt.WebHost\bin
3. Host as you'd like

Note: A few things to beware of: A user profile is needed to register printers. If you host this application in IIS, set the app pool to 'No Managed Code' and set Load User Profile = True If you host the API on Server Core, don't forget to install printer support. Install-WindowsFeature Print-Services

Service Routes

[GET] api/printers/list

List all available printers on the system.

[POST] api/printers/install?printerPath=\\REMOTE_PC_NAME\PRINTER-NAME

Install the network printer with the UNC-path \\REMOTE_PC_NAME\PRINTER-NAME.

[POST] api/print

To print to a given printer, post a multipart form to this end-point with the following fields:

Field Name	Required	Content
PdfFile	✔️	The PDF file to print (Content-type: application/pdf)
PrinterPath	✔️	The UNC-path of the printer to send the PDF to
PageRange		An optional page range string (f.e. "1-5", "1, 3", "1, 4-8", "2-", "-5")

PDFium

This project uses the PDFium library for rendering the PDF file which is licensed under Apache 2.0, see LICENSE.

The version included in this repository under the folder pdfium-binary was taken from https://github.com/bblanchon/pdfium-binaries/releases/tag/chromium/4194.