1

I am currently trying to print files or text (to a printer, not to a terminal etc.) in Haskell with gtk(2hs) using Graphics.UI.Gtk.Printing, Cairo and Pango.

Code is the following:

op <- printOperationNew
on op printOptBeginPrint $ \context ->   do
                                 set op [ printOperationNPages := 1]
                return ()

on op printOptDrawPage $ \context pages -     do
                     let text = "Hello World"
                     putStrLn $ "Printing :" ++ text

                     --cairo
                     cairoContext<- printContextGetCairoContext context

                     --pango
                     layout<- printContextCreatePangoLayout context

                     layoutSetText layout text

                     let _ = do
                     --inside the Render Monad
                                 showLayout layout
                                 return ()
                     return ()

result <- printOperationRun op PrintOperationActionPrintDialog window

This prints an empty page since I set the printOperationNPages to 1. The problem is that cairo does not draw anything. I suppose I have to connect the cairoContext with the pango layout, the proper call to showLayout would actually be pango_cairo_show_layout (cr, layout);.

I already discussed this problem on the mailing list for gtk2hs [1].

So if anybody has experience with this, please let me know. I would also be grateful for other - preferable platform-independent - solutions to printing files/text in haskell.

Link to conversation: [1] http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/message.php?msg_id=27662267

GTK(2hs) in Hackage: http://hackage.haskell.org/package/gtk-0.12.0

Adam Wagner
  • 15,469
  • 7
  • 52
  • 66
forste
  • 1,103
  • 3
  • 14
  • 33
  • gtk-cairo: http://projects.haskell.org/gtk2hs/docs/gtk-docs-0.11.0/Graphics-UI-Gtk-Cairo.html – forste Nov 20 '11 at 19:39
  • gtk higher-level printing api: http://developer.gnome.org/gtk/2.24/gtk-High-level-Printing-API.html – forste Nov 20 '11 at 19:42

1 Answers1

2

Have you tried to use GtkPrintUnixDialog instead?
Much simpler to use. Basically you create the GtkPrintUnixDialog, Create a GtkPrintJob. Set the print to to source file (text,pdf you name it) and then print it out. You can also not show the dialog so that it uses the default print settings on the system.

Christian Specht
  • 35,843
  • 15
  • 128
  • 182
oipoistar
  • 477
  • 6
  • 19
  • I read about it here http://developer.gnome.org/gtk/2.24/GtkPrintUnixDialog.html but I haven't found the haskell/gtk2hs equivalent to it. Do you know where it is since it is not in the core library of the Gtk2Hs suite!? – forste Nov 20 '11 at 20:51