WebExtension

[xmorave2]

Hello, as you probably know, Firefox is going to make changes in extension system, so only webextension could run in firefox - is it even possible to make jsprintsetup as webextension?

https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2017/02/16/the-road-to-firefox-57-compatibility-milestones/

[eleclerc85]

I'm looking foward to this me too!

[mitkola]

To implement jsPrintSetup as Webextension there is need for extending Webextension API. I have made propose for new API and I'm waiting for review. https://github.com/edabg/web-ext-experiment-printservice https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1385827 With current API, there is no possible implementation of jsPrintSetup as Webextension.

[xmorave2]

Thank you @mitkola for your work! Hope Mozilla will add neede API soon, Great job!

[eleclerc85]

Thx to mitkola for giving his time to the community.

[marcobottignoleatlas]

Sorry for my insistence, the development of webextension will or will not be known? I wonder why otherwise we have to think of another solution. Sorry for my English, but Google is helping me ;-)

[mitkola]

We are waiting mentor to help us in landing proposed changes in FF first. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1385827 After this jsPrintSetup WE will be done.

[MacGritsch]

Feel free to add a comment on https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1385827 so that they see that many people need that feature.

Thank you!

[gainup]

That's all. They blocked it.

[NtH0]

That's all. They blocked it.

The comments, not the ticket (yet).

[survtur]

Look's like i'll need to use older version of firefox....

[balping]

You can still vote on the issue.

[survtur]

@balping No, I can't.

Restrict Comments: true You are not allowed to make an additional comment on this bug.

[balping]

Yes, you can. At the top, in the details box.

[MacGritsch]

I think that is the link for voting:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/page.cgi?id=voting/user.html&bug_id=1385827#vote_1385827

[mbarakaja]

Is unbelievable that Mozilla is starting to support more complex stuff like Virtual Reality, but they do not provide decent printer API. I now that the average browser users do not print often in the web, but a wide printing support should be an standard a long time ago.

Meanwhile, the ticket just have 9 votes so far. We need to make more noise people.

[gainup]

I don't think that this problem will be solved soon. Unfortunately I must find other solution. Almost sure will have to buy native application and rewrite a lot of code. Moreover, I doubt that disabling applications and copy everything from Chrome will increase Firefox market share.

[TomatoJoe]

@mbarakaja

I now that the average browser users do not print often in the web.

You may be surprised. Business users will be printing quite a lot, not only to paper for things like Postage labels and invoices, but to PDF for Tax records.

Is unbelievable that Mozilla is starting to support more complex stuff like Virtual Reality, but they do not provide decent printer API

As a business owner, I found that Mozilla, in particular, Firefox is the ONLY browser that could fulfil our requirements for printing. This assumption that "no body prints these days" is bollocks. And to take on what I call the "Apple mentality" of only supporting only the needs of the majority will see business users move away. I too am astounded that there are NO web browsers out there that can accurately handle printing tasks without failing in at least one area. And that gos for operating systems equally. OSX is unusable in this regard. We include code in our html pages to automatically pop up the Print Dialog box, it save so much time.

[J-N-K]

@gainup, I don't think this will be solved anytime. The last statement in the mozilla bug is quite clear: if you need something like that, go away.

[black23]

It can be solved by Native_messaging. What do You think @mitkola about it? https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-ons/WebExtensions/Native_messaging

[balping]

Good luck on writing a program that renders html as firefox would and is able to create proper postscript/pdf files with headers and margins as required. Then good luck on providing and maintaining binaries for windows, mac and gnu/linux. And then good luck convincing clients why they should install a whole separate program just to have nice headers on a printed sheet.

It's certainly not impossible just a bit unnecessarily overcomplicated.

[mbarakaja]

@black23, as far I understand, JSPrintSetup, is not responsible of rendering the content to be sent to a given printer, this is still managed by the browser.

So, in order to implement features like silent printing (bypassing the browser implementation), the native application must have to manage the rendering by it self.

So the question is, How do you send the content (a BLOB file, raw text, etc) using just Native messaging? The Mozilla documentation says that just serializable JSON messages can be sent in and out between browser extension and a native application.

[MacGritsch]

Yea I have already developed an extension with native messaging and have tried to solve the printing problem this way. So first you need thir-party framework to render the html page and second you need a thir-party applicaton to print that pdf. And you have to install all that apps on the client machines (and place entries in the registry (facepalm)). And thats only for one platform - if you have to support all platforms on which FF runs then good bye I think my clients stay on the ESR-version and when that is outdated, thy keep it and go online with another, save browser. So FF loses marketshare. If they want so...

[balping]

As far as I know, no other browser supports this feature, so ff doesn't necessarily loose market share, just the chance to stand out a bit. When ESR enters quantum (in March 2018), I think I'll switch to server-side pdf rendering.

[MacGritsch]

I think I'll switch to server-side pdf rendering.

Thats also my plan, but then also an application is needed to print that PDfs :-/

[black23]

Thank You all for explanation about Native_messaging. I've found "solution" thru Native_messaging on forum and it was propably directly from Mozilla guys. But I agree that can't solve our problem. I really don't uderstand Mozilla developers because they stoped debate about silence printig due security. It could be handled by user confirmation about printing without promt, for example. ESR is just short time solution. PDF rendering isn't work best for every application, especially if you print just simple receipts.

[balping]

I came across wkhtmltopdf. Maybe it could be used for the rendering part.

It's possible to contol margins and header/footer text.

[kelemenbalazs]

Any solution so far? After quantum, you are not able to use the extension? Please, this is a too useful extension to throw it away. I would like to use, but I also have to take care of security, so I cannot stay at FF 56.0 because of the extension incompatibility.

[gainup]

Any solution so far? After quantum, you are not able to use the extension? Please, this is a too useful extension to throw it away. I would like to use, but I also have to take care of security, so I cannot stay at FF 56.0 because of the extension incompatibility.

I've ordered native application on Windows for the printing purposes. It accepts data from the extension in json format, renders it and sends html page to printer.

[qfluxlab]

@gainup What native application are you working with? I'm interested in trying something similar.

[iwasingh]

Any updates? For now, the only solution is to use an older version of Firefox, am i right?

[mayankmrc3]

Any good news for JSprint?

[mben91]

Any updates about this issue? been using this for a considerate amount of time and I'll be happy not to change this. Using an older browser unfortunately is not an option for my case. Please let us know. Thanks

[optimistex]

@mohamedbenatti It works with: https://www.palemoon.org

[yeffer2]

https://www.palemoon.org mejor solucion ....