WebSocket Print Server

Simple WebSocket server that receives PDF content and print it out using Adobe Acrobat Reader. You can use this simple implementation to silent print PDF document to your default printer from web pages.

Prerequisites

1. Windows environment.
2. Have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed.
   • Tested on Acrobat Reader DC 2015 and Adobe Reader X.

Interface

The server will listen on localhost:9180, you can access http://localhost:9180 to check whether the server is up or down. You can then connect to the WebSocket server listen at ws://localhost:9180/print.

Request Message

After the WebSocket connection is established successfully, you can send stringified JSON with following structure to print:

{
  "id": "CORELEATION_ID",
  "body": "BASE64_ENCODED_PDF_DOCUMENT"
}

Response Message

Server will respond with either messages:

In case of successful print:

{
  "id": "CORELEATION_ID",
  "success": true,
  "message": ""
}

Note: The return code of Foxit Reader process is alway 0. I can't found a simple way to make sure if document be printed successfully.

In case of failed to print:

{
  "id": "CORELEATION_ID",
  "success": false,
  "message": "Fail reason..."
}

Development

Compiling print-server.go

1. Install Go as described here.
2. Install Gorilla WebSocket by executing go get github.com/gorilla/websocket.
3. Install kardianos/service by executing go get github.com/kardianos/service.
4. Run go run print-server.go to start server.

Compiling print.au3

1. Install AutoIt
2. Compile print.au3 using Aut2Exe to compile it to executable as described here.