Instant Printing From a JavaScript PopUpMenu

Dave Wraight Planet PDF Contributing Editor

April 14, 2004

The following JavaScript code can be added to a button, bookmark or even link. When the user activates the button/bookmark/link a popup menu will be displayed on screen listing the page numbers (in page blocks of 20). If the user selects a page number that page will be silently printed to the default printer, no dialog boxes will be displayed.

• Download JavaScript (1.9 K)

//  Create an Array to store the Popup menu items
var popupArray = new Array();

// How many pages are in the PDF file.
var numPDFPages = this.numPages;

// ArrayIndex is used to count the number of items in the array
var arrayIndex = 0;
var pageLoop;
var pageLoop2;

//  Fill the array with Menu Headers:
//	(["Page 1- 20","Page 1","Page 2...."],["Page 21 - 40","Page 
21","Page 22..."],)
for (pageLoop = 1; pageLoop < numPDFPages; pageLoop += 20) 
{

          popupArray[arrayIndex] = "['Page " + pageLoop + " - " + 
(pageLoop + 19);

          for (j = pageLoop; j < pageLoop + 20; j++) 
          {
                    popupArray[arrayIndex] += "','" + j;
          }
     
          popupArray[arrayIndex] += "'],";
          arrayIndex = arrayIndex + 1;
}

var completeString = "";
//  Create one long string with all of the array elements
for (pageLoop = 0; pageLoop < arrayIndex; pageLoop++) 
{
          completeString += popupArray[pageLoop];
}

// Capture the selected item
var returnValue = eval("app.popUpMenu(" + completeString + 
"'Print Window')"); 

// Process the return value
if (returnValue == 'Print Window')
{
	     // Show Print Dialog Only
	     this.print(true,1,1,false);
}
else if (returnValue == null)
{
	     //You either selected nothing, or your using Acrobat 4.0
}
else
{

Copyright Dave Wraight & Planet PDF. No unauthorised reproduction, distribution or publication permitted.