setting print attributes using script

sinus

is there anyway for me to define a printed page to have certain attributes such as lanscape with no margins using a script

I have a very large page to be printed out with only specific cells to be shown? I know how to show the cells using css but is there anyway to change the attrib?

JustHalf

It's worth checking out the documentation here for CSS with paged media:
http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/page.html#page-size-prop

One problem is margins. The browser usually adds some margins to the page that you have no control over. You have very little control over this - even if you set margins to 0, you will have browser added margins.

Doing some work on this I found that even if you manually set the margins to zero in the browser print dialogue, and had margins set to 0 in the CSS, you STILL got margins on the page.

It's a pain in the ass - at the moment, you need to accept a certain lack of control over the print style.

JustHalf

sinus wrote:

I have a very large page to be printed out with only specific cells to be shown? I know how to show the cells using css but is there anyway to change the attrib?

Can you clear this up for me?

SantaHoe

Not to hijack the thread, but does @page actually work at all?
I've been trying to set a page to print in landscape by default using:
@page rotated {size: landscape}
table { page: rotated }

And

@page {size: landscape}

But neither work, I still get portrait settings.
One of these articles said browsers don't yet fully support @page ... so is there any point in using it?
Or is there any alternative method?

Talliesin

sinus wrote:

I have a very large page to be printed out with only specific cells to be shown? I know how to show the cells using css but is there anyway to change the attrib?

I think you mean something like not printing a menu (since you can't navigate by clicking something on the page, so it makes no sense in that context) which can be done by putting the following in the CSS:

@media print{
	body{
		margin: 0;
	}
	#menu, #someOtherBit{
		display: none;
	}
}

Talliesin

JustHalf wrote:

Doing some work on this I found that even if you manually set the margins to zero in the browser print dialogue, and had margins set to 0 in the CSS, you STILL got margins on the page.

Most printers aren't capable of printing with absolutely no margin.

JustHalf

SantaHoe wrote:

But neither work, I still get portrait settings.
One of these articles said browsers don't yet fully support @page ... so is there any point in using it?
Or is there any alternative method?

If the print style sheets don't work, then I don't know of anything that will (all of my print work was in portrait).

This will apparently work in IE5.5, but it doesn't work in Firefox:
http://web.tampabay.rr.com/bmerkey/examples/landscape-test.html

And this will work with an ActiveX plugin (which the user will presumably need to download and install):
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?URL=/library/en-us/dnscrpt/html/dhtmlprint.asp

Google is your friend:
http://www.google.ie/search?hl=en&q=web+page+print+landscape&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

Most print stuff isn't really handled very well by todays browsers. It's a pity, but a reality. You need to accept a certain loss of control. If you absolutely need something to print in landscape, why not distribute a PDF?

Talliesin:
This happened while printing to PDF too.

SantaHoe

Thanks for the links JH, I had been googling for references to @page which is where I found people talking about poor browser support
Heh, does anyone else think "Google is your friend" has become the new RTFM?

JustHalf

No, it should be "Just f*cking google it!"

SantaHoe

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
Hey, I did use google, leamme alone.

JustHalf

No offense was intended.

SantaHoe

Are you calling me a liar?!