Print from Stock Image Folder

It can be powerful to use a browser as a user interface to print stock photos in a point-of-sale situation.

Complete source code is below. In this example, a Python 3 script finds all the 'jpg' and 'png' files in its working folder, and launches a page of thumbnails in a browser. Clicking on any thumbnail will cause that file to be printed. This uses the 'xmlsubmission.dyn' feature of XML Access, part of Automation Option, an extra-cost option for Wasatch SoftRIP.

Running the script in a folder with eight jpg files launches a browser with a view like this:

This script has been kept very simple to serve as a document. A little editing can produce great improvements in esthetics, and a bit more work on this Python script could have it traverse a tree of folders, or work as part of a web-to-print solution.

To make this work smoothly, modify the response of 'xmlsubmission.dyn' so that the browser doesn't get stuck in 'Processing...'. This can be done by creating a file 'submissionAck.html' in the folder 'httpService\interfaces\default', and filling it with the HTML/Javascript source code shown below.

This was written to run on a local file system. Because it relies on the browser do the thumbnailing (client side) it would be pretty inefficient to run over a network. Of course a Python programmer could enhance this with code to create a simple thumbnailing system.

Python 3 Source Code

# Use a browswer as interface to print stock photos
#
# Simply execute this from within the same folder that contains the jpg or png files.
#
import os
from os import listdir
from os.path import isfile, join
import urllib.request
import webbrowser

wasatchSoftRIP = '127.0.0.1:80'  # localhost - edit this to address your Wasatch SoftRIP
columns = 4

headline = '<h1>Click any image to print</h1><p/>Example of printing simple stock to Wasatch SoftRIP from a folder<p/>'

folder = os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__)) # current working folder where script is running - should contain only the files that may be printed, and this script

def supportedFile(f):
    filename, file_extension = os.path.splitext(f)
    ext = file_extension.lower() # make this insensitive to case
    return ext == '.jpg' or ext == '.png'

def makeLink(file, copiesToPrint, printUnit):  # this is the link that will submit the file to SoftRIP
    url = 'http://' + wasatchSoftRIP + '/xmlSubmission.dyn?'
    data = '<WASATCH ACTION=JOB><PRINTUNIT>' + str(printUnit) + '</PRINTUNIT><PAGE>'
    data += '<FILENAME>' + file + '</FILENAME>'
    data += '<Copies>' + str(copiesToPrint) + '</Copies>'
    data += '</PAGE></WASATCH>'
    url += urllib.parse.quote_plus(data)  # escape all special characters in data
    return url

#
# now build the body of the html page, with an entry for every jpg file
#
body = headline + '\n'

count = 0
for f in listdir("."):
    if isfile(f):
        if supportedFile(f):
            body += '<a href="' + makeLink(join(folder, f), 1, 1)+ '"> '
            body += '<img width=100 src="' + f + '" />'
            body += '</a> \n'
            count = count + 1
            if count >= columns:  # organize page into columns
                body += '<br/>\n'
                count = 0
#           
# the following lines create and execute an html file (in a browser in a properly set up OS)
#

htmlFile = 'temp.html'
f = open(htmlFile, 'w')
f.write('<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Demo</TITLE></HEAD><BODY>' + body + '</BODY></HTML>')
f.close()
webbrowser.open(htmlFile)  # execute the html file in a browser

Print from Stock Image Folder

Python 3 Source Code

HTML/Javascript Source Code for 'httpService\interfaces\default\submissionAck.html'