[tritonus]

My girlfriend wants to know:

How can she print 400+ HTML-Files on a CD-ROM with "one click"?

In Windows, you can mark all, rightclick "print", the rest is automatic. In OS X?

[Developer]

Drag all of them onto the Print Center icon (in the Finder or Dock).

[tritonus]

Originally posted by Developer:
Drag all of them onto the Print Center icon (in the Finder or Dock).

Thanks! That's easy.

I still would advise Apple to add "print" to the "ctrl"-context menu with multiple marked items. For all those future switchers out there.

[Developer]

Originally posted by tritonus:
Thanks! That's easy.

Yes, but now that I actually tried it it doesn't appear to work.

I still would advise Apple to add "print" to the "ctrl"-context menu with multiple marked items. For all those future switchers out there.

Please do so:

http://www.apple.com/macosx/feedback/

[tritonus]

Originally posted by Developer:
Yes, but now that I actually tried it it doesn't appear to work.
Please do so:

http://www.apple.com/macosx/feedback/

You're right, it printed just the first page!

So this thread is still open!

I will feedback this.

[Richyfp]

If the Finder can't do it then this sounds like a job for AppleScript!!

I tried to write a script to do what you're after, but I've hit a problem when it comes to actually printing. The script that follows will find all files with the ".htm" extension in the frontmost Finder window (or the Desktop if a window is not open). The problem is that I can't get any of the standard mac browsers to actually print by using AppleScript! I'm sure a more experienced scripter could do this, but I just don't know what command to use (a simple 'print this_item' doesn't seem to work on my machine from any browser).

Code:
try
	tell application "Finder" to set the source_folder to (folder of the front window) as alias
on error
	set the source_folder to path to desktop folder as alias
end try

set the item_list to list folder source_folder without invisibles
set source_folder to source_folder as string
repeat with i from 1 to number of items in the item_list
	set this_item to item i of the item_list
	if this_item contains ".htm" then
		set this_item to (source_folder & this_item) as alias
		tell application "Safari"
			open this_item
		end tell
	end if
end repeat

The above will just open all of the HTML files in Safari so I don't recommend that you run it. It is the Safari tell block that needs the printing code in it if someone else would care to contribute...

I tried using a Finder tell block with the same 'print this_item' command, but the Finder just passed it onto Safari, which did nothing! I also tried tell application "Print Center" to no avail.

Hope this helps a bit! Though obviously still send feedback as this needs addressing.

[lookmark]

Sigh. The Finder (and/or Print Center) should be able to do this, but should is a different story than does.

Good news is that this is a case in which UNIX comes in very handy, if you don't mind using the Terminal.

Open Terminal and navigate to the CD-ROM by typing

cd /Volumes/cd-rom title

or

cd space and then drag the CD-ROM into the Terminal window, then press return,

then type

lpr *.html

This will print every file ending with .html in this directory.

See this thread for a similar situation.

[DeathMan]

Originally posted by lookmark:

lpr *.html

This will print every file ending with .html in this directory.

See this thread for a similar situation.

Beat me to the punch I was just getting ready to share some newly found (re-applied) knowledge of the shell. That is seriously the easiest way to do it.

[tritonus]

Originally posted by Richyfp:
If the Finder can't do it then this sounds like a job for AppleScript!!

Whoa, thanks for the effort!

[tritonus]

Originally posted by lookmark:
lpr *.html

This will print every file ending with .html in this directory.

See this thread for a similar situation.

That's it, that's it, that's it. Thank you.

[GENERAL_SMILEY]

There is also DropPrint from Nick Zitzmann, $5 shareware fee though.

Good guy though, he's also creator of the excellenet Henwen.
link

[Richyfp]

Originally posted by lookmark:
then type

lpr *.html

This will print every file ending with .html in this directory.

Now that is clever! I knew about the existence of the lp and lpr commands, but what I didn't realise was that lpr would actually parse the HTML before it was printed!! I thought that it would just print the raw source code. Can someone (lookmark?!!) explain just how it goes about parsing the HTML - does it use WebCore or the default browser's rendering code or the rather poor HTML framework that is used in Mail and Help Center??

I'm both intrigued and impressed! I notice that, when executed, lpr spawns a PrintJobMg process that may have something to do with it, but any further explanation would be appreciated!!

[SMacTech]

Originally posted by Developer:
Drag all of them onto the Print Center icon (in the Finder or Dock).

I dragged about 10 documents to print center and they all printed. They were a combination of RTF and PDF documents.
The lpr method only provided me with obscure postscript commands when I tried it.

[Agent69]

Originally posted by lookmark:
Good news is that this is a case in which UNIX comes in very handy, if you don't mind using the Terminal.

Open Terminal and navigate to the CD-ROM by typing

cd /Volumes/cd-rom title

or

cd space and then drag the CD-ROM into the Terminal window, then press return,

then type

lpr *.html

This will print every file ending with .html in this directory.

Could't this be made a part of an Applescript? I thought Applescripts could run shell commands.

[pliny]

OS 9 has true drag and drop printing--you can batch print or do just one by dragging and dropping a document or whatever onto the desktop printer icon, it will then take care of the entire process. There is no true drag and drop printing in X and never has been. You may drag and drop a document onto the print center but you must sit in front of the computer and "feed" it to the printer. It's not automated. A complaint that's been around for years.

[Richyfp]

Originally posted by Agent69:
Could't this be made a part of an Applescript? I thought Applescripts could run shell commands.

It certainly could....

Code:
choose folder with prompt "Select a folder in to print HTML documents from..."
copy the result as alias to source_folder
display dialog "Select search string for files to print in the selected folder." default answer ".htm"
copy the result as list to {search_string, button_pressed}
set the item_list to list folder source_folder without invisibles
set source_folder to source_folder as string
repeat with i from 1 to number of items in the item_list
	set this_item to item i of the item_list
	if this_item contains the search_string then
		do shell script "cd " & "'" & (POSIX path of source_folder) & "'" & ";" & "lpr " & this_item
	end if
end repeat

[clarkgoble]

Not related to the main thread except indirectly, but this is actually one of the few places I think OS9 zealots have a point on. Printing was far superior in OS9 to OSX. Drag and drop doesn't work. Most print dialogs are woefully underpowered. Gnuprint helps a bit, but caused probelms with my Epson 820.

[Richyfp]

Originally posted by clarkgoble:
Not related to the main thread except indirectly, but this is actually one of the few places I think OS9 zealots have a point on. Printing was far superior in OS9 to OSX. Drag and drop doesn't work. Most print dialogs are woefully underpowered. Gnuprint helps a bit, but caused probelms with my Epson 820.

True. Very true. Why not have a look at this thread for one of my ideas on how to enhance the functionality found in the print dialogs...

[darrick]

with batch printing pdfs with the full acrobat's built in batch printing command, with dropping the files on the print center icon, and now with the terminal command, i've had files get skipped entirely or partially printed, leaving off the final page.

as to classic, i remember being able to schedule print jobs to print in the middle of the night. wish i could do that now.

[clarkgoble]

as to classic, i remember being able to schedule print jobs to print in the middle of the night. wish i could do that now.

You technically can still do that with terminal. But it obviously won't be of help to casual users. I'll lay pretty good odds that one of the big improvements with OSX 10.3 will be printing. (Along, I pray, the Finder and Open/Close boxes) Those are such glaring problems in the UI that Apple must know about it and be planning something.

You could, for example, modify the Applescript above to prompt for a print time and then use the "at" command in addition to lpr.

[tritonus]

Did anyone try with OS X 10.3 Panther yet?

I need the same function with 100+ Word documents I want to print at once.

Really no easy solution?

[gorgonzola]

Wait, lpr prints *formatted* HTML? I'd think it would just print the HTML source...

If it formats it beforehand, why and how?