Poll: Printing on Android

[sphere]

I really would like the option to be able to print on Android, or use a printing app like the ones for Canon or HP or thelike.
Printing possibilities are there for years on Android, but not from lc. The feature request is confirmed. Maybe it's worked on, i don't know.
Now printing to PDF is available, maybe the next step is this.
See but report: https://quality.livecode.com/show_bug.cgi?id=11582

[richmond62]

I would expect a programming language to be able to send data for printing
to any printer the operating system the programming language was working on top
of was set up to print from.

[FourthWorld]

I would expect a programming language to be able to send data for printing
to any printer the operating system the programming language was working on top
of was set up to print from.

Once upon a time I would have been quick to agree.

I recognize printing to paper is important to some, but the question has prompted me to consider how often I do it myself.

Over a decade of smart phone use I've never printed from it, nor known anyone who did.

In fact, even on my desktop machines I print maybe three documents a year, if even that. In the course of running my business most of the people I exchange documents with prefer them as PDF or in an editable format.

On phones I would agree that printing to PDF is important, and that seems to be supported.

I haven't come across stats on mobile paper printing usage, so I have to admit that my observations may not reflect larger trends. Perhaps it's really common and everyone I know has anomalous usage habits.

And of course, if an app truly needs it, it needs it.

But whether printing to paper from a phone is something that should be in the core engine or an add-on is something I can't answer without more data.

It might be niche enough to make a perfect case for an add-on, so those who need it have it without adding even more size to the engine for apps that don't.

I honestly don't know, but if I find good usage data on this I'll share it here.

[sphere]

Well an add on or lcb would also be good. Some restaurant's use apps from which directly can be printed, like an order form for the kitchen or the bill or whatever. Correct me if I'm wrong, but i was convinced it is there for iOs, so why not for Android. Maybe some enhancements which can be used when using Android Studio, might be accessible when using lcb? Or added manifest? Just guessing.

[richmond62]

The fact, FourthWorld, that you only print out something onto paper 3 times a year,
while being interesting, is not really relevant.

What would be relevant is some sort of statistics as to what proportion of people print out stuff on
paper and to what extent.

As a teacher I print an awful lot; admittedly only from desktop computers.

I have found that a lot of kids at my school use Office suites on their tablets to do written exercises for me:
while they send them to me over the internet, they tend to print out each version and keep them in a file for reference.

[FourthWorld]

The fact, FourthWorld, that you only print out something onto paper 3 times a year,
while being interesting, is not really relevant.

What would be relevant is some sort of statistics as to what proportion of people print out stuff on
paper and to what extent.

That's pretty much what I wrote.

As a teacher I print an awful lot; admittedly only from desktop computers.

Exactly.

[keliko]

i need this feature

[Klaus]

OK, I do not develop for mobile, but I'd rather like to see everything related to LOCALISATION getting fixed!

1. We still do not have an easy way to localize the "Answer dialog" (set a custom property or whatever).
I have to use this in my (german) projects:
...
set the LABEL of btn ID 1117 of cd 1 of stack "Ask Dialog" to "Abbrechen"
set the rect of btn ID 1117 of cd 1 of stack "Ask Dialog" to 260,72,342,95
## "Abbrechen" is much wider that "Cancel"!
...

2. SYSTEM date and time still not available on ANDROID!
Result:
a. We cannot sort "SYSTEM datetime" in datagrids!
b. The calendar widget is useless in non-english speaking countries
c. maybe more...

3. On iOS:
...
mobilePick "A" & return & "B" & return & "C", 1, "cancelDone"
...
And no way to localize "canceldone" to "AbbrechenFertig" or whatever.
Maybe this got fixed in the meantime?

In (almost) 2020 any stack should be completely localizable, not?
And yes, I already reported these a long time ago.

[Klaus]

Sorry for misusing this thread for my rant, I filed an enhancement request for this:
https://quality.livecode.com/show_bug.cgi?id=22505

[sphere]

Is'nt there a way to use placeholders for this? like they do with php among others.

One creates a language file and the english word is replaced by the local one.
DE
Cancel=Abbrechen

NL
Cancel=Annuleren

I thought that (long) while ago someone on the list had a kind of solution for that

I know it's alot of work. One could even use an if else statement per label, but it' gets messy and it's not smart programming(read lightweight).

[Klaus]

Is'nt there a way to use placeholders for this? like they do with php among others.

Unfortunately not!

[FourthWorld]

Is'nt there a way to use placeholders for this? like they do with php among others.

One creates a language file and the english word is replaced by the local one.
DE
Cancel=Abbrechen

NL
Cancel=Annuleren

I thought that (long) while ago someone on the list had a kind of solution for that

I know it's alot of work. One could even use an if else statement per label, but it' gets messy and it's not smart programming(read lightweight).

Writing a mechanism for looping through controls on preOpenCard isn't the hard part. So while it's not built in, many have crafted one.

The expensive part is listing all the strings with their corresponding translations, as you illustrated. It's tedious work, much more so with languages where the best choice may depend on context of use.

[jacque]

Is'nt there a way to use placeholders for this? like they do with php among others.

Unfortunately not!

This is what LC profiles were made for. I'm not sure they apply to LC stacks though.

[sphere]

i think what Jacque talks about here:
https://forums.livecode.com/viewtopic.p ... 80#p130812
is this:
http://lessons.livecode.com/m/4069/l/98 ... ist-values

Correct?

or just this:
http://lessons.livecode.com/m/4603/l/68 ... n-settings

(maybe i'm mixing something up )

[jacque]

The first two are a little different. The lesson on internationalization would be in addition to using LC profiles, it will change all the system-related properties that a plist supports (app name, dialog text.) LC profiles are for adjusting the properties of LC controls themselves. Those properties aren't usually included in the OS pList (like color, position, text, etc.) For full internationalization you'd probably need to use both methods.

LC profiles are tedious to set up because you have to specify the properties for every control that needs to change, but you only have to do it once.