Get print quotes before printing for real with pykotme
Last modified on $Date$
PyKota features a print quote generator, named pykotme.
This command line tool can be used to learn in advance how much a print job
will cost to you if you really send it to a printer.
You can then decide if printing your document is a good idea or not, and do it
knowingly.
To get a print quote, you have to launch pykotme
from the command line, passing your print job's content in any format
recognized by PyKota
PyKota currently recognizes PostScript (both binary and DSC compliant),
PCLXL (aka PCL6), PDF, PCL3/4/5, and ESC/P2
, either in the form of one or more file names on the command line,
or on its standard input (i.e. in a shell pipe or redirection).
Without any command line argument, pykotme
automatically reads your job's data from its standard input.
By default, pykotme
will display a quote for your job on all printers. You can restrict
this by using the -p | --printer command line
option followed with either a printer's name or a wildcard
which will be used to search all printers which name matches.
You can pass more than one printer name wildcard, separating
them with commas.
pykotme's functionnality is also available through the
use of the pykotme.cgi CGI script.
However without authentication pykotme.cgi will only
return the print job's size and not its cost, because the cost depends on
the value of the user's overcharging factor. That's why if you want to
obtain the same functionnality with the CGI script than
with the command line tool, you must configure your web server to force
users to authenticate whevenver they access to pykotme.cgi.
Examples
Here are some examples of pykotme usage.
The simplest form :
port50-2:~$ pykotme pykota.ps
Your account balance : 16.25
Job size : 22 pages
Cost on printer apple : 1.35
port50-2:~$
More complex, with printer name wildcard and within a pipe :
port50-2:~$ a2ps -o - pykota/README | pykotme --printer "a*"
[pykota/README (plain): 6 pages on 3 sheets]
[Total: 6 pages on 3 sheets] sent to the standard output
Your account balance : 16.25
Job size : 3 pages
Cost on printer apple : 0.40
port50-2:~$
Reference
pykotme
-v--version
-h--help
-P printername
--printer printername
filename1
filename2
...
filenameN