How to print in iOS 4.2?

Question

I want to integrate the print functionality in my app.

The document I want to print will be in .doc or .txt format. I am not very experienced in iPhone development yet, so finding it difficult to implement it by following the Apple documentation.

If someone could help me by posting some sample code, will be a great help.

Answer 1

Check out the Drawing and Printing Guide for iOS -- I linked to the printing section. There's sample code and good links to more sample code there.

Edit: I see now that you indicate you find the documentation difficult to follow.

Word documents are complicated -- you'll need to parse through the data, which is quite difficult.

Text and HTML are easier. I took Apple's example for HTML and changed it for plain text:

- (IBAction)printContent:(id)sender {
    UIPrintInteractionController *pic = [UIPrintInteractionController sharedPrintController];
    pic.delegate = self;

    UIPrintInfo *printInfo = [UIPrintInfo printInfo];
    printInfo.outputType = UIPrintInfoOutputGeneral;
    printInfo.jobName = self.documentName;
    pic.printInfo = printInfo;

    UISimpleTextPrintFormatter *textFormatter = [[UISimpleTextPrintFormatter alloc]
                                                 initWithText:yourNSStringWithContextOfTextFileHere];
    textFormatter.startPage = 0;
    textFormatter.contentInsets = UIEdgeInsetsMake(72.0, 72.0, 72.0, 72.0); // 1 inch margins
    textFormatter.maximumContentWidth = 6 * 72.0;
    pic.printFormatter = textFormatter;
    [textFormatter release];
    pic.showsPageRange = YES;

    void (^completionHandler)(UIPrintInteractionController *, BOOL, NSError *) =
    ^(UIPrintInteractionController *printController, BOOL completed, NSError *error) {
        if (!completed && error) {
            NSLog(@"Printing could not complete because of error: %@", error);
        }
    };
    if (UI_USER_INTERFACE_IDIOM() == UIUserInterfaceIdiomPad) {
        [pic presentFromBarButtonItem:sender animated:YES completionHandler:completionHandler];
    } else {
        [pic presentAnimated:YES completionHandler:completionHandler];
    }
}