Printing image in KDE (ANNOUNCE for new feature in KDEPrint)

[Michael Goffioul]

> > Recently, I added a feature in KDEPrint that allows a KDE application
> > to use the resolution as selected by the user in the printer
> > properties dialog. To enable this feature, use the method
> > KPrinter::setUserPrinterResolution(bool). When enabled, the KPrinter
> > object will try to guess the resolution from the printer settings
> > and use that value. This feature works with CUPS and a printer with
> > a Adobe compliant PPD file (which is the case of Foomatic-3.x drivers).
> >
> > I encourage graphic/imaging application developer to at least have
> > a look at this feature.
> 
> Does this really apply to pure imaging applications only, or is it
> something that we should also do in KOffice?

I would say that using that feature is up to the application itself.
It allows the app to configure the KPrinter object to use the correct
resolution corresponding to the printer. This can be used by any
application, but the most visible effect would be in imaging
apps. This is a possible response to complaints from users that tried
to print an image with kuickshow for example: the PS is generated
using the screen resolution (around 75->100 dpi), and setting the
printer to "Photo" mode in the driver settings doesn't change much
because "it's too late", a higher resolution should have been used
at PS-generation time.

OTOH, if I'm right, koffice (or at least kword) already configures
the KPrinter object to use high resolution (600dpi). In that case,
using the mentionned feature wouldn't change much, except maybe
generating smaller print data if the user selected low resolution
in the driver setting.

Testing shouldn't be very difficult because it only implies the
addition of a single line of code: prt->setUsePrinterResolution(true);
If nothing is found, the default value (as specified in the KPrinter
constructor) is used instead, which corresponds to the previous
KPrinter behavior.

Michael.

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Michael Goffioul		IMEC-DESICS-MIRA
e-mail: goffioul at imec.be	(Mixed-Signal and RF Applications)
Tel:    +32/16/28-8510		Kapeldreef, 75
Fax:    +32/16/28-1515		3001 HEVERLEE, BELGIUM
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