DOS based printing through ASP.NET - asp.net

Question

Well my situation is like this:
I am generating a report as a text file at the server which needs to be printed using DOS mode on a dot matrix printer. I want to avoid Windows printing because it would be too slow. Is there a way in ASP.NET through which I can carry out DOS based printing as it is best suited for Dot matrix printers. I have scoured the net but could not come across any solution or pointers. Does any body have any pointers/solutions which they might have implemented or stumbled across.
This application is a Web based application.
Thanx.

Answer 1

If I understand you right, one option is to execute a batch file that would do the actual printing from ASP.NET. From here: (Obviously, you can omit some of the code writing the output to the page)
// Get the full file path
string strFilePath = “c:\\temp\\test.bat”;
// Create the ProcessInfo object
System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo psi = new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo("cmd.exe");
psi.UseShellExecute = false;
psi.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
psi.RedirectStandardInput = true;
psi.RedirectStandardError = true;
psi.WorkingDirectory = “c:\\temp\\“;
// Start the process
System.Diagnostics.Process proc = System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(psi);
// Open the batch file for reading
System.IO.StreamReader strm = System.IO.File.OpenText(strFilePath);
// Attach the output for reading
System.IO.StreamReader sOut = proc.StandardOutput;
// Attach the in for writing
System.IO.StreamWriter sIn = proc.StandardInput;
// Write each line of the batch file to standard input
while(strm.Peek() != -1)
{
sIn.WriteLine(strm.ReadLine());
}
strm.Close();
// Exit CMD.EXE
string stEchoFmt = "# {0} run successfully. Exiting";
sIn.WriteLine(String.Format(stEchoFmt, strFilePath));
sIn.WriteLine("EXIT");
// Close the process
proc.Close();
// Read the sOut to a string.
string results = sOut.ReadToEnd().Trim();
// Close the io Streams;
sIn.Close();
sOut.Close();
// Write out the results.
string fmtStdOut = "<font face=courier size=0>{0}</font>";
this.Response.Write(String.Format(fmtStdOut,results.Replace(System.Environment.NewLine, "<br>")));

Answer 2

The answer from BobbyShaftoe is correct. Here's a pedantic version of it:
public static void CreateProcess(string strFilePath)
{
// Create the ProcessInfo object
var psi = new ProcessStartInfo("cmd.exe")
{
UseShellExecute = false,
RedirectStandardOutput = true,
RedirectStandardInput = true,
RedirectStandardError = true,
WorkingDirectory = "c:\\temp\\"
};
// Start the process
using (var proc = Process.Start(psi))
{
// Attach the in for writing
var sIn = proc.StandardInput;
using (var strm = File.OpenText(strFilePath))
{
// Write each line of the batch file to standard input
while (strm.Peek() != -1)
{
sIn.WriteLine(strm.ReadLine());
}
}
// Exit CMD.EXE
sIn.WriteLine(String.Format("# {0} run successfully. Exiting", strFilePath));
sIn.WriteLine("EXIT");
// Read the sOut to a string.
var results = proc.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd().Trim();
// Write out the results.
string fmtStdOut = "<font face=courier size=0>{0}</font>";
this.Response.Write(String.Format(fmtStdOut,results.Replace(System.Environment.NewLine, "<br>")));
}
}