Winflector supports printer mapping. This means that you can do work on the server, using the published application, and then print something on your computer, the client – print locally while working remotely. A simple situation in which this could come in handy would be if the invoicing software was installed in the main office, with the stores using Winflector to access it. In this case, a person working in the store will often want to provide the customer with an invoice, which obviously requires printing it locally, in the store.
Printers basically just work with Winflector, and in most cases you don’t need this article.
Configuration
In the basic case, it requires no configuration. It’s on by default.
For more detailed configuration, there are further options available.
- Launch the Winflector Client
- Go to Printers tab
- Make sure the Map printers box is checked
This turns on the printer mapping if it was off. Now you can access these options:
- Server printers visible – shows remote printers (printers on server), disabled by default
- Set terminal default printer on the server – the applications launched will have the default printer set to the client’s default printer, very handy, enabled by default
- Set Winflector PDF printer as default on the server – the applications launched will have the default printer set to the Winflector PDF printer, useful when you’re fine with a PDF file, have no physical printer available or are using a mobile device
- Printing via EMF using memory/files – Winflector will use metafiles for printing. For typical usage it is a lower transmission overhead than using bitmaps, though under some circumstances the printing may not be perfect (missing fonts, etc.). Using memory will usually be slightly faster, while using files will conserve memory.
- Printing via bitmaps – Winflector will use bitmaps for printing. This guarantees the printouts will match these on the server verbatim, but will consume memory and can, depending on the bitmap, take more transmission time. Depending on how many colors you need, you can use 2, 16 or 256. The lower the option, the faster the process will be and the less memory it will use.
The default settings are generally good. We recommend leaving them be, and changing them only when:
- You need to access the remote (server) printers.
- Your printouts are garbled, have bad fonts (in which case, print via bitmaps).
- Your process can use PDF files.
Using the printer through Winflector
While using the application, simply open the usual print dialog. The only confounding thing can be selecting the right printer. If the default printer is configured correctly on the client computer and the Set terminal default printer on the server is turned on, which it is by default, the right printer is already selected.
If you need to select another printer, look for Printer Name@WFC. Obviously, if you want to use a printer on server, and have enabled the appropriate option, just look for that name. If you want to get a PDF document of the printout, print on Winflector PDF Printer@WFC.
That’s it.
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