Thank you Steven.. I'm very new to servers, Question because I'm not sure if i understand. With Fedora core I could use my desktop as my server(which I'll be using for my database and such), like if i had fedora installed on a second hard drive or virtual hard drive? without any other hosting stuff just an internet connection? Or I'm I totally misunderstanding?
On Oct 4, 5:22 pm, Studio LFP <studio....@gmail.com> wrote: > Since you are looking to access the data on multiple devices, I would > definitely suggest a server of some sort. I personally use Fedora Core > (http://fedoraproject.org/), but there are quite a few options available. > You could even make sure of Google App Engine > (https://appengine.google.com). Google has helper code for using it with > Android, but not sure it would be something that would help you with > printing. > > Fedora (and most Unix/Linux systems) is a LAMP (Linux,Apache,MySQL,PHP) > setup. It is pretty much everything you need to host and serve data in just > about any form you would be comfortable with. > > Android works very well with this type of setup. You can pass XML, JSON or > custom formed information in a simple HTTP request between the server and > Android. The server would also give you access to a lot of technology to > print. I personally use PDFLib (http://www.pdflib.com/) and really like it. > I can build templates in just about anything, import them, put information > on them and save them as a new PDF. > > If you do choose that type of setup, Fedora (not sure which others) can > automatically print a PDF just by aiming it at a system printer. A simple > LPR command on the server sends the PDF to any printer you have configured. > Any device could print, it wouldn't have to be reserved for the tablets. > > If you don't want to use a server setup, you'll have a lot more of a > challenge printing and sharing database information. I personally have not > tried to print using only Android, so I wouldn't be a good source of > information for that. Maybe someone else that reads these has already worked > out the type of setup you are looking for. > > Steven > Studio LFPhttp://www.studio-lfp.com > > > > > > > > On Tuesday, October 4, 2011 3:33:25 PM UTC-5, Sam wrote: > > > I was planning for everything to run on both a phone and tablet. The > > phone would be used by field workers to do the documentation and the > > tablet would be used by another to setup schedules, and among a lot of > > other things also be used to select a report and have it print. The > > printing would not be such a big deal if I could just give the tablet > > user the ability to just hit the button and have a report created. > > That is the only part I don’t know how to do for my app. > > > Like say the phone user entered all this data about a “patient”, all > > that data gets put into a database, that database should be able to be > > accessed from more than one device. For instance have a tablet user > > select a “specific report” from say a dropdown list then select a > > “patient” from a dropdown list then hit ok and then in the background > > have the tablet grab that “specific report” layout and the data from > > that “patient” and produce a report. It’s hard for me to explain what > > I want. > > > I just want to make a few report layouts then when a user selects that > > layout and a “patient” the phone/tablet grabs the data inputs the > > data in the right spots of the already made layout then produces a > > file for the user to email/print/view whatever they want. > > > If I can just get pointed in the right direction I’m glad to do all > > the reading and practice to learn how to do it. > > > On Oct 1, 8:44 am, Studio LFP <studi...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > Android, along with most mobile OSes, don't excel at printing quite yet. > > I'm > > > seeing movement toward more printing functions, but I doubt we'll see an > > all > > > out print manager style functionality any time soon. I guess they might > > > surprise us with it in the next version, but we'll have to wait and find > > out > > > there. > > > > That being said, do you have a support infrastructure planned with your > > > application? Or are you planning on it being stand-alone on the > > > phone/tablet? > > > > I ask that because there are a lot of good ways to get files into certain > > > > formats if you have a server planned. Pushing the data to the server and > > > asking it to format and print would produce significantly better results > > in > > > speed and ease of use. > > > > If not, a quick and easy way to get "pretty" formatted output would be a > > > bitmap backed canvas. You could just toss text, lines and images all over > > > > and save it to a JPG or PNG. It wouldn't produce the best printing > > results, > > > but it would be a start. > > > > Canvas: > >http://developer.android.com/reference/android/graphics/Canvas.html > > > Bitmap: > >http://developer.android.com/reference/android/graphics/Bitmap.html > > > Bitmap Factory: > >http://developer.android.com/reference/android/graphics/BitmapFactory... > > > > For nicer printed output, you could also look up the PDF spec and > > implement > > > a slimmed down version of it in your code. Also, SVG may be an option as > > it > > > is something that more and more browsers are supporting. You could then > > use > > > a browser on a desktop to view and print them. > > > > PDF:http://www.adobe.com/devnet/pdf/pdf_reference.html > > > SVG:http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/ > > > > Hope that helps. > > > > Steven > > > Studio LFPhttp://www.studio-lfp.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Developers" group. 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