Issue:
HTML files are to large to print from the browser. We are creating reports that are ++5 mg in size. This is a real problem for the browser.
Define "real problem". Is your site timing out because the files are too large? I've never heard of a browser having problems with 5 meg files. Try accidentally clicking on a link and having mozilla open it (for a binary file) and you'll see what I mean. It will keep opening the file (regardless of size).
We are on a network and can print directly from the server but this means we must convert the html to some printer friendly format. We are using many new standards such as <tbody and <thead tags to give us consistent header on each page of a printed document. This seems to cause problems with most conversions that we have seen.
Well first of all -- this has little to do with PHP.
Printing is something controlled by the user. About the only thing you can do as far as HTML and printing go is window.print(); print stylesheets (that can also define page breaks, repeating sections); or if you can somehow guarantee that only IE users will access the page, you can use IE's printing templates (that allow more control, such as standard headers/footers).
I think if you were to change your document to a different standard -- like XML -- then you can use that file (with XSLT) to control display (which would allow you more tuned control over repeated sections) and XML-FO to generate different files (like PDF) which allow more stringent control and consistent formatting.
Obviously if your format is causing your headaches, you need to change formats. Trying to trick it into doing something might not be the best solution.
-- Burhan Khalid phplist[at]meidomus[dot]com http://www.meidomus.com
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