[RT] A Printing solution for flex

Summary

The printing API in Flash is not reliable and not comfortable to be used. This raises a variety of issues. Discussion in the mailinglist

Problems

There are some core problems with printing that occur in applications made with flex.

• Components do not provide a skin for printing
• printAsBitmap creates blurry results [1]
• some printing in Flash seems to not work; some documented [2], some not-proper-documented [3]
• Printed in flash does not work within a html page
• Currently available PrintDataGrid is not sufficient

Challenges

• Printing that works on for a HTML compiler
• Other formats than PDF: ODF/PPT [4]
• Printing on server or client
• Printing of swfs in the web context
• Aligning the content on multiple pages including paging and automated formatting
• Using the fonts that are embedded in flash (CFF->AFM)

Quality thoughts

• Color profiles & CMYK support for high-quality prints
• Is printAsBitmap really necessary?
• Vectorization of fonts
• (automatic?) Image resampling and encoding per image type: Full Color, B/W images etc.

Implementation Proposals

Open for discussion