[cups-devel] Controlling printer options with IPP attributes

Hi!

I´m designing a cloud based printing solution which is based on PDF as
the page description language. That means that print jobs are sent
from the datacenter to our customer´s printers over a WAN link. This
is a pretty new approach and there are almost no PPDs available that
produce PDF output. I used the following ones:

https://github.com/Distrotech/cups-filters/blob/distrotech-cups-filters/ppd/Generic-PDF_Printer-PDF.ppd
https://github.com/Distrotech/cups-filters/blob/distrotech-cups-filters/ppd/HP-Color_LaserJet_CM3530_MFP-PDF.ppd

The challenge is to get all printer options (tray selection,
color/monochrome, duplex, etc.) working, which could be achieved by
having a PPD file that inserts PJL commands appropriately. This seems
to be doable with HP printers. However, I found that Lexmark printers
do not have a MEDIASOURCE option, which makes tray selection
impossible.

In this case, I was able to get it working by sending the print job
with ipptool and  inserting the following command (attached to
print-job.test):

        GROUP job-attributes-tag
        ATTR keyword media-source tray-1

I was also able to control other options (e.g. output-mode monochrome,
copies 2) which were applied correctly by my printers. I like this
approach much more than the PJL way because the commands are the same
across different printer vendors.

However, I don´t think this is doable with cups, is it? What do you
think about this approach and what would be a way to implement it in
cups?


Thanks and regards,

Stephan
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