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2  PPD API introduction for CUPS.
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10
11<h2 class='title'><a name='OVERVIEW'>Overview</a></h2>
12
13<blockquote><b>Note:</b>
14
15<p>The PPD API was deprecated in CUPS 1.6/macOS 10.8. Please use the new Job Ticket APIs in the <a href="cupspm.html">CUPS Programming Manual</a> documentation. These functions will be removed in a future release of CUPS.</p>
16</blockquote>
17
18<p>The CUPS PPD API provides read-only access the data in PostScript Printer
19Description ("PPD") files which are used for all printers with a driver. With
20it you can obtain the data necessary to display printer options to users, mark
21option choices and check for conflicting choices, and output marked choices in
22PostScript output. The <a href="#ppd_file_t"><code>ppd_file_t</code></a>
23structure contains all of the information in a PPD file.</p>
24
25<blockquote><b>Note:</b>
26
27<p>The CUPS PPD API uses the terms "option" and "choice" instead of the Adobe
28terms "MainKeyword" and "OptionKeyword" to refer to specific printer options and
29features. CUPS also treats option ("MainKeyword") and choice ("OptionKeyword")
30values as case-insensitive strings, so option "InputSlot" and choice "Upper"
31are equivalent to "inputslot" and "upper", respectively.</p>
32</blockquote>
33
34
35<h3><a name="LOADING">Loading a PPD File</a></h3>
36
37<p>The <a href="#ppdOpenFile"><code>ppdOpenFile</code></a> function "opens" a
38PPD file and loads it into memory. For example, the following code opens the
39current printer's PPD file in a CUPS filter:</p>
40
41<pre class="example">
42#include &lt;cups/ppd.h&gt;
43
44<a href="#ppd_file_t">ppd_file_t</a> *ppd = <a href="#ppdOpenFile">ppdOpenFile</a>(getenv("PPD"));
45</pre>
46
47<p>The return value is a pointer to a new
48<a href="#ppd_file_t"><code>ppd_file_t</code></a> structure or <code>NULL</code>
49if the PPD file does not exist or cannot be loaded. The
50<a href="#ppdClose"><code>ppdClose</code></a> function frees the memory used
51by the structure:</p>
52
53<pre class="example">
54#include &lt;cups/ppd.h&gt;
55
56<a href="#ppd_file_t">ppd_file_t</a> *ppd;
57
58<a href="#ppdClose">ppdClose</a>(ppd);
59</pre>
60
61<p>Once closed, pointers to the <a href="#ppd_file_t"><code>ppd_file_t</code></a>
62structure and any data in it will no longer be valid.</p>
63
64<h3><a name="OPTIONS_AND_GROUPS">Options and Groups</a></h3>
65
66<p>PPD files support multiple options, which are stored in arrays of
67<a href="#ppd_option_t"><code>ppd_option_t</code></a> and
68<a href="#ppd_choice_t"><code>ppd_choice_t</code></a> structures.</p>
69
70<p>Each option in turn is associated with a group stored in a
71<a href="#ppd_group_t"><code>ppd_group_t</code></a> structure. Groups can be
72specified in the PPD file; if an option is not associated with a group
73then it is put in an automatically-generated "General" group. Groups can also
74have sub-groups, however CUPS currently ignores sub-groups because of past
75abuses of this functionality.</p>
76
77<p>Option choices are selected by marking them using one of three functions. The
78first is <a href="#ppdMarkDefaults"><code>ppdMarkDefaults</code></a> which
79selects all of the default options in the PPD file:</p>
80
81<pre class="example">
82#include &lt;cups/ppd.h&gt;
83
84<a href="#ppd_file_t">ppd_file_t</a> *ppd;
85
86<a href="#ppdMarkDefaults">ppdMarkDefaults</a>(ppd);
87</pre>
88
89<p>The second is <a href="#ppdMarkOption"><code>ppdMarkOption</code></a>
90which selects a single option choice in the PPD file. For example, the following
91code selects the upper paper tray:</p>
92
93<pre class="example">
94#include &lt;cups/ppd.h&gt;
95
96<a href="#ppd_file_t">ppd_file_t</a> *ppd;
97
98<a href="#ppdMarkOption">ppdMarkOption</a>(ppd, "InputSlot", "Upper");
99</pre>
100
101<p>The last function is
102<a href="#cupsMarkOptions"><code>cupsMarkOptions</code></a> which selects
103multiple option choices in the PPD file from an array of CUPS options, mapping
104IPP attributes like "media" and "sides" to their corresponding PPD options. You
105typically use this function in a print filter with
106<code>cupsParseOptions</code> and
107<a href="#ppdMarkDefaults"><code>ppdMarkDefaults</code></a> to select all of
108the option choices needed for the job, for example:</p>
109
110<pre class="example">
111#include &lt;cups/ppd.h&gt;
112
113<a href="#ppd_file_t">ppd_file_t</a> *ppd = <a href="#ppdOpenFile">ppdOpenFile</a>(getenv("PPD"));
114cups_option_t *options = NULL;
115int num_options = cupsParseOptions(argv[5], 0, &amp;options);
116
117<a href="#ppdMarkDefaults">ppdMarkDefaults</a>(ppd);
118<a href="#cupsMarkOptions">cupsMarkOptions</a>(ppd, num_options, options);
119cupsFreeOptions(num_options, options);
120</pre>
121
122
123<h3><a name="CONSTRAINTS">Constraints</a></h3>
124
125<p>PPD files support specification of conflict conditions, called
126constraints, between different options. Constraints are stored in an array of
127<a href="#ppd_const_t"><code>ppd_const_t</code></a> structures which specify
128the options and choices that conflict with each other. The
129<a href="#ppdConflicts"><code>ppdConflicts</code></a> function tells you
130how many of the selected options are incompatible. Since constraints are
131normally specified in pairs, the returned value is typically an even number.</p>
132
133
134<h3><a name="PAGE_SIZES">Page Sizes</a></h3>
135
136<p>Page sizes are special options which have physical dimensions and margins
137associated with them. The size information is stored in
138<a href="#ppd_size_t"><code>ppd_size_t</code></a> structures and is available
139by looking up the named size with the
140<a href="#ppdPageSize"><code>ppdPageSize</code></a> function. The page size and
141margins are returned in units called points; there are 72 points per inch. If
142you pass <code>NULL</code> for the size, the currently selected size is
143returned:</p>
144
145<pre class="example">
146#include &lt;cups/ppd.h&gt;
147
148<a href="#ppd_file_t">ppd_file_t</a> *ppd;
149<a href="#ppd_size_t">ppd_size_t</a> *size = <a href="#ppdPageSize">ppdPageSize</a>(ppd, NULL);
150</pre>
151
152<p>Besides the standard page sizes listed in a PPD file, some printers
153support variable or custom page sizes. Custom page sizes are supported if the
154<code>variables_sizes</code> member of the
155<a href="#ppd_file_t"><code>ppd_file_t</code></a> structure is non-zero.
156The <code>custom_min</code>, <code>custom_max</code>, and
157<code>custom_margins</code> members of the
158<a href="#ppd_file_t"><code>ppd_file_t</code></a> structure define the limits
159of the printable area. To get the resulting media size, use a page size string
160of the form "Custom.<I>width</I>x<I>length</I>", where "width" and "length" are
161in points. Custom page size names can also be specified in inches
162("Custom.<i>width</i>x<i>height</i>in"), centimeters
163("Custom.<i>width</i>x<i>height</i>cm"), or millimeters
164("Custom.<i>width</i>x<i>height</i>mm"):</p>
165
166<pre class="example">
167#include &lt;cups/ppd.h&gt;
168
169<a href="#ppd_file_t">ppd_file_t</a> *ppd;
170
171/* Get an 576x720 point custom page size */
172<a href="#ppd_size_t">ppd_size_t</a> *size = <a href="#ppdPageSize">ppdPageSize</a>(ppd, "Custom.576x720");
173
174/* Get an 8x10 inch custom page size */
175<a href="#ppd_size_t">ppd_size_t</a> *size = <a href="#ppdPageSize">ppdPageSize</a>(ppd, "Custom.8x10in");
176
177/* Get a 100x200 millimeter custom page size */
178<a href="#ppd_size_t">ppd_size_t</a> *size = <a href="#ppdPageSize">ppdPageSize</a>(ppd, "Custom.100x200mm");
179
180/* Get a 12.7x34.5 centimeter custom page size */
181<a href="#ppd_size_t">ppd_size_t</a> *size = <a href="#ppdPageSize">ppdPageSize</a>(ppd, "Custom.12.7x34.5cm");
182</pre>
183
184<p>If the PPD does not support variable page sizes, the
185<a href="#ppdPageSize"><code>ppdPageSize</code></a> function will return
186<code>NULL</code>.</p>
187
188
189<h3><a name="ATTRIBUTES">Attributes</a></h3>
190
191<p>Every PPD file is composed of one or more attributes. Most of these
192attributes are used to define groups, options, choices, and page sizes,
193however several informational attributes may be present which you can access
194in your program or filter. Attributes normally look like one of the following
195examples in a PPD file:</p>
196
197<pre class="example">
198*name: "value"
199*name spec: "value"
200*name spec/text: "value"
201</pre>
202
203<p>The <a href="#ppdFindAttr"><code>ppdFindAttr</code></a> and
204<a href="#ppdFindNextAttr"><code>ppdFindNextAttr</code></a> functions find the
205first and next instances, respectively, of the named attribute with the given
206"spec" string and return a <a href="#ppd_attr_t"><code>ppd_attr_t</code></a>
207structure. If you provide a NULL specifier string, all attributes with the
208given name will be returned. For example, the following code lists all of the
209<code>Product</code> attributes in a PPD file:</p>
210
211<pre class="example">
212#include &lt;cups/ppd.h&gt;
213
214<a href="#ppd_file_t">ppd_file_t</a> *ppd;
215<a href="#ppd_attr_t">ppd_attr_t</a> *attr;
216
217for (attr = <a href="#ppdFindAttr">ppdFindAttr</a>(ppd, "Product", NULL);
218     attr != NULL;
219     attr = <a href="#ppdFindNextAttr">ppdFindNextAttr</a>(ppd, "Product", NULL))
220  puts(attr->value);
221</pre>
222