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Question

Hello. I need help with another programming project that I want to write. What it should do at the very least would be to actually print the contents of a TextBox on a PC Printer, with the phone connected to the PC via Com Port(s) with cables. The MIDlet is currently written with MIDP 1.
I'am aware that J2sdk SE has PrintJob and Book objects that actually simplify printing, but MIDP 1 has nothing of the sort.
1.) what would you guys suggest? Is there a way for me to create a printer program in MIDP or do I have to create it with J2sdk SE?
2.) if ever that the printer program would have to be written with j2sdk SE, how would I go about passing the actual data from the MIDlet to the program? Is it possible, and if it is, is there any way I could synchronize both?
Thanks a lot.

Answer 1

depends on what kind of communication you can establish over the serial cable. If you have the possibility to communicate using TCP/IP & HTTP i would use a servlet on the server side, send the data to the servlet, let the servlet do the whole template/layout und pre-print job and the print it from the servlet.
This would give you a quite powerfull solution, since you may do a lot of work on the server side (like additional db operations, queueing print jobs, ...) and you could then connect to your little 'print server' via HTTP, means, no matter if the request comes via serial cable, internet, bluetooth....