Prevent printing to PDF file

Question

Hi,
I'm trying to prevent the user to print a protected PDF document to a PDF file.
My questions:
- How do I detect that the user prints to a specific printer?
  My replacement callback for AVDocDoPrint is called before the print dialog is viewed. But after the dialog is closed I have no chance to find out, which printer the user has chosen.
  My replacement callback for AVDocPrintPagesWithParams is never called..
  Or how can I find out the properties of the selected printer, like it is a "PDF printer" or a "postscript printer"?
If I print a protected document with the "Adobe PDF" printer, I get the message
%%[ ProductName: Distiller ]%%
This PostScript file was created from an encrypted PDF file.
Redistilling encrypted PDF is not permitted.
%%[ Flushing: rest of job (to end-of-file) will be ignored ]%%
%%[ Warning: PostScript error. No PDF file produced. ] %%"
How do I achieve this for every other printer?
Best regards,
Stefan

Answer 1

That's (for the most part) impossible, unfortunately.
Since there is no way to identify a given printer as a "PDF printer", the only thing you could do would be to get the name of the printer and compare it against some list that you've built.  If it matches, then using the provided hooks for printing in the Acrobat SDK Plugin API, you could then disallow printing to that particular printer.
But given the NUMEROUS 3rd party PDF printers on the market – many of which are themselves OEM'd out and rebranded – I think you have a long road ahead :(.
Can I ask what you are REALLY trying to achieve?  Is it some form of protection/right management?  Perhaps there is a better way if we understood your underlying need.