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Expo Print

GitHub

npm

A library that provides printing functionality for Android and iOS (AirPrint).

Android

iOS

Web

expo-print provides an API for Android and iOS (AirPrint) printing functionality.

Installation

Terminal

- npx expo install expo-print

If you are installing this in an existing React Native app, start by installing expo in your project. Then, follow the additional instructions as mentioned by the library's README under "Installation in bare React Native projects" section.

Usage

Print usage

import { useState } from 'react';
import { View, StyleSheet, Button, Platform, Text } from 'react-native';
import * as Print from 'expo-print';
import { shareAsync } from 'expo-sharing';

const html = `
<html>
  <head>
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, maximum-scale=1.0, minimum-scale=1.0, user-scalable=no" />
  </head>
  <body style="text-align: center;">
    <h1 style="font-size: 50px; font-family: Helvetica Neue; font-weight: normal;">
      Hello Expo!
    </h1>
    <img
      src="https://d30j33t1r58ioz.cloudfront.net/static/guides/sdk.png"
      style="width: 90vw;" />
  </body>
</html>
`;

export default function App() {
  const [selectedPrinter, setSelectedPrinter] = useState();

  const print = async () => {
    // On iOS/android prints the given html. On web prints the HTML from the current page.
    await Print.printAsync({
      html,
      printerUrl: selectedPrinter?.url, // iOS only
    });
  };

  const printToFile = async () => {
    // On iOS/android prints the given html. On web prints the HTML from the current page.
    const { uri } = await Print.printToFileAsync({ html });
    console.log('File has been saved to:', uri);
    await shareAsync(uri, { UTI: '.pdf', mimeType: 'application/pdf' });
  };

  const selectPrinter = async () => {
    const printer = await Print.selectPrinterAsync(); // iOS only
    setSelectedPrinter(printer);
  };

  return (
    <View style={styles.container}>
      <Button title="Print" onPress={print} />
      <View style={styles.spacer} />
      <Button title="Print to PDF file" onPress={printToFile} />
      {Platform.OS === 'ios' && (
        <>
          <View style={styles.spacer} />
          <Button title="Select printer" onPress={selectPrinter} />
          <View style={styles.spacer} />
          {selectedPrinter ? (
            <Text style={styles.printer}>{`Selected printer: ${selectedPrinter.name}`}</Text>
          ) : undefined}
        </>
      )}
    </View>
  );
}

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
    justifyContent: 'center',
    backgroundColor: '#ecf0f1',
    flexDirection: 'column',
    padding: 8,
  },
  spacer: {
    height: 8,
  },
  printer: {
    textAlign: 'center',
  },
});

API

import * as Print from 'expo-print';

Constants

`Print.Orientation`

Android

iOS

Web

Type: OrientationType

The orientation of the printed content.

Methods

`Print.printAsync(options)`

Android

iOS

Web

Parameter	Type	Description
options	`PrintOptions`	A map defining what should be printed.

Prints a document or HTML, on web this prints the HTML from the page.

Note: On iOS, printing from HTML source doesn't support local asset URLs (due to WKWebView limitations). As a workaround you can use inlined base64-encoded strings. See this comment for more details.

Note: on iOS, when printing without providing a PrintOptions.printerUrl the Promise will be resolved once printing is started in the native print window and rejected if the window is closed without starting the print. On Android the Promise will be resolved immediately after displaying the native print window and won't be rejected if the window is closed without starting the print.

Returns:

Promise<void>

Resolves to an empty Promise if printing started.

`Print.printToFileAsync(options)`

Android

iOS

Web

Parameter	Type	Description
options(optional)	`FilePrintOptions`	A map of print options. Default:`{}`

Prints HTML to PDF file and saves it to app's cache directory. On Web this method opens the print dialog.

Returns:

Promise<FilePrintResult>

`Print.selectPrinterAsync()`

iOS

Chooses a printer that can be later used in printAsync

Returns:

Promise<Printer>

A promise which fulfils with an object containing name and url of the selected printer.

Interfaces

`OrientationType`

Android

iOS

Web

The possible values of orientation for the printed content.

Property	Type	Description
landscape	`string`	-
portrait	`string`	-

Types

`FilePrintOptions`

Android

iOS

Web

Property	Type	Description
base64(optional)	`boolean`	Whether to include base64 encoded string of the file in the returned object.
height(optional)	`number`	Height of the single page in pixels. Defaults to `792` which is a height of US Letter paper format with 72 PPI.
html(optional)	`string`	HTML string to print into PDF file.
margins(optional)	`PageMargins`	Only for: iOS Page margins for the printed document.
useMarkupFormatter(optional)	`boolean`	Only for: iOS Alternative to default option that uses UIMarkupTextPrintFormatter instead of WebView, but it doesn't display images.
width(optional)	`number`	Width of the single page in pixels. Defaults to `612` which is a width of US Letter paper format with 72 PPI.

`FilePrintResult`

Android

iOS

Web

Property	Type	Description
base64(optional)	`string`	Base64 encoded string containing the data of the PDF file. Available only if `base64` option is truthy. It doesn't include data URI prefix `data:application/pdf;base64,`.
numberOfPages	`number`	Number of pages that were needed to render given content.
uri	`string`	A URI to the printed PDF file.

`PageMargins`

Android

iOS

Web

Property	Type	Description
bottom	`number`	-
left	`number`	-
right	`number`	-
top	`number`	-

`Printer`

Android

iOS

Web

Property	Type	Description
name	`string`	Name of the printer.
url	`string`	URL of the printer.

`PrintOptions`

Android

iOS

Web

Property	Type	Description
height(optional)	`number`	Height of the single page in pixels. Defaults to `792` which is a height of US Letter paper format with 72 PPI. Available only with `html` option.
html(optional)	`string`	Only for: Android iOS HTML string to print.
margins(optional)	`PageMargins`	Only for: iOS Page margins for the printed document.
markupFormatterIOS(optional)	`string`	Deprecated This argument is deprecated, use `useMarkupFormatter` instead. Might be removed in the future releases. iOS
orientation(optional)	`OrientationType[portrait] \| OrientationType[landscape]`	Only for: iOS The orientation of the printed content, `Print.Orientation.portrait` or `Print.Orientation.landscape`.
printerUrl(optional)	`string`	Only for: iOS URL of the printer to use. Returned from `selectPrinterAsync`.
uri(optional)	`string`	URI of a PDF file to print. Remote, local (ex. selected via `DocumentPicker`) or base64 data URI starting with `data:application/pdf;base64,`. This only supports PDF, not other types of document (e.g. images).
useMarkupFormatter(optional)	`boolean`	Only for: iOS Alternative to default option that uses UIMarkupTextPrintFormatter instead of WebView, but it doesn't display images.
width(optional)	`number`	Width of the single page in pixels. Defaults to `612` which is a width of US Letter paper format with 72 PPI. Available only with `html` option.

Local images

On iOS, printing from HTML source doesn't support local asset URLs (due to WKWebView limitations). Instead, images need to be converted to base64 and inlined into the HTML.

import { Asset } from 'expo-asset';
import { printAsync } from 'expo-print';
import { manipulateAsync } from 'expo-image-manipulator';

async function generateHTML() {
  const asset = Asset.fromModule(require('../../assets/logo.png'));
  const image = await manipulateAsync(asset.localUri ?? asset.uri, [], { base64: true });
  return `
    <html>
      <img
        src="data:image/jpeg;base64,${image.base64}"
        style="width: 90vw;" />
    </html>
  `;
}

async function print() {
  const html = await generateHTML();
  await printAsync({ html });
}

Page margins

On iOS you can set the page margins using the margins option:

const { uri } = await Print.printToFileAsync({
  html: 'This page is printed with margins',
  margins: {
    left: 20,
    top: 50,
    right: 20,
    bottom: 100,
  },
});

If useMarkupFormatter is set to true, setting margins may cause a blank page to appear at the end of your printout. To prevent this, make sure your HTML string is a well-formed document, including <!DOCTYPE html> at the beginning of the string.

On Android, if you're using html option in printAsync or printToFileAsync, the resulting print might contain page margins (it depends on the WebView engine). They are set by @page style block and you can override them in your HTML code:

<style>
  @page {
    margin: 20px;
  }
</style>

See @page documentation on MDN for more details.