[FIXED] How to programmatically get the name of the current printer through the libcups in Linux?

Issue

I'm trying to get the name of the current printer using the libcups library in Linux, but I can't find such a method. I found only how to get a complete list of printers, but how to find out which one will print is not clear.

#include <cups/cups.h>

QStringList getPrinters()
{    
   QStringList printerNames;
   cups_dest_t *dests;
   int num_dests = cupsGetDests(&dests);
   for (int pr = 0; pr < num_dests; ++pr) {
      QString printerName = QString::fromUtf8(dests[pr].name);
      printerNames.append(printerName);
   }
   cupsFreeDests(num_dests, dests);
   return printerNames;
}

Solution

Once you have a valid destination (cups_dest_t), one can retrieve the informations via: cupsGetOption

Example (from https://openprinting.github.io/cups/doc/cupspm.html#basic-destination-information):

const char *model = cupsGetOption("printer-make-and-model",
                                  dest->num_options,
                                  dest->options);

To find the default printer one can use:

• cupsGetDest (param name: NULL for the default destination)
• cupsGetDests2 (param http: Connection to server or CUPS_HTTP_DEFAULT)

Other suggestion would be:

• https://openprinting.github.io/cups/doc/cupspm.html#finding-available-destinations

Last but not least:

• CUPS Programming Manual

---

Sidenote:

Since you're using Qt, doesn't Qt have printer support?

E.g.

QPrinter::QPrinter(const QPrinterInfo &printer, QPrinter::PrinterMode mode = ScreenResolution);

(see https://doc.qt.io/qt-6/qprinter.html#QPrinter-1)

and

bool QPrinterInfo::isDefault() const;

(see https://doc.qt.io/qt-6/qprinterinfo.html#isDefault)

Answered By - Erdal Küçük

Answer Checked By - Cary Denson (PHPFixing Admin)