Printing from SWF files overview

You can add printing functionality to your Macromedia Flash MX 2004 and Macromedia Flash MX Professional 2004 document that lets users print from Flash Player. You can use the ActionScript PrintJob class, or you can use the print() or printAsBitmap() ActionScript funtions. Users can also access the Flash Player context menu and select the Print command there.

Additionally, users can print from a browser, rather than from Flash Player, by selecting a command such as File > Print from the browser window. However, printing from Flash Player directly, rather than from a browser window Print menu, offers several advantages, including the following:

• Users can print all frames or certain frames that you've labeled as printable from Flash Player. Additionally, you can set the print area of a frame.
• You can specify that content print as vector graphics (to take advantage of higher resolution) or as bitmaps (to preserve transparency and color effects).
• The ActionScript PrintJob object improves upon the print() and printAsBitmap() functions by adding the ability to print dynamically rendered pages as a single print job. The PrintJob object also provides the user's printer settings, which can be used to format reports specifically for the user. See Using the ActionScript PrintJob class.
• Flash Player versions earlier than 4.0.25 (Windows) or 4.0.20 (Macintosh) do not support direct printing of frames. Flash Player 7 and later supports the PrintJob class.