MobileLPR - LPR client for .NET Compact Framework 2.0 - CodeProject

Introduction to article

MobileLPR is an LPR client library built for the .NET Compact Framework 2.0 that gives a Windows Mobile application the ability to print to an LPR (aka LPD) server, an LPRng server, or a Socket API printer. One thing all these protocols have in common is the use of a TCP socket to transport data. With the length of time the LPR protocol has been available, the prevalence of print server appliances and printers with internal network interfaces, and the dearth of printing solutions for mobile devices, it surprised me somewhat how little code was actually available on the web to do printing from mobile devices.

Why did I build it? After about a week of web searches yielding meager results and as my mental digestion of the relatively small LPR document improved, I decided this situation presented me with a good opportunity both to create the functionality I needed and to give a useful bit of code back to the programming community, of which I had been a beneficiary for so long.

The goal was to assemble a small, well-performing library to run in a mobile environment that contained the most useful LPR functions without being over-engineered. Some sections certainly could have been written more efficiently but that do their intended tasks. Coming from a C programming background, I know how to write very compact and cryptic code that gets the job done, but in six months even I wouldn't be able to decipher it. I aim to write maintainable code.

MobileLPR - LPR client for .NET Compact Framework 2.0 - CodeProject