title: Printing data to printer using PHP
body: <p>I have a question that has been troubling me for at least 3 weeks now. I need to print some data to a printer using php. I have data saved into a <code>$print_output</code> variable, and I know my data is good because when I send it via email, it shows everything that is supposed to  be shown.</p>
  
  <p>Well, I tried writing this code, where I thought I could test it but wasn't sure if it would have even worked.</p>
  
  <pre><code>$handle = printer_open("\\\\192.168.1.33_4\\Printer_Office");
  printer_set_option($handle, PRINTER_MODE, "raw"); 
  printer_write($handle,$print_output); 
  printer_close($handle); 
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Well, turns out I don't have php_printer.dll extension installed and I was told not to re-compile php to add it. </p>
  
  <p>What I'd like to do is simply print out the data that is stored in <code>$print_output</code> to a printer on my same network. I don't want to use the javascript function <code>window.print()</code> because I can't have a print dialogue screen pop up.</p>
  
  <p>Does anyone have any information that can point me in the right direction? Or another way to simply print a small amount of data directly to the printer without using php's <code>printer_open</code> function? </p>