Help me schedule a print task....please.

[ManyBeers]

I would like to schedule a print job on my Gateway desktop running Windows Vista HP sp1
with a HP deskjet 820CX1 printer on LPT1. I want the task to print out a small JPEG file
once a week. I asked this question in a Microsoft Word forum and one of the MVPs gave me
insructions on how to do it using Task scheduler (link)

So i followed his instructions and the task seemed to work that day when I made a test run. The only problem was I only had one ink cartridge for my printer at the time so it couldn't actually print the document, but it did turn on when the task started.

Today I got my new ink cartridges and set up the task again only all that happens is the jpeg opens in irfanview but it never prints. I made sure to append /mFilePrintDefault to the end of the file target but no printing takes place.What gives?

 

[ManyBeers]

Come on! somebody give me a hand here. Is this something that can't be done in a modern Windows Vista operating system?

I've got 25,000,000,000 one's and zero's on my C:vista partition and i can't get 2 or3 million of them cooperating to print out a jpeg at 7:05 am every Friday unattended.

 

[bsobel]

/mFilePrintDefault is a Winword command, not some generic 'windows' command. Your using Infranview not Winword, so you need to provide what ever command line option Infranview needs to print. Based on the Infranview docs, try /print or /print="Name" (where Name is the printer name if you need to select the non-default one)

 

[ManyBeers]

Originally posted by: bsobel
/mFilePrintDefault is a Winword command, not some generic 'windows' command. Your using Infranview not Winword, so you need to provide what ever command line option Infranview needs to print. Based on the Infranview docs, try /print or /print="Name" (where Name is the printer name if you need to select the non-default one)

Ok thanks for weighing in here. I'm cooking right now so I'll get back later on.

 

[ManyBeers]

Guess what bsobel? I looked in Irfanview's help and found the correct command and the task works. So basically I was using a Word command to tell Irfanview what to do? I guess you can tell I'm not a command line guru.

I originally set the task up using Microsoft Word and a .doc file according to that guys instructions he gave me in the link. But that was just a test run until I got my ink cartridges.
My original intent was to run a Jpeg. Since then I have removed Microsoft Word from this computer because apparently I was not allowed to have OEM Word on more than one computer. Word came with my laptop. I just assumed, since it was a stand alone cd ,that I could install it on 2 computers but i can't ...legally....so I removed it and have replaced it with Open Office.

Anyways thanks.....For now. I will see if it runs tomorrow morning before accolades are permanent.

 

[ManyBeers]

Hey 'sobel I instinctively knew this was a simple problem to fix. Earlier today in a wave of frustration I went to Microsoft's website and entered one of their free tech support chat sessions.
So I explained my problem and what I was trying to do to this 22 letter 6 syllable unpronounceable "name" of some person from God knows where. At some point they ask me if it is okay for them to take control of my PC to diagnose the problem. I said NO Way. I even asked specifically if /mFilePrintDefault was a valid argument to use and they never answered the question. This person had no idea what the problem could be and yet they are "tech support". What a joke.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: ManyBeers
Hey 'sobel I instinctively knew this was a simple problem to fix. Earlier today in a wave of frustration I went to Microsoft's website and entered one of their free tech support chat sessions.
So I explained my problem and what I was trying to do to this 22 letter 6 syllable unpronounceable "name" of some person from God knows where. At some point they ask me if it is okay for them to take control of my PC to diagnose the problem. I said NO Way. I even asked specifically if /mFilePrintDefault was a valid argument to use and they never answered the question. This person had no idea what the problem could be and yet they are "tech support". What a joke.

Why would you expect Microsoft to provide support on a third party application?

 

[ManyBeers]

Originally posted by: bsobel

Originally posted by: ManyBeers
Hey 'sobel I instinctively knew this was a simple problem to fix. Earlier today in a wave of frustration I went to Microsoft's website and entered one of their free tech support chat sessions.
So I explained my problem and what I was trying to do to this 22 letter 6 syllable unpronounceable "name" of some person from God knows where. At some point they ask me if it is okay for them to take control of my PC to diagnose the problem. I said NO Way. I even asked specifically if /mFilePrintDefault was a valid argument to use and they never answered the question. This person had no idea what the problem could be and yet they are "tech support". What a joke.

Why would you expect Microsoft to provide support on a third party application?

I didn''t expect anything I just didn't know what the problem was. Like i say I''m not a computer guru, I just decide I need to get something done and I find the information, wherever that may take me, so I tried Microsoft. You realized from reading my post that i was using an invalid command for the app I was using. Why didn't they?

ps: I learned something today that I intend to apply to another scheduled task problem I have...That being rundll32.exe,PowrProf.dll SetSuspendState. You helped me once before with that dude and confirmed my suspicions about why it wasn't allowing my wake-up task to run. It all came down to appending 110 or101 or011etc. to the end of the string.
I ahd to go back to using Shutter.exe because nothing I tried worked flawlesslyand eventually no combination worked. But I think today i found part of the reason--I never used / the forward slash between the numbers which i intend to try tonight.
All i did was change the order of the numbers. hopefully I'm right.