1673099 - Update Platform Print Settings To Handle Duplex Printing Options (None/FlipOnSideEdge/FlipOnTopEdge)

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Core :: Printing: Setup, enhancement, P2)

Description

[Erik Nordin [:nordzilla]]

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Overview Of Duplex Printing Modes

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There are 4 possible combinations of duplex printing, and they change slightly based on whether you’re in Portrait orientation or Landscape orientation.

Two of the combinations have the binding on the side-edge of the paper, and pages flip like a book:

• In Portrait Orientation, with a binding on the side-edge of the paper, the pages will flip horizontally, and the overall behavior will be similar to a typical book.
• In Landscape Orientation, with a binding on the side-edge of the paper, the pages will flip horizontally, and the overall behavior will be similar to a picture book or photo album.

The other two combinations have the binding on the top-edge of the paper, and pages flip like a calendar or a notepad:

• In Portrait Orientation, with a binding on the top-edge of the paper, the pages will flip vertically, and the overall behavior will be similar to a notepad.
• In Landscape Orientation, with a binding on the top-edge of the paper, the pages will flip vertically, and the overall behavior will be similar to a calendar.

There is an important distinction in the way each two-sided sheet is printed, based on the flip direction:

• A side-edge flip will result in the front and back of each page being oriented in the same direction. As you flip horizontally (like a book), you want both sides to be upright to your perspective.
• A top-edge flip will result in the front and back of each page being oriented upside down relative to each other. As you flip vertically (like a calendar), you want the flipped page to still look upright to your perspective.

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Overview of Existing and Proposed Terminology

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Unfortunately, the terminology for these flip styles varies widely from system to system. I have had discussions in length with both jfkthame and abenson regarding the least confusing terminology to use in Firefox's print UI and code. We decided on the "side-edge flip" and "top-edge flip" terminology that is used above.

• On Windows, the terminology is Horizontal and Vertical.
• On macOS, the terminology is NoTumble and Tumble.
• On GTK-based systems, the terminology uses both Horizontal/Vertical and NoTumble/Tumble.
• On CUPS-based systems, the terminology is NoTumble and Tumble.

To be clear, the following are all equivalent:

• Flip on Side Edge == Horizontal Flip == NoTumble Flip.
• Flip on Top Edge == Vertical Flip == Tumble Flip.

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Differences From Google Chrome

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The Google Chrome print UI uses yet another set of terms: "Bind on long edge," and "Bind on short edge."

abenson and I have decided to not adopt the same terminology for the following reasons:

• These terms are ambiguous for square paper sizes (even though these are uncommon).
• Binding on the "long" edge will result in a side-edge flip in Portrait Orientation, and in a top-edge flip in Landscape Orientation.
• Binding on the "short" edge will result in a top-edge flip in Portrait orientation, and a side-edge flip in Landscape orientation.

By deliberately leaving our terminology in terms of side-edge and top-edge, the flip direction is not dependent on the orientation or the dimensions of the paper.

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About This Bug

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This patch will update the Firefox platform code to uniformly use the "side-edge" and "top-edge" terminology, exposing these options to the front-end code for our print UI, and converting them to the appropriate system-specific terminologies in the print settings.

Comment 1

[Erik Nordin [:nordzilla]]

Attachment: Bug 1673099 - Support duplex flip styles in the print platform r=alaskanemily,jfkthame

WIP

Depends on D93621

Comment 2

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/7c568d2a3fc5
Support duplex flip styles in the print platform r=jfkthame

Comment 3

[Sandor Molnar[:smolnar]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/7c568d2a3fc5