GravidPluss:Printer

= Gravid+ Printer selection & settings = One of the necessary features of Gravid+ app is to print the generated blood sugar level measurements reports.

In order to print directly from mobile devices, the printer has to be equipped with some Wi-Fi based protocols, such as AirPrint.

These are some of the popular Wi-Fi printing protocols or solutions:
 * AirPrint: Apple’s solution to the mess of printer drivers and Bluetooth pairing. Printers that support AirPrint will be advertised as AirPrint compatible. Most printer manufacturers make printers that are AirPrint-compatible while also supporting other wireless printing standards. AirPrint is very convenient, but the big downside is that it only supports Apple devices. Luckily, AirPrint-compatible printers will generally also support other types of wireless-printing standards, so you can also print to them from non-Apple devices.


 * Google Cloud Print: this is Google’s answer to the wireless printing mess. When you use a Google Cloud Print-enabled printer, it connects to your wireless network like another Wi-Fi-enabled printer. You then associate your printer with a Google account, which it communicates with over the Internet. You can then print to your printer via Google Cloud Print from any device just by logging in with your Google account. Google Cloud Print offers integration with Android and Chrome, as well as apps for Apple’s iOS and integration with the standard Windows printing system. When you print to a Google Cloud Print printer, your document is sent over the Internet to Google, who sends it to your printer. Unlike Apple’s AirPrint, Google Cloud Print is available for many different operating systems.


 * ePrint, iPrint, and Other Manufacturer-Specific Solutions: not to be outdone by Apple and Google, printer manufacturers have created their own wireless printing standards. This includes HP ePrint, Epson iPrint and others. The idea behind these standards is that you can simply download the associated app from your mobile device’s app store. The app can then wirelessly print to one of the manufacturer’s printers over the network. These can be useful solutions, especially if you have a Wi-Fi-enabled printer that doesn’t support other standards like Apple AirPrint or Google Cloud Print. However, they’re just not as integrated with the underlying system and may not be able to print every type of document you’d want to print.

Printer selection
The selected printer model for Gravid+ project is the HP P1102w. The main characteristic of this model is the support of ePrint, AirPrint and Android print solutions.

How to print
The HP P1102w offers three different ways of printing, direct printing through the connection to the same Wi-Fi network, printing through an ad hoc network and printing through email.
 * Gravid+ Wi-Fi network: this is the easiest printing method for all users. Whenever the user wants to print, he/she connects to Gravid+ Wi-Fi network, searches for an available printer and prints. However, there are some details in order to be able to connect the printer to the same network:
 * 1) The Wi-Fi network has to be private, which it means that it cannot be open for everyone.
 * 2) The encryption protocol has to be one of the followings: WEP, WAP or WAP2.
 * 3) WAP and WPA2 enterprise versions are not supported.


 * ad hoc Wi-Fi network: the printer creates its own Wi-Fi network. Whenever the user wants to print, he/she has to connect to the wireless network created by the printer. This could be a solution if the Wi-Fi network of the hospital is open or it uses an enterprise authentication method.


 * email-based printing: to use this method, previously the HP printer has to be registered at HP Web Services. After the device is correctly set up, any user will be able to send and email to the email address provided by HP and the printer will print all the attachments of the email. Accordingly, the service could be secured by allowing just some specific email senders.

The following table summarizes the benefits and disadvantages of each solution.

Test results
After several tries, these are the obtained results.