Making print requests

The whole point of going through the process of editing the configuration and creating the layouts is so that we can make requests to the print server to get an output. A REST (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representational_state_transfer) end-point is exposed by the print server so that we can make requests and receive responses. We can utilize this REST service within our own applications and dynamically configure them to know how to communicate with the print server.

The REST API

Before we get into setting up an application to communicate with the print server, it is worth taking some time out to examine the printing REST API. Understanding the REST API is the key to successfully building applications that can make print requests. The following sequence diagram shows the typical flow when dealing with the print server:

The starting point for any application is to make a call to the info.json REST end-point. This will request the print capabilities information, which...