closing an instance of acrobat reader from command line - command-line

Question

I am using the following cmd to print the pdf:
acroRD32.exe /t "file1.pdf" "printerName"
Everything works fine but one window pops up.
Can anybody help me to disable it.
I tried with various options included in this question
but cannot succeed.
Any help is appreciated.

Answer 1

Why even use Acrobat at all? This class that print silently for you without any executables or even a printer setup:
Sample Usage:
bool isPrinted = BatchPrint.PrintBinaryFile("file path", "Printer IP Address", "Queue Name", "User");
public class BatchPrint
{
private const int cPort = 515;
private const char cLineFeed = '\n';
private const int cDefaultByteSize = 4;
public static string ErrorMessage = string.Empty;
private static string mHost;
private static string mQueue;
private static string mUser;
private static readonly Queue mPrintQueue = new Queue();
private static readonly Dictionary<string, int> mLastPrintId = new Dictionary<string, int>();
public static bool PrintBinaryFile(string filePath, string printerName, string queueName, string userName)
{
try
{
mHost = printerName;
mQueue = queueName;
mUser = userName;
BeginPrint(filePath);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
ErrorMessage += ex.Message + cLineFeed + ex.StackTrace;
}
return ErrorMessage.Length <= 0;
}
private static void BeginPrint(string filePath)
{
mPrintQueue.Enqueue(filePath);
ThreadStart myThreadDelegate = SendFileToPrinter;
var myThread = new Thread(myThreadDelegate);
myThread.Start();
}
private static void SendFileToPrinter()
{
ErrorMessage = string.Empty;
var fileFromQueue = (string)mPrintQueue.Dequeue();
var tcpClient = new TcpClient();
tcpClient.Connect(mHost, cPort);
const char space = ' ';
using (var networkStream = tcpClient.GetStream())
{
if (!networkStream.CanWrite)
{
ErrorMessage = "NetworkStream.CanWrite failed";
networkStream.Close();
tcpClient.Close();
return;
}
var thisPc = Dns.GetHostName();
var printId = GetPrintId();
var dfA = string.Format("dfA{0}{1}", printId, thisPc);
var cfA = string.Format("cfA{0}{1}", printId, thisPc);
var controlFile = string.Format("H{0}\nP{1}\n{5}{2}\nU{3}\nN{4}\n", thisPc, mUser, dfA, dfA, Path.GetFileName(fileFromQueue), true);
const int bufferSize = (cDefaultByteSize * 1024);
var buffer = new byte[bufferSize];
var acknowledgement = new byte[cDefaultByteSize];
var position = 0;
buffer[position++] = 2;
ProcessBuffer(mQueue, ref buffer, ref position, (byte)cLineFeed);
if (!IsAcknowledgementValid(buffer, position, acknowledgement, networkStream, tcpClient, "No response from printer"))
return;
position = 0;
buffer[position++] = 2;
var cFileLength = controlFile.Length.ToString();
ProcessBuffer(cFileLength, ref buffer, ref position, (byte)space);
ProcessBuffer(cfA, ref buffer, ref position, (byte)cLineFeed);
if (!IsAcknowledgementValid(buffer, position, acknowledgement, networkStream, tcpClient, "Error on control file len"))
return;
position = 0;
ProcessBuffer(controlFile, ref buffer, ref position, 0);
if (!IsAcknowledgementValid(buffer, position, acknowledgement, networkStream, tcpClient, "Error on control file"))
return;
position = 0;
buffer[position++] = 3;
var dataFileInfo = new FileInfo(fileFromQueue);
cFileLength = dataFileInfo.Length.ToString();
ProcessBuffer(cFileLength, ref buffer, ref position, (byte)space);
ProcessBuffer(dfA, ref buffer, ref position, (byte)cLineFeed);
if (!IsAcknowledgementValid(buffer, position, acknowledgement, networkStream, tcpClient, "Error on dfA"))
return;
long totalbytes = 0;
using (var fileStream = new FileStream(fileFromQueue, FileMode.Open))
{
int bytesRead;
while ((bytesRead = fileStream.Read(buffer, 0, bufferSize)) > 0)
{
totalbytes += bytesRead;
networkStream.Write(buffer, 0, bytesRead);
networkStream.Flush();
}
fileStream.Close();
}
if (dataFileInfo.Length != totalbytes)
ErrorMessage = fileFromQueue + "File length error";
position = 0;
buffer[position++] = 0;
if (!IsAcknowledgementValid(buffer, position, acknowledgement, networkStream, tcpClient, "Error on file"))
return;
networkStream.Close();
tcpClient.Close();
}
}
private static int GetPrintId()
{
var count = 0;
lock (mLastPrintId)
{
if (mLastPrintId.ContainsKey(mUser))
count = mLastPrintId[mUser];
count++;
count %= 1000;
if (mLastPrintId.ContainsKey(mUser))
mLastPrintId[mUser] = count;
else
mLastPrintId.Add(mUser, count);
}
return count;
}
private static void ProcessBuffer(string item, ref byte[] buffer, ref int position, byte nextPosition)
{
foreach (var t in item)
{
buffer[position++] = (byte)t;
}
buffer[position++] = nextPosition;
}
private static bool IsAcknowledgementValid(byte[] buffer, int position, byte[] acknowledgement, NetworkStream networkStream, TcpClient tcpClient, string errorMsg)
{
networkStream.Write(buffer, 0, position);
networkStream.Flush();
networkStream.Read(acknowledgement, 0, cDefaultByteSize);
if (acknowledgement[0] == 0)
return true;
ErrorMessage = errorMsg;
networkStream.Close();
tcpClient.Close();
return false;
}
}

Answer 2

You cannot close the last open Acrobat window through the command line. From ancient history of programming scripts for Acrobat, I believe that there is no way to do this in an Acrobat script, either.
But you can close Acrobat from the command line, though it is a bit convoluted. For a pure MSDOS method for most Windows systems, create two files: called.bat and caller.bat.
caller.bat:
REM call the batch file that runs the program:
start "ProgramRunner" called.bat
REM wait 5 seconds -- if this closes Acrobat too soon, then increase the time:
ping 1.1.1.1 -n 1 -w 5000 >nul
REM kill the called program -- should be the program name that was started in called.bat:
REM (If the program does not close, type "taskkill /?" in the command line to see options.)
taskkill /F /IM acroRD32.exe
called.bat
"path\to\the\program\acroRD32.exe" /t "path\to\the\program\file1.pdf" "printerName"
exit
Note that you can write scripts in many programming languages that accomplish the same task more elegantly.

Answer 3

I successfully tested forking a delayed kill command before starting the print job.
start cmd /c "timeout 15 & taskkill /f /im acrord32.exe"
acroRD32.exe /t "file1.pdf" "printerName"