Getting a list of available printers

Yet another list function provided by arcpy is ListPrinterNames(), which generates a list of the available printers. As is the case with the other list functions that we've examined, ListPrinterNames() is often called as a preliminary step in a multi-step script.

Getting ready

Before printing maps with the PrintMap() function, it is a common practice to call the ListPrinterNames() function, which returns a list of the available printers for the local computer. A particular printer can then be found by iterating through the list of printers and using it as an input to the PrintMap() function.

How to do it…

Follow these steps to learn how to use the ListPrinterNames() function to return a list of the available printers for your script:

1. Open C:\ArcpyBook\Ch5\Crime_Ch5.mxd in ArcMap.

2. Open the Python window.

3. Import the arcpy.mapping module:

   import arcpy.mapping as mapping

4. Reference the currently active document (Crime_Ch5.mxd) and assign the reference to a variable...