NSPrintOperation

NSPrintOperation is a component of AppKit that coordinates printing tasks in macOS applications. It encapsulates the content to be printed, the printing settings via NSPrintInfo, and the interaction with the system print subsystem. The class manages the lifecycle of a print job from setup through execution to completion and supports both standard and modal printing within an application's window context.

Creating a print operation typically involves providing the content to print (often an NSView or a renderable document) together with an NSPrintInfo instance. Class methods such as printOperationWithView:printInfo: create an operation preconfigured for the given content. The operation can be customized further by adjusting its properties or supplying a default NSPrintInfo derived from the current system preferences.

Running the operation presents the standard print panel, allowing the user to select a printer, adjust page range, orientation, and other settings, and then render the content into the print graphics context. The operation can be executed synchronously or presented modally as a sheet attached to a window via methods that invoke a delegate callback upon completion or cancellation.

During printing, NSPrintOperation hands off the actual rendering to the content view or document, handling pagination and scaling based on the configuration in NSPrintInfo. This makes it suitable for both simple view printing and more complex document-based workflows that require control over page layout and pagination.

See also: NSPrintInfo, NSView, NSDocument, AppKit.