File selection not possible when offline?

General
1

Hi all,

I was just wondering why Octoprint does not allow selection (activation, loading, whatever you want to call it) of a file/object if the printer is offline. Obviously you cannot print when offline, but there are so many plug-ins which only operate on the selected/loaded file which would still be useful while the printer is still off. Things like g-code visualization ...

It is unclear to me whether this is a UI limitation or also applies to the API ...

Thanks,
K

1 Like
2

I can't tell you why but you could use the virtual printer as a workaround

3

I've questioned the same thing because there have been requests on my power plugins to be able to power on the printer on file select and then have the print automatically start once the printer was connected. I have somewhat bypassed this in OctoPrint 1.4.1+ with automatic power on with upload in some of my plugins which works with PrusaSlicer, but still would be nice to be able to do the same with file select.

4

The virtual printer would take the place of the real printer, no? So every time I would then want to actually use the real printer, I would have to remove the virtual one again? That's not really my point. I have the PSU control to turn on/off my printer as needed, but sometimes you do not want to turn on the printer just to get some information on a model stored in octoprint. As said, g-code visualization is one of the things I'm thinking of, but I'm sure there are more plugins that might do useful stuff even with the printer turned off ...

5

The virtual printer looks like a real printer - you can select it in the serial port list.
You don't have to remove it when you want to use your real printer. You just click on disconnect and select your real printer in the list.