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Server side printing directly to printer

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    Server side printing directly to printer

    I know this is an xBasic question, but I have to provide background. I'm changing an application that had a VFP (Visual FoxPro) back end to a web based system and one of the things that it did was print barcode labels by sending the ZPL/EPL/CPL (don't remember which "language" it was) codes directly to the zebra printer so that it would generate the properly formatted label. In VFP we could do it like this:

    SET PRINTER TO NAME wlabel1
    ??? lcString

    This did 2 things. It allowed you to define which printer to go to, and then it sent the text string directly to the printer bypassing the need for a report or label form. Since I know this method works, I am hoping that there is an equivalent to this in xBasic. I'm thinking worst case I will have to do something with batch files, but would like to keep it more "in house" if possible.

    Thanks,

    Rod Lewis

    #2
    Re: Server side printing directly to printer

    OK, so a little more on this. I looked at using a BAT file, but then I lose control over the whole process and I am concerned that in a multi-user environment that attempting to control the printers outside of Alpha will result in stuff getting stepped on as it is very probable that two people will be printing different labels to different printers at the same time. I also ran into the issue that BAT files don't know anything about Windows Printers, so it would require windows calls to set the printers and that is where I think I will run into problems at a multi user level if I am trying to set the default printer so that a BAT file can print something directly to the printer.

    I believe I need to retain control at the server level as it is my understanding that the server will "segregate" each process so that they can run without interfering with each other. At least that is my hope here. I don't mind if I have to get into some low level file handling to do this, but I'm really hoping that I can resolve this easily.

    I realize it may not be 2 simple commands with xBasic, but I have to believe that it is possible to do. Thoughts anyone?

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Server side printing directly to printer

      We use a file watch program that waits for a file (a pdf generated by Xbasic) to appear in a directory (folder) on the server, sends it to the printer, renames the file, and moves it to an "archive" folder.
      The program we used was from https://www.watchdirectory.net/.
      There is a pro version for about $150 and a standard version for about $80.
      The interface is very early 2000s like, but the program works fine.
      Hope this helps.
      Jay
      Jay Talbott
      Lexington, KY

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Server side printing directly to printer

        Jay,

        It looks like this is based on PDF files. In this case, it needs to be basically a direct inject to the printer. It doesn't work if you print it from something like Notepad as that converts it into a file being printed and goes through the print driver rather than injecting the commands directly to the printer. I'll definitely keep this in mind, but I don't see any plug-ins that allow for direct injection into the printer.

        Thanks,

        Rod

        Comment


          #5
          Re: Server side printing directly to printer

          I found the following C# code on the zebra site. I don' t know if this can be converted into Alpha or not, but maybe someone has an idea on how to crack this nut:
          Code:
          // Printer IP Address and communication port
          
          string ipAddress = "10.3.14.42";
          
          int port = 9100;
          
           
          
          // ZPL Command(s)
          
          string ZPLString =
          
              "^XA" +
          
              "^FO50,50" +
          
              "^A0N50,50" +
          
              "^FDHello, World!^FS" +
          
              "^XZ";
          
           
          
          try
          
          {
          
              // Open connection
          
              System.Net.Sockets.TcpClient client = new System.Net.Sockets.TcpClient();
          
              client.Connect(ipAddress, port);
          
           
          
              // Write ZPL String to connection
          
              System.IO.StreamWriter writer =
          
          new System.IO.StreamWriter(client.GetStream());
          
              writer.Write(ZPLString);
          
              writer.Flush();
          
           
          
              // Close Connection
          
              writer.Close();
          
              client.Close();
          
          }
          
          catch (Exception ex)
          
          {
          
              // Catch Exception
          
          }

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Server side printing directly to printer

            Rod, looks like you need something like https://documentation.alphasoftware....T%20Method.xml

            Just did a search on 'sockets' in the wiki

            Comment


              #7
              Re: Server side printing directly to printer

              Jon,

              Thank you! That's the nudge I needed. I think I can figure it out from here.

              Rod

              Comment


                #8
                Re: Server side printing directly to printer (SOLUTION)

                In case anyone else is looking for this solution, the following commands worked for me:
                Code:
                lcString = "" 'Put your ZPL code in here
                lcIP = "10.1.1.100"
                lnPort = 9100
                
                loSocket = sockets.open(lcIP, lnPort)
                loSocket.write(lcString)
                loSocket.Close()
                There was a little more error trapping and stuff, but that's the basics to get it working. Other commands such as sockets.isOpen() are good to verify in your error handling. I just figured that if anyone else is searching for this exact scenario that they would appreciate the solution as well.

                Rod

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: Server side printing directly to printer

                  Thanks for sharing Rod. Good stuff.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: Server side printing directly to printer

                    Excellent thread... thanks.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: Server side printing directly to printer (SOLUTION)

                      Thank you... I think this is just what I was looking for. I have a jewelry web app and need to send raw data to a thermal printer to print jewelry tags. The question is will this solution work with a local printer on the client side?

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: Server side printing directly to printer (SOLUTION)

                        David,

                        I'm not sure. This solution is focused primarily on an IP address and a port for the printer. It's possible that you can configure it to your own internal address as the IP and then it would use the port to get to the local printer. We don't have any local printers, so this wasn't an issue for us. Plus, the solution was focused on the server side rather than the client side. There is a parameter that is specific to mode ("S" server, "C" client), so it is definitely possible that this will work. What I did was set up a simple scenario outside of my application so that I could limit the test to just the functionality I needed. It made testing it out and fine tuning it much easier than trying to do it within the complexity of the app.

                        Sorry I can't be of more help. I'm still learning the ins and outs of the product. The more I learn, I realize, the less I actually know .

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: Server side printing directly to printer

                          Thanks for the reply. Rather than spend an inordinate amount of time trying to make this work I found a solution called JSPrintManager at https://neodynamic.com/products/prin...-print-manager. I tested it on several browsers and it seems to do everything I need. It requires two licenses totaling $400/yr so for me it's worth it. Thanks again.

                          Comment

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