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Barcode printing with Brother QL550 and COM module?

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    Barcode printing with Brother QL550 and COM module?

    Hi All,

    Does anyone have experience of printing barcodes using the QL range (although I think the COM module is common for most Brother thermal printer), of thermal printer and the related Brother COM module?

    I've had the COM module working via internet explorer and using Perl & PHP scripts - It works great by calling embedded Javascript for example, by simply passing parameters to a named label template, but unfortunately Perl/PHP & Javascript don't form part of my (more robust Alpha5), solution to my client.

    Does anyone know how to "call" COM modules from within Alpha5 code or is it simply not possible?

    Your thoughts would be much appreciated...
    Regards,
    Darren Farmer
    ________________________
    Alpha5V8 Enterprise
    Windows XP Professional
    AMD Turion 64 x2/Athlon 64

    #2
    I'm not familiar with the particular COM object you want to use, but the Xbasic you need is ole.create(). The documentation includes a short example that works with Word and if you have sample VBscript code available, it should be pretty easy to translate to Xbasic.

    Lenny Forziati
    Vice President, Internet Products and Technical Services
    Alpha Software Corporation

    Comment


      #3
      Brother barcoding

      Cheers Lenny,

      I'll look into this further myself, but for other people's benefit and also for future reference (if anyone else has this issue) :-)

      The P-Touch label design software that comes with the printer allows you to place generic data objects (such as text, barcode or picture objects), on a label design and the b-Pac software allows an application (like Perl/PHP via IE, VB etc...) to send variable data to the label allowing it to change dynamically - brilliant! Barcode objects automatically produce barcodes without the need to have the char-sets installed, simply send it a string and it converts it to a barcode - brilliant again!

      The COM module is free from Brother's web site (with a valid hardware serial number), and allows integration into Windows applications. It's called "b-Pac" SDK (... a Software Developers Kit). I'm using it with a QL550 thermal printer (a great piece of kit by the way!!!).

      The distribution "readme" file goes like:

      >>>>>
      b-PAC SDK version 1.5.2

      There are three files contained within this ZIP file:

      ReadMe.txt - This file - explaining the contents of the download

      bPAC_SDK_152.msi - This file contains the full version of the b-PAC SDK - and should be installed on machines where software development will take place. It installs the SDK files to the PC, along with sample programs, and b-PAC SDK user guide, in PDF format.

      bPAC_CCI_152.msi - This is the basic b-PAC SDK - and allows installation of just the SDK without samples etc. Use this file on any PC (client PC) that has software that needs label printing.

      So in summary, a software developer would install the full SDK on the PC used for developing a software solution, and the b-PAC client installer would be used on all PC's that need to print labels from the developed software.

      ADDING the b-PAC CLIENT INSTALLER TO YOUR OWN INSTALL PROGRAM (YOUR OWN SETUP.EXE). There are optional switches that can be added to the client installer, useful for hidden installation of the b-PAC client as part of your own installer:

      For example, "bPAC_CCI_152.msi /quiet" will install b-PAC onto the PC with nothing shown on the PC screen during installation.

      Display Options
      /quiet
      Quiet mode, no user interaction
      /passive
      Unattended mode - progress bar only
      /q[n|b|r|f]
      Sets user interface level
      n - No UI
      b - Basic UI
      r - Reduced UI
      f - Full UI (default)
      /help
      Help information
      Restart Options
      /norestart
      Do not restart after the installation is complete
      /promptrestart
      Prompts the user for restart if necessary
      /forcerestart
      Always restart the computer after installation
      <<<<<

      Example Code (VB Script) as I had working embedded in HTML:

      <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="VBScript">
      <!--
      Const sDataFolder = "C:\\"
      Sub Barcode_OnClick
      Dim TheForm
      Set TheForm = Document.DispForm
      strPrice = "�" & TheForm.wk_phc_prod_price.Value
      strProd = TheForm.wk_phc_prod_title.Value
      strCode = TheForm.wk_phc_prod_code.Value
      Set ObjDoc = CreateObject("BrssCom.Document")
      bRet = ObjDoc.Open(sDataFolder & "PHC_Barcode.lbl")
      If (bRet <> False) Then
      ObjDoc.SetText 1, strPrice
      ObjDoc.SetText 3, strProd
      ObjDoc.SetBarcodeData 0, strCode
      ObjDoc.DoPrint 0, "0"
      Else
      strText = "Configuration error: PHC_Barcode label definition cannot be found at C:\"
      MsgBox strText
      End If
      Set ObjDoc = Nothing
      End Sub

      -->
      </SCRIPT>

      Lenny, as you quite rightly state, it shouldn't take too much work to convert to Xbasic. Although I'm an experienced developer, I'm new to Alpha5 and Xbasic :-(

      I hope this thread helps anyone looking for a barcode printing solution...
      Last edited by daz_racing; 05-31-2006, 01:15 PM.
      Regards,
      Darren Farmer
      ________________________
      Alpha5V8 Enterprise
      Windows XP Professional
      AMD Turion 64 x2/Athlon 64

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