Send Raw Data to ZPL Printer using Visual Basic (MS Access 2000)

Question

This is all that I can find, none of them work.

Option Compare Database Option Explicit

  Private Type DOCINFO
      pDocName As String
      pOutputFile As String
      pDatatype As String
  End Type

  Private Declare Function ClosePrinter Lib "winspool.drv" (ByVal _
     hPrinter As Long) As Long
  Private Declare Function EndDocPrinter Lib "winspool.drv" (ByVal _
     hPrinter As Long) As Long
  Private Declare Function EndPagePrinter Lib "winspool.drv" (ByVal _
     hPrinter As Long) As Long
  Private Declare Function OpenPrinter Lib "winspool.drv" Alias _
     "OpenPrinterA" (ByVal pPrinterName As String, phPrinter As Long, _
      ByVal pDefault As Long) As Long
  Private Declare Function StartDocPrinter Lib "winspool.drv" Alias _
     "StartDocPrinterA" (ByVal hPrinter As Long, ByVal Level As Long, _
     pDocInfo As DOCINFO) As Long
  Private Declare Function StartPagePrinter Lib "winspool.drv" (ByVal _
     hPrinter As Long) As Long
  Private Declare Function WritePrinter Lib "winspool.drv" (ByVal _
     hPrinter As Long, pBuf As Any, ByVal cdBuf As Long, _
     pcWritten As Long) As Long

  Private Sub TEST()
      Dim lhPrinter As Long
      Dim lReturn As Long
      Dim lpcWritten As Long
      Dim lDoc As Long
      Dim sWrittenData As String
      Dim MyDocInfo As DOCINFO
      lReturn = OpenPrinter("ZDesigner LP 2844", lhPrinter, 0)
      If lReturn = 0 Then
          MsgBox "The Printer Name you typed wasn't recognized."
          Exit Sub
      End If
      MyDocInfo.pDocName = "AAAAAA"
      MyDocInfo.pOutputFile = vbNullString
      MyDocInfo.pDatatype = vbNullString
      lDoc = StartDocPrinter(lhPrinter, 1, MyDocInfo)
      Call StartPagePrinter(lhPrinter)
       sWrittenData = "N" & vbFormFeed
      sWrittenData = sWrittenData & "q609" & vbFormFeed
      sWrittenData = sWrittenData & "Q203,26" & vbFormFeed
      sWrittenData = sWrittenData & "B26,26,0,UA0,2,2,152,B," & Chr(34) & "603679025109" & Chr(34) & vbFormFeed
      sWrittenData = sWrittenData & "A253,26,0,3,1,1,N," & Chr(34) & "SKU 6205518 MFG 6354" & Chr(34) & vbFormFeed
      sWrittenData = sWrittenData & "A253,56,0,3,1,1,N," & Chr(34) & "2XIST TROPICAL BEACH" & Chr(34) & vbFormFeed
      sWrittenData = sWrittenData & "A253,86,0,3,1,1,N," & Chr(34) & "STRIPE SQUARE CUT TRUNK" & Chr(34) & vbFormFeed
      sWrittenData = sWrittenData & "A253,116,0,3,1,1,N," & Chr(34) & "BRICK" & Chr(34) & vbFormFeed
      sWrittenData = sWrittenData & "A253,146,0,3,1,1,N," & Chr(34) & "X-LARGE" & Chr(34) & vbFormFeed
      sWrittenData = sWrittenData & "P1,1" & vbFormFeed
      lReturn = WritePrinter(lhPrinter, ByVal sWrittenData, _
         Len(sWrittenData), lpcWritten)
      lReturn = EndPagePrinter(lhPrinter)
      lReturn = EndDocPrinter(lhPrinter)
      lReturn = ClosePrinter(lhPrinter)
  End Sub

Method 2

Option Compare Database

Private Sub crtLabel()


Dim prtDevice As String
Dim strQuote As String

strQuote = Chr(34)
prtDevice = "ZDesigner LP 2844" ' whatever device Access currently has as the default. I have the user select a printer prior to printing, which sets the Access defaut printer

' open printer port
Open prtDevice For Output As #1
' initialize printer
Print #1, "OD" & vbCrLf
Print #1, "N" & vbCrLf
Print #1, "O" & vbCrLf
Print #1, "Q545,B12+23" & vbCrLf
Print #1, "q262" & vbCrLf
Print #1, "UN" & vbCrLf
Print #1, "rN" & vbCrLf
Print #1, "N" & vbCrLf
Print #1, "A4,94,3,3,1,1,N," & strQuote & "1803" & strQuote & vbCrLf
Print #1, "A36,74,3,3,1,1,N," & strQuote & "B" & strQuote & vbCrLf
Print #1, "A64,94,3,3,1,1,N," & strQuote & "079" & strQuote & vbCrLf
Print #1, "A112,8,0,2,1,1,N," & strQuote & strQuote & vbCrLf ' you can replace any string like "1803" with a string variable like SID or AID that gets passed to the sub
Print #1, "A112,32,0,3,1,1,N," & strQuote & strQuote & vbCrLf  ' same here
Print #1, "A112,64,0,1,1,1,N," & strQuote & "04/13/2009" & strQuote & vbCrLf
Print #1, "A130,100,0,1,1,1,N," & strQuote & "SWAB, NASO" & strQuote & vbCrLf
Print #1, "A4,100,0,1,1,1,N," & strQuote & "C146536" & strQuote & vbCrLf
Print #1, "B53,130,0,1,1,0,47,N," & strQuote & "2009-06868" & strQuote & vbCrLf
Print #1, "A112,188,0,1,1,1,N," & strQuote & "" & strQuote & vbCrLf
Print #1, "P1,1" & vbCrLf
Print #1, "O" & vbCrLf
' close printer port
Close #1


End Sub

Nothing happens after running the function. It's like the printer is not touched at all by the code.

UPDATE Method 1 is the closest thing I can get to printing the file. After executing the command, there is a printer icon at the status bar show that the printer has been called and receiving data from my code, but still, no printing at all. Help...

Answer 1

Okay so this is how I managed to get thing this work. Not a best option as I wanted but ... it works.

1) I use the same function, but written in C++, taken from here http://support.microsoft.com/kb/138594/EN-US

// RawDataToPrinter - sends binary data directly to a printer
   // 
   // Params:
   //   szPrinterName - NULL terminated string specifying printer name
   //   lpData        - Pointer to raw data bytes
   //   dwCount       - Length of lpData in bytes
   // 
   // Returns: TRUE for success, FALSE for failure.
   // 
   BOOL RawDataToPrinter(LPSTR szPrinterName, LPBYTE lpData, DWORD dwCount)
   {
     HANDLE     hPrinter;
     DOC_INFO_1 DocInfo;
     DWORD      dwJob;
     DWORD      dwBytesWritten;

     // Need a handle to the printer.
     if( ! OpenPrinter( szPrinterName, &hPrinter, NULL ) )
       return FALSE;

     // Fill in the structure with info about this "document."
     DocInfo.pDocName = "My Document";
     DocInfo.pOutputFile = NULL;
     DocInfo.pDatatype = "RAW";
     // Inform the spooler the document is beginning.
     if( (dwJob = StartDocPrinter( hPrinter, 1, (LPSTR)&DocInfo )) == 0 )
     {
       ClosePrinter( hPrinter );
       return FALSE;
     }
     // Start a page.
     if( ! StartPagePrinter( hPrinter ) )
     {
       EndDocPrinter( hPrinter );
       ClosePrinter( hPrinter );
       return FALSE;
     }
     // Send the data to the printer.
     if( ! WritePrinter( hPrinter, lpData, dwCount, &dwBytesWritten ) )
     {
       EndPagePrinter( hPrinter );
       EndDocPrinter( hPrinter );
       ClosePrinter( hPrinter );
       return FALSE;
     }
     // End the page.
     if( ! EndPagePrinter( hPrinter ) )
     {
       EndDocPrinter( hPrinter );
       ClosePrinter( hPrinter );
       return FALSE;
     }
     // Inform the spooler that the document is ending.
     if( ! EndDocPrinter( hPrinter ) )
     {
       ClosePrinter( hPrinter );
       return FALSE;
     }
     // Tidy up the printer handle.
     ClosePrinter( hPrinter );
     // Check to see if correct number of bytes were written.
     if( dwBytesWritten != dwCount )
       return FALSE;
     return TRUE;
   }

I got the file RAWPRN.EXE from there, put my EPL code in a txt file. Finally, use Shell to execute it

Dim RetVal
RetVal = Shell("cmd .exe /c C:\rawprint\RawPrint.exe ""ZDesigner LP 2844"" ""C:\eplcode.txt""", 1)

Answer 2

if it is mapped to a parallel or com port, you can open that directly:

open "LPT1:" For Output as #1
' or open "COM1:"
print #1, "SomeData"
Close #1

Answer 3

What I like to do is do something similar to your Method 2, but save it to a file (the raw printer data) and then do a file copy to the UNC path.

file copy "C:\label.txt" \computername\sharename

That works for me.

Answer 4

My solution for Zebra

1. Creating a generic/text printer in windows then sending to raw file to this printer
2. In Zebra printers advanced settings --> others, there is a passthrough characters. You can send raw text with this to this printer.