NET code to send ZPL to Zebra printers

Question

Is there a way to send ZPL  Zebra Programming Language  to a printer in  NET   I have the code to do this in Delphi  but it is not pretty and I would rather not try to recreate it in  NET as it is

User · Answer

VB Version  using port 9100 - tested on Zebra ZM400   Sub PrintZPL ByVal pIP As String  ByVal psZPL As String      Dim lAddress As Net IPEndPoint     Dim lSocket As System Net Sockets Socket   Nothing     Dim lNetStream As System Net Sockets NetworkStream   Nothing     Dim lBytes As Byte        Try         lAddress   New Net IPEndPoint Net IPAddress Parse pIP   9100          lSocket   New Socket AddressFamily InterNetwork  SocketType Stream                          ProtocolType Tcp          lSocket Connect lAddress          lNetStream   New NetworkStream lSocket           lBytes   System Text Encoding ASCII GetBytes psZPL          lNetStream Write lBytes  0  lBytes Length      Catch ex As Exception When Not App Debugging         Msgbox ex message  amp  vbnewline  amp  ex tostring     Finally         If Not lNetStream Is Nothing Then             lNetStream Close           End If         If Not lSocket Is Nothing Then             lSocket Close           End If     End Try End Sub

User · Answer

This way you will be able to send ZPL to a printer no matter how it is connected  LPT  USB  Network Share      Create the RawPrinterHelper class  from the Microsoft article on How to send raw data to a printer by using Visual C   NET    using System  using System Drawing  using System Drawing Printing  using System IO  using System Windows Forms  using System Runtime InteropServices   public class RawPrinterHelper          Structure and API declarions       StructLayout LayoutKind Sequential  CharSet CharSet Ansi       public class DOCINFOA                MarshalAs UnmanagedType LPStr   public string pDocName           MarshalAs UnmanagedType LPStr   public string pOutputFile           MarshalAs UnmanagedType LPStr   public string pDataType             DllImport  winspool Drv   EntryPoint  OpenPrinterA   SetLastError true  CharSet CharSet Ansi  ExactSpelling true  CallingConvention CallingConvention StdCall       public static extern bool OpenPrinter  MarshalAs UnmanagedType LPStr   string szPrinter  out IntPtr hPrinter  IntPtr pd         DllImport  winspool Drv   EntryPoint  ClosePrinter   SetLastError true  ExactSpelling true  CallingConvention CallingConvention StdCall       public static extern bool ClosePrinter IntPtr hPrinter         DllImport  winspool Drv   EntryPoint  StartDocPrinterA   SetLastError true  CharSet CharSet Ansi  ExactSpelling true  CallingConvention CallingConvention StdCall       public static extern bool StartDocPrinter  IntPtr hPrinter  Int32 level    In  MarshalAs UnmanagedType LPStruct   DOCINFOA di         DllImport  winspool Drv   EntryPoint  EndDocPrinter   SetLastError true  ExactSpelling true  CallingConvention CallingConvention StdCall       public static extern bool EndDocPrinter IntPtr hPrinter         DllImport  winspool Drv   EntryPoint  StartPagePrinter   SetLastError true  ExactSpelling true  CallingConvention CallingConvention StdCall       public static extern bool StartPagePrinter IntPtr hPrinter         DllImport  winspool Drv   EntryPoint  EndPagePrinter   SetLastError true  ExactSpelling true  CallingConvention CallingConvention StdCall       public static extern bool EndPagePrinter IntPtr hPrinter         DllImport  winspool Drv   EntryPoint  WritePrinter   SetLastError true  ExactSpelling true  CallingConvention CallingConvention StdCall       public static extern bool WritePrinter IntPtr hPrinter  IntPtr pBytes  Int32 dwCount  out Int32 dwWritten            SendBytesToPrinter          When the function is given a printer name and an unmanaged array        of bytes  the function sends those bytes to the print queue         Returns true on success  false on failure      public static bool SendBytesToPrinter  string szPrinterName  IntPtr pBytes  Int32 dwCount                Int32    dwError   0  dwWritten   0          IntPtr    hPrinter   new IntPtr 0           DOCINFOA    di   new DOCINFOA            bool    bSuccess   false     Assume failure unless you specifically succeed           di pDocName    My C  NET RAW Document           di pDataType    RAW               Open the printer          if  OpenPrinter  szPrinterName Normalize    out hPrinter  IntPtr Zero                              Start a document              if  StartDocPrinter hPrinter  1  di                                     Start a page                  if  StartPagePrinter hPrinter                                             Write your bytes                      bSuccess   WritePrinter hPrinter  pBytes  dwCount  out dwWritten                       EndPagePrinter hPrinter                                     EndDocPrinter hPrinter                             ClosePrinter hPrinter                        If you did not succeed  GetLastError may give more information            about why not          if  bSuccess    false                             dwError   Marshal GetLastWin32Error                      return bSuccess             public static bool SendFileToPrinter  string szPrinterName  string szFileName                    Open the file          FileStream fs   new FileStream szFileName  FileMode Open              Create a BinaryReader on the file          BinaryReader br   new BinaryReader fs              Dim an array of bytes big enough to hold the file s contents          Byte   bytes   new Byte fs Length           bool bSuccess   false             Your unmanaged pointer          IntPtr pUnmanagedBytes   new IntPtr 0           int nLength           nLength   Convert ToInt32 fs Length              Read the contents of the file into the array          bytes   br ReadBytes  nLength               Allocate some unmanaged memory for those bytes          pUnmanagedBytes   Marshal AllocCoTaskMem nLength              Copy the managed byte array into the unmanaged array          Marshal Copy bytes  0  pUnmanagedBytes  nLength              Send the unmanaged bytes to the printer          bSuccess   SendBytesToPrinter szPrinterName  pUnmanagedBytes  nLength              Free the unmanaged memory that you allocated earlier          Marshal FreeCoTaskMem pUnmanagedBytes           return bSuccess            public static bool SendStringToPrinter  string szPrinterName  string szString                 IntPtr pBytes          Int32 dwCount             How many characters are in the string          dwCount   szString Length             Assume that the printer is expecting ANSI text  and then convert            the string to ANSI text          pBytes   Marshal StringToCoTaskMemAnsi szString              Send the converted ANSI string to the printer          SendBytesToPrinter szPrinterName  pBytes  dwCount           Marshal FreeCoTaskMem pBytes           return true            Call the print method               private void BtnPrint Click object sender  System EventArgs e        string s     XA LH30 30 n FO20 10 ADN 90 50 AD FDHello World FS n XZ        PrintDialog pd    new PrintDialog        pd PrinterSettings   new PrinterSettings        if DialogResult OK    pd ShowDialog this                 RawPrinterHelper SendStringToPrinter pd PrinterSettings PrinterName  s               There are 2 gotchas I ve come across that happen when you re sending txt files with ZPL codes to the printer    The file has to end with a new line character Encoding has to be set to Encoding Default when reading ANSI txt files with special characters  public static bool SendTextFileToPrinter string szFileName  string printerName        var sb   new StringBuilder         using  var sr   new StreamReader szFileName  Encoding Default                 while   sr EndOfStream                        sb AppendLine sr ReadLine                          return RawPrinterHelper SendStringToPrinter printerName  sb ToString

User · Answer

The simplest solution is with copying files to shared printer  Example in C    System IO File Copy inputFilePath  printerPath     where    inputFilePath - path to ZPL file  special extension is not required   printerPath - path to shared    printer  for example   127 0 0 1 zebraGX

User · Answer

Here is how to do it using TCP IP protocol       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     Source   ZEBRA WEBSITE

User · Answer

liquide s answer works great    System IO File Copy inputFilePath  printerPath     Which I found from the Zebra s ZPL Programmer s Guide Volume 1  2005

User · Answer

I use the combo of these two      Private Sub sendData ByVal zpl As String      Dim ns As System Net Sockets NetworkStream   Nothing     Dim socket As System Net Sockets Socket   Nothing     Dim printerIP As Net IPEndPoint   Nothing     Dim toSend As Byte        Try         If printerIP Is Nothing Then              set the IP address             printerIP   New Net IPEndPoint IPAddress Parse IP ADDRESS   9100          End If           Create a TCP socket         socket   New Socket AddressFamily InterNetwork  SocketType Stream  ProtocolType Tcp           Connect to the printer based on the IP address         socket Connect printerIP           create a new network stream based on the socket connection         ns   New NetworkStream socket            convert the zpl command to a byte array         toSend   System Text Encoding ASCII GetBytes zpl            send the zpl byte array over the networkstream to the connected printer         ns Write toSend  0  toSend Length       Catch ex As Exception         MessageBox Show ex Message   Cable Printer   MessageBoxButtons OKCancel  MessageBoxIcon Error      Finally          close the networkstream and then the socket         If Not ns Is Nothing Then             ns Close           End If          If Not socket Is Nothing Then             socket Close           End If     End Try End Sub   Private Function createString   As String     Dim command As String      command     XA      command      LH20 25       If rdoSmall Checked   True Then         command      FO1 30 A0 N 25 25 FD      ElseIf rdoNormal Checked   True Then         command      FO1 30 A0 N 35 35 FD      Else         command      FO1 30 A0 N 50 50 FD      End If      command    txtInput Text     command      FS      command      XZ       Return command  End Function

User · Answer

Figured since this is still showing up high in search results for C  and ZPL I should mention SharpZebra  It s only EPL2  but I ve submitted an update that adds ZPL support along with printing via sockets  the Windows Spool Service and direct USB

User · Answer

Take a look at this thread  Print ZPL codes to ZEBRA printer using PrintDocument class   Specifically the OP pick this function from the answers to the thread    DllImport  kernel32 dll   SetLastError   true   static extern SafeFileHandle CreateFile string lpFileName  FileAccess dwDesiredAccess  uint dwShareMode  IntPtr lpSecurityAttributes  FileMode dwCreationDisposition  uint dwFlagsAndAttributes  IntPtr hTemplateFile    private void Print            Command to be sent to the printer     string command     XA FO10 10  AO 30 20 FDFDTesting FS FO10 30 BY3 BCN 100 Y N N FDTesting FS XZ           Create a buffer with the command     Byte   buffer   new byte command Length       buffer   System Text Encoding ASCII GetBytes command          Use the CreateFile external func to connect to the LPT1 port     SafeFileHandle printer   CreateFile  LPT1    FileAccess ReadWrite  0  IntPtr Zero  FileMode Open  0  IntPtr Zero          Aqui verifico se a impressora    v  lida     if  printer IsInvalid    true                return                Open the filestream to the lpt1 port and send the command     FileStream lpt1   new FileStream printer  FileAccess ReadWrite       lpt1 Write buffer  0  buffer Length          Close the FileStream connection     lpt1 Close

User · Answer

I ve managed a project that does this with sockets for years   Zebra s typically use port 6101   I ll look through the code and post what I can   public void SendData string zpl        NetworkStream ns   null      Socket socket   null       try               if  printerIP    null                           IP is a string property for the printer s IP address                    6101 is the common port of all our Zebra printers                 printerIP   new IPEndPoint IPAddress Parse IP   6101                        socket   new Socket AddressFamily InterNetwork              SocketType Stream              ProtocolType Tcp           socket Connect printerIP            ns   new NetworkStream socket            byte   toSend   Encoding ASCII GetBytes zpl           ns Write toSend  0  toSend Length             finally               if  ns    null              ns Close             if  socket    null  amp  amp  socket Connected              socket Close

User · Answer

There is an answer on the Zebra support website   https   km zebra com kb index page content amp id SA301 amp cat ZISV PL ZPL amp actp LIST

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