Implementing Avery Monarch 9416XL printer into C# project - c#

has anyone had any dealings with the above mentioned printer or one like it? I have been handed the task of introducing this printer into our c# project and am not sure where to start. I have created a sample .lbl file using Averys recommended software to get all of the dimensions correct. (Nicelabel SE)
the printer is connected to the PC via Network.
here is a Sample Image of the project that I am trying to create, I have spoken to one of the engineers at Monarch and he is helping me with creating a base file to send to the printer, and having some of the data as a variable.
ideally it would be good if I could launch a dos program which would handle this for me, but I seem to really be pulling at straws here.. I have seen the Zebra SDK, but im not sure if this printer is compatible.
Thanks.

I have spoken to the Guys from Avery and they built a template for me to use, and with a variable section in the code I was able to put in my own settings to get the required output.
To send the file to the printer I was able to use the LPR Service in windows using a batch file.

Related

Zebra s600 print script

This is my first try to create a c# script to print a label from a Zebra s600 printen. I have a really hard time finding a good guide on the internet about how this would work. The Zebra s600 is also a very old model. Right now I am using the SDK from Zebra:
https://www.zebra.com/gb/en/support-downloads/printer-software/link-os-multiplatform-sdk.html#text_f34a
But I found out that the s600 is not included in the support list. My script does activated a little greenlight on the printer the moment I run the script. But nothing else happens. I also have no idea how to search further for my issue. Every search is a dead end.
I did followed this tutorial because I could't find any example on the web:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvWG9_rE9rg
Seems like it still supports ZPL. Have you tried sending ~WC? Try opening a command prompt and doing echo ~WC > LPT1 or echo ~WC > COM1.
If that prints a config label, then you can either use the ZDesigner drivers to print to it as a normal windows printer. If you do not find a driver for the exact model of printer, just select one with the same DPI and PDL.
Or you can write ZPL directly to the printer. To figure out what ZPL to send, you can use ZebraDesigner. The free versions are sufficient. Avoid the XML functionality unless you find the printer to support it - it was introduced after that series, I think.

ESC \ POS Command - Setting User Settings

First I'd like to say that long time reader of this site! Has saved me a lot from some problems that I've run in to while learning how to develop applications (specifically in c#).
Now on to the problem I am facing. I am currently developing an application that will set the speed and the power supply unit values on the EPSON TM-T88V to the values of 13 and 3 (speed and PSU). I have been using the provided commands located here on EPSON's Site. I am able to communicate with the printer by sending simple commands such as cut paper and line feed using hex in c# (using RawPrinterHelper), So I know I am able to connect to it. When I attempt to enter the user setup by using the values provided in their website, the printer seems to just "lock up". I have to rest the printer after about 2 minutes for me to be able to use it again. Thankfully, it doesn't seem like its writing anything at all to the printer, which is probably why it hasn't failed yet.
Does anyone have any experience changing settings to POS printer (specifically EPSON) who could help me with this? Usually there's a tool that will allow you to just send a .txt file with HEX values (like TPGs), but I cannot seem to find anything like that for EPSON POS printers. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank You
Try to reset a printer (ESC #) before start a user settings commands. It helped for me in the same case.

Server side printing of PDF files over the network installed Printers

Gone through the already existing posts on this topic, but my requirement is some what bit different.
Print jobs over the Network installed printers, upon a action in client side browser. Web server has got all printers in it, based on the client data, we need to print with client given configuration straight away, sending the job to printer(may be a different locations - but this is not a problem since the printers are in same network). I have seen printing architecture, Win32_print Class, SNMP, System.drawing.Printing, System.Printing.... but couldn't find the way to achieve this.. (Asp.net,C#)
-Files are been already existed in a server folder, just I need to pick up and send to a printer with client Selected Configuration...
update:I have to use JDF approach because all the files are PDF files. I am able to create JDF files with the selected configuration but sending this JDF to printer(JDF enabled) making me tough... There is JMF which post the JDF to printer, but not sure how to implement it.. still finding the ways, will be great if some one helps in this.
Something I can answer! 8-) I'm actually working on a project that uses this, right now.
Do not use Acrobat Reader as any sort of server application. It has a User Interface that will pop up on a screen that doesn't exist, at an unexpected time and freeze your app, waiting for a click that will never happen.
Use Ghostscript. Ghostscript is free, Open Source and will work perfectly for what you want. Out-of-the-box it consists of a DLL and a command line inhterface, however there is an API and a ton of different interfaces including .Net, and versions for both Windows and Linux.
On a more "overview" type of note, the reason you can drag a PDF into a printer on your workstation is because Acrobat Reader contains the code and hooks to allow this. Windows doesn't actually contain native functionality to print PDFs.

Write/Read file in my iPhone app Shared File

I wrote an app on my iPhone. It's a more portable and smaller version of my pc software. I activated the File Sharing feature on my app so now I can transfer files through iTunes. But I want my pc software to be able to read or write files to that shared folder on my iPhone without having to do it manually through iTunes.
I have big constraints:
I can't use a Jailbroken iPhone/iPod/iPad
The vast majority of my customers don't have Internet access (It's a farm management software so even cellular are not available in some area)... :(
I heard there is a way using Manzana and MobileDevice.dll (itunesmobiledevice.dll). I don't really know how to use these dll. I tried to use Manzana a little but I can't access my folder since it's not a jailbroken iPhone.. Can someone help me with a little bit of code example?
Or is there other ways to make my iPhone app communicate with my C# application using the USB cable without internet access or Wifi?
mobiledevice.codeplex.com. This project should let you send and retrieve files from the phone
I'd suggest seeing if you can use the iTunes scripting interface. Add the COM reference iTunes 1.1 Type Library to a project and you can control many parts of itunes automatically. I can't find the documentation for it, but you can play around with the library and see if there is something to access the file sharing section.
Here's a decent introduction to using it:
http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/7723/Controlling-iTunes-through-COM

Working way to make video from images in C#

Does anybody have a known reliable way to create a video from a series of image files? Before you mod me down for not searching for the answer before posting the question, and before you fire off a simple message like "use FFMPEG," read the rest of this message.
I'm trying to create a video, it doesn't matter too much what format as long as it's widely supported, from a series of images (.jpg, .bmp, etc.). My platform is Windows Server 2008, 64-bit. If I can make the video from within my C# program, that's great, but I'm not averse to writing a series of image files to a directory and then firing off an external program to make a video from those images.
The only constraints are: it must work on my Windows Server 2008 system, and be scriptable. That is, no GUI programs that require operator intervention.
I found a number of similar questions on StackOverflow, and have tried several of the solutions, all with varying degrees of frustration and none with anything like success.
FFMPEG looks like a great program. Maybe it is, on Linux. The two Windows builds I downloaded are broken. Given this command line:
ffmpeg -r 1 -f image2 -i jpeg\*.jpg video.avi
One of the builds reads the images and then crashes due to data execution prevention. The other reads the first file and then spits out an error message that says "cannot find suitable codec for file jpeg/image2.jpg". Helpful, that. In any case, FFMPEG looks like a non-starter under Windows.
One answer to a previous posting recommended Splicer . It looks like pretty good code. I compiled the samples and tried to run, but got some cryptic error message about a file not found. It looks like a COM class isn't registered. I suppose I need to install something (DirectShow, maybe, although I thought that was already installed?). Depending on what's required, I might have a difficult time justifying its installation on a server. ("What? Why do you need that on a server?")
Another answer suggested the AviFile library from Code Project. That looks simple enough: a wrapper around the Windows AviFile subsystem. Except that the AVI files the package creates appear to have all of the frames, but only the first frame shows when I play the AVI in Windows Media Player. Well, that and if you try to create a compressed video, the program throws an exception.
So, I'm left wondering if there is a good, reliable way to do what I want: on a Windows system, create an AVI or other common video file format from a series of images, either through a .NET API or using an external program. Any help?
After working with it a while and taking a look at x264 and VideoLan, I went back to Splicer. It turns out that the cryptic error message was due to an error in my code.
It looks like Splicer will do what I want: programmatically create videos from a series of images.
Thanks to all who responded.
You can use VideoLan and I'd recommend it.
I've had direct experience in a C# application with VideoLan doing these two things:
Embedding a VLC viewer in my C# application (there are 3-4 C# "wrappers" for the VLC veiwer).
Using vlc.exe in a separate Process by sending it command-line arguments.
The fact that VideoLan has a command-line interface is a great thing. And VLC supports a command-line option that disables any visual element; so the VLC GUI doesn't pop up and neither does a command-line window. Thus, in a C# application you can farm out the video-related work to the VLC client. C# has the Process class which can manage your vlc.exe instances for you. It ends up being a pretty neat solution.
The handling of video on Windows (encoding and playback) is a real quagmire. And .NET isn't going to help you at all - you're always going to be either PInvoking/COM-interoping native APIs or using a .NET wrapper that someone else has built to do the same.
Anyway, I can't say I've used it, but a good bet seems to be the x264 library that is part of the videolan project. That gives you a self-contained C library that you can PInvoke and you don't have to worry about installing and DirectShow garbage on your server. It'll generate H.264 format video which is playable in Flash as I understand it.
I've used mplayer's mencoder to create AVI (with codecs msmpeg4/mp3, readable by default with Windows Media Player) from TGA files on linux like this:
mencoder mf://*.tga -mf fps=25:type=tga \
-audiofile /tmp/test.mp3 -oac copy \
-of lavf -ovc lavc \
-lavcopts vcodec=msmpeg4v2:mbd=2:mv0:trell:cbp:last_pred=3:vbitrate=3000 \
-o /tmp/test.avi
I know mplayer does have a Windows version.
Instead of just going through all the hassle, you could coppy all the images that you want to be included in your video to the clipboard and have it imported into Windows Live Movie Maker (dynamically, of course!) and have it compile for you!
All of this CAN be done through code, but this way, you don't have to create it yourself. As you said that the platform was Windows, and ALL Windows comps have Windows Live Movie Maker installed, so it shouldn't be a problem for anyone using your application unless
a) They uninstalled Windows Live Movie Maker
b) They are using a computer running on a Windows Version more than 8 or 9 years old...

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