Barcodes to Zebra6m via VB.Net 1

[Jay1b]

Hi

I was wondering whether someone could please help me?

I am trying to print a barcode to a Zebra6m 300dpi printer from a VB application. From UNIX if i print a file with the following contents i get a barcode.

^XA
^FO540,175^B3N,N,100,Y,N^FD 69^FS
^XZ

So logically i thought if i print this from Windows i will again get the barcode, but i dont. I just get those three lines printed in full.

I wondered whether its just VB adding something in, as i also had to declare a font. So i tried this through DOS Edit and again i get the 3 lines printed perfectly but no barcode.

Could someone please tell me why this is happening?

Thanks

 

[DougP]

so you have this
a file with the above code in it?
call it myfile.txt OK

then you go to DOS
and type
COPY C:\MYFILE.TXT LPT1:


DougP, MCP, A+

 

[Jay1b]

Thanks for replying.

I tried what you have suggested and it works perfectly. I retried printing it from Dos EDIT and this time it worked as well, so i presume i must of done something wrong last time i tried it! doh!

Taking this into mind, could you please advise me on how i can get this working with VB? I presume it must be to do the fact i have to specify a font.

Thanks again.

 

[Jay1b]

I still cant get the barcode to print to via VB. Has anyone got any suggestions pls?

 

[Jay1b]

Sorry just to clarify, i can print the barcodes from VB by creating a file then copying this to LPT1: but personally i think thats a slow way of doing it, also very unprofessional like.

Thanks for any idea's in advance.

 

[KIRBY2000]

What windows printer driver is being used?
Perhaps the driver is the problem...

 

[Jay1b]

Thanks.

Under Driver it just says
'Zebra Z6M Plus (300dpi)' but that is also the name assigned to the printer. I dont know if thats an issue or not?

Would it not use the Windows Print Driver when i copy the file to the printer then?

 

[DougP]

Jay1b,
You are right it is not very elegant but it works.
I have used it for years, and there are a few things to make it better. One is to hide the DOS box you are shelling to.

x = Shell(File1, vbMinimizedFocus)

Also when you are doing this method you don’t need a Windows printer driver you are sending ZPL (Zebra Programming Language) directly to the printer. Much faster since that’s what the printer wants to see anyway.


DougP, MCP, A+

 

[Jay1b]

Thanks. Looks like i will just have to do it that way then.

I dont get a DOS box, literary i am just using 'File.Move (varfilename, "LPT1:")'. I should clarify this is in VB.Net 2003.