Using Intermec printers to print through LabVIEW

[YuanGe]

Hi! I would like to call my Intermec label printer to print through LabVIEW over the serial connection (RS-232 port) but I have no idea on how to start. Anyone has any suggestions or examples that I can refer to ?

Thanks!

Regards,

YuanGe

[smercurio_fc]

There are no drivers for the printer on the National Instrument Driver Network, so it looks like you'll need to write your own. Since it uses a serial connection did it come with some example program? Do you have the documentation? Are there any examples on how to talk to the printer using HyperTerminal? How much LabVIEW experience do you have?

[YuanGe]

Hi Smercurio,

Thanks for the reply. I only have some example programs which were written using Visual Basic 6.0 as reference. I do have the Intermec Programming Language(IPL) Guide also.

I had tried to do some callings to the printer using the commands from the IPL Guide, but it seems that the printer doesn't respond to anything at all. I am using the  basic_serial_write_and_read.vi to do some serial programming with the printer and LabVIEW but to no avail. Every command that I tried to input, the read control returns exactly what I had input, which probably shows that it is not working as I hope it is.

I had used LabVIEW for my final year project during my university days, but it had nothing to do with serial connection/communication, so you can say I am a greenhorn in this area.

Attached is the VI that I used to do the calling and the IPL Guide.

Many thanks!

Regards,

YuanGe

[Dennis_Knutson]

As mentioned in the manual, you need to send the ASCII control codes and based on your version of the basic serial write and read, you are not doing that. What you are sending is the characters '<', 'S', 'T', 'X', etc. The <STX> control code is a hex02 and can also be represented in '\' Code Display (what you have) as \02.

The manual also has instructions on how to use Hyperterminal. If you don't have a test program from the vendor, you need to run Hyperterminal first to at least determine whether you have the correct cable.

[YuanGe]

Hi Dennis,

 I had tried to send this command <STX><ENQ><ETX> which is basically a command to check the status of the printer in all possible ways like ^B^E^C which is the control code format, \02\05\03 which is in the hex format. All these commands return exactly what I had input, without any changes.

I do have some test programs in Visual Basic 6.0 format which works at least in passing instructions to the printer which shows at least my cable is working fine.

Many thanks.

Regards,

YuanGe  

[Dennis_Knutson]

There is no such thing as control code format and \02\05\03 is not hex format. There are three options for displaying text. You right click on a string control and select Normal Display, Hex Display, or '\' Codes Display. The display format for your string control is '\' Codes Display. Your \02\05\03 should have worked if you tried it with the display set to that but you might want to verify. I find that in situations like this, the simplest thing is to just set the string control to hex display.

[YuanGe]

Hmm...it is still returning the exact inputs that I entered. Is there any VI examples of using LabVIEW to do a simple connection to a Intermec Printer like PB50?

Regards,

YuanGe 

[Simran_K]

Hi YuanGe,

Lets try communicating with the printer using Hyperterminal before using LabVIEW. We want to make sure all the hardware is setup properly. The instructions for using Hyperterminal are located on page 6 of the Intermec Programming Language(IPL) Guide that you posted earlier.

Thank you,

[YuanGe]

Hi Simran_K,

I had tried communicating via the hyperterminal which works fine. It seems that my printer 'listens' to the commands based on the progmming tool called Fingerprint from Intermec rather than the <STX> stuff from the IPL guide.

Anyway, after testing with hyperterminal, I tried to use the Advanced Serial Write and Read.vi instead of the basic_serial_write_and_read.vi to command the printer using Fingerprint which interestingly works. I am still buffled at why the basic vi doesn't work whereas the advance vi is able to send the Fingerprint commands to the printer without much fuss. The settings for both vi are almost similar just that the advance vi has more configurations which i did not really touch or adjust.

Regards,

YuanGe

[Simran_K]

Hi YuanGe,

Thank you for the reply and I am glad everything is working now.

Regards,