Zebra printer - Printing from LabVIEW using ZPL commands....

[Mark_Yedinak]

I'm investigating changing the low level code and converting it to use a new version of our printer SDK. I'll know more about that shortly.

[MengHuiHanTang]

Hi, Mark, 

I know this is an old post about the USB driver for Zebra printer, way back in 2014. 

Before Windows7, I can still create the USB driver from NI VISA and make it work easily.

But now for Windows 10, the driver cannot be installed any more because of lack of 'Digital Signature'. NI posted a solution for this, but it requires using 'Inf2cat.exe', 'signingTool.exe', etc.

Here is the link https://knowledge.ni.com/KnowledgeArticleDetails?id=kA00Z0000019L9QSAU&l=en-US 

So I am thinking, before I jump to that mess, I want to ask you about the current status of the USB driver for a Zebra printer (Gx420T in our case)? Is there one available for download? Thanks much. 

[K.C]

Hi

Digital signature restriction can be override temporarily and using admin install the zebra driver created using NI Visa. win 8, and 10 both will support this method. That is how i installed.and it works fine.Details of how to override digital signature in win 8 and 10 can be obtained from microsoft website.

[MengHuiHanTang]

Hi, Mark, 

Hope this post will somehow find you. Need your help with the IQ Color.

We just realized that a Zebra printer can print in colors (up to 4 colors) through the IQ Color labels. We don't know whether we can control/activate the color programmatically by sending a zebra command. I looked through the Zebra programming guide, but did not find such a command. 

Can you please let us know whether it is possible? If so, which command? Thanks much. 

[Mark_Yedinak]

I believe you have to custom order the media with your designated colors and zones (up to three). Then when you print to that portion of the label you get the colors specified. There is no specific ZPL commands to enable/disable this. It is all based on the media itself.

[MengHuiHanTang]

I see. So if I want to print a red square, I just need to send 'print' command to the 'RED' region. 

So which command is to print a filled shape, like a square or rectangle?

^XA

^LRY

^FO100,100

^GC250,10,B^FS

^LRN

^XZ

Is this the code to print a filled circle?

[Mark_Yedinak]

Based on my limited knowledge of this you would use normal ZPL commands to print in the color zones. So you would use a ^GB command to print a box in the color zone. I am not familiar with IQ media itself. Best to contact some direct from zebra.com (https://www.zebra.com/us/en/products/supplies/labels-tags.html). There is a chat option on the media page.

[Mark_Yedinak]

---

@MengHuiHanTang wrote:

I see. So if I want to print a red square, I just need to send 'print' command to the 'RED' region. 

So which command is to print a filled shape, like a square or rectangle?

^XA

^LRY

^FO100,100

^GC250,10,B^FS

^LRN

^XZ

Is this the code to print a filled circle?

---

You don't need the ^LR command. To print a black circle, the following format would be used:

^XA

^FO100,100

^GC250,125,B^FS

^XZ

A black box would be

^XA
^FO100,100
^GB250,250,125,B^FS
^XZ

The ^LR command is used to reverse the color of the text that is placed over a black area of the label.

[sergrams]

Hi Mark, 

Have you updated this to work with Windows 10, 64-bit? 

I'm using Labview 2018 and a Zebra ZD421.

I've tried the files you released and the VIs will freeze, keep spinning, even to turn them off after running. 

I'm simply trying to send a few ZPL commands to the printer to print out a simple serial number label. 

Thanks 

[Mark_Yedinak]

Unfortunately there is not a 64-bit version of this. The underlying DLL is 32-bit only.