Crystal "PrintToPrinter" will not print to Zebra Label Printer... HELP!

[ATJaguarX]

I have a Zebra S500 and multiple S600 label printers.

http://www.zebra.com/id/zebra/na/en/index/products/printers/industrial_commercial/s600.html

They are currently being used in our legacy Foxpro application just
fine. We are upgrading to ASP.NET and Crystal XI. I need to automate
the process of printing these labels, so that when the use performs a
specific action on the web app, the label automatically prints. The
user cannot be taken to a "Print Preview" page... the label has to just
print.

Here is my code:

With ReportDoc
.SetDataSource(MyDataSet)
.PrintOptions.PrinterName = "MyZebra"
.PrintToPrinter(1, False, 1, 1)
End With

Simple and sweet.... but it doesn't work. If I change the PrinterName
to our HP Laserjet 4 printer... it works just fine. If I take the user
to a print preview window and allow them to print from there (by
selecting the Zebra label printer), it also works just fine.

A thing to point out... when I hit the code "PrintToPrinter" the
activity light on the Zebra Label Printer blinks once... and thats
it... nothing else happens. So I know its getting something, but it is
apparently missing something as well.

I have gone as far as setting the PaperSize, PaperSource, PageMargins,
PaperOrientation to try to find something to make it print... but no
such luck.

ANY help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Homer J Simpson]

A thing to point out... when I hit the code "PrintToPrinter" the
activity light on the Zebra Label Printer blinks once... and thats
it... nothing else happens. So I know its getting something, but it is
apparently missing something as well.

I have gone as far as setting the PaperSize, PaperSource, PageMargins,
PaperOrientation to try to find something to make it print... but no
such luck.

Have you tried appending a form feed to the printer output?

 

[ATJaguarX]

How do I append a form feed to the printer output?

 

[ATJaguarX]

How do I append a form feed to the printer output?

 

[Homer J Simpson]

How do I append a form feed to the printer output?

That IS a question! Try adding another PrintDocument.Print() to your Printer
Object. Does the printer have a formfeed button? What happens if you print
from VB, take the printer offline and press it?

 

[ATJaguarX]

I'm not using a printer object... I'm using a Crystal Reports
"ReportDoc" object to print the report.

 

[ATJaguarX]

I'm not using a printer object... I'm using a Crystal Reports
"ReportDoc" object to print the report.

 

[Homer J Simpson]

I'm not using a printer object... I'm using a Crystal Reports
"ReportDoc" object to print the report.

If you print more than one page do all but the last one print?

 

[ATJaguarX]

The label is only 1 page. I have tried printing pages 1 to 10...
nothing prints at all.

 

[Homer J Simpson]

The label is only 1 page. I have tried printing pages 1 to 10...
nothing prints at all.

I can only suggest you try printing to a file and looking at the output. You
could also look at the properties for the printer. One final idea, set up a
generic printer and try some different commands with that.

Have you tried zebra.com?

 

[ATJaguarX]

I have tried Zebra.com... they have nothing on there in terms of
Crystal Reports and/or .NET.

 

[Homer J Simpson]

I have tried Zebra.com... they have nothing on there in terms of
Crystal Reports and/or .NET.

At this point I would look for a copy of 'prn2file' and use it to see what
is actually going to the printer.

 

[Laurie Curtis]

I am having a similar problem trying to print using the .NET
printdocument and printdialog controls from my new application.

The Zebra printer will flash the data light, but nothing prints.

I can print to the printer using notepad or word, but not from my .NET
application.

I can print to other printers from my .NET application and I can send
the raw data to the Zebra printer using ZPL instructions... but this
does not provide the quality and data matrix size that I must have.

Have you found a solution to your situation yet?

 

[Stephen Plotnick]

I've developed hundreds of programs that print to a Zebra printer in COBOL.
Try programming using the ELP printer language directly to the printer
instead of using the print spooler program. I can send you a sample output
that prints a bin label that I redirected to file.All fields and field types
are human readable.They five you a program to design your label and than
save the work to a human readable file that you than can program in your
program. This file from the program saves in ELP language.

Steve