Open cash drawer connected to EPSON TM-T88iii POS printer

[Tor Inge Schulstad]

Hi

I'm developing a POS software using an Epson TM-T88iii printer with a
cash drawer connected to the printer. The printer is connected via a usb
interface to the pc.

Can anyone tell me how I can open the cash drawer from my VB.NET
application? The printer driver requires me to use a soft font named
"control" in the printer, and print the letter "A", but if I'm right,
the .NET framework does not support using soft fonts...

I have seen people referring to this article
http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb;EN-US;322090
but I can't get the sample application working with my tm-t88iii...

Any hints would be highly appreciated!

 

[Dick Grier]

Hi,

Are you sure that the printer isn't expecting a Control-A character to be
sent? That is, Chr(1), the ASCII SOH (Start Of Header) character?

What is the model for the cash drawer itself? Perhaps I can look up the
programming information.

BTW, this is very simple if the device connect serially, and more difficult
if parallel or USB. See:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;322090

Dick

--
Richard Grier (Microsoft Visual Basic MVP)

See www.hardandsoftware.net for contact information.

Author of Visual Basic Programmer's Guide to Serial Communications, 4th
Edition ISBN 1-890422-28-2 (391 pages) published July 2004. See
www.mabry.com/vbpgser4 to order.

 

[Tor Inge Schulstad]

Hi,

Are you sure that the printer isn't expecting a Control-A character to be
sent? That is, Chr(1), the ASCII SOH (Start Of Header) character?

What is the model for the cash drawer itself? Perhaps I can look up the
programming information.

BTW, this is very simple if the device connect serially, and more difficult
if parallel or USB. See:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;322090

Dick

Hi.

Thanks for your response!

The cash drawer has a model no. SS-103/3S-423, and is distributed by
International Cash Drawer Ltd.

If I use the Epson Advanced Printer Driver I have to select the font
named "control" and print the letter "A" to open the cash drawer.
This works from Wordpad, but from within VB.NET I'm not allowed to
select the printers soft fonts.

If I send data directly to the printer, I should be able to open the
drawer by sending the following chars:

PRINT #1, CHR$(&H1B); CHR$(&H70); CHR$(&H0); CHR$(60); CHR$(120);

(sample is from the printer manual, and is in BASIC)

The printer is unfortunately not connected serially, but by USB, and I
have not been able to figure out how to send chars directly to the
printer over the USB interface. I tried to implement the code from the
kb-article, but I can't get it working on my TM-T88iii printer. It works
on my other printers though.. I have to study the article a little bit
more to see if I can figure it out..