Re: Printer control function for VB.NET linking EPSON TM-U220 and TM-T88IV Recept Printer - Visual Basic Discussion Boards

You want your setup file to run another MSI ? Is that what you mean ?

Christian Graus

Please read this if you don't understand the answer I've given you

"also I don't think "TranslateOneToTwoBillion OneHundredAndFortySevenMillion FourHundredAndEightyThreeThousand SixHundredAndFortySeven()" is a very good choice for a function name" - SpacixOne ( offering help to someone who really needed it ) ( spaces added for the benefit of people running at < 1280x1024 )

yes

What is the other setup ? Howare you creating a setup project ? Why not create a new MSI built on the old one, just adding the new files ?

Christian Graus

Please read this if you don't understand the answer I've given you

"also I don't think "TranslateOneToTwoBillion OneHundredAndFortySevenMillion FourHundredAndEightyThreeThousand SixHundredAndFortySeven()" is a very good choice for a function name" - SpacixOne ( offering help to someone who really needed it ) ( spaces added for the benefit of people running at < 1280x1024 )

Hello all,

I'm newbie to this forum and learning programming for myself. I need to create a code which used to control the receipt printer manually using a call function in VB.NET. So I can print out the price and item description to the receipt. I'm doing these for my sister which is running a souveniers shop Point-Of-Sales System. And this control function able to used by both Dot Matrix(TM-U220) and Thermal Line(TM-T88IV) Receipt Printer. Anyone can give me some solution about it?

Thanks for reading.

Printers are handled through a layer of abstraction, you should be able to use any printer tutorial and ave the driver handle the specifics of the printer for you

Christian Graus

Please read this if you don't understand the answer I've given you

"also I don't think "TranslateOneToTwoBillion OneHundredAndFortySevenMillion FourHundredAndEightyThreeThousand SixHundredAndFortySeven()" is a very good choice for a function name" - SpacixOne ( offering help to someone who really needed it ) ( spaces added for the benefit of people running at < 1280x1024 )

Sorry Christian Graus,what do you mean by printer tutorial? I'm trying to develop this code to solve my sisters Point of Sales problem. I need something like a sub function that can call a printer to printout the receipt. Is that any .NET build in component in VB.NET can help me solve this? Anyone can give me some help or guidelines?

Thank you~!

The .NET framework has printing classes built in. Did you try google ?

Christian Graus

Please read this if you don't understand the answer I've given you

"also I don't think "TranslateOneToTwoBillion OneHundredAndFortySevenMillion FourHundredAndEightyThreeThousand SixHundredAndFortySeven()" is a very good choice for a function name" - SpacixOne ( offering help to someone who really needed it ) ( spaces added for the benefit of people running at < 1280x1024 )

Receipt printer usually has their own ESC code that is specific to the printer. You will need to get hold of the manual of both printer. You will need to send these ESC code to the printer via the interface it is connected (COM or LPT), to instruct the printer to print out something, in the same way that sending ESC codes to a dot matrix printer.

If you want to print the same format of content to both printer, you will need to some how translate the content into the ESC of each printer.

As you might need to send the raw data to printer, you might need these:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322090[^]

Yeah,thanks. I'll research more on it now. At least I catchup some ideas from you all. Thank you so much for the suggest solution and research direction for me. Happy enjoying programming.

Regards
Drexler

You may want to search for "opos drivers" - Epson has something called an OPOS ADK (application developers kit), and Microsoft have Pos drivers for the .NET framework - both these can be found with a bit of googling.

Using both together gives ultimate control of the printer, but there is a slight learning curve - but this is probably the easiest, most logical way of controling the printer without going down the "escape codes" route.

Yeah,you have any further details about controlling the receipt printer tools or solution? I feel its so complicated now here. How can I really control the printer to print data save inside the txt file and how to control the printer cut the paper?

Hope someone give me a hand here. Confused | :confused:

Regards
Drexler

Having a problem with getting this code right. I cant get the names to show up. Don't know how to do listbox, loop, or input box.

This was the problem: create an application that alows a teacher to enter 3 test scores each for three students. The application should calculate each student's average test score an assign a letter grade based on the following grade scale.
[/b]Average Test Score [b]Letter Grade
90 or better A
80 through 89 B
70 through 79 C
60 through 69 D
Below 60 F
The application should prompt the user for each student's name and three test scores. This is an example of how the application's form should appear after all data is entered. Example:
Jennie James: Average: 90.66666 Grade: A
Sammy Smith: Average: 73 Grade: C
Julie Williams: Average: 84.66666 Grade: B

You are going to have to give us the code you have written and what errors you are getting.

We are not going to do your homework for you.

Current Rant: "Pope Fever!!"
http://craptasticnation.blogspot.com/[^]

I don't know how to do the loop, or listbox, or input box. I just need some help getting started.

This is the code:
Private Sub btnEnter_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnEnter.Click
'Declare varialbes
Dim Score1 As String
Dim Score2 As Double
Dim Score3 As Double
Dim Data As String
Dim Grade As String
'Get input
Score1 = InputBox("Enter Student Name, Student Name")
InputBox("Enter Student Grade, Student Grade")
InputBox("Enter Student Grade Letter, Grade Letter")
lblData.Text = Score1
'Calculate Average
Data = (Score1 Or Score2 Or Score3)
'Display Average
lblData.Text = FormatNumber(Data, 2)
'If score is high, compliment the student
If Data > 95 Then
MessageBox.Show("Congradulations! Great Job!", "Message")
Else
MessageBox.Show("Keep Trying", "Message")
End If

If Data >= 90 Then
Grade = "A"

ElseIf Data >= 80 Then
Grade = "B"

ElseIf Data >= 70 Then
Grade = "C"

ElseIf Data >= 60 Then
Grade = "D"

Else
Grade = "F"
End If

End Sub

muscle wrote:
Data = (Score1 Or Score2 Or Score3)

That's not going to do it. Do you know mathematically how to calculate an average ? Giving Score2 and Score3 values would also help.

If you're going to use a loop, then I would assume you're going to set up an array to hold the values, or, keep a running total.

Christian Graus

Please read this if you don't understand the answer I've given you

"also I don't think "TranslateOneToTwoBillion OneHundredAndFortySevenMillion FourHundredAndEightyThreeThousand SixHundredAndFortySeven()" is a very good choice for a function name" - SpacixOne ( offering help to someone who really needed it ) ( spaces added for the benefit of people running at < 1280x1024 )

Imports System
Imports System.Net
Imports System.Net.Sockets
Imports System.Text
Imports System.Threading
Imports System.IO
Imports System.ComponentModel

Public Class Form1
Public Delegate Sub UpdateTextBox(ByVal Text As String)
Dim tagid As String
Dim tcpClient As New System.Net.Sockets.TcpClient
Dim networkStream As NetworkStream
Dim buffer(1024) As Byte
Dim Synchronizer As ISynchronizeInvoke
Dim MyUpdateTextBox As UpdateTextBox
Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
End Sub
Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
Dim buf() As Byte
buf = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(TextBox1.Text.Trim())
Try
networkStream.Write(buf, 0, buf.Length)
Catch ex As Exception
MessageBox.Show(ex.ToString())
End Try
TextBox1.Clear()
TextBox1.Focus()
End Sub
Private Sub MyReadCallback(ByVal ar As IAsyncResult)
Dim buffer() As Byte
Dim Read As Integer
Dim Data As String
Try
buffer = ar.AsyncState
Read = networkStream.EndRead(ar)
Data = Encoding.ASCII.GetString(buffer, 0, Read)
networkStream.BeginRead(buffer, 0, buffer.Length, New AsyncCallback(AddressOf MyReadCallback), buffer)
Catch ex As Exception
Data = ex.ToString()
End Try
If (Synchronizer.InvokeRequired = False) Then
TextBox2.Text = TextBox2.Text & Data
Else
Synchronizer.Invoke(MyUpdateTextBox, New Object() {Data})
End If
End Sub
Private Sub UpdateTextBoxDelegate(ByVal Text As String)
TextBox2.Text = TextBox2.Text & Text
End Sub
Private Sub Button2_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button2.Click
Dim sendBytes("!quit!".Length + 1) As Byte
Try
sendBytes = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes("!quit!")
networkStream.Write(sendBytes, 0, sendBytes.Length)
networkStream.Close()
tcpClient.Close()
Application.Exit()
Catch ex As Exception
tcpClient.Close()
Me.Close()
End Try
End Sub
Private Sub Button3_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button3.Click
Dim ipAddress As String
Dim port As String
Try
MyUpdateTextBox = New UpdateTextBox(AddressOf UpdateTextBoxDelegate)
ipAddress = TextBox3.Text
port = TextBox4.Text
tcpClient.Connect(ipAddress, port)
MessageBox.Show("connected")
networkStream.BeginRead(buffer, 0, buffer.Length, New AsyncCallback(AddressOf MyReadCallback), buffer)

Synchronizer = Me.TextBox2
Button1.Enabled = True
Button4.Enabled = True
Catch ex As Exception
MsgBox("Cannot connect to the specified address or port")
End Try
End Sub

Private Sub Button4_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button4.Click
TextBox2.Clear()
End Sub
End Class
_________________________________________________________________________
this is sample of my client application using tcpclient,
then the prob here how can i make a server application by manipulate the code above, anyone have idea what should i do now? please..

Try asking a specific question, not posting a ton of code like this and hoping someone will rewrite it for you.

Christian Graus

Please read this if you don't understand the answer I've given you

"also I don't think "TranslateOneToTwoBillion OneHundredAndFortySevenMillion FourHundredAndEightyThreeThousand SixHundredAndFortySeven()" is a very good choice for a function name" - SpacixOne ( offering help to someone who really needed it ) ( spaces added for the benefit of people running at < 1280x1024 )

Hi people, I'm having this issue and I don't know how to start with it. The client is using a commercial application and he usually must print two copies of every document, keeping one as backup. He wants to replace the backup copy with a PDF file instead of the physical copy. Also, sometimes he sends, for example, 40 documents to print at once, and he would like to have those 40 documents in a same PDF file. This is what I though: Create a "virtual printer" to receive the printing request. Then, this printer should do two things: convert the document to a pdf file and also send it to the real printer. Then, merge all the PDF files created together to a single file. But I really have no idea of how to do it at all... How can I create something that the Windows XP will recognize as a printer?
Please help me with this, or at least give me a direction to follow! Big Grin | :-D

Thanks!!

You can get free or commercial printer drivers that generate PDFs.

Christian Graus

Please read this if you don't understand the answer I've given you

"also I don't think "TranslateOneToTwoBillion OneHundredAndFortySevenMillion FourHundredAndEightyThreeThousand SixHundredAndFortySeven()" is a very good choice for a function name" - SpacixOne ( offering help to someone who really needed it ) ( spaces added for the benefit of people running at < 1280x1024 )

I know that, but I want something that does the following:

- Generate a PDF (or print into a PDF file)
- Print it (for real, to a printer previously designed by the user)
- Merge all the PDFs created (the whole batch that has been sent to the printer) into one file (named by the user)

The client is already using a PDF printer, but he must rename each file and he can't merge them together.

Is it clear enough NOW?

SentencedToLive wrote:
Is it clear enough NOW?

Gee - given the attitude, maybe I shouldn't bother replying.

You have two options, brainiac.

1 - buy a PDF library and write some code to generate PDFs ( which still means writing code to stream all the jobs into one )
2 - write printing code that runs all your reports into one, and run that one print job through the PDF printer you can get for free

Is that clear enough now ?

Christian Graus

Please read this if you don't understand the answer I've given you

"also I don't think "TranslateOneToTwoBillion OneHundredAndFortySevenMillion FourHundredAndEightyThreeThousand SixHundredAndFortySeven()" is a very good choice for a function name" - SpacixOne ( offering help to someone who really needed it ) ( spaces added for the benefit of people running at < 1280x1024 )

Hey, I never meant to be rude...
As I said before, the problem is that this is not my app, but a commercial one. Imagine this is MS Word. The app would need to look like a printer to windows in order to do this, right? Is that possible?

You want to control printing in a third party app ? You could do it with Word, as it provides a .NET interface to allow you to control it. Were that not the case, I guess you'd have to write your own printer driver that collects documents before being told to finalise into one PDF. Or, you could buy a PDF library that lets you load and merge PDFs.

Christian Graus

Please read this if you don't understand the answer I've given you

"also I don't think "TranslateOneToTwoBillion OneHundredAndFortySevenMillion FourHundredAndEightyThreeThousand SixHundredAndFortySeven()" is a very good choice for a function name" - SpacixOne ( offering help to someone who really needed it ) ( spaces added for the benefit of people running at < 1280x1024 )

You can't write a standard printer driver using .NET (nor VB6) as it has to be an old-style dll.

You can, however, set printers to have teh setting "Keep printed documents after printing" and archive the spool files off each night - this is how many companies do what yours seem to be looking for. There are many apps around that can view spool files should that be required at a later date.

'--8<------------------------
Ex Datis:
Duncan Jones
Merrion Computing Ltd

I want to create cv but i dont know how i can start. I use sql db and vb.net. Cv include person information (personality info, education, different language,etc.)
Thanks