How to send a ZPL string to print on a Zebra printer

Question

I am using the FedEx Rest API to create shipments and I have no trouble printing PNGs. However, I also need to have an option for printing on Zebra thermal printers, which is where ZPL format comes in. I need to print over USB and I am using VB.NET.

I've tried to use GrapeCity's ActiveReports library but I can't seem to find an option for just sending a string/raw data. I've also tried this RawPrinterHelper.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

I've set up a printer called "TLP2844" attached to my local computer which connects to my TLP2844 via USB.

This is the batch file that I use to print to that printer

@ECHO OFF
SETLOCAL
FOR %%a IN (%*) DO (
 IF EXIST "%%a" (COPY /b "%%~a" \\%computername%\TLP2844
 ) ELSE (
  IF EXIST "%%a.txt" (
   COPY /b "%%~a.txt" \\%computername%\TLP2844
  ) else (
   ECHO Neither "%%a" nor "%%a.txt" appears to EXIST
  )
 )
)

If this file (I call it 2844.bat) is placed in any directory on the PATH then

2844 filename "filename" filename...

will print on the 2844. Quotes are only required if the filename contains separators like spaces.

Replace %computername% with servername if required.

Essentially, all you need is a proper text editor (I use EDITPLUS but there are many others) to create simple text files containing the ZPL code.

Don't use a word-processor or notepad as these have a habit of "helpfully" reformatting the file as though it was a document.