ZQ510 label design

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S Stefano Bodini 2 years 11 months ago
2 1 0

Hi, I need some suggestions.
Here the environment, I do have a ZQ510 printer connected to an android terminal.
Currently I feed the printer with a CPCL file embedded in the android app in order to print the label.
I have now the need to redesign the label and I though to use the Zebra Designer to speed up the design and print tests labels from the PC along the way.
I downloaded the Zebra Designer for Developer and developed the label.
Then I exported the generated ZPL file (the Zebra Designer for developer only support generic printers and thus can export only in ZPL) and did try to use it instead the CPCL file.
The printer didn't like that at all.
I did force the printer in ZPL and interrogated before the print to show that ZPL is activated but nothing.
It prints but instead 1 label spread the content over 8 labels.
I did run some experiment with the Zebra Designer (the official one - unlicensed) and I saw I was able to print something and export in CPCL (if selected the ZQ510) with the drivers installed in the machine.
However the CPCL file generated, probably because the "demo mode, i.e unlicensed", did print the label as "graphic content" rather than define each line as Text.
Since I need to use variables to replace the content of the fields (and I can not test that because the unlicensed version does not support variables) I need to know if the Zebra Designer licensed is capable to generate the correct CPCL file.
Before to spend 350$ I need to be sure the program can do what I need.
To sum up, I did so far these tests :
- using the Zebra Designer 3 for Developers to design the label (without variables)
- import the label created in Zebra Designer 3 (unlicensed)
- verified I can print it on the ZQ510
- verified I can export (print on file) in CPCL
However analyzing the CPCL file I noticed that all the fields are a "graphic content", i.e. one single "image" rather than specific fields.
I need the specific fields because I need to substitute some content during runtime.
Because the Zebra Deisgner 3 need a license in order to support the variables I was unable to discover if the generated CPCL code fit my needs.
The final goal is to be able to :
- design a label on Zebra Designer using variables (text box ?)
- export the created label in CPCL. The CPCL has to define each label individually with the capability to assign a value at runtime
Something like :
T 5 0 10 14 [THIS-IS-A_VARIABLE]
- embed the CPCL file in my android app
Anybody knows if this is possible ?
Thanks
Regards
Steve

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1 Replies

S Steven Si

There are 3 editions of ZebraDesigner. The ZebraDesigner for Developers edition works with ZebraDesigner driver v8.x only that supports ZPL and Link-OS printers only. Therefore, you can only create ZPL templates with ZebraDesigner for Developers edition. It doesn't work with CPCL.
The other two editions, ZebraDesigner Essentials and ZebraDesigner Professional, support both ZPL & CPCL. They support both Link-OS printers and non-Link-OS printers. Keep in mind that ZebraDesigner Essentials & Professional editions are meant for designing and printing labels with keyboard as data inputs or database as data inputs. They are not meant for creating generic label templates. When a ZPL printer is connected, ZPL is sent to the printer to print labels. When a CPCL printer is connected, CPCL is sent to the printer. If you see that graphics, instead of text, are sent to the printer, it's most likely the fonts you choose for the text are not the printer fonts, i.e. the fonts are not available on the printer. Therefore, ZebraDesigner converts the text into graphics and sends the converted graphics to the printer to print, in order to achieve the desired fonts.
Based on the situation described above, I would recommend to use ZebraDesigner for Developers edition to design the template, so that you can export the template (both Stored Format and Recall Format) into files. Then your application can use these files to achieve the template-based label printing. This is why it is called ZebraDesigner for Developers. In addition, ZPL is a preferred label format language and supported by all Link-OS printers. It is well maintained and kept improved and updated. I would personally recommend ZPL over CPCL, unless there is a constraint of using Link-OS printers. Hope this helps.

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