We have an inhouse built web application that we wish to print a very simple 3 inch wide x 1.5 Tall Barcode 128 style with a couple lines of text. While this seems straightforward it hasn't been.
1. Web Application Built with .net 6 C#, Running in Chrome Browser on Windows 10 pc's
2. Zebra ZD-621 , Direct Thermal , Ethernet TCP/IP connected
First question - do we need share the printer on a windows server for a Print Server or can it just sit on the network and send jobs right to a dns name or IP address?
2. Should we be trying to use ZPL or generating a PDF to send to Printer
3. If say we need to print 400 labels (each one different barcode #) is it better to create 1 huge pdf or use zpl ? if pdf should it be 3 inch wide x 1.5 tall for each page?
4. My developer is struggling trying to do pdf and we have these printers shared or hosted with print services on a windows server. We have had a terrible time. It can't be this hard.?
Any advice is appreciated. Developer saying we need to get different printers. I don't think so Zebra printers are in every store, warehouse etc and they seem to work...
1 Replies
Since your ZD621 is already connected to the network, you should be able to make a direct connection to the printer via TCP. For the web application, there are two simple ways to print to a Zebra printer from a local computer where the web app is accessed via Chrome browser - Browser Print or SendFileToPrinter API (Cloud-based printing). Both of them support network connected printers.
You can use either the Browser Print or the SendFileToPrinter API to send PDF or ZPL. However, sending ZPL is preferred because it's lightweight. You can created a ZPL template with the ZebraDesigner for Developer tool. The template can be preloaded on to the printer. Only the variable data needs to be sent to the printer at runtime for individual label. You can also pre-populate the variable data in the template at the application and send the resulting ZPL for individual label to the printer.