Printing ZPL with SWINCF (Cascading Fonts)

[Former Member]

Hey guys,

I have a questio regarding printing ZPL with cascading fonts. We are using different label printers in our production and logistics.

In some cases it is needed to print many different languages in one location. (for example packaging labels with addresses to china/japan/poland, etc.) but we do not have found a solution to print unicode from this environment. I don´t know how common the way is how we print our labels. They are generated in SAPscript and sent as raw text to the zebra printer directly from SAP. At the moment we´re using the devicetype LB_ZEB (latin-1, ZPL device type). With this devicetype it´s not possible to print asian or eastern europ characters.

What I´m testing at the moment is the method of using cascading fonts with a SapSPrint Server on Windows. Especially for our zebra label printers.

I have a zebra ZM400 in my office for testing.

- I have installed xSPrint730 SP11 on a windows 2003 server x64.

- The zebra printer I use is a zebra ZM400 and is installed on the windows server.

- The printer has following settings:

Devicetype: SWINCF

Access Method: S

So at the moment printing via xSPrint works when I choose LB_ZEB as devicetype (with the common unicode problem). But when I switch

the devicetype to SWINCF it doesn´t interpret the ZPL code anymore. Instead of a label I just get pure ZPL code printed. Does anyone of you have experience with ZPL printers and SWINCF? Is it somehow possible to get this working? Does it work in general?

I did read several snotes and SCN entries but I didn´t find any helpfull information about that specific combination.

best regards

Tobias

[Former Member]

Here is my experience with ZPL commands.

But little customizing of SAP device type is necessary.

1, copy device type LZEBU3 to ZLZEBU3

2, double click on the Z* device type, change driver to Zebra programming language 2, character set for Aisan language need to be maintained as well.

3, Configured the printer as ZLZEBU3/U(access method U can be used directly for Zebra printers).

4, perfrom print test.

Addtional comment, if the test has problem with print control, please define print control as well.

Regards

Shumeng SHI

[peng_wen]

Hi,

With SWINCF it does only support the barcode created at SAP, like the New bar code technology,

or Barcode DLL talked in note 1557674.

There are simpler solutions with Zebra label
printers. There are dedicated device types for printing from SAP to
Zebra ZPL II label printers as described in the following Notes:
750002 - Smart Forms: Support for Zebra label printer (ZPL2)
750772 - Information on the ZPL-II printer driver for SmartForms

As described in Note 750002, there are Unicode device types like e.g.
LZEBU2 or LZEBS3 if the Zebra printer has Andale ot Swis721BT fonts
installed in the printer.h

The advantage here is that you can use the printers internal barcode
fonts also.

BR,

Wen Peng

[Former Member]

Hello Wen Peng,

Nice to see you here.

Actually your suggestion is official recommend via smartforms. it's not the same case, as Nagel is using ZPL language for Zebra printers.

Regards

Shumeng SHI

[bxiv]

Have you tried using method C, I haven't used SWINCF for a label before but changing the method may change what is printed...

[Former Member]

Hello Billy,

with method C I´m not able to choose a destination host. The xSPrint is not installed locally, so I can´t use it.

[bxiv]

I can confirm that I use method C with Zebra printers and using a Windows Print server that does not reside on any SAP server; I even send output to print servers over a WAN/MPLS.

Take not of the \\ for the Server name and the third \ to then look for the printer name.  I can also tell you that using Cnames for print servers also works and is fantastic to avoid having to update print server names when a server dies or other infrastructures are required.