TLClientPrint - Creating a Custom Print Dialog

Product ThermalLabel SDK for .NET Published 02/25/2021 Updated 05/25/2023 Author

Overview

ThermalLabel SDK for .NET ships with the TLClientPrint utility app that allows printing barcode labels from ASP.NET websites to the available printers at the client-side

In this walkthrough, you'll learn how to create a Custom Print Dialog add-in for the TLClientPrint App that will look like the following image.

A Custom Print Dialog for TLClientPrint


Follow up these steps

  • Download Add-in Source Code

    The source code for the Custom Print Dialog Add-in is available at GitHub. Code is in C# but easily converted to VB. Download and analyze it. Make any changes you might need or want and then compile/build it. It will generate the TLClientPrint.Plugin.CustomPrintDialog.dll file.

  • Create a new Custom TLClientPrint Installer

    • Once TLClientPrint.Plugin.CustomPrintDialog.dll file was generated, then you must package it with the rest of TLClientPrint required files.
    • Download TLClientPrint installer and install it in your dev machine.
    • Then go to the installed dir which by default is under C:\Program Files (x86)\Neodynamic\TLClientPrint\{version}\
    • All the required files are under that folder. You can ignore the unins*.* files which are part of the our uninstaller.
    • The only file that must be replaced by your custom print dialog is the default Print Dialog which is provided in the TLClientPrint.Plugin.DefaultPrintDialog.dll file.

      TLClientPrint required files


    • All what you must do now is to package them into a Windows Installer . You can use any software for creating the installer, however, we recommend Inno Setup.
      IMPORTANT: Your installer project must also register the Custom URL Protocol named tlprint. To register the protocol in the Windows Registry use these entries (Be sure you CHANGE the {YOUR OWN FOLDER} shown below): 

      
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\tlprint]
@="ULR:ThermalLabel Client Print Protocol"
"URL Protocol"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\tlprint\Shell]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\tlprint\Shell\Open]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\tlprint\Shell\Open\Command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\{YOUR OWN FOLDER}\\TLClientPrint.exe\" \"%1\""


    • Also note that TLClientPrint.exe requires .NET Framework 4.6.1+ being available at the client machine.
    • That's it. Create your new installer and test it.


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