How to print a set of barcode labels in batch using counter with Zebra ZPL-EPL printers and VB.NET or C# by using ThermalLabel SDK for .NET
Product ThermalLabel SDK for .NET Published 04/08/2011 Updated 04/18/2018
Requirements
Neodynamic ThermalLabel SDK 8.0+
Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6.1+
Microsoft Visual Studio 2017+
Any Zebra Thermal Printer supporting ZPL (Zebra Programming Language) or EPL (Eltron Programming Language)
Counters allow you to index data items by a selected increment or decrement value, making the data items to increase or decrease by a specified value each time a label is printed. Counters can be used with TextItem as well as BarcodeItem objects.
How it works?
A counter is set up on a TextItem or BarcodeItem object by using the CounterStep property. The CounterStep property can be set up to any integer number which specifies the increment or decrement step depending on if the interger value is positive or negative.
When you enable counter feature on a TextItem or BarcodeItem object, the first integer number found in the Text property (for TextItem objects) or Code property (for BarcodeItem objects) when scanning from right to left starts the indexing portion of the data item. If the alphanumeric field to be indexed ends with an alpha character, the data is scanned, character by character, from right to left until a numeric character is encountered.
The following sample features a Counter scenario for printing 10 labels with a Barcode Code-128 for values ranging from "ABC1" to "ABC10" and a text decreasing from 50 to 49.
Follow these steps:
- Download and install latest version of Neodynamic ThermalLabel SDK for .NET
- Open Visual Studio and create a new Windows Forms project. Please ensure to select .NET 4.6.1 Framework or greater
- Add a reference to Neodynamic.SDK.ThermalLabel.dll and Neodynamic.SDK.ThermalLabel.WindowsPrinting.dll assemblies.
- Add a button control onto the form and paste the following code in the click event handler of the button:
VB
'Define a ThermalLabel object and set unit to inch and label size Dim tLabel As New ThermalLabel(UnitType.Inch, 3, 2) tLabel.GapLength = 0.2 'Define a TextItem object Dim txt As New TextItem(0.1, 0.1, 2.8, 0.5, "Decreasing 50") 'set counter step for decreasing by 1 txt.CounterStep = -1 'set font txt.Font.Name = Neodynamic.SDK.Printing.Font.NativePrinterFontA txt.Font.Unit = FontUnit.Point txt.Font.Size = 10 'Define a BarcodeItem object Dim bc As New BarcodeItem(0.1, 0.57, 2.8, 1.3, BarcodeSymbology.Code128, "ABC01") 'set counter step for increasing by 1 bc.CounterStep = 1 'set barcode size bc.BarWidth = 0.02 bc.BarHeight = 0.75 'set barcode alignment bc.BarcodeAlignment = BarcodeAlignment.MiddleCenter 'set font bc.Font.Name = Neodynamic.SDK.Printing.Font.NativePrinterFontA bc.Font.Unit = FontUnit.Point bc.Font.Size = 10 'Add items to ThermalLabel object... tLabel.Items.Add(txt) tLabel.Items.Add(bc) 'Create a WindowsPrintJob object Using pj As New WindowsPrintJob() 'Create PrinterSettings object Dim myPrinter As New PrinterSettings() myPrinter.Communication.CommunicationType = CommunicationType.USB myPrinter.Dpi = 203 myPrinter.ProgrammingLanguage = ProgrammingLanguage.ZPL myPrinter.PrinterName = "Zebra TLP2844-Z" 'Set PrinterSettings to PrintJob pj.PrinterSettings = myPrinter 'Set num of labels to generate pj.Copies = 10 'Print ThermalLabel object... pj.Print(tLabel) End UsingC#
//Define a ThermalLabel object and set unit to inch and label size ThermalLabel tLabel = new ThermalLabel(UnitType.Inch, 3, 2); tLabel.GapLength = 0.2; //Define a TextItem object TextItem txt = new TextItem(0.1, 0.1, 2.8, 0.5, "Decreasing 50"); //set counter step for decreasing by 1 txt.CounterStep = -1; //set font txt.Font.Name = Neodynamic.SDK.Printing.Font.NativePrinterFontA; txt.Font.Unit = FontUnit.Point; txt.Font.Size = 10; //Define a BarcodeItem object BarcodeItem bc = new BarcodeItem(0.1, 0.57, 2.8, 1.3, BarcodeSymbology.Code128, "ABC01"); //set counter step for increasing by 1 bc.CounterStep = 1; //set barcode size bc.BarWidth = 0.02; bc.BarHeight = 0.75; //set barcode alignment bc.BarcodeAlignment = BarcodeAlignment.MiddleCenter; //set font bc.Font.Name = Neodynamic.SDK.Printing.Font.NativePrinterFontA; bc.Font.Unit = FontUnit.Point; bc.Font.Size = 10; //Add items to ThermalLabel object... tLabel.Items.Add(txt); tLabel.Items.Add(bc); //Create a WindowsPrintJob object using (WindowsPrintJob pj = new WindowsPrintJob()) { //Create PrinterSettings object PrinterSettings myPrinter = new PrinterSettings(); myPrinter.Communication.CommunicationType = CommunicationType.USB; myPrinter.Dpi = 203; myPrinter.ProgrammingLanguage = ProgrammingLanguage.ZPL; myPrinter.PrinterName = "Zebra TLP2844-Z"; //Set PrinterSettings to PrintJob pj.PrinterSettings = myPrinter; //Set num of labels to generate pj.Copies = 10; //Print ThermalLabel object... pj.Print(tLabel); } - Run the sample Windows Forms application and test it.