- 1 year ago
Send command to thermal-printer and read back result using ReadPrinter()
To send a command to a thermal printer and read back the result using the ReadPrinter()
function in Windows, you can follow these steps:
Obtain a handle to the printer: Use the
OpenPrinter()
function to obtain a handle to the printer you want to communicate with. You will need to provide the printer name or its UNC path. Here's an example:cppHANDLE printerHandle;
if (!OpenPrinter(L"PrinterName", &printerHandle, NULL))
{
// Handle error
}
Prepare the command and send it to the printer: Construct the command or data you want to send to the printer. You can use functions like
WritePrinter()
to send the command. Here's an example:cppconst char* command = "YourCommandHere";
DWORD bytesWritten;
if (!WritePrinter(printerHandle, command, strlen(command), &bytesWritten))
{
// Handle error
}
Read the printer's response: To read the response from the printer, you can use the
ReadPrinter()
function. You'll need to allocate a buffer and specify the number of bytes to read. Here's an example:cppchar buffer[BufferSize];
DWORD bytesRead;
if (!ReadPrinter(printerHandle, buffer, BufferSize, &bytesRead))
{
// Handle error
}
Process the response: Once you've read the response from the printer, you can process it as needed. The contents of the buffer will contain the response from the printer.
Close the printer handle: After you finish communicating with the printer, remember to close the printer handle using the
ClosePrinter()
function to release system resources.cppClosePrinter(printerHandle);
Make sure to handle error conditions appropriately and check the return values of each function call for success or failure.
Please note that the exact implementation may vary based on your specific requirements and the printer's capabilities. Consult the Windows API documentation for detailed information on the functions mentioned above and refer to the printer's documentation for specific command formats and protocols.