Send a ZPL data string to an IP address in Ruby

Question

Using Ruby to send a series of data strings to a Zebra printer using its IP address.

Here's the Ruby code I've started with:

require 'socket'  
streamSock = TCPSocket.new( "127.0.0.1", 20000 )  
#streamSock.send( "Hello\n" )  
str = streamSock.recv( 100 )  
print str  
streamSock.close

I need to replace the "Hello\n" piece with ZPL (Zebra Print Language) code of this series of strings:

"^XA" +

"^FO50,50" +

"^A0N50,50" +

"^FDHello, World!^FS" +

"^XZ";

I've tried several ways of using #streamSock.send( "xxx" ) for each line - example: #streamSock.send( "^XA" ) - and then all the other string elements separately.

I tried a few variants of putting the entire string of ZPL codes into a single line, like

streamSock.send( "^XA^FO50,50^A0N50,50^FDHello, World!^FS^XZ" )

The Zebra label printer does not respond. If I send the earlier series of strings to the printer as a text file using another utility, it prints fine.

Any ideas of what the Ruby code should be to make this work?

What model of printer is it? Are you saying sending 'Hello\n' prints fine, but not the ZPL? If so, you may have your printer in line-print mode instead of ZPL. If it is in line print mode, it will not understand ZPL, and vice versa, they are mutually exclusive. — Ovi Tisler
– Ovi Tisler, Commented Aug 13, 2012 at 12:38
I got it to work: require 'socket' hostname = '192.168.1.6' port = 515 s = TCPSocket.open(hostname, port) s.puts "^XA^F100,100^BXN,10,200^FO150,120^FD01000012000000311081020122100000009^FS^XZ" s.close — devrwj
– devrwj, Commented Oct 30, 2012 at 20:03

vudduu · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-13 18:19:09Z

2

It works for me:

require 'socket'

streamSock = TCPSocket.new( "192.168.205.214", 6101 )
str = "^XA" + "^FO50,50" + "^A0N50,50" + "^FDHello World^FS" + "^XZ"
streamSock.send( str , 0)

streamSock.close

answered Nov 13, 2012 at 18:19

vudduu

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Send a ZPL data string to an IP address in Ruby

streamSock.send( "^XA^FO50,50^A0N50,50^FDHello, World!^FS^XZ" )

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streamSock.send( "^XA^FO50,50^A0N50,50^FDHello, World!^FS^XZ" )

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