We have seen ways to print a pdf through C# but printing zpl on zebra printers doesn't seems to work like pdf but here I'm demonstrating a way which can print zpl (*.zpl, on zebra printers) and pdf (*.pdf) or other documents types. This also could be a best option as it doesn't depend on any other third party libraries (open source or paid).
public class BasePrintUtility
{
private static bool SendRawBytesToPrinter(string szPrinterName, string printerFileName, IntPtr pBytes, Int32 dwCount)
{
Int32 dwError = 0, dwWritten = 0;
IntPtr hPrinter = new IntPtr(0);
DOCINFOA di = new DOCINFOA();
bool bSuccess = false; // Assume failure unless you specifically succeed.
di.pDocName = printerFileName;
di.pDataType = "RAW";
// Open the printer.
if (OpenPrinter(szPrinterName.Normalize(), out hPrinter, IntPtr.Zero))
{
// Start a document.
if (StartDocPrinter(hPrinter, 1, di))
{
// Start a page.
if (StartPagePrinter(hPrinter))
{
// Write your bytes.
bSuccess = WritePrinter(hPrinter, pBytes, dwCount, out dwWritten);
EndPagePrinter(hPrinter);
}
EndDocPrinter(hPrinter);
}
ClosePrinter(hPrinter);
}
// If you did not succeed, GetLastError may give more information
// about why not.
if (bSuccess == false)
{
dwError = Marshal.GetLastWin32Error();
}
return bSuccess;
}
// Structure and API declarions:
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet = CharSet.Ansi)]
public class DOCINFOA
{
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStr)]
public string pDocName;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStr)]
public string pOutputFile;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStr)]
public string pDataType;
}
[DllImport("winspool.Drv", EntryPoint = "OpenPrinterA", SetLastError = true, CharSet = CharSet.Ansi, ExactSpelling = true, CallingConvention = CallingConvention.StdCall)]
public static extern bool OpenPrinter([MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStr)] string szPrinter, out IntPtr hPrinter, IntPtr pd);
[DllImport("winspool.Drv", EntryPoint = "ClosePrinter", SetLastError = true, ExactSpelling = true, CallingConvention = CallingConvention.StdCall)]
public static extern bool ClosePrinter(IntPtr hPrinter);
[DllImport("winspool.Drv", EntryPoint = "StartDocPrinterA", SetLastError = true, CharSet = CharSet.Ansi, ExactSpelling = true, CallingConvention = CallingConvention.StdCall)]
public static extern bool StartDocPrinter(IntPtr hPrinter, Int32 level, [In, MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStruct)] DOCINFOA di);
[DllImport("winspool.Drv", EntryPoint = "EndDocPrinter", SetLastError = true, ExactSpelling = true, CallingConvention = CallingConvention.StdCall)]
public static extern bool EndDocPrinter(IntPtr hPrinter);
[DllImport("winspool.Drv", EntryPoint = "StartPagePrinter", SetLastError = true, ExactSpelling = true, CallingConvention = CallingConvention.StdCall)]
public static extern bool StartPagePrinter(IntPtr hPrinter);
[DllImport("winspool.Drv", EntryPoint = "EndPagePrinter", SetLastError = true, ExactSpelling = true, CallingConvention = CallingConvention.StdCall)]
public static extern bool EndPagePrinter(IntPtr hPrinter);
[DllImport("winspool.Drv", EntryPoint = "WritePrinter", SetLastError = true, ExactSpelling = true, CallingConvention = CallingConvention.StdCall)]
public static extern bool WritePrinter(IntPtr hPrinter, IntPtr pBytes, Int32 dwCount, out Int32 dwWritten);
public bool SendDocumentToPrinter(string filePath, PrintSettings printSettings)
{
// Open the file.
FileInfo fileInfo = new FileInfo(filePath);
Byte[] bytes = null;
bool bSuccess = false;
// Your unmanaged pointer.
IntPtr pUnmanagedBytes = new IntPtr(0);
int nLength;
using (FileStream fs = fileInfo.OpenRead())
{
//FileStream fs = new FileStream(szFileName, FileMode.Open);
// Create a BinaryReader on the file.
BinaryReader br = new BinaryReader(fs);
// Dim an array of bytes big enough to hold the file's contents.
bytes = new Byte[fs.Length];
nLength = Convert.ToInt32(fs.Length);
// Read the contents of the file into the array.
bytes = br.ReadBytes(nLength);
}
// Allocate some unmanaged memory for those bytes.
pUnmanagedBytes = Marshal.AllocCoTaskMem(nLength);
// Copy the managed byte array into the unmanaged array.
Marshal.Copy(bytes, 0, pUnmanagedBytes, nLength);
// Send the unmanaged bytes to the printer.
for (int i = 0; i < printSettings.Copies; i++)
{
bSuccess = SendRawBytesToPrinter(printSettings.PrinterName, fileInfo.Name, pUnmanagedBytes, nLength);
}
// Free the unmanaged memory that you allocated earlier.
Marshal.FreeCoTaskMem(pUnmanagedBytes);
return bSuccess;
}
public bool SendDocumentToPrinter(byte[] content, int copies, string printerName, string fileName)
{
bool status = false;
IntPtr pUnmanagedBytes;
int nLength = content.Length;
// Allocate some unmanaged memory for those bytes.
pUnmanagedBytes = Marshal.AllocCoTaskMem(nLength);
// Copy the managed byte array into the unmanaged array.
Marshal.Copy(content, 0, pUnmanagedBytes, nLength);
// Send the unmanaged bytes to the printer.
for (int i = 0; i < copies; i++)
{
status = SendRawBytesToPrinter(printerName, fileName, pUnmanagedBytes, nLength);
}
// Free the unmanaged memory that you allocated earlier.
Marshal.FreeCoTaskMem(pUnmanagedBytes);
return status;
}
}
isn't it simple.
Note: This is not optimized code and just a sample. You must optimize it as your need before using it.
Source: https://github.com/andyyou/SendToPrinter/blob/master/Printer/RawPrinterHelper.cs
Thanks.
