Can I print labels on a Zebra GX430t printer without sending raw text

Question

I created an application in C# that creates label formats and sends them to the Zebra printer in the ZPL II format. In order to make the printer behave correctly, I needed to send the printer raw text using pinvoke calls to the winspool.Drv dll. It worked fine until we tried it on one of our customers that remotes in to one of our servers using RDP. It turns out that the printer redirect through RDP uses EasyPrint and EasyPrint jams up the RawPrinterHelper calls and prevents anything from printing. My network person claims we cannot turn this off without breaking all the other redirected printers on the server.

I noticed that the default driver for the printer seems to behave as a 'normal' printer. I am trying to find a way to print labels to this printer using this default driver (ZDesigner GX430t). I can't seem to find any documentation on doing this. I am about to try using standard C# commands to draw to the printer the way I would any other printer but want to make sure I am not missing anything. Has anyone else done anything like this?

Answer 1

Okay, thanks to the folks at ScanTexas I think I found a solution. The printer driver has a setting to allow 'Pass Through' characters. You can include these in your PrintDocument, just prefix your labels with the start chars '${' and append the end characters at the end '}$'. Here are the instructions: pass thru instructions

Here is my test code (winform form):

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Drawing.Printing;

namespace ZebraPrint
{
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// 
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="sender"></param>
        /// <param name="e"></param>
        void Button1_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
        {
            using (PrintDocument doc = new PrintDocument())
            {
                doc.PrintPage += new PrintPageEventHandler(document_PrintPage);

                using (PrintDialog pd = new PrintDialog())
                {
                    pd.PrinterSettings = new PrinterSettings();
                    pd.Document = doc;
                    if (pd.ShowDialog(this) == DialogResult.OK)
                    {
                        pd.Document.Print();
                    }
                }
            }
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// 
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="sender"></param>
        /// <param name="e"></param>
        void document_PrintPage(object sender, PrintPageEventArgs e)
        {
            Font printFont = new Font("Consolas", 6);
            SizeF size = e.Graphics.MeasureString("WWWWWW", printFont);
            float printTextHeight = size.Height;
            float top = 0;

            e.Graphics.DrawString(@"${^XA", printFont, System.Drawing.Brushes.Black, 10, top += printTextHeight);
            e.Graphics.DrawString(@"^MD0", printFont, System.Drawing.Brushes.Black, 10, top += printTextHeight);
            e.Graphics.DrawString(@"^MMT", printFont, System.Drawing.Brushes.Black, 10, top += printTextHeight);
            e.Graphics.DrawString(@"^MNY", printFont, System.Drawing.Brushes.Black, 10, top += printTextHeight);
            e.Graphics.DrawString(@"^LL600", printFont, System.Drawing.Brushes.Black, 10, top += printTextHeight);
            e.Graphics.DrawString(@"^LH95,75", printFont, System.Drawing.Brushes.Black, 10, top += printTextHeight);
            e.Graphics.DrawString(@"^FO0,0^AA,54^FD  Palmdale Oil Company, Inc.^FS", printFont, System.Drawing.Brushes.Black, 10, top += printTextHeight);
            e.Graphics.DrawString(@"^FO0,100^AC,36^FDCustomer: AVERITT EXPRESS^FS", printFont, System.Drawing.Brushes.Black, 10, top += printTextHeight);
            e.Graphics.DrawString(@"^FO0,136^AC,36^FD Vehicle: 66030^FS", printFont, System.Drawing.Brushes.Black, 10, top += printTextHeight);
            e.Graphics.DrawString(@"^FO0,172^AC,36^FD    Desc: REEFER^FS", printFont, System.Drawing.Brushes.Black, 10, top += printTextHeight);
            e.Graphics.DrawString(@"^FO0,208^AC,36^FD     TAG: ^FS", printFont, System.Drawing.Brushes.Black, 10, top += printTextHeight);
            e.Graphics.DrawString(@"^FO0,275", printFont, System.Drawing.Brushes.Black, 10, top += printTextHeight);
            e.Graphics.DrawString(@"^BY5", printFont, System.Drawing.Brushes.Black, 10, top += printTextHeight);
            e.Graphics.DrawString(@"^BC,150,N,N,N,N^FD4770013-66030", printFont, System.Drawing.Brushes.Black, 10, top += printTextHeight);
            e.Graphics.DrawString(@"^FS", printFont, System.Drawing.Brushes.Black, 10, top += printTextHeight);
            e.Graphics.DrawString(@"^FO0,430^AC,36^FD4770013-66030^FS", printFont, System.Drawing.Brushes.Black, 10, top += printTextHeight);
            e.Graphics.DrawString(@"^XZ}$", printFont, System.Drawing.Brushes.Black, 10, top += printTextHeight);
        }
    }
}