Typically, when I plug in my Zebra LP 2844-Z to the USB port, the computer sees it as a printer and I can print to it from notepad like any other generic printer. However, my application has some bar code features. My application parses some input and generates an in-memory string of ZPL. How would I send this ZPL data to my USB device?
I've found yet an easier way to write to a Zebra printer over a COM port. I went to the Windows control panel and added a new printer. For the port, I chose COM1 (the port the printer was plugged in to). I used a "Generic / Text Only" printer driver. I disabled the print spooler (a standard option in the printer preferences) as well as all advanced printing options. Now, I can just print any string to that printer and if the string contains ZPL, the printer renders the ZPL just fine! No need for special "start sequences" or funky stuff like that. Yay for simplicity!