Print Unicode UTF8 Text to Zebra ZPL printer from Javascript

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Product JSPrintManager Published 07/28/2018 Updated 11/05/2026 Author Neodynamic

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Overview

In this walkthrough, you'll learn how to print Unicode / UTF-8 text to Zebra ZPL printers right from Javascript with the help of our JSPrintManager solution. You'll be able to print Zebra ZPL commands to the Default client printer as well as to any other installed printer at the client machine. This solution works with any popular browser like Chrome, Edge, Firefox & Safari on Windows, Linux, Raspberry Pi and Mac systems!

The Zebra ZPL commands that we'll use in this article will print out a simple label that will look like this:

Requirements

• Be sure your Zebra ZPL Printer Firmware is version Vx.14.x or later. Print a Configuration Label from your printer to determine which firmware version it has installed. Update it from Zebra website if needed.
• A font supporting Unicode / UTF-8 must be loaded in the Zebra printer. Zebra provides the free Swiss 721 font supporting Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, Eastern European, Turkish, Arabic, and Hebrew characters. That font will be loaded to non-volatile E: memory of the printer and assigned the name TT0003M_.FNT or TT0003M_.TTF (depending on your printer model). You could send these commands ^XA^WD*:*.FNT*^XZ through our JSPrintManager Online Demo and print a list of installed fonts; or by following these other methods
  What about Chinese, Japanese, Korean and other Asian languages? The same code shown below can be used for printing Chinese, Japanese, Korean as well as any other Asian language as long as your printer has installed a font supporting them! Usually, Zebra printers for Asian market already are shipped with such fonts so be sure you specify that font name instead of the aforementioned TT0003M_.FNT or TT0003M_.TTF

Step-by-step

• Be sure you install in your dev machine JSPrintManager (JSPM) (Available for Windows, Linux, Raspberry Pi & Mac)
  This small app must be installed on each client that will print from your website!
  Since Chrome 142, browsers ask the user to allow Local Network Access the first time your website connects to the JSPrintManager App.
• By using your favorite Web Development IDE or Text Editor, create a new HTML file like index.html
  Copy/paste the following code snippets:

  HTML Code

  
  <div style="text-align:center">
      <h1>Print Unicode UTF-8 text to Zebra ZPL printers from Javascript</h1>
      <hr />
      <label for="printerType">Client printer:</label>
      <select id="printerType" onchange="showPrinterSettings();">
          <option value="0">Default printer</option>
          <option value="1">Let the user select it (OS print dialog)</option>
          <option value="2" selected>Installed printer</option>
          <option value="3">IP/Ethernet printer</option>
          <option value="4">Parallel port (LPT) printer</option>
          <option value="5">Serial port (RS-232) printer</option>
          <option value="6">Bluetooth printer</option>
      </select>
      <div id="printer-settings-2" class="printer-settings">
          <label>Installed printer: <select id="installedPrinterName"></select></label>
      </div>
      <div id="printer-settings-3" class="printer-settings" style="display:none">
          <label>IP address: <input id="netIp" value="10.0.0.1" /></label>
          <label>Port: <input id="netPort" value="9100" /></label>
          <label>or DNS name: <input id="netDns" /></label>
      </div>
      <div id="printer-settings-4" class="printer-settings" style="display:none">
          <label>Parallel port: <input id="lptPort" value="LPT1" /></label>
      </div>
      <div id="printer-settings-5" class="printer-settings" style="display:none">
          <label>Serial port: <select id="serialPort"></select></label>
          <label>Baud rate: <input id="serialBaudRate" value="9600" /></label>
          <label>Data bits:
              <select id="serialDataBits">
                  <option value="Eight">8</option>
                  <option value="Seven">7</option>
                  <option value="Six">6</option>
                  <option value="Five">5</option>
              </select>
          </label>
          <label>Parity:
              <select id="serialParity">
                  <option>None</option>
                  <option>Odd</option>
                  <option>Even</option>
                  <option>Mark</option>
                  <option>Space</option>
              </select>
          </label>
          <label>Stop bits:
              <select id="serialStopBits">
                  <option value="One">1</option>
                  <option value="OnePointFive">1.5</option>
                  <option value="Two">2</option>
              </select>
          </label>
          <label>Flow control:
              <select id="serialFlowControl">
                  <option value="None">None</option>
                  <option value="XOnXOff">XOn/XOff</option>
                  <option value="RequestToSend">RTS (Request to send)</option>
                  <option value="RequestToSendXOnXOff">RTS + XOn/XOff</option>
              </select>
          </label>
      </div>
      <div id="printer-settings-6" class="printer-settings" style="display:none">
          <label>Bluetooth address: <input id="btAddress" placeholder="00:00:00:00:00:00" /></label>
          <label>Channel: <input id="btChannel" value="1" /></label>
      </div>
      <br /><br />
      <button type="button" onclick="doPrinting();">Print Now...</button>
  </div>
  

  Script References

  • Download JSPrintManager.js
  
  

  
  <!-- JSPrintManager.js (download it or install it with: npm install jsprintmanager) -->
  <script src="JSPrintManager.js"></script>
  

  Script Code

  
  <script>
      // Start the connection with the JSPrintManager Client App
      JSPM.JSPrintManager.auto_reconnect = true;
      JSPM.JSPrintManager.start();
      JSPM.JSPrintManager.WS.onStatusChanged = function () {
          if (jspmWSStatus()) {
              // get the client installed printers
              JSPM.JSPrintManager.getPrinters().then(function (printersList) {
                  fillSelect('installedPrinterName', printersList);
              });
              // get the client serial ports (if any)
              JSPM.JSPrintManager.getSerialPorts().then(function (portsList) {
                  fillSelect('serialPort', portsList);
              });
          }
      };
  
      // Do printing...
      function doPrinting() {
          if (jspmWSStatus()) {
              // Create a ClientPrintJob
              var cpj = new JSPM.ClientPrintJob();
              // Set the target client printer
              cpj.clientPrinter = getClientPrinter();
              // Set the raw printer commands
              // Zebra ZPL commands with Unicode text (^CI28 = UTF-8 encoding)
              var cmds = "^XA";
              cmds += "^CWZ,E:TT0003M_.FNT^FS";
              cmds += "^FO10,50^CI28^AZN,50,50^FDUNICODE using CI28 UTF-8 encoding^FS";
              cmds += "^FO010,160^CI28^AZN,50,40^FD- Roman: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ^FS";
              cmds += "^FO010,230^CI28^AZN,50,40^FD- Cyrillic: ЁЂЃЄЅІЇЈЉЊЋЌЎЏАБВГДЕЖЗИЙКЛМН^FS";
              cmds += "^FO010,300^CI28^AZN,50,40^FD- Eastern: ŠŚŤŽŹŁĄŞŻĽľŔÁÂĂÄĹĆÇČÉĘËĚÍÎĎ^FS";
              cmds += "^FO010,370^CI28^AZN,50,40^FD- Greek: ΆΈΉΊΌΐΑΒΓΔΕΖΗΘΙΚΛΜΝΞΟΠΡΣΤΥΦΧΨΩΪΫ^FS";
              cmds += "^FO010,440^CI28^AZN,50,40^FD- Turkish: ÀÁÂÃÄÅÆÇÈÉÊËÌÍÎĞÑÒÓÔÕÖ×ØÙÚÛÜİŞ^FS";
              cmds += "^PA1,1,1,1^FS"; // ^PA command is mandatory for RTL languages like Arabic & Hebrew
              cmds += "^FO010,510^CI28^AZN,50,40^FD- Arabic: زيبرة  تكنوليجيز اوربا المحدودة^FS";
              cmds += "^PQ1";
              cmds += "^XZ";
              cpj.printerCommands = cmds;
              // Send the commands to the printer encoded as UTF-8
              cpj.printerCommandsCodePage = JSPM.Encoding.Unicode_UTF_8;
              // Trace the print job status (optional)
              traceJob(cpj);
              // Send the print job to the client printer
              cpj.sendToClient();
          }
      }
  
      // Check the connection status with the JSPrintManager Client App
      function jspmWSStatus() {
          var status = JSPM.JSPrintManager.websocket_status;
          if (status == JSPM.WSStatus.Open) {
              return true;
          } else if (status == JSPM.WSStatus.WaitingForUserResponse) {
              console.info('Waiting for the user to allow this website (JSPrintManager dialog or browser Local Network Access prompt)...');
          } else if (status == JSPM.WSStatus.Blocked) {
              alert('JSPrintManager has blocked this website!');
          } else if (status == JSPM.WSStatus.NotInstalled || status == JSPM.WSStatus.Closed) {
              alert('JSPrintManager Client App is not installed or not running! Download it from https://neodynamic.com/downloads/jspm');
          } else if (status == JSPM.WSStatus.CertificateError) {
              alert('A TLS/SSL certificate error prevented the connection with JSPrintManager Client App.');
          } else if (status == JSPM.WSStatus.ConnectionError) {
              alert('A network error (e.g. a firewall) prevented the connection with JSPrintManager Client App.');
          }
          return false;
      }
  
      // Show the settings of the selected printer type
      function showPrinterSettings() {
          var panels = document.querySelectorAll('.printer-settings');
          for (var i = 0; i < panels.length; i++) {
              panels[i].style.display = (panels[i].id == 'printer-settings-' + val('printerType')) ? '' : 'none';
          }
      }
  
      // Create the client printer for the selected printer type
      function getClientPrinter() {
          switch (val('printerType')) {
              case '0': return new JSPM.DefaultPrinter();
              case '1': return new JSPM.UserSelectedPrinter();
              case '2': return new JSPM.InstalledPrinter(val('installedPrinterName'));
              case '3': return new JSPM.NetworkPrinter(parseInt(val('netPort')), val('netIp'), val('netDns'));
              case '4': return new JSPM.ParallelPortPrinter(val('lptPort'));
              case '5': return new JSPM.SerialPortPrinter(val('serialPort'), parseInt(val('serialBaudRate')),
                            JSPM.Serial.Parity[val('serialParity')], JSPM.Serial.StopBits[val('serialStopBits')],
                            JSPM.Serial.DataBits[val('serialDataBits')], JSPM.Serial.Handshake[val('serialFlowControl')]);
              case '6': return new JSPM.BluetoothPrinter(val('btAddress'), parseInt(val('btChannel')));
          }
      }
  
      // Log the print job status updates (optional)
      function traceJob(cpj) {
          cpj.onUpdated = function (data) { console.info(data); };
          cpj.onFinished = function (data) { console.info(data); };
          cpj.onError = function (data, isCritical) { console.error(data); };
      }
  
      // Helpers
      function val(id) { return document.getElementById(id).value; }
      function checked(id) { return document.getElementById(id).checked; }
  
      // Fill a <select> element with a list of items
      function fillSelect(id, items, getText) {
          var select = document.getElementById(id);
          select.innerHTML = '';
          for (var i = 0; i < items.length; i++) {
              var text = getText ? getText(items[i]) : items[i];
              select.add(new Option(text, text));
          }
      }
  </script>
  

• That's it! Run your website and test it. Click on Print Now... to print the Unicode UTF-8 Zebra ZPL Commands without print dialog. You can print it to the Default client printer, to any installed printer available at the client machine, or directly to an IP/Ethernet, LPT, RS-232 or Bluetooth printer.
  
  
  NOTE Besides the Default printer and any installed printer, this sample also lets you print through the OS print dialog and directly to an IP/Ethernet printer (e.g. port 9100), a Parallel Port (LPT), a Serial Port (RS-232) or a Bluetooth printer.

Try JSPrintManager Online Demo!