How to print a set of barcode labels in batch using data masking with Zebra ZPL-EPL printers and VB.NET or C# by using ThermalLabel SDK for .NET
Product ThermalLabel SDK for .NET Published 04/08/2011 Updated 04/18/2018
Requirements
Neodynamic ThermalLabel SDK 8.0+
Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6.1+
Microsoft Visual Studio 2017+
Any Zebra Thermal Printer supporting ZPL (Zebra Programming Language) or EPL (Eltron Programming Language)
Data Masking allows you to serialize data items by specifying a Mask string as well as an increment string. Data Masking can be used with TextItem as well as BarcodeItem
Data Masking consists of the following concepts:
- The input Mask string: The mask string must be specified to the Mask property of any TextItem or BarcodeItem objects. The length of the mask string defines the number of characters to be formatted or masked. The mask is aligned to the characters in the target string (i.e. the Text property for TextItem objects or the Code property for BarcodeItem objects) starting with the right-most position. The input mask string must consist of the following characters (a.k.a. Mask String placeholders):
- D or d (for Decimal numeric 0-9)
- H or h (for Hexadecimal 0–9 plus a-f or A-F)
- O or o (for Octal 0–7)
- A or a (for Alphabetic A–Z or a–z)
- N or n (for Alphanumeric 0–9 plus A–Z or a–z)
- % (Ignore character or skip)
- The Mask Increment string: The mask increment string (which is set up by using the MaskIncrement property of any TextItem or BarcodeItem object) is the value to be added to the text on each label to be printed and should match the Mask string length. The default value for the increment is equivalent to a decimal value of 1 (one). The string is composed of any characters defined in the input mask string. Invalid characters are assumed to be equal to a value of 0 (zero) in that characters position. The increment value for alphabetic strings start with 'A' or 'a' as the zero placeholder. This means to increment an alphabetic character by one, a value of 'B' or 'b' must be in the increment string. For characters that do not get incremented, the '%' character needs to be added to the increment string.
In the following sample, each label features a TextItem which will serialize a product model ranging from "MDL-001/X" to "MDL-010/X" (i.e. the sequence will be MDL-001/X, MDL-002/X, MDL-003/X, ..., MDL-010/X) and a BarcodeItem which will serialize a product ID ranging from "PRD000-A" to "PRD900-J" (i.e. the sequence will be "PRD000-A", "PRD100-B", "PRD200-C", ..., "PRD900-J") in Code 128 symbology.
Follow these steps:
- Download and install latest version of Neodynamic ThermalLabel SDK for .NET
- Open Visual Studio and create a new Windows Forms project. Please ensure to select .NET 4.6.1 Framework or greater
- Add a reference to Neodynamic.SDK.ThermalLabel.dll and Neodynamic.SDK.ThermalLabel.WindowsPrinting.dll assemblies.
- Add a button control onto the form and paste the following code in the click event handler of the button:
VB
'Define a ThermalLabel object and set unit to inch and label size Dim tLabel As New ThermalLabel(UnitType.Inch, 3, 2) tLabel.GapLength = 0.2 'Define a TextItem object Dim txt As New TextItem(0.1, 0.1, 2.8, 0.5, "MDL-001/X") 'set Mask info... txt.Mask = "%%%%ddd%%" txt.MaskIncrement = "1%%" 'set font txt.Font.Name = Neodynamic.SDK.Printing.Font.NativePrinterFontA txt.Font.Unit = FontUnit.Point txt.Font.Size = 10 'Define a BarcodeItem object Dim bc As New BarcodeItem(0.1, 0.57, 2.8, 1.3, BarcodeSymbology.Code128, "PRD000-A") 'set Mask info... bc.Mask = "%%%d%%%A" bc.MaskIncrement = "1%%%B" 'set barcode size bc.BarWidth = 0.02 bc.BarHeight = 0.75 'set barcode alignment bc.BarcodeAlignment = BarcodeAlignment.MiddleCenter 'set font bc.Font.Name = Neodynamic.SDK.Printing.Font.NativePrinterFontA bc.Font.Unit = FontUnit.Point bc.Font.Size = 10 'Add items to ThermalLabel object... tLabel.Items.Add(txt) tLabel.Items.Add(bc) 'Create a WindowsPrintJob object Using pj As New WindowsPrintJob() 'Create PrinterSettings object Dim myPrinter As New PrinterSettings() myPrinter.Communication.CommunicationType = CommunicationType.USB myPrinter.Dpi = 203 myPrinter.ProgrammingLanguage = ProgrammingLanguage.ZPL myPrinter.PrinterName = "Zebra TLP2844-Z" 'Set PrinterSettings to PrintJob pj.PrinterSettings = myPrinter 'Set num of labels to generate pj.Copies = 10 'Print ThermalLabel object... pj.Print(tLabel) End UsingC#
//Define a ThermalLabel object and set unit to inch and label size ThermalLabel tLabel = new ThermalLabel(UnitType.Inch, 3, 2); tLabel.GapLength = 0.2; //Define a TextItem object TextItem txt = new TextItem(0.1, 0.1, 2.8, 0.5, "MDL-001/X"); //set Mask info... txt.Mask = "%%%%ddd%%"; txt.MaskIncrement = "1%%"; //set font txt.Font.Name = Neodynamic.SDK.Printing.Font.NativePrinterFontA; txt.Font.Unit = FontUnit.Point; txt.Font.Size = 10; //Define a BarcodeItem object BarcodeItem bc = new BarcodeItem(0.1, 0.57, 2.8, 1.3, BarcodeSymbology.Code128, "PRD000-A"); //set Mask info... bc.Mask = "%%%d%%%A"; bc.MaskIncrement = "1%%%B"; //set barcode size bc.BarWidth = 0.02; bc.BarHeight = 0.75; //set barcode alignment bc.BarcodeAlignment = BarcodeAlignment.MiddleCenter; //set font bc.Font.Name = Neodynamic.SDK.Printing.Font.NativePrinterFontA; bc.Font.Unit = FontUnit.Point; bc.Font.Size = 10; //Add items to ThermalLabel object... tLabel.Items.Add(txt); tLabel.Items.Add(bc); //Create a WindowsPrintJob object using (WindowsPrintJob pj = new WindowsPrintJob()) { //Create PrinterSettings object PrinterSettings myPrinter = new PrinterSettings(); myPrinter.Communication.CommunicationType = CommunicationType.USB; myPrinter.Dpi = 203; myPrinter.ProgrammingLanguage = ProgrammingLanguage.ZPL; myPrinter.PrinterName = "Zebra TLP2844-Z"; //Set PrinterSettings to PrintJob pj.PrinterSettings = myPrinter; //Set num of labels to generate pj.Copies = 10; //Print ThermalLabel object... pj.Print(tLabel); } - Run the sample Windows Forms application and test it.