Q. What is the difference between Raw Data Printer and other printing tools? A.Raw Data Printer uses advanced techniques to communicate directly with your printing devices and send raw data and native commands to the printers. It does not use any printer drivers. It even bypasses the printer drivers installed on your system when sending data to the printer. Other printing tools can not communicate directly with the printer and can not send raw data or printer commands.
Q. What printer types are supported by Raw Data Printer? A.Raw Data Printer can be used with any printer type because it communicates directly with the printer device can send native printer commands and raw data to the printer.
Q. Does Raw Data Printer support network printers? A. Yes. Raw Data Printer supports both local and network printers, as well as logical printers such as FAX printers.
Q. Do I need to register Raw Data Printer on my system (as an ActiveX component) before starting to use it? A. If you have downloaded and run the setup package of the Raw Data Printer component, there is no need to register it because the setup utility automatically registers the component on your system. However, if you have downloaded the Raw Data Printer component file only (RawDataPrinter.dll), then you need to register it manually on your system. To register the component manually, use the Windows Regsvr32 utility. From the Windows Start menu, click Run and type:
Regsvr32 FolderName\RawDataPrinter.dll
Where FolderName is the full pathname of the folder where RawDataPrinter.dll is located.
Q. On what platforms can Raw Data Printer be used? A.Raw Data Printer component can be used on all 32-bit Windows platforms (Windows 95/98/NT/ME/2000/2003/XP).
Q. In what programming languages can Raw Data Printer be used? A.Raw Data Printer can be used in any programming language that support ActiveX components such as VB (Visual Basic), VBA, VB.NET, C#.NET, VC.NET, ASP, HTML, Delphi, Visual C++, MS Office (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint), VB Script, Java Script, etc.
Q. I am using Raw Data Printer from an ASP page but I am unable to get it print anything! What could be the problem? A. When using ActiveX components from ASP or ASPX pages, they run under the Windows SYSTEM account. By default, there are no printers installed under that account. To resolve this issue, you must either install your printers under that account as well, and give that account the appropriate permissions (from the printer properties -> security) to print, manage printer, and manage documents, or, you need to follow this procedure to add the component to COM+ applications and execute it with the permissions of a specific account. Note that the above procedure is described for another one of our products (ASP Printer COM), however, the same procedure can be followed exactly for Raw Data Printer.
Q. I am using Raw Data Printer from an ASP page but when I load the page in the browser, I receive this error "The server process could not be started because the configured identity is incorrect. Check the username and password."! What could be the problem? A. You will receive this error if the account used in the COM+ package identity has an incorrect username or password, or the account password is blank. If the account password is blank, you must use the Computer Management console (from Control Panel -> Administrative Tools) to set a password for that account. Then restart both the COM+ package and IIS.
Q. Are Raw Data Printer run-times royalty-free? A. Yes. You do not need to re-pay us in order to redistribute the runtime module of Raw Data Printer component with your application. Please see also the available license options to verify which license option is appropriate for your case.
Q. What libraries do I need to include in my application's setup package so that Raw Data Printer can work on the user system? A. See Redistribution...
Q. How can I add Raw Data Printer to my VB project? A. There are two methods to use the component in Visual Basic. The first method is to add a reference to your project from the Project - References menu. Then, you declare the object (in a BAS module or in a Form module) using:
Dim MyObj As RawDataPrinter.Printer
Once you have declared the object, you can use it from anywhere in your project (or form) using the MyObj object variable.
The other method is using late-binding (no need to add a reference to your project), where you just create the object (through code) when you need to use it, using:
Set MyObj = CreateObject("RawDataPrinter.Printer")
Q. Can I print to a printer other than the default system printer using Raw Data Printer? A. Yes. See the GetPrinters and the SetPrinter methods.
Q. Can Raw Data Printer print my raw data on web servers from within my ASP pages? A. Yes. Raw Data Printer can print on any printer installed on the web server where your application is hosted. To print on the server, you just need to create an instance of the Raw Data Printer object on the server from your ASP page (using Server.CreateObject(...)) and then call the appropriate object methods.
Q. Can Raw Data Printer also print on the client machines that access my web site? A. Yes. Raw Data Printer can also print on the client machines that view your web pages in a web browser (a browser that support ActiveX components, such as MS Internet Explorer). To print on the client from your HTML pages that are being viewed in the client's web browser, just have a reference to the object by using the HTML <OBJECT> tag and use VB Script or Java Script to call the PrintRawData method to print on the client machine.
Q. The client machines that access my web site do not have Raw Data Printer installed on their machines. How can I print on the client machine? A. You just need to have the Internet Distribution Package of Raw Data Printer available on your web site. When a remote client machine hits a page that has a reference to Raw Data Printer, Internet Explorer will automatically download and install the component on the client machine and will enable you to use he component from within that page. On subsequent uses from other pages of your web site, IE will not download and install the component again, but will immediately executes your code that calls the object methods. Please note that the security settings of IE must allow the downloading, initialization and execution of ActiveX components in order to be able to install and use the component. By default, IE security settings do not allow some of these operations, but may prompt the user for these actions.
Q. I have the Internet Distribution Package of Raw Data Printer available on my web site, but I am unable to print on the client machine. What could be the problem? A. Please check the IE security settings on the client machine. By default, these settings does not allow execution of ActiveX components. The user will need to modify the settings as shown here. Alternatively, the user can add your web site to his Trusted Sites zone in Internet Explorer without the need to modify any of the security settings (all the necessary settings are either set to "Enabled" or "Prompt" for this zone in IE).
Q. Can I use JavaScript to print from my ASP and HTML pages, or only VBScript? A. You can use both VBScript and JavaScript.
Q. I want to print a ticket or an invoice. So, I want to supply some data from within my code (name, date, price, etc.) and I also need to specify some static data to be retrieved from a text file and printed after or before that data that I supply (something like a header or footer). How can I achieve that without calling the PrintRawData method twice? A. When you call the PrintRawData method, just supply your data in the Data argument and also specify the file name in the FileName argument of the method. If you need to print the data before the file contents or vice versa, use the SetPriorityToFile argument.
Q. How can I print from MS Office applications with Raw Data Printer? A. Use VBA (Visual Basic for Applications). You will need to add a reference to your office application (MS Word, MS Access, MS Excel, etc.) for the Raw Data Printer object in order to be able to use the component.
Q. Can I send ESC commands or any native printer commands to my printer with Raw Data Printer? A. Of course. Just use the escape character "Chr(27)" and the command letter (e.g. Chr(27) & "E"). Call the PrintRawData method and specify that value in the Data argument.
Q. Can I use Raw Data Printer to change the printer font, font size, paper bin, print quality, paper size, orientation, etc.? A. If your printer accepts escape commands to manipulate these properties, then you can do anything you like by sending the appropriate escape codes.
Q. Does Raw Data Printer support different paper sizes? A. This can be done only if your printer can change the paper size through escape codes.
Q. Can I print a document using portrait or landscape orientation? A. This can be done only if your printer can change the paper orientation through escape codes.
Q. Can I specify a different line spacing when printing a text document with Raw Data Printer? A. No. The line spacing depends on the settings of your printer. You can change it using escape codes if your printer support ESC codes.
Q. Is it possible to specify the print quality when printing a document? A. Only if your printer supports this option through ESC codes.
Q. Is it possible to specify the number of copies to print? A. Only by using ESC codes.
Q. Can I specify different margins (left, right, top, bottom) when printing a document with Raw Data Printer? A. Raw Data Printer does not provide such features because it send raw data to the printer. You can use ESC codes (commands) to achieve that if your printer supports ESC codes.
Q. Does Raw Data Printer support printing graphics such as bar codes? A. If your printer has built-in bar code capability, you can send the appropriate data and commands to print barcodes.
Q. How can I intercept the events of the Raw Data Printer object in my application? A. This depends on the programming language you are using. For example, in VB (Visual Basic), you need to Dim the object variable using the 'With Events' declaration, or just by adding a reference to the object in your project. In HTML, you must set event handler code. For other programming languages, please refer to the programming language documentation.
Q. Is it possible to get informed when may data has been sent to the printer spooler? A. Yes. Use the PrintStart and PrintComplete events. These events are triggered when the date has just started spooling and when spooling is complete, respectively.
Q. Do I need to reference Raw Data Printer on every form in my VB application in order to print from each from? A. No. You can just declare the object in a public variable in a BAS module (or in a public variable in a form module) and use this object variable from anywhere in your project to print.
Q. Can I print my data without ejecting the paper so that next time I print, the printing resumes from the last character position, like in the case of a typewriter? A. Yes. When calling the PrintRawData method, ignore the SendFormFeed argument (do not supply a value).
Q. I have several printers installed on my machine. Can I print to a specific printer? A. Yes. When calling the PrintRawData method, specify the printer name in the PrinterName argument. Alternatively, use the SetPrinter method to change the printer.
