[Wylug-help] Suggestions - printing to ZEBRA credit card printer attached to Win7 PC

[Gary Stainburn]

I posted this to the perl beginners list yesterday but got nowhere. Thought 
I'd try here. The solution doesn't have to be perl based, but as I'm more 
used to that than anything else it'd probably help.

Anyone got any suggestions?

(And sorry for it being slightly O/T)

Gary
----------  Forwarded Message  ----------

Subject: Suggestions - printing to ZEBRA credit card printer attached to Win7 
PC
Date: Tuesday 16 September 2014
From: Gary Stainburn <gary.stainburn at ringways.co.uk>
To: beginners at perl.org

I've got a ZEBRA ZXP Series 1 credit card printer attached to a Win7 PC.
By using Word and creating a paper size of 84mm by 54mm I can printer on a 
card successfully.

The cards we will be using are pre-printed with logo's etc. but I need to 
print a person's name and reference number across the botom of it.

The data is being generated by my LAPP based system. I'm looking at options as 
to how I can implement a system for printing the cards. As I see it, I have a 
number of options.

1) mail-merge using Word. 
Generate a CSV file via PHP for download.
Manual intervention required to download the file and run the mail-merge, but 
simple and easy to set up.

2) Have a process run on my LAPP server to create the document and print using 
a normal windows share.

3) Have a daemon running on the Win7 PC accepting instructions via the network 
and printing the cards. This then goes back to the earlier thread of which 
PERL to use.

4) Any other method you can suggest.

Obviously, options 2 and 3 are the ones I'd prefer. I've Googled "perl Windows 
print" and all I get are various postings, many of them over 10 years old on 
how to print text to PRN or a windows share.

There are posts about generating HTML/CSS and using rundll32 to print it. 
Google on "windows html css print" doesn't give much help. Does anyone know 
how I would be able to get it to print to 84CMx54CM page?

If I don't go down the HTML/CSS route, what other options are available for 
producing the document suitable for sending to the printer.

Going back 20 years to when I used to write in Borland Delphi there was a 
component for creating printer documents and adding contents. Are there 
similar PERL modules? What are people's preferences?

-- 
Gary Stainburn


-------------------------------------------------------

-- 
Gary Stainburn
Group I.T. Manager
Ringways Garages
http://www.ringways.co.uk