There are two options for saving the generated report. It is clear that it makes no sense to send photos of landscapes to a “zebra-printer”, but a picture like the one at the beginning of the article - why not, if it is appropriate on our labels!) But we can use more possibilities - add pictures, tables, barcodes (and these will be correct, machine-readable barcodes!). We will use the FastReport VCL platform, since it saves from Delphi immediately to the required format (Zebra Programming Language). So let’s create a ZPL from our Delphi or Lazarus application correctly! If your barcodes are not recognized by the scanner then, usually, you have a problem with a rasterized and scaled image. The only problem is that ZPL and Zebra-printers are designed primarily to create machine-readable vector-scaled labels, and often the result, due to the rasterization and image scaling steps in the program / driver will not be readable by the barcode scanner. So is it possible to send just an ordinary picture or a “created to fit the label” document from a text editor? Can we just “draw on Canvas, send to the printer” and let the driver figure it out by itself? Yes, you can send, it will be printed, and it will often look like a real one. Creating a ZPL in Delphi / C++Builder / Lazarus In fact, everything is not that simple, but it gives a general idea of the ZPL language. The output of the barcode for printing is carried out through the FD command. Barcode (both ZPL and Zebra-printer - created directly for barcodes!) consisting of three commands:Ĩ. J - align the text to the width of the field Ĭorner rounding is indicated by a value from 0 to 8.ħ. You can display the data with the adjusted values as follows: ^ CF x, y, z - default font settings: the font, its height and width Ħ. The code should start with the ^ XA tag, and end with ^ XZ ģ. The design itself is created with the following commands:ġ.

You should study the documentation of the printing equipment and find out what its density of pixels (DPI) is. Measurements for printing are made in points, because without an exact value it will be quite difficult to do something without receiving errors and failures. Briefly about steps of creating a ZPL:įirst, data is sent to the printer using the equipment (PCs or terminals that collect the information), then the Zebra-printer processor processes the information received and prints the result. Zebra Technologies originally invented the ZPL to create and print labels (with barcodes, graphics, and any text) that are used primarily for commercial activities. The printer receives commands to produce shapes, frames, symbols and other things, and itself knows how to do it. This makes the label independent from the specific printing device.

It allows team to create the desired print design for any label or page.

ZPL stands for Zebra Programming Language.

Open zpl file zebra