Getting Started with ZXP Series 3 Card Printer Development – ZXP3 SDK

Getting Started with ZXP Series 3

Card Printer Development –

ZXP3 SDK – C#

A Zebra Technologies Application Note

Overview

This document describes the end to end process of designing, packaging, deploying and

running a C# application using the ZXP Series 3 and Series 1 SDK.

The sample code used in this Application Note is from the sample code article Connect and

Print – Zebra Card SDK for ZXP Series 1 and Series 3 Printers – C#.

Target Audience

The information in this Application Note document assumes you have reasonable technical

competence covering Microsoft Visual Studio, core programming concepts and rationales.

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System Requirements

The following items are required to create the ZXP3 SDK application.

ZXP Series 3 and Series 1 SDK

The following components are required and included in the ZXP Series 3 and Series 1 SDK

package: Printer SDK and Graphics SDK.

Download the ZXP Series 3 and Series 1 SDK, Fill out and submit the required form.

Note: Download the 32-bit or 64-bit SDK installer, depending on your computer or project

requirements.

The “Install the ZXP Series 3 and Series 1 SDK” section of this document contains

instructions on how to install the SDK.

ZXP Series 1 or Series 3 Printer

In order to run a ZXP Series 3 and Series 1 SDK application, a Zebra ZXP Series 3 or Series

1 printer must be accessible from the computer.

Using the ZXP Series 3 and Series 1 SDK

This section includes information on how to:

 Install the ZXP Series 3 and Series 1 SDK

 Create an Application Using the ZXP Series 3 and Series 1 SDK

 Design the Form Layout

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 Add the Code

 Run the Application

Install the ZXP Series 3 and Series 1 SDK

You must install the ZXP Series 3 and Series 1 SDK to your system before you can develop

the sample application.

Follow these steps to install the ZXP Series 3 and Series 1 SDK:

1. Run the ZXP Series 3 and Series 1 SDK Installer.

The ZBRSDK Setup Wizard appears.

2. Click Next.

3. Use the installer’s defaults to advance through the installation wizard.

Create an Application Using the ZXP Series 3 and Series 1 SDK

The following steps guide you on how to create an application that uses the ZXP Series 3 and

Series 1 SDK. The application feeds in a PVC card from the Input Hopper, prints text and

graphics to the card, and then sends the card to the Output Hopper.

1. Launch Microsoft Visual Studio 2008.

2. To create a C# Windows Form project, click File -> New -> Project.

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The New Project dialog appears. In the “Project types” pane, expand Visual C# and

select Windows Forms Application.

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3. Do the following:

 Type ZXP1ZXP3GettingStarted in the Name text field

 Select a location for your project

 Click OK

Your project automatically opens in the IDE. The Form Designer is opened by default.

Note: The ZXP Series 3 and Series 1 SDK can work with either 32-bit or 64-bit

machines.

4. Right-click the ZXP1ZXP3GettingStarted project in the Solution Explorer and select

Properties.

The ZXP1ZXP3GettingStarted project’s properties window appears.

5. Select Build on the left.

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6. Set the Platform target to either x86 or x64, depending on which version of the SDK you

are using and Save.

7. Close the Properties window to return to the Form Designer.

Design the Form Layout

This section contains instructions for specifying the:

 Form and form properties

 Form Events (combo box, common controls, text box, labels for the objects, messaging,

and interface buttons)

Defining the Form and Form Properties

1. To rename the form in the Solution Explorer, right-click Form1.cs and select Rename.

2. Type frmMain.cs and press Enter.

3. Click Yes when prompted to rename all references of “Form1”.

4. Right-click anywhere on the form in the Form Designer and select Properties.

The Properties table appears in the bottom right panel.

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5. Replace “Form1” with ZXP1 ZXP3 Application for the value of the Text property.

This changes the text on the title bar of the form.

6. For the value of the Size property, replace “300, 300” with 350, 300.

Defining the Form Events

1. In the Properties window, use the lightning bolt icon to set the Load event to

frmMain_Load.

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2. Now define the additional form objects and events.

Defining Additional Form Objects and Events

1. Do the following:

 Expand the Toolbox on the left.

 Expand Common Controls and drag a ComboBox into the top right portion of the

form.

2. Right-click the combo box and select Properties.

3. Type the value of the “(Name)” property to cboPrinterSelection.

4. Use the lightning bolt icon to change the combo box’s SelectedIndexChanged event to

cboPrinterSelection_SelectedIndexChanged.

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5. Use a text box to enter text that you want to appear on the card, by dragging a TextBox

from the Toolbox and place it directly under the combo box on the form.

6. Right-click the TextBox and select Properties.

7. Set the value of its “(Name)” property to txtCardTextFront.

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8. Now, add Labels to the combo box and text box.

 Drag a Label from the Toolbox and place it to the left of the combo box.

 Right-click the label and select Properties. Change the value of the Text property to

Printer.

 Drag another Label from the Toolbox and place it to the left of the text box.

 Right-click the label and select Properties. Change the value of the Text property to

Card Text.

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9. Add another label to output the status messages.

 Drag another Label from the Toolbox and place it directly under the Card Text Label.

 Right-click the label and select Properties. Clear the value of the Text property so

that is blank and set the value of the “(Name)” property to lblPrintStatus.

10. Add a Button to print the card.

 Drag a Button from the Toolbox and place it in the bottom right portion of the form.

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 Right-click the Button and select Properties.

 Change the value of the Text property to Print.

 Change the value of the “(Name)” property to btnPrint.

 Use the lightning bolt icon to set the Button’s click event to btnPrint_Click.

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Add the Code

Now, you need to add the code.

1. Right-click anywhere in the Form Designer and select View Code.

The frmMain.cs opens.

2. Create the files ZBRGraphics.cs and ZBRPrinter.cs.

3. Replace the existing code in frmMain.cs, ZBRGraphics.cs and ZBRPrinter.cs with source

code from Connect and Print – Zebra Card SDK for ZXP Series 1 and Series 3 Printers –

C#.

4. Copy the ZBRGraphics.dll and ZBRPrinter.dll SDK files to the folder where the

application’s .exe is located.

This code has a few main functions:

 Populates the printer selection combo box with available printers.

 Connects to the printer before printing and disconnects from the printer after printing.

 Draws shapes and text to the graphics buffer and begins printing when the Print

button is clicked.

Note: The source code in this Application Note is extracted from Connect and Print – Zebra

Card SDK for ZXP Series 1 and Series 3 Printers – C#.

Run the Application

1. Press F5 to start the application.

2. Select your ZXP Series 1 or Series 3 device from the printer selection combo box.

A Zebra Technologies Application Note

3. Type “Hello Zebra!” into the Card Text field.

4. Click Print.

When printing begins, a message “Performing Print Job” appears.

5. After printing is complete, a “Print Job: Success” message appears.

 If you have a dual-sided printer, the resulting shapes appear with the text printed on

the front and back of your card.

 If you have a single-sided printer, only the shapes and text appear on the front of your

card.

Front

Back

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Document Control

Version

Date

Description

April, 2011

Initial release

November, 2015

Added support for the ZXP Series 1 and

Series 3 Printers for the updated SDK

Disclaimer

All links and information provided within this document are correct at time of writing.

Created for Zebra Global ISV Program by Zebra Development Services.