Converting A Vb6 App (Bartender 7.75)

Legacy Poster

• 2014年10月01日 16:22

I am in the process of converting a vb6 app to VB.net (Bartender version 10.1).

 

The current app prints the labels using the following code

 

'Build executable string for Bar Tender

strBarTenderExe = frmProcessor.mstrexepath & " /f=" & mstrTextFilePath & "\" & frmProcessor.mstrlblformat

strBarTenderExe =  StrBarTenderExe & " /d=" & mstrTextFilePath & "\" &  frmProcessor.mstrtextfile & " /p" & " /x"

 

'Submit Bar Tender label generation job and wait

intshelled = Shell(strBarTenderExe,2)

 

Looks like it is build some sort of line command to and submits a request to the BarTender exe to print a file.

 

Couple of question:  How does bartender know the printer and number of copies of labels to print?

 

With version 10.1 of bartender will this still work, is it the most effective way to print a label or should I be using the .Net SDK.

 

If I am to use the .Net SDK how do I pass the info from the file

 

Here is the .Net Print Code I have started

 

Private Sub PrintLabels(ByRef LabelTemplate As String, ByRef PrinterName As String, ByRef NbrofCopies As Integer)
Dim btEngine As New Engine(True)

 

Try

    btEngine.Start()

   Dim btFormat As LabelFormatDocument = btEngine.Documents.Open("c:\MyLabel.btw", PrinterName)

   btFormat.PrintSetup.IdenticalCopiesOfLabel = NbrofCopies

   btFormat.Print()

  btEngine.Stop

 

Catch ex as Exception

End Try

 

Exit Sub

 

Any help with this conversion would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

 

 

 

0

• 

  Shotaro Ito

  ★ BarTender Hero ★

  • 2014年10月02日 04:31

  Sure, the command line options /F /P /D /X are still works in BT10.1 Automation or above.

  Note that bartend.exe 's location is vary in BarTender / windows x86/x64 versions.

   

  From command line options, you can specify number of copy by /C and printer name by /PRN.

  See command line reference in 

  BarTender help > Automating BarTender > Automation with Command Line Interface > Command Line Parameter Reference.

   

  Going .NET SDK is a good option as it provides much more flexibility.

  There's some codes in BarTender help > Automating BarTender > Automation with BarTender .net SDKs > BarTender .net Print SDK > Getting Started.

  Note that starting BarTender (engine.start) and terminating bartender (engine.stop) takes time, so try to keep it open while printing jobs.

   

  Consider using Commander / Commander Script too - this could be similar to command line approach and effective as it keep BarTender open and cache formats.

  Commander script described in example #3 below.

  http://www.seagullscientific.com/label-software/whitepapers/overview-of-commander-new-201406.pdf

   

  Also this troubleshooter is must see..

  http://forums.seagullscientific.com/index.php?/topic/55-commander-troubleshooting/

  0
• 

  Legacy Poster

  ★ BarTender Hero ★

  • 2014年10月02日 19:17

  The current application updates a file (containing the data for the btw file).  Can you I pass a file to the engine in a similar manner?

  0
• 

  Shotaro Ito

  ★ BarTender Hero ★

  • 2014年10月03日 00:39

  Yes, both Command line and Commander still supports /D="<text database file name>" option to pass data.

  From .net SDK it would be like this.

  (extract from Getting started in help)

  Imports Seagull.BarTender.Print.Database
  
  ' Application Code 
  
  ' ... 
  
  Dim btEngine As New Engine()
  
  ' Start a BarTender print engine 
  
  btEngine.Start()
  
  ' Open a label format 
  
  Dim btFormat As LabelFormatDocument = btEngine.Documents.Open("c:\MyLabel.btw")
  
  ' Set the TextFile database connection file name 
  
  CType(btFormat.DatabaseConnections("TextFileDB"), TextFile).FileName = "c:\NutritionInformationEurope.txt"
  
  ' Print the label format document 
  
  btFormat.Print()
  
  ' Stop the engine 
  
  btEngine.Stop() 
  
  

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• 

  Legacy Poster

  ★ BarTender Hero ★

  • 2014年10月09日 20:41

  Shotaro

   

  Thanks for your reply. one more question if you don't mind. 

   

  VB.net for some reason does not like the ",TextFile" in the databaseConnect command.  Error is type TextFile is not defined.

   

  I tried inserting

  Dim TextFile as new Seagull.Bartender.Print.Database.TextFile and it did not work.

   

  Here is my subroutine code

   

  
   

  Public Sub PrintLabels(ByRef LabelTemplate As String, ByRef PrinterName As String, ByRef NbrofCopies As Integer)
  
   

      Using btEngine As New Engine(True)
  
   

         ' Start the BarTender print engine.           
            btEngine.Start()  
  
   

              ' Open a format.

              Dim btFormat As LabelFormatDocument = btEngine.Documents.Open("C:\lblgen.btw", PrinterName)

   

              ' set number of copies

                btFormat.PrinterSetUp.IdenticalCopiesofLabel = NbrofCopies

   

                 ' Set the TextFile database connection file name 
                CType(btFormat.DatabaseConnections("TextFileDB"),TextFile).FileName = "c:\LabelText.txt"

   

               'Print  the format

              btFormat.Print()

   

             'Close the current format without saving

             btFormat.Close(SaveOptions.DoNotSaveChanges)

   

            'Stop bartender engine

            btEngine.Stop

   

       End Using

   

  End Sub

   

  What am I doing incorrectly

  
   

  
   

  
   

  0
• 

  Shotaro Ito

  ★ BarTender Hero ★

  • 2014年10月14日 07:14

  Oh... "TextFileDB" is actually the database name of the text database - in default, this is "Text File 1".  you can check / rename that in BarTender's database connection setup.

  Using code below, it will replace primary text database whatever the database name is.

              Dim tf As Seagull.BarTender.Print.Database.TextFile = New Seagull.BarTender.Print.Database.TextFile(btFormat.DatabaseConnections(0).Name)
              tf.FileName = "C:\data.csv"
              btFormat.DatabaseConnections.SetDatabaseConnection(tf)
  

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