[WinPrnDev] Re: Intercepting data sent to the printer
- From: Abdul Qader mohammed <abqader.iqbal@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: winprndev@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 1 Dec 2011 14:04:57 +0530
Hi Akshay,
The info that you obtained in the hex editor is basically pixel
information. It tells the printer how to render each pixel on to the paper.
You have to understand that the driver is not responsible for modifying the
content that is sent to the printer. In fact the driver is responsible for
WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get !!).
Why would you want to change the content sent by an APP?
On the other hand :
Is this "readable text" some command that needs to be sent to the printer?
If so then you will have to start taking a look into the language monitor.
Thanks
Abdul.
On Thu, Dec 1, 2011 at 1:47 PM, akshay gupta <akshaygupta202@xxxxxxxxx>wrote:
> Hi Christoph,
>
> First of all thanks for all your valuable suggestions.I will now share
> with you some of my experiences trying to figure out what to do based on
> your suggestions. I read about esc/p2 printer language , its basically a
> set of printer instructions instructing the printer how to choose fonts,set
> printing area, setting printing positions and lot other things.I found a
> tool printcapture http://printcapture.com/index.html
> <http://printcapture.com/index.html>which would read epson printer format and
> render the file content as an
> image.I tried opening the print to file output from EPSON TM-T88IV with
> this tool , but it could not open it.This led me to thinking that the
> format is not exactly esc/p it could be some variation,because when I open
> that file in hex editor I can see some of the esc character commands
> listed in the programers manual.Now my question is how can I extract
> readable text from the file containing esc character commands, is there any
> library that do this kind of work? Or Is there some way for me to intercept
> and interpret the data before it is sent to the Epson printer driver?
> Because doing this I would remove my dependency on Epson printer divers and
> also I would save myself from first interpreting the esc character commands
> then encoding the edited text back to the esc character commands.
>
> PS : I could not try using QPCPrint as setting it up require redmon which
> does not work for windows 7 :-( .
>
>
> Regards,
> Akshay
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, Nov 29, 2011 at 2:40 PM, Christoph Lindemann <
> Christoph.Lindemann@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>> **
>>
>> Hi Akshay,****
>>
>> ** **
>>
>> The data stream is probably encoded as Esc/POS, a variation of Esc/P or
>> Esc/P2.****
>>
>> http://www.undocprint.org/formats/page_description_languages/esc_p2****
>>
>> ** **
>>
>> You can try the following tool****
>>
>> QPCPrint http://www.kilgus.net/qpcprint/index.html****
>>
>> QPCPrint is an emulator that accepts input in ESC/P2 format, be it text
>> or raster graphics, and outputs the result to any Windows compatible
>> printer. The emulation has a precision of 1440dpi and matches the output of
>> a real printer extremely well.****
>>
>> ** **
>>
>> If the third party application prints directly to the printer, without
>> using the Windows printer driver, then you can do your own application,
>> which modifies the Esc/P data. You can get reference manuals at the Epson
>> Developer website.****
>>
>> ** **
>>
>> If the third party application uses GDI and the Windows printer driver
>> (You could check that by testing if the application can print to any
>> printer installed in windows. For example a HP LaserJet.). Then you could
>> build your own virtual EMF printer driver, or license one of the many
>> available EMF printer driver SDK’s:****
>>
>> http://www.colorpilot.com/emfprinterpilot.html****
>>
>> http://www.verypdf.com/artprint/mini-emf-printer-driver.htm****
>>
>> http://www.blackice.com/Printer%20Drivers/EMF%20Printer%20Drivers.htm****
>>
>> ** **
>>
>> ** **
>>
>> Best regards,****
>>
>> Christoph****
>>
>> ** **
>>
>> ** **
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> *From:* winprndev-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:
>> winprndev-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On Behalf Of *akshay gupta
>> *Sent:* Tuesday, November 29, 2011 9:30 AM
>> *To:* **winprndev@xxxxxxxxxxxxx**
>> *Subject:* [WinPrnDev] Re: Intercepting data sent to the printer****
>>
>> ** **
>>
>> Thanks for quick replies, Ill tell exactly what i want and what i have
>> tried till now.
>>
>> What I want :
>> There is a third party application whose task is to generate a document
>> (which is sort of a bill) and after generating it, it prints that document.
>> Now I want to some how get the text that printer will printing before it
>> actually prints it, and modify it and send the modified text back to the
>> printer.
>>
>> What I have tried:
>> I have Experimented with EPSON TM-T88IV Receipt printers.
>> 1) I first though that I would print to a file and then read and edit the
>> contents of that file and send it to the printer for printing. But the file
>> that it created didnt contained what I expected. It had unreadable data
>> which I had no idea how to convert it to a readable format.
>>
>> 2)I tried hooking to the com port and intercept the data that is flowing
>> through it. But again all I got was a stream of unreadable data.
>>
>> Regards,
>> Akshay
>>
>> ****
>>
>> On Tue, Nov 29, 2011 at 1:25 PM, **Christoph Lindemann** <
>> Christoph.Lindemann@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:****
>>
>> Hi Akshay,****
>>
>> ****
>>
>> Check out the Windows Driver Development Kit (WDK) documentation about
>> how the print spooler is working.****
>>
>> ****
>>
>> The available options depend on how the application is sending data to
>> the printer, and what you are trying to accomplish. Is the application
>> using the GDI API to render the job, or is it sending the data directly to
>> the printer? Do you want to capture the print like a virtual printer? Or do
>> you just want to “listen” to the job data, but the data should still go to
>> the printer? Do you want to modify the data stream? What type is the
>> printer?****
>>
>> ****
>>
>> I think it would be best, if you give us more context information,
>> describe what you want to accomplish? Why? And what your own ideas are, on
>> how to do this.****
>>
>> ****
>>
>> Best regards****
>>
>> Christoph****
>>
>> ****
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> *From:* winprndev-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:
>> winprndev-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On Behalf Of *akshay gupta
>> *Sent:* Tuesday, November 29, 2011 8:32 AM
>> *To:* winprndev@xxxxxxxxxxxxx****
>>
>>
>> *Subject:* [WinPrnDev] Intercepting data sent to the printer****
>>
>> ****
>>
>> Hi,****
>>
>>
>>
>> I am working with an application that prints to a thermal POS printers in
>> windows environment.
>> Can somebody please tell me how can I get the actual text(readable) after
>> a print command is fired from that application. I have no control over the
>> code of that application therefore I want to do it at the spooler level or
>> at the driver level , or some how interpret the data flowing through the
>> COM port.
>>
>> Regards,
>> akshay****
>>
>> ** **
>>
>
>
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