Re: Oracle and Barcode Printing

The way most bar code printers work is that you send them commands through the serial port to configure a label "template" and then you send them commands containing data to be plugged into "fields" in the template and the printer spits out a label. You first need to know the printer control language (i.e. what commands to send) and then you just need code to send the commands.

There are dozens of companies that sell bar code labeprinters including Zebra and they range in price from $300 and up.

If you are looking for a way to send data out the serial port to a bar code printer from Oracle, the company that I work for has a product called the Software Wedge that might be of use to you. The Software Wedge was originally designed for inputting data from a device (like a bar code reader) connected to the serial port on a PC, however it can also be used to transmit data out the serial port to a device (like a bar code printer) directly from within some other program.
The product has a DDE command language so that other programs that support DDE can send data out a serial port by simply issuing a DDE command to the Wedge.
In other words, you could write your app to send a command to the Wedge telling it to transmit a string out the serial port to your printer and thus print a bar code.

If you would like more information on the Software Wedge, please visit our web site at: http://www.taltech.com

On 17 Feb 1999 01:11:44 GMT, noodles_at_aol.com (Noodles) wrote:

>
>I'm working on a project where the customer needs to print out a barcode
>corresponding to a data value in a column. I've heard Zebra barcode printers
>are nice but they seem VERY pricey. Plus I'm not sure how Oracle would talk to
>a a printer except maybe through some external library call within a Pro*C
>program (?). Can anybody point me in the right direction ?
>
>TIA,
>Cliff
Received on Sat Feb 20 1999 - 00:12:46 CST