Printing to Citizen Thermal Barcode printer

Question

Hello everyone,
I need some direction as to where to go next on this issue.
I am trying to take text data that contains commands with data and ascii control codes for a Citizen Barcode printer and allow my client (a web browser) the ability to print this data to its local printer and generate labels (not the raw data)
I have been able to code a servlet that can prints my barcodes to the local printers on my PC, but I cannot access a client's collection of printers from the web server.
It seems I need to render the data and do a window.print() in Javascript: Here is my servlet code that works when the printer is local to the web server.
        try {
          PrintService psCitizen = null;
          String sPrinterName = null;
          PrintService[] services = PrintServiceLookup.lookupPrintServices(null, null);
          for (int i = 0; i < services.length; i++) {
            sPrinterName = services.getName().toUpperCase();
log(Trace.DIAGNOSTIC, "Printer " + i + ":" + sPrinterName);
if (sPrinterName.toUpperCase().indexOf("CITIZEN") >= 0) {
psCitizen = services[i];
break;
if (psCitizen == null) {
log(Trace.DIAGNOSTIC, "Citizen printer is not found. Ps Count = " + services.length);
return;
DocPrintJob job = job = psCitizen.createPrintJob();
//String STX = "^B";
//String CR = "^M";
String STX = "\002";
String CR = "\015";
//String STX = (char)2 + "";
//String CR = (char)13 + "";
String s = "";
s += STX + "RN" + CR;
s += STX + "e" + CR;
s += STX + "M2982" + CR;
s += STX + "O0100" + CR;
s += STX + "f170" + CR;
s += STX + "qC" + CR;
s += STX + "L" + CR;
s += "H16" + CR;
s += "D11" + CR;
s += "PH" + CR;
s += "SC" + CR;
s += "W" + CR;
s += "Q0001" + CR;
s += "264400005930182DFW" + CR;
s += "232200005840339ORD" + CR;
s += "2e4411005360035BORD4721215005800001" + CR;
s += "241100003160222TEST" + CR;
s += "232100003160243Consignee:" + CR;
s += "241100003160268TEST INTERNATIONAL, PHILA" + CR;
s += "232100003160288Shipper:" + CR;
s += "232100003160314Deliver By:" + CR;
s += "232100002190192 5" + CR;
s += "23210000142031409/23/06" + CR;
s += "26210000310033412150058" + CR;
s += "232100001590192Pieces" + CR;
s += "241100002500192OF" + CR;
s += "231100003760015ORD4721215005800001" + CR;
s += "231100005840162Comment:" + CR;
s += "232100003160192 1" + CR;
s += "E" + CR;
s += "";
byte[] by = s.getBytes();
DocFlavor flavor = DocFlavor.BYTE_ARRAY.AUTOSENSE;
Doc doc = new SimpleDoc(by, flavor, null);
job.print(doc, null);
} catch (PrintException e) {
How can I using a servlet, JSP or Javascript get the user to print the label data from the client browser and have the thermal printer interpret the browser data as commands to print. I don't mind the browser user having to select the printer.
Thanks!

Answer 1

I don't think that you'll be able to do this correctly with JavaScript, as those control codes probably won't be rendered correctly in the web browser. I'm guessing you'll need a signed applet to properly receive the exact commands to send to the printer. You can use the Jakarta HttpClient to receive the exact commands from the Servlet, then some kind of print API to send the commands to the printer.
Brian