PRN files to print Tags and Labels

A PRN file is a text file that contains the actual print commands a printer needs to create a tag or label. Installing PRN files

PRN files are placed in the USER directory in the ProfitSystem or TPSWINS data folder. The USER folder is located one level above the LIVEDATA folder. The USER folder can be found be going to Setup->System Maintenance->Open Data Folder. When the data folder opens, go up one level.

The PRN file should be copied to this folder.

The PRN file must be named as follows: [descriptive name][Tag/Label Source][ZPL or EPL].PRN

The elements are as follows:
[descriptive name] - A description that will help the user identify the label.

[Tag/Label Source] - Printed for:
* Customer: Customers * Prospect: Prospects. * InvDetail: Retail inventory. * Pickup: Pickup inventory * InvStore: Retail inventory but includes store specific * fields such as MTD/YTD totals for the store only. * Fitting: Fittings or alterations. * Laundry: Laundry tag printed from the rental production * module. * Mailing: Mailing lists. * Appoint: Appointments.

[ZPL or EPL] - Either ZPL or EPL, indicates the file contains EPL2 or ZPL2 print commands. For example, the follow PRN file is for Retail Inventory and contains ZPL2 print commands: PriceTag_1_4x2-InvDetailZPL.prn

Editing PRN files

The PRN file can contain merge codes. The same field codes used in the Label Designer can be used in PRN files. The field code must be surrounded by %%. For example, to use the field code SIMANSTYLE, you would use %%SIMANSTYLE%%.

In the following EPL PRN file sample, the first line prints a bar code using the ssuserid field, the second line prints the vendor number, and the third line prints the stylecode.

B17,50,0,2,2,4,22,B,'%%ssuserid%%'
A295,60,0,2,1,1,N,'%%sivendno%%'
A295,79,0,2,1,1,N,'%%SSSTYLECODE%%'

Technical Details

At print time, the PRN file is first run through a merge process.

The merge process looks for the %% delimiters and replaces the field codes with their values.

Then, the merge process checks if a logo.bmp file is present in the livedata folder. If so, it checks if a logo.epl and logo.zpl file are present, and are not older than the logo.bmp file.

If logo.epl or logo.zpl is missing, it will create a logo.epl file that contains the logo.bmp file in EPLII image format. The logo.zpl will contain the logo.bmp file in ZPLII image format. It does this by running ImageZebra.EXE, which is in the program install folder.

The merge code ZPLLogo is replaced by the contents of the logo.epl or logo.zpl file.

Once the PRN merge is finished, the PRN file is sent to the designated printed in RAW mode. The program calls the PrintRAW.EXE program which sends the RAW EPL/ZPL commands directly to the printer. PrintRAW will not work if the printer is using the EasyPrint driver under Remote Desktop Services.

PrintRAW and ImageZebra both require the .Net Framework 2.0 (at the minimum) to be installed.