Transforming a ZPL string into a JPG image and PDF

Question

Good Afternoon,

I am currently working on a project that dynamically generates a ZPL string. Below you can see an example and you can use http://labelary.com/viewer.html to view the label. Is there any software out there that can translate the ZPL string into a JPG image or a PDF file?

"^XA^FX Top section with company logo, name and address.^CF0,60^FO50,50^GB100,100,100^FS^FO75,75^FR^GB100,100,100^FS^FO88,88^GB50,50,50^FS^FO220,50^FDInternational Shipping, Inc.^FS^CF0,40^FO220,100^FD1000 Shipping Lane^FS^FO220,135^FDShelbyville TN 38102^FS^FO220,170^FDUnited States (USA)^FS^FO50,250^GB700,1,3^FS^FX Second section with recipient address and permit information.^CFA,30^FO50,300^FDJohn Doe^FS^FO50,340^FD100 Main Street^FS^FO50,380^FDSpringfield TN 39021^FS^FO50,420^FDUnited States (USA)^FS^CFA,15^FO600,300^GB150,150,3^FS^FO638,340^FDPermit^FS^FO638,390^FD123456^FS^FO50,500^GB700,1,3^FS^FX Third section with barcode.^BY5,2,270^FO175,550^BC^FD1234567890^FS^FX Fourth section (the two boxes on the bottom).^FO50,900^GB700,250,3^FS^FO400,900^GB1,250,3^FS^CF0,40^FO100,960^FDShipping Ctr. X34B-1^FS^FO100,1010^FDREF1 F00B47^FS^FO100,1060^FDREF2 BL4H8^FS^CF0,190^FO485,965^FDCA^FS^XZ"

I am looking for the most efficient way of doing this. I can use the http://labelary.com api to transform the ZPL into JPG but the API goes down often, so any suggestions for libraries are welcomed. However we are not looking for Libraries but suggestions into transforming a ZPL string into PDF/JPG

Please keep in my mind that we are using .NET Core

Answer 1

After some research there seems to be 2 ways of doing this.

Restful call using labreary api:

byte[] zpl = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("^xa^cfa,50^fo100,100^fdHello World^fs^xz");

// adjust print density (8dpmm), label width (4 inches), label height (6 inches), and label index (0) as necessary
var request = (HttpWebRequest) WebRequest.Create("http://api.labelary.com/v1/printers/8dpmm/labels/4x6/0/");
request.Method = "POST";
request.Accept = "application/pdf"; // omit this line to get PNG images back
request.ContentType = "application/x-www-form-urlencoded";
request.ContentLength = zpl.Length;

var requestStream = request.GetRequestStream();
requestStream.Write(zpl, 0, zpl.Length);
requestStream.Close();

try {
    var response = (HttpWebResponse) request.GetResponse();
    var responseStream = response.GetResponseStream();
    var fileStream = File.Create("label.pdf"); // change file name for PNG images
    responseStream.CopyTo(fileStream);
    responseStream.Close();
    fileStream.Close();
} catch (WebException e) {
    Console.WriteLine("Error: {0}", e.Status);
}

If you cannot rely on a web service and need to have the ability of doing the calls with out sending external requests.

Can I use the Labelary engine locally, without relying on the public web service?

We do offer an offline version of the Labelary engine licensed for local use. Please contact us for licensing information. http://labelary.com/faq.html

This allows us to print out PDFs and PNGs for customers that do not have a zebra printer.