Question Re: Label printing with Intermac printer using SAP MII in Product Lifecycle Management Q&A

Label printing with Intermac printer using SAP MII

ankit12 — Mon, 06 Mar 2023 05:53:01 GMT

Hi Experts,

We have a requirement to print the labels directly from SAP MII ADS printing block. We have achieved this task wherever ZEBRA and TOSHIBA printers are used by site team.

We are facing unforeseen challenge when site team is having different model of Intermac and Honeywell printer like: Intermec PM4i, Intermec PX4i, Honeywell PX4ie as print document are reaching till Printer queue and after status changed to printing but document is not coming out of printer.

below is the driver link:

Intermec PM4i : https://www.seagullscientific.com/downloads/printer-drivers/easycoder-pm4i-203-dpi-ipl/

Honeywell PX4ie: https://www.seagullscientific.com/downloads/printer-drivers/honeywell-px4ie-203-dpi/

We have raised the same thing with SAP also but as said the same solution is working with ZEBRA and Toshiba so there is no issue with Printing solution.

We have checked the below link and tried the different format also but no use:

ADS Printing | SAP Help Portal

Any pointers about this printer to make this printer work will be helpful.

Regards,
Ankit Gupta

Re: Label printing with Intermac printer using SAP MII

steve_stubbs — Tue, 07 Mar 2023 13:34:53 GMT

Hi Ankit,

Test your printer drivers from the app server like this:

on the MII App Server, open Notepad
enter TEST as the text in Notepad
Print to one of the Intermec or Honeywell printers that you have configured. If the driver configuration is correct, the printer will print TEST on the label.

You can also send a Test page to the printer from Devices and Printers -> right-click on printer select Printer Properties->Print Test Page.

This will at least confirm that the print driver can send print data to the printer from Windows.

Regards, Steve

Re: Label printing with Intermac printer using SAP MII

ankit12 — Tue, 07 Mar 2023 17:27:03 GMT

Hi Steve,

Thanks for your valuable input.

Yes. we did the same and while sending the test page command from the MII APP server we are able to print the test page on the label.

as Suggested, we will try the notepad approach also to print from MII APP server.

But while sending the actual data with every formats available in MII ADS action block then the print is not happening--> strange !!

Regards,
Ankit Gupta

Re: Label printing with Intermac printer using SAP MII

steve_stubbs — Tue, 07 Mar 2023 19:37:32 GMT

Hi Ankit,

One other thing to try.

For a given Intermec printer, set up a new Local Port that maps to a file so you can capture the output to the printer for examination.

Use this procedure on the MII App Server

Search for and open Printer Management (you may need Administrator privileges)
Right click on the printer name and select Properties
Go to the Ports tab
NOTE the port that the printer is currently configured to use as you will need to reset the printer back to this port later.
Click on "Add Port..." button. A Printer Ports dialog will appear.
Select Local Port, then click on New Port...
Enter the Port Name in the specified location (for example: d:\test.prn), click OK, and then close the Printer Ports window.
The new Local Port is now selected for the printer.
Click Apply, and then OK.
From MII, execute a transaction that prints a label to the modified printer.
Open the file that was created and examine the contents. This should be the raw IPL that is sent to the printer. If there is no file created, or no contents in the file, then there is an issue in NW ADS that is causing this issue and an ADS ticket needs to be opened to resolve.
After you have finished testing with print to file, reconfigure the printer to select the original Port that it was assigned to.

Regards, Steve

Re: Label printing with Intermac printer using SAP MII

ankit12 — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 01:54:25 GMT

Hi Steve,

Thanks again for the input.

We will try both approach while doing the troubleshooting and will update with the results.

Regards,
Ankit Gupta

Re: Label printing with Intermac printer using SAP MII

ankit12 — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 06:04:01 GMT

Hi Steve,

please find below observations:

Approach -1 Result --> : saved a notepad file on the MII server --> Written Hello World !! in the notepad file content --> given the print command to Intermec Printer. --> Print came out successfully on the printer with the content.
Approach-2 Result --> used the local port approach also --> file got created on the server in the given folder. content also there in the file (attached) --> after changing the local port to correct port when send this file to Printer for the print--> File content printed on printer.

Can you please help us with further investigation. where could be the issue.

Regards,

Ankit Gupta

Re: Label printing with Intermac printer using SAP MII

steve_stubbs — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 14:49:35 GMT

HI Ankit,

Try the Local Port->Print to File setting for the printer, and this time execute an MII Transaction that calls the ADS Printing Action to print the label to this printer, and determine if any print file is created with the IPL commands in it. You do not get a file or get an empty file, or you get a file with IPL, set the printer back to the original Printer Port and log a ticket against MFG-MII-CORE-RTE with the complete details of the issue, including your tests with the local port print to file, including any files with IPL and what the printer document source was. If this is in fact an ADS issue the MII Support team should route this to the proper team to address the issue.

Regards, Steve

Re: Label printing with Intermac printer using SAP MII

ankit12 — Sat, 18 Mar 2023 11:40:00 GMT

Hi Steve,

Thanks again for the response. attached file got created on server when we have executed the MII transaction with ADS printing action block and the file is having the IPL language content/commands also.

we tried with -->

1. Blank Label (no content on the label)

2. tried with hello world ( only hello world on the label)

Both time file got created on the server with the content in it. Attached same here also. Logged the incident to SAP also as this printer is supported by SAP ADS printing as per the help guide.

test-blank.txt

test-hello-world.txt

Regards,

Ankit Gupta

Re: Label printing with Intermac printer using SAP MII

ankit12 — Mon, 27 Mar 2023 17:10:38 GMT

Hi All,

After doing so much of analysis we were able to fix the issue as there was no issue with the MII or SAP NetWeaver configuration.

After doing the firmware upgrade on the printer side, and printer command setting to ipl 2.82.0 printer is accepting the labels from MII ADS printing action block in ipl printing format and labels are printing fine.

Thanks for support and help to fix the issue.

Regards,

Ankit Gupta