Using SAP Print Service (CF) to print labels with a custom XDC

[JaySchwendemann]

Hi all,

please forgive me if I ask beginners or nonsense questions. I'm virtually clueless when it comes to printing within / from SAP. With that disclaimer out of the way, here we go:

• We have a requirement to print labels using preferably using a Zebra 300 dpi printer at the shop floor of some of our vendors
• We currently print this label on our own shop floor using said Zebra printers.
• We had to change some settings in the XDC file to support some bells and whistles like: Faster printing speed, larger QR code, Printing starts only when pressing "print" button on the very label printer, ...
• The XDC file resides (to the best of my knowledge) on our on-prem ADS (server)
• We also created a separate custom "Z" device type to match our custom XDC printer description file (though this part might not play an important role)
• We print from our ERP (EHP8) system and / or in other words: the data to be printed resides in the ERP system
• We are starting an system conversion to S/4HANA on-prem which is currently planned for Q2 2023 (if that is of interest e.g. for the new output management)
• I was (very eagerly) looking at SAP Print Service (Cloud Foundry) which might just be a eerie match to our requirement but couldn't tie up the loose ends yet

My questions are

1. When looking at my (roughly outlined) requirements, do you agree that SAP Print Service should be something I look into or are there roadblocks I missed this early in the stage that make SAP Print Service not feasable?
2. Would I need the "SAP Forms service by Adobe" in my scenario? I couldn't figure out...
3. If I would like to keep (some) of my previous bells and whistles, would it be possible to upload some custom XDC file to the SAP Print Service or make the customization happen in some other fashion
4. When looking at the API https://api.sap.com/api/PRINTAPI/resource I see that there is a POST a document with a binary contents. How would I fill in that binary? Will this be something I get "in response" of my existing process and then I merely need to pass that binary to the API and I am done?
5. Is using the API (when being on ERP or even later at S4H) even the best way to trigger the SAP Print Service?

Sorry for so many questions, please feel free to answer only parts of it or just give me a rough push into the right direction.

Many thanks and cheers

Jens

[former_member10233 · Accepted solution]

Hi Jens,

I am happy to provide my answer for your questions:

1. SAP Print Service mainly supports user to bring the generated documents from cloud application to local printers, such as, Zebra printers. The main business object is Print Queue.

In your case, the data source is in ERP (later, it will be S/4HANA OnPremise) and the documents are renderred from ADS OnPremise, technically, it is feasable to upload the generated document into SAP Print service and then the print clients will pull the documents and trigger the printing locally. From SAP, the offical print client is SAP Cloud Print Manager; It also has another SAP Certificed 3rd Party Output Management Solution.In short, I don’t see the technical blocker if you choose SAP Print Service for your use case, however, the overall architechture should be designed carefully, it is because the solution becomes hybrid mode, not pure onpremise.

2. Regarding SAP Forms service by Adobe, it depends on where you plan to render the document:

• If you want to reuse on-prem ADS and render the document from ERP/S4H, it only needs to fix how to upload the docuemnts to SAP Print service;
• Because SAP Forms service by Adobe already covers almost features as on-prem ADS, I think it is possible to directly use SAP Forms service by Adobe, however, one important thing is that you need to have a way and expose the data source from your ERP/S4HANA which can be consumed by SAP Forms service by Adobe, so that, SAP Forms service by Adobe can render the document which you expect

BTW, you can see one sample app Label Printing Using SAP Print Service provided by us as reference

3. I think SAP Forms service by Adobe supports to upload custom XDC file. See this link Configure Fonts and Print Information using XDC and XCI Files

4. Your understand is correct, it just needs to forward the generated document payload to SAP Print service via that POST API

5. SAP Print Service, as cloud offering, mainly focuses on the cloud applications which normally is communicating via API, for the on-premise solution, such as, ERP, S4HANA, it needs to make a balance on cons pros.

If you want to start any PoC, we are happy to support you.

Hope it is helpful for you.

Best Regards,

Benny

[JaySchwendemann · Accepted solution]

Dear Benny,

please excuse the delay. I needed to get information about the raw data first which took some time due to availabilities of the respective persons. That being said I managed to get hands on an ZPL file representing the "to be printed" data which effectively is a QR code for a customer loyalty program. I received the (hopefully raw and matching) data like this

• Started printing program in SAP ERP
• Debugged into until call to ADS via FM "ADS_WRITE_TO_FILE"
• Downloaded the resulting file "SPOOL0001161601_00001.zpl" from application server to my client using Codepage 4103 (UTF 16 LE as we are on Linux / HANA)

Here is some excerpt of the file. I would be happy to provide the whole file but I do hesitate a little to do so in a public community

~EG^XA
^MCY^PRD^LH0,3
^CI13
^XZ
^XA
^LL964
^PON
^FO155,77
^GFA,35297,35297,47,
jT0
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hL01hM0
jT0
hM01hL0
jT0
hJ010141hK0
hL018hL0
hL01ChL0
hL018hL0
hL014hL0



[...]



:
hK03HFEhK0
hJ0H1HFChK0
hL0HF8hK0
hK01HF4hK0
hL0HF8hK0
hL07FhL0
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hL07DhL0
hL03EhL0
hL01ChL0
hL018hL0
hL01ChL0
jT0
hL01hM0
^XZ

You asked if we wanted to start a PoC. I'd love to if that could be done on a say "low-threshold" way where we could tap into the possibilities of SAP Print Service for a specific time frame (say 1-3 months) with a limited number of daily / monthly / overall requests allowed. We already have a global account at BTP and also have CF Sub-Accounts (for Cloud Integration).

We would love to get in touch, either via direct message on SAP Community or via email: jens.schwendemann@hansgrohe.com

Many thanks and kind regards

Jens