brother-pt-labeler

A node.js library to print labels on a Brother label printer using the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP).

• Tested on Brother PT-P750W.
• Although poorly written, Brother's PT-E550W/P750W/P710BT Raster Command Reference documentation is useful for implementation details.

How to print a PNG file

First, you will need the IP address of your printer. The port for IPP is usually 631 and the path is usually /ipp/print. Please refer to your printer's manual for further information. Next, you will need a PNG file to print. Currently, PNG is the only file format supported by this library.

Existing PNG

const { printPngFile } = require('brother-pt-labeler');
const printerUrl = 'http://192.168.178.71:631/ipp/print';
const tapeWidth = 12;

printPngFile(printerUrl, `./samples/name-tag-${ tapeWidth }mm.png`, { 
  tapeWidth,
  highResolution: false,  
});

Create PNG using node-canvas and print using printBuffer command:

const { printBuffer } = require('brother-pt-labeler');
const { createCanvas, Image } = require('canvas');
const util = require('util');
const pngparse = require('pngparse');

const printerUrl = 'http://192.168.178.71:631/ipp/print';
const tapeWidth = 18;
const tapeWidthDots = 128; // 18mm
  
const canvas = createCanvas(400, tapeWidth);
const ctx = canvas.getContext('2d', { pixelFormat: 'A1' });
ctx.antialias = 'none';
ctx.font = `50px Arial`;
ctx.fillStyle = 'rgba(0,0,0,1)';
ctx.fillText('This is a test', 0, 0);
const palette = new Uint8ClampedArray([
  255, 255, 255, 255,
  0,  0,  0, 255,
]);
printBuffer(printerUrl, canvas.toBuffer('image/png', { palette },
  { 
    tapeWidth,
    highResolution: false,  
  },
));

See the samples folder example png's.

PNG height vs Tape Width

| Tape Width | Height in pixels | |------------|--------| | 3.5mm | 24 | | 6mm | 42 | | 9mm | 64 | | 12mm | 84 | | 18mm | 128 | | 24mm | 170 |

Considerations

Since this library is based on IPP it needs (raw, i.e. TCP) network access. This limitation implies that you cannot use this library in a web browser, where Javascript can only do HTTP/WebSocket requests. You can use this library on the server-side or in an ElectronJS desktop application.