Epson ePOS SDK for Universal Windows Apps v2.9.2a

[sapator]

Hi.
I'm trying to get the device status on an Epson tm-m30
Apparently and from what I've read the title SDK requires W10 and also 12GB extra disk space.
So I have 3 questions here.
Has anyone worked with a similar printer and got the status without the SDK.
I can see that the samples require these imports:
using Epson.Epos.Epos2;
using Epson.Epos.Epos2.Printer;
I don't seem to find those in my PC even after I have installed the SDK. Can I somethow use just those and not have to update my PC to w10 (which ain't happening)
Is there a way to get the printer status without having to install the SDK? I mean there is a status program in the Epson installation that works just fine but it's C++ and it's not a sample program, it's just the dll.
I have also found this: http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.p...nter-in-VB-NET
but it does not work. It says that I have unbalanced the stack or something. Also if I am not mistaken there is no way to get the status with WMI or Pinvoke as an idle printer (and without using the sdk or the provider dll or some other solution that is not .net related, cannot show the status).
Any thoughts ?
thanks.

[ChrisE]

Hi,

see i f this helps, you have to add a Ref. to ..System.Management

Imports System.Management


'Source found:
'https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/vstudio/en-US/cc51dbe5-666b-4c14-ad3c-cdfc9ffff0b4/how-to-declare-a-specific-printer-status-as-a-variable?forum=vbgeneral

Public Class Form1

    Private dtPrinterStatus As DataTable
    Private WithEvents mgmtWatcher As ManagementEventWatcher

    Private Enum PrinterStatus
        Other = 1
        Unknown = 2
        Idle = 3
        Printing = 4
        WarmingUp = 5
        StoppedPrinting = 6
        Offline = 7
    End Enum

    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        dtPrinterStatus = New DataTable
        dtPrinterStatus.Columns.Add("Name", GetType(String))
        dtPrinterStatus.Columns.Add("Status", GetType(PrinterStatus))

        With DataGridView1
            .DataSource = dtPrinterStatus
            .AutoSizeColumnsMode = DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnsMode.AllCells
            .AllowUserToAddRows = False
            .AllowUserToDeleteRows = False
        End With

        Dim strWQL As String
        Dim oSearcher As ManagementObjectSearcher
        Dim oPrinter As ManagementObject
        strWQL = "SELECT Name, PrinterStatus FROM Win32_Printer"
        oSearcher = New ManagementObjectSearcher(strWQL)
        For Each oPrinter In oSearcher.Get()
            dtPrinterStatus.Rows.Add(oPrinter("Name"), oPrinter("PrinterStatus"))
        Next

        Dim wqlQuery As WqlEventQuery
        strWQL = "SELECT * FROM __InstanceModificationEvent WITHIN 1 WHERE TargetInstance ISA ""Win32_Printer"""
        wqlQuery = New WqlEventQuery(strWQL)
        mgmtWatcher = New ManagementEventWatcher
        With mgmtWatcher
            .Query = wqlQuery
            AddHandler .EventArrived, AddressOf mgmtWatcher_EventArrived
            .Start()
        End With
    End Sub

    Private Sub mgmtWatcher_EventArrived(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Management.EventArrivedEventArgs) Handles mgmtWatcher.EventArrived
        Dim oPrinter As ManagementBaseObject
        Dim dRow As DataRow
        oPrinter = e.NewEvent("TargetInstance")
        dRow = dtPrinterStatus.Select("Name = '" & oPrinter("Name") & "'")(0)
        dRow("Status") = oPrinter("PrinterStatus")
        dRow.AcceptChanges()
    End Sub
End Class

hth

[sapator]

Hi.
Not really working as I always get status 3 = idle. I have tried WMI before and read that it will not work as the printer must be in a working - printing state in order to get paper out from WMI.

I've also tried with Pinvoke but I always get status = 2 .
If anyone care to see the code:

    <DllImport("winspool.drv", SetLastError:=True)>
    Public Shared Function GetPrinter(ByVal hPrinter As IntPtr, ByVal dwLevel As Int32, ByVal pPrinter As Object, ByVal dwBuf As Int32, ByRef dwNeeded As Int32) As Boolean
    End Function


    <DllImport("winspool.drv", SetLastError:=True, CharSet:=CharSet.Ansi, CallingConvention:=CallingConvention.StdCall)>
    Private Shared Function GetPrinterData(ByVal hPrinter As IntPtr, ByVal pValueName As String, ByRef pType As UInteger, ByRef pData As UInt32, ByVal nSize As UInteger, ByRef pcbNeeded As UInteger) As UInteger
    End Function


    ' Private Declare Function GetPrinterData Lib "winspool.drv" (ByVal hPrinter As IntPtr, ByVal pValueName As String, ByRef pType As UInteger, ByRef pData As UInt32, ByVal nSize As UInteger, ByRef pcbNeeded As UInteger) As UInteger


    Private Declare Function OpenPrinter Lib "winspool.Drv" Alias "OpenPrinterA" (ByVal szPrinter As String, ByRef hPrinter As IntPtr, ByVal pDefault As Int32) As Boolean

 Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
 
        Dim c As Boolean = IsPrinterReady("epsonm30")
    End Sub


 Public Function IsPrinterReady(ByRef PrinterName As String) As Boolean
        Dim hPrinter As Int32, pcbNeeded As Int32, PI6 As PRINTER_INFO_6

        If OpenPrinter(PrinterName, hPrinter, 0) Then

            Dim j As UInteger = GetPrinterData(hPrinter, "Error", 0, Nothing, 0, 0)

        
        '    hPrinter = ClosePrinter(hPrinter) : Debug.Assert(hPrinter) ' currently not working
        End If
    End Function

[sapator]

From Microsoft:
There is one fundamental premise that must be true to determine the state of a physical printer: the Spooler must be attempting to send a print job to the physical printer. This is the only time the state of the printer is reported by the port monitor. In addition, the most meaningful information may be reported in the status members of a JOB_INFO structure for that particular print job because some port monitor will have set these values directly.

I'll try to send a print job and see if I get the correct status....


Edit.
Ok I get status = 2 . Marked as unknown. However I must be printing something to get a status so am Ito assume that without the SDK there is no way to get the paper out status without sending something to the spooler?

Aaand if I print from another program that does not send a printer status it will just ignore and catch a status printing (probably the spooler has the data and it assumes it will print).

[sapator]

What the...
There is a deprecated property named "PrinterState"
This will give out all the correct states of the printer.
Again.WHAT THE?!!!!!!
The marked it as deprecated and suggested to use "PrinterStatus" that does not have all the values that "PrinterState" has!

[ChrisE]

Hi.
Not really working as I always get status 3 = idle. I have tried WMI before and read that it will not work as the printer must be in a working - printing state in order to get paper out from WMI.
[/CODE]

I thought the same as you did, print a large File >50 pages
and you will see it change from 'Idle' to 'Printing' , once finished it will go back to 'Idle'
seems to print that fast you can't see it changing.

add this for a Print Count

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        dtPrinterStatus = New DataTable
        dtPrinterStatus.Columns.Add("Name", GetType(String))
        dtPrinterStatus.Columns.Add("CurrentJobs", GetType(UInt32))
        dtPrinterStatus.Columns.Add("TotalJobsPrinted", GetType(UInt32))

        With DataGridView1
            .DataSource = dtPrinterStatus
            .AutoSizeColumnsMode = DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnsMode.AllCells
            .AllowUserToAddRows = False
            .AllowUserToDeleteRows = False
        End With

        Dim strWQL As String
        Dim oSearcher As ManagementObjectSearcher
        Dim oPrinter As ManagementObject
        strWQL = "SELECT Name, Jobs,TotalJobsPrinted FROM Win32_PerfFormattedData_Spooler_PrintQueue"
        oSearcher = New ManagementObjectSearcher(strWQL)
        For Each oPrinter In oSearcher.Get()
            dtPrinterStatus.Rows.Add(oPrinter("Name"), oPrinter("Jobs"), oPrinter("TotalJobsPrinted"))
        Next
    End Sub

or in Powershell for a count:

Get-WMIObject Win32_PerfFormattedData_Spooler_PrintQueue |
Select Name, @{Expression={$_.jobs};Label="CurrentJobs"}, TotalJobsPrinted, JobErrors

HTH

[sapator]

Hey.
See post n5

[sapator]

Turn out that this will not work.
There are some states of the printer that I can get. Open tray, paper out etc but I cannot get the most important step.
If i start printing and the paper runs out then every WMI settins is suggesting that the printer is either on idle state or printing state.
I don't know if this has to do with the printer or the spooler but WMI is out of the question for good.

[sapator]

Right.
I have installed the epson SDK, it requested me to have W10 on visual studio. After laughing for about an hour I went and found a computer with W10.
It installed something called "Universal_Windows_apps" . I'm not sure if it is the same bs it installed when we tried to use rasberry pi maybe maybe not, we deleted that thing a long time ago.
So now I get the first using of epson " Epson.Epos.Epos2;" and it says the namespace Epson could not be found. I have installed every single setup found on Epson site and I cannot find the assembly anywhere. I googled and I only got one page with 6 articles. So this is a long shot by anyone have any idea?
Thanks.