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A new barcode+thermal printer thread.
Mesnik44:
Hi folks,
I read this threat a couple years ago http://www.thetournamentdirector.net/forums/index.php?topic=3159.0, and I had been very interested in it. Until Tuesday of this week, I had no clue how to get it to work.
I bought a TaoTronic USB scanner from Amazon with 1 day shipping for ~$40.00 CDN. Man......with the directions from the thread I linked, it is so easy to add people, buy them in and seat them. The scanner works right out of the box. Nothing special needed to make it work with TD. (Corey, every time I find a new feature in this program, I am blown away at what it can do!). I've printed cards for all of my players and have laminated them. Using this scanner, I can sign people into my tournaments with one key (*). If you are on the bubble about doing something like this, I say, GO FOR IT. You will not regret it.
My next step is to add a thermal printer for receipts. I have looked at the receipt.html and I have tried my best and failed miserably trying to get it to work. I have edited the html file, but when I do a test print to an inkjet, I get header information (name of file on the top left, page 1 of 1 on the top right) and footer information (file location bottom left, and date on the bottom right). Also, when I add my logo (same as my avatar, but in greyscale), the logo wont print. If the gurus (you know who you are....) could shed some light on this, it would be very much appreciated.
Enough babbling...
Again, Corey, your product ROCKS!
John.
Corey Cooper:
That's awesome! Glad to hear it the scanner worked "out of the box" for you. Others have had some trouble with special characters and the like.
Because of the platform the TD uses, direct integration with printers is not easy and can be error prone. The TD can't print anything without help from the outside, so to speak. That means either a custom Active-X control (which it doesn't have, but could possibly use I suppose), or just relying on Internet Explorer's print function, which is what it does today. That means the *only* capacity it has is to format things the best it can and basically press the "Print" button in IE. That opens the print dialog in IE and you have to "confirm" by pressing the print button on that dialog. There is a feature in the TD to automatically press that button, too, and I think it works fairly well (Preferences tab -> Auto Print category). Relying on IE to print also means getting the header and footer that IE automatically puts on the page for anything you print. You can control this by opening Internet Explorer and selecting Print -> Page Setup. There you can tell IE to make the header and footer blank, and control the margins. The downside is that this obviously also affects anything you print from IE, independently of the TD.
I don't know why the logo won't print. You can see what should print by setting the TD's preferences to create a receipt file as well as printing the receipt (Preferences -> Receipts category), then opening the receipt file (it's an HTML file) in IE. What you see is what should print. If you don't see your logo, it might be that the path to the logo file is wrong or the HTML is simply hosed somehow. If you do see the logo but it's still not printing, it might be an issue with your printer or drivers.
Mesnik44:
HI Corey,
I figured out the logo. I just needed to link it to my imgur account. All is well on that front.
Mesnik44:
Update#1
EQUIPMENT:
Barcode Scanner: TaoTronics TT-BS003 USB Automatic Barcode Scanner Bar-code Reader with Hands Free Adjustable Stand -Black - $29.99
Receipt Printer: Epson TM-T20II Readyprint Thermal Receipt Printer Dark Gray USB & Serial Interfaces Power - $149.99
Paper Rolls 3 1/8' - $35.00
I have both products installed on my laptop. On the laptop is Teamviewer. On the TD computer, obviously is TD and TeamViewer.
1 ) Make sure all drivers are installed for printer. No drivers are needed for the barcode scanner...how cool is that?
2 ) Using printer utility go to logo and have it convert your poker logo.
3 ) Within the printer driver preferences, again, have it use your poker logo. By doing steps 2&3 you do not need to add a logo to your receipt.html that you have updated.
4 ) Share the printer.
5 ) Add printer on the TD computer via Add printer --> network printer. (redo steps 2 and 3 on the TD computer).
6 ) Set up receipt printing within TD.
7 ) Set up auto print within TD if you wish.
8 ) Assign a key for adding players.
9 ) In preferences --> behavior make sure Paid in full, Buy-in Players now, auto seat, show find on player dialog are all checked.
10) Connect laptop with scanner and printer to TD computer via Teamviewer and maximize the screen. Now you have a remote session that will not interfere with TD at all.
11) Hit Hotkey for signing players (in my case * ). Scan barcode. Collect receipt.
Conclusion...
Players will give me their membership cards and their buy in. I will scan barcode. They will get a receipt with my logo, tournament name, game type, their name as setup in TD, their seat number, and buy in recorded on it.
I usually have the screen on Seating Chart, so that players can see where they are sitting at the table.
Modified ---
Pictures to follow
Corey Cooper:
Very cool. :)
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