CTL Printer

A simple starter example/module for using the Star TSP100 FuturePRNT thermal printers that are currently stocked in the CTL.

Installation

For this module to work, you need to install dependencies: npm install

You also need to install the drivers necessary if using a USB printer. See the Drivers section

Drivers

Mac OS

Install the .pkg file found in /Drivers/MacOS

Raspberry Pi

From terminal, open the folder /Drivers/RaspberryPi and then run sudo ./install.sh

After this completes, go to localhost:631/admin/ in chromium and add the printer that resembles something like Star TSP143...

Choose the model Star TSP100 Cutter when prompted and then set default media size to something like 72x200mm

Usage

This example is a bare minimum to print some text to the printer.

const CTLPrinter = require('../CTLPrinter');

// Very important. See FINDING YOUR PRINTER
const printerName = 'Star_TSP143__STR_T_001_';
const options = {};

const printer = new CTLPrinter(printerName, options);
printer.printImage("This is some text");

API

CTLPrinter(printerName, options)

• printerName - The name of the printer
• options - Any options to override the defaults

options

Key	Value	Default
file	The file name to save. Mainly temporary	tmp.pdf
width	The width of the document	612.0
height	The height of the document	792.0
margins	The margins of the document (Number or Object)	0
deleteGenerated	Delete the generated PDF after use	true
fontSize	The default font size for text	36
cutPage	Whether to cut the page each time	false
cutDocument	Whether to cut the document	true

printText(String text, Object options)

• text The text to print
• options (Optional) Override options temporarily
• @returns Promise

printImage(String image, Object options)

• image The image to print
• options (Optional) Override options temporarily
• @returns Promise

printCustom(Function drawFunction, Object options)

• drawFunction A function that allows you to add custom PDFKit code, for full custimation
• options (Optional) Override options temporarily
• @returns Promise

drawFunction Is a function that gives you (doc, width, height) to work with

printFile(String file, Object options)

• file The file to print
• options (Optional) Override options temporarily
• @returns Promise

Good-to-knows

Under the hood it uses PDFKit to generate a pdf to print. This is an opinionated choice, but it allows the code to have a level playing field, while also allowing for all of the immense catalogue that PDFKit brings.

Finding your printer

To use the script you need to know the name of your printer according to your computer. To get the name, run node getPrinters.js and it should list them all. You will want to find the one that resembles Star_TSP143__STR_T