Label printer

Submitted by harrywever on Wed, 02/05/2012 - 11:25

General User's Discussion

Having trouble installing Dymo 450 label printer. Have installed it on consult computer, and networked printer so it can be seen by server.

But when I go to drug labels on templates and add printer , the label printer does not show on drop down list .

I can print labels from server through dymo software , and I can see printer on computer network , but it does not show up as remote printer on server list. And it does not show up on openvpms as printer.

How do I make it appear on the drop down list to add ?

Harry

Re: Label printer

Submitted by tony on Wed, 02/05/2012 - 14:51.

Hi Harry,

Firtsly is the printer setup on the machine that is running Tomcat ?

Interestingly sometimes you have to restart Tomcat to see newly added printers. Not sure why but seems to depend on Java version.

Cheers Tony

Re: Label printer

Submitted by harrywever on Wed, 02/05/2012 - 15:54.

Tony, No printer is on a laptop in consult room, does not have Tomcat installed.

I did restart both computers after confirming printer is on network. So could assume Tomcat was restarted. Or is there a specific action with Tomcat ?

Does openvpms need to have label printer added somewhere in software linked to openvpms ?

Harry

H Wever

Re: Label printer

Submitted by tony on Thu, 03/05/2012 - 11:52.

Hi Harry,

Ok, so this is a shared windows printer on a different machine to the openvpms server install (where tomcat is installed).

For OpenVPMS to see this printer you need to login as the user that is running Tomcat (the openvpms user typically) on the server machine and make sure the shared printer has been added (add a network printer) and always reconnects otherwise when you reboot the shared printer may drop off. Once this is done you should see the printer in OpenVPMS. If not try restarting Tomcat.

Now saying that using network printers can be a pain as machine printer connected to needs to be on, etc etc so technically I always suggest using a hardware print server or printer with embedded network connection instead.

Cheers Tony

Re: Label printer

Submitted by harrywever on Fri, 04/05/2012 - 10:01.

Tony, I could not get it to put on list through network but did succeed by installing on server and then moving printer back to other computer. And it worked once but I did a silly thing I uploaded the Dymo label file onto the system and forgot to save path to the template and therefore the merge fields.

Since post last comment I have found the template in reports/templates in openvpms/installation folder.

So all is good with the label printer and also knowing the pathway to the templates.

Harry

H Wever

Re: Label printer

Submitted by Dural Veterinar... on Thu, 27/09/2012 - 16:14.

Hi, I am having a very similar problem to the user above.

I have a dymo label printer on the consult/clinic computer and have networked it to the server computer (where Tomcat is installed). I am unable to print labels from openvpms whilst it is connected to the consult room computer.

I can print labels from the server computer using the dymo software or 'test print' function whilst it is connected to the consult computer, so assuming that means the networking is OK.

I have physically attached and installed it on the server computer and then moved it back to the consult room computer (as this fixed the user above's problem).

In the drug label template on openvpms when I click on the drop down list I get 'DYMO LabelWriter 450' as an option and have selected this as the printer. No labels are produced while the label printer is attached to the consult room computer. If I physically attach the label printer to the server computer again it prints all the failed labels I have been trying to print.

On the network page of the server computer the label printer can be found as 'DYMO LabelWriter 450 on CLINIC' which I think is what I need to add as the printer on the drug label template but this is not on the drop down list.

I have restarted both computers numerous times but not Tomcat as a separate restart (as I don't know how).

Sorry if this is very long and involved I was trying to be very specific about the problem. If someone has time to give their thoughts it would be greatly appreciated.

Donna McGrath

Hills Family Pet Vet

Re: Label printer

Submitted by tgething (not verified) on Thu, 27/09/2012 - 17:34.

Donna - what operating system is your server running? If its Win 2003 Server, and the consult room/clinic machine is running Windows (of some flavour - XP, Vista, 7) then I have a lot of guidelines for configuring printers in this situation. [This comes from looking after an RxWorks system using a Win 2003 Server and WIndows client machines with the printers connected to the client machines.]

Note that the system I have experience with is running RxWorks (which I am porting to OpenVPMS), but the OpenVPMS system still uses the operatings system's printers - hence these need to be setup correctly, and it took me 4 months of playing around to get the recipe that works and doesn't get occasional printer errors.

However, I suspect that your problem is a little more basic.

Q1. Have you set up the printer(s) on the client machine(s) so that they are shared? Unless this is done the server will not be able to see them.

Q2. If they are shared, then can you add them as network printers to the server?

My recipes become useful at this point - ie they say how best to set up a network connected printer that the server can see.

Regards, Tim

Re: Label printer

Submitted by Dural Veterinar... on Thu, 27/09/2012 - 20:40.

The Laptop in the clinic is running Win XP & the server is Running Windows 7.

I have setup the printer via USB Connection on the Laptop & shared it out. I have then installed that shared printer onto my server. I have restarted OpenVpms and gone in to add the printer within there but it still does not see in.

Re: Label printer

Submitted by bencharlton (not verified) on Thu, 04/10/2012 - 13:43.

The critical thing to ensure is that when you are logged onto the server as the USER that runs the TOMCAT service..you can see the printer installed locally. IE using a local printer driver. then mapped to the network port. If you are relying on some sort of IP based printer with no local driver its unlikely java will see or be able to use it.

So when you log onto the server it is not good enough to logon as a super admin, you must logon as the Openvpms user. (which is usually an admin as well)

Aside from that if you can see the printer locally and or add the printer and it still isnt visible after restarting Tomcat....I got nothing.

Re: Label printer

Submitted by tgething (not verified) on Fri, 28/09/2012 - 04:18.

Donna - I think that there is a real bug here. I opened a new topic for it. Regards, Tim

Re: Label printer

Submitted by gretalloyd on Thu, 17/09/2015 - 18:14.

Hi guys,

I've tried everything to try to install a new label printer and am just making a mess of it. I'm hoping someone wouldn't mind guiding me through it again.

I have a new Smart Label Printer 440 (exactly the same model as the Drug Label printer we have).

This label printer is going to be for printer Cage Labels rather than Drug Labels

I have bought a new D-Link Networking Router (exactly the same as the one on our Drug Label Printer).

They are all connected and plugged into a working network port (the ethernet light is on).

Then, I go to the server and go to Printers -> Install new printer.... but now I don't know what to do. Am I supposed to do Local Printer or Network Printer?

Is it a port or an IP address? The printer came with a little note that said IP 192.169.0.10, but I don't think this is right when it is plugged into our Network using a ethernet cable.

I can see it is plugged into our network port 37, but don't know what that means.

Hopefully that all makes sense, I have tried lots of things but nothing comes up with this printer.

Thanks,

Greta