(v1.1) Somar SLP - NT driver for Seiko SLPro Windows NT printer driver for the Seiko Smart Label Printer Pro. Allows printing to the SLPro from any windows application. Also, DLL to allow easy printing of address and shipping labels from 32 bit Visual Basic programs. Also, WordBasic macro to print directly from WinWord. Shareware (US$10) By Somar Software, http://www.somar.com, 72202.2574@compuserve.com ----------------------------- IMPORTANT NOTICE ---------------- You should carefully read all of the following terms and conditions, especially the licensing information, before using this software. Use of this software indicates your acceptance of these terms and conditions. If you do not agree with them, do not use the software. Overview -------- This package consists of this README.TXT file plus: 1) A Windows NT printer driver for the Seiko Smart Label Printer Pro. This printer driver allows you to print to a Seiko SLP Pro printer from any Windows application, including word processors, desktop publishing programs. Installation instructions are below. PRINTER.INF (installation script) SLPRO.DLL (printer minidriver) 2) A printer monitor for the Seiko Smart Label Printer Pro. This printer monitor is required if you want to print to the SLP Pro at the higher speeds of 19200 and 38400 bps, instead of the default 9600 bps. Installation instructions are below. MONITOR.INF (installation script) SLPROMON.DLL (port monitor) 3) A DLL whose routines can be called from 32 bit Visual Basic (such as 32 bit Excel Visual Basic for Applications) to allow easier printing to Seiko Label Printers than by means of the built in Visual Basic printer object. This DLL is especially designed for printing address and shipping labels, and includes builtin support for printing PostNet barcodes. For printing other types of barcodes, use the EasyBar package, available as EASYBA.ZIP in the WINSHARE forum on CompuServe. SLPVB.DLL (32 bit DLL, put in %SYSTEMROOT%\SYSTEM32) SLPVB.TXT (Visual Basic interface declarations) 4) A WordBasic macro which allows easy printing of a label from within a WinWord document. Install this macro in WinWord. Put a button for this macro on the toolbar. Then, select an address and click the toolbar button and the label will be printed, including PostNet barcode. The macro is easy to modify if you don't want the PostNet barcode. SLPVBW.TXT (WordBasic macro) Copyrights, trademarks ---------------------- All enclosed software is copyright © 1995 Somar Software, All Rights Reserved. Smart Label Printer Pro is a trademark of Seiko Instruments. Windows NT is a trademark of Microsoft. Affliation of author -------------------- Somar Software, the author of this software, is an independent consulting firm that is not in any way connected to Seiko Instruments, the maker of the Seiko Smart Label Printer Pro, or Microsoft. Send problem reports and questions to Somar Software at 72202.2574@compuserve.com. Disclaimer of warranty ---------------------- THIS SOFTWARE AND THE ACCOMPANYING FILES ARE SOLD "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES AS TO PERFORMANCE OF MERCHANTABILITY OR ANY OTHER WARRANTIES WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. BECAUSE OF THE VARYING HARDWARE/SOFTWARE ENVIRONMENTS INTO WHICH THIS SOFTWARE MAY BE PUT, THERE IS NO WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. GOOD DATA PROCESSING PROCEDURE DICTATES THAT ANY PROGRAM BE THOROUGHLY TESTED BEFORE RELYING ON IT. THE USER MUST ASSUME THE ENTIRE RISK OF USING THE PROGRAM. ANY LIABILITY OF THE SELLER WILL BE LIMITED EXCLUSIVELY TO PRODUCT REPLACEMENT OR REFUND OF PURCHASE PRICE. License agreement for printer driver and monitor (SLPRO.DLL and SLPROMON.DLL) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is not free software. This license allows you to: use the Shareware version of this software for evaluation purposes without charge for a period of 21 days; make as many copies of the Shareware version of this software and documentation as you wish; give exact copies of the original Shareware version to anyone; and distribute the Shareware version of the software and documentation in its unmodified form via electronic means. There is no charge for any of the above. You are specifically prohibited from charging, or requesting donations, for any such copies, however made; and from distributing the software and/or documentation with other products (commercial or otherwise) without prior written permission, with one exception: Disk Vendors approved by the Association of Shareware Professionals are permitted to redistribute this software, subject to the conditions in this license, without specific written permission. Unregistered use of this software after the 21-day evaluation period is in violation of United States and International copyright laws. A single registered copy of the this softwarecan be used for a single printer. Thus, if you want to use the software for 1 Seiko Smart Label Printer Pro printer connected to one server, and 2 more Seiko Smart Label Printer Pro printers connected to another server, and all printers are shared over the network and accessed by 100 client computers, then you must register and pay for 2 copies of this software (i.e. the number of servers and clients is irrelevant, only the number of printers matters). If you use this software after the 21 day evaluation period a registration fee of $10 is required. Payments must be in US dollars, made payable to Somar Software, and sent to: Somar Software 1 Scott Circle, NW Suite 816 Washington, DC 20036 USA You can also register through CompuServe (GO SWREG, ID 4600). License agreement for VB interface DLLs (SLPVB.DLL and SLPVB32.DLL) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can use these programs in any way you choose, including redistributing them with any other product. Note that the disclaimer of warranty still applies. Somar Software is not in any way responsible for the effects of any program you write using these DLLs. Note also that the permission to redistrbute these programs does not in any way exempt you from the requirement to register and pay for the SLPRO.DLL and SLPROMON.DLL programs, as described above. Governing Law ------------- This agreement shall be governed by the laws of the District of Columbia. Installation instructions: -------------------------- 1) Copy the following files from your Windows NT installation diskettes or CDROM to the same floppy or directory containing the Smart Label Printer Pro printer driver (this step is necessary because I do not have permission to redistribute these Microsoft files): RASDD.DL_ (Windows NT installation CDROM or diskette #18) RASDDUI.DL_ (Windows NT installation CDROM or diskette #19) RASDDUI.HL_ (Windows NT installation CDROM or diskette #20) Note: these files (with the trailing _ replaced by the appropriate letter) may already be installed in the ...\SYSTEM32\SPOOL\DRIVERS\W32X86 directory, in which case you can copy them from there instead of from the installation diskettes. Just copy them, don't try restoring the trailing _. 2) Create a new printer using Print Manager file menu. Select Other... at the bottom of the driver listbox. Specify the location of the Smart Label Printer Pro driver files (the location specified should include the files copied in step 1). Use the Job Defaults dialog to set the default printer form and orientation (the Job Defaults is reached from the Details Dialog which is reached from the Printer Properties dialog). 3) Select the appropriate COM port, and setup that port for 9600 bps, 8 data bits, no parity, 1 stop bit and XON-XOFF flow control. 4) If you want to print at the highest rated SLP Pro speeds of 19200 and 38400 bps, you must install the SLPro Port monitor. To do this, select Other... at the bottom of the Print To... list box in the Properties dialog for the newly created printer. Select Other... in the Available Print Monitors list box. Specify the location of the Smart Label Printer Pro driver files. This port monitor will create port with names like COM2_SLPRO. Use these ports instead of the Windows NT defined COM ports, as the Print To destination for your printer. You can configure these ports for any of 9600, 19200 or 38400 bps using the Settings option of the Properties dialog for the printer. If you experience garbled output at 38400 bps, try 19200 or 9600. It may be necessary to reboot and power the printer off/on after installing the port monitor. 5) For using SLPVB.DLL, you will want to set the printer job default from Print Manager, typically to use Landscape mode for whatever form you have loaded in the printer. Known bugs and other limitations: --------------------------------- 1) The driver is not as fast as it could be. It does not take advantage of the RLE compression capabilities of the Seiko SLP Pro command set. This may be fixed in a future release. As it is, the driver works fast enough for most purposes, if you use the port monitor to communicate at 19200 bps. 2) There are no drivers for the SLP Plus or other label printers (Avery, CoStar, Smith Corona). I am willing to develop drivers for these printers, for a fee. 3) There is no 16 bit Basic interface DLL. I do not plan to develop such a DLL. WordBasic and Excel VBA are already 32 bits, and 32 bit VB 4.0 will be available soon (I am writing as of 95/02/09). If you are developing VB 3.0 on NT, do yourself and everyone else a favor by demanding that Microsoft release VB 4.0 sooner. Change Log: ----------- 95/02/09 V1.1 Change calling convention of SLPVB.DLL from __cdecl to __stdcall. Caused problems when called from VB 4.0. 95/02/04 V1.0 Initial version.