AbobosSoftware / cordova-plugin-brother-label-printer

Cordova and Capacitor plugin for Bother Label Printers
MIT License
10 stars 16 forks source link

Support for Brother VC-500W full color label printer #23

Open arcadius opened 4 years ago

arcadius commented 4 years ago

We need to support the VC-500W https://www.brother.co.uk/labelling/vc500w-office

The SDK https://www.brother.co.jp/eng/dev/mobilesdk/download/ does not seem to mention it

Any help will be appreciated

robr2112 commented 4 years ago

@arcadius, unfortunately, as far as I know, there is no timetable for supporting this model with either iOS or Android SDK. As I understand, it does support AirPrint, but that's currently outside the scope of your plugin (though, I've seen other plugins that support AirPrint).

I have a question into the SDK team in Japan about this model. If I hear any exciting news about SDK integration, I'll let you know. But, if you need immediate support for this model, you are advised to look at alternatives to the SDK.

-Rob

arcadius commented 4 years ago

Thank you very much @robr2112

There is https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.brother.colorlabel.editor&hl=en_GB&referrer=utm_source%3Dgoogle%26utm_medium%3Dorganic%26utm_term%3Dandroid+brother+vc-500w&pcampaignid=APPU_1_dD5pXomaL9eO8gKYw4DADQ

And an equivalent one for iOS. I wonder how they have done this without the SDK

arcadius commented 3 years ago

@robr2112 , any news about an SDK? Thank you very much

robr2112 commented 3 years ago

@arcadius, as I said before, there will almost surely not be an SDK available for this model. I assume you want to support both iOS and Android for this. Of course AirPrint is not available on Android (QUESTION: were you able to use AirPrint on iOS???, even though it's mostly out of scope of your current implementation). I apologize that I dropped the ball after you sent the link to the Android app above. I just sent an email to Japan to see if they have any suggestions for how you can support this printer model.

robr2112 commented 3 years ago

@arcadius, at this time, there is nothing that can be provided to allow supporting this printer, other than the previous suggestion to use AirPrint on iOS only. Question for you: If there was a Command Reference Guide for Raster data available (currently it is not available), would YOU be interested in this to create your own solution? It would require converting image to printer data, similar to what the SDK does for other models. I'm trying to understand how far you would be willing to go to add support for this model. I cannot promise that such a reference manual will be available. I am only asking if it would be of any value to you if it were available.

arcadius commented 3 years ago

Hello @robr2112 Thank you very much for your suggestion regarding AirPrint. At the moment, I am struggling to get my hand on a VC-500W. Once I have the device, I will start experimenting with different options begining with the AirPrint.

Any "Command Reference Guide for Raster data" would be appreciated too.

I would have thought Brother would be willing to provide an SDK or sponsor one.... The fact that they have developed an App for both iOS and Android means that they should be able to provide an SDK. Thank you very much for your support @robr2112