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C# OPOS printing next to a bitmap on a rotated receipt

This problem concerns a thermal receipt printer. I have downloaded C# EPSON OPOS receipt printing examples in attempt to implement such a printer in my current project, all is working well but when I print a bitmap logo, successive text is being printed under it, and I need to print some text to the right side of it. Here is an approximation of what it does now:
This is what I need it to do:
My current code, pretty much as-is from EPSON's samples:
private void btnReceipt_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
//<<<step8>>>--Start
//Initialization
DateTime nowDate = DateTime.Now; //System date
DateTimeFormatInfo dateFormat = new DateTimeFormatInfo(); //Date Format
dateFormat.MonthDayPattern = "MMMM";
string strDate = nowDate.ToString("MMMM,dd,yyyy HH:mm",dateFormat);
int iRecLineSpacing;
int iRecLineHeight;
bool bBuffering = true;
bool bBitmapPrint = false;
int iPrintRotation = 0;
string strCurDir = Directory.GetCurrentDirectory();
string strFilePath = strCurDir.Substring(0,
strCurDir.LastIndexOf("Step8") + "Step8\\".Length);
strFilePath += "bitmap_logo.bmp";
Cursor.Current = Cursors.WaitCursor;
Rotation[] arBitmapRotationList = m_Printer.RecBitmapRotationList;
Rotation[] arBarcodeRotationList = m_Printer.RecBarCodeRotationList;
//Check rotate bitmap
for (int i = 0; i < arBitmapRotationList.Length; i++)
{
if (arBitmapRotationList[i].Equals(Rotation.Left90))
{
bBitmapPrint = true;
iPrintRotation = (iPrintRotation | (int)PrintRotation.Left90)
| ((int)PrintRotation.Bitmap);
}
}
iRecLineSpacing = m_Printer.RecLineSpacing;
iRecLineHeight = m_Printer.RecLineHeight;
if (m_Printer.CapRecPresent == true)
{
try
{
m_Printer.TransactionPrint(PrinterStation.Receipt, PrinterTransactionControl.Transaction);
m_Printer.RotatePrint(PrinterStation.Receipt, (PrintRotation)iPrintRotation);
if (bBitmapPrint == true)
{
m_Printer.PrintBitmap(PrinterStation.Receipt, strFilePath, m_Printer.RecLineWidth, PosPrinter.PrinterBitmapCenter);
}
m_Printer.PrintNormal(PrinterStation.Receipt,"\u001b|4C" + "\u001b|bC" + " Receipt ");
m_Printer.PrintNormal(PrinterStation.Receipt,"\u001b|3C" + "\u001b|2uC" + " Mr. Brawn\n");
m_Printer.PrintNormal(PrinterStation.Receipt,"\u001b|2uC" + " \n\n");
m_Printer.PrintNormal(PrinterStation.Receipt,"\u001b|2uC" + "\u001b|3C" + " Total payment $" +"\u001b|4C" + "21.00 \n");
m_Printer.PrintNormal(PrinterStation.Receipt,"\u001b|1C\n" );
m_Printer.PrintNormal(PrinterStation.Receipt,strDate + " Received\n\n");
m_Printer.RecLineHeight = 24;
m_Printer.RecLineSpacing = m_Printer.RecLineHeight;
m_Printer.PrintNormal(PrinterStation.Receipt,"\u001b|uC" + " Details \n");
m_Printer.PrintNormal(PrinterStation.Receipt,"\u001b|1C" + " " + "\u001b|2C" + "OPOS Store\n");
m_Printer.PrintNormal(PrinterStation.Receipt,"\u001b|uC" + " Tax excluded $20.00\n");
m_Printer.PrintNormal(PrinterStation.Receipt,"\u001b|1C" + " " + "\u001b|bC" + "Zip code 999-9999\n");
m_Printer.PrintNormal(PrinterStation.Receipt,"\u001b|uC" + " Tax(5%) $1.00" + "\u001b|N" + " Phone#(9999)99-9998\n");
}
catch(PosControlException ex)
{
if(ex.ErrorCode == ErrorCode.Illegal && ex.ErrorCodeExtended == 1004)
{
MessageBox.Show("Unable to print receipt.\n", "Printer_SampleStep8", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Warning);
// Clear the buffered data since the buffer retains print data when an error occurs during printing.
m_Printer.ClearOutput();
bBuffering = false;
}
}
try
{
m_Printer.RotatePrint(PrinterStation.Receipt, PrintRotation.Normal);
if(bBuffering == true)
{
m_Printer.PrintNormal(PrinterStation.Receipt, "\u001b|fP");
}
m_Printer.TransactionPrint(PrinterStation.Receipt, PrinterTransactionControl.Normal);
}
catch(PosControlException)
{
// Clear the buffered data since the buffer retains print data when an error occurs during printing.
m_Printer.ClearOutput();
}
}
m_Printer.RecLineSpacing = iRecLineSpacing;
m_Printer.RecLineHeight = iRecLineHeight;
Cursor.Current = Cursors.Default;
//<<<step8>>>--End
}
If there is a method to do absolute text positioning or being able to write to the same line where the bitmap is, it would solve my issue. Any directions appreciated!

Please ask EPSON whether you can print with the layout you want with one set of RotatePrint.
As an alternative, consider dividing it into two sets of RotatePrint.
If you first set of RotatePrint with Bitmap and "Some other text", and the second set of RotatePrint with "Sample text 1" to "Sample text 3", it will be close to the layout you want.
In addition:
Epson OPOS seems to support PageMode, so can you print it?
As for explanation of Japanese, please look through google translation etc.

How to read serial port until timeout right after write to it?

I need to write and read data from serial port to my device. I've test certain approach where at first, I'm receiving the data using SerialDataReceivedEventArgs and I feel it is hard to read the port where I need to define the command that send where as the command is almost 200 commands.
My first approach is using:-
private void ObjCom_DataReceived(object sender, System.IO.Ports.SerialDataReceivedEventArgs e)
{
if (!ObjCom.IsOpen) return;
byte[] data = new byte[ObjCom.BytesToRead];
ObjCom.Read(data, 0, data.Length);
RaiseEventMsg("Buffer String: " + BitConverter.ToString(data).Replace("-", " "));
}
The RaiseEventMsg is a delegate event to pass current information to Main UI. The second approach is:-
private long lngTickCount = Convert.ToInt64(1000L);
public void StartWriteToPort()
{
byte[] Cmd = null;
string strCmd = string.Empty;
string strMsg = null;
bool bCont = true;
long lngCurrent = 0;
long lngNow = 0;
try
{
RaiseEventMsg("Start Write To Port");
ObjCom.DiscardOutBuffer();
ObjCom.DiscardInBuffer();
GetFullCommandByte(ref Cmd, Convert.ToByte(123)); // Referencing Cmd with return and pass Command List(various set of command)
ObjCom.Write(Cmd, 0, Cmd.Length);
strCmd = ByteArrayToString(Cmd); // Convert byte array to Hex string
RaiseEventMsg("Send: " + strCmd);
bool bTimeout = false;
lngCurrent = DateTime.Now.Ticks;
while (!bTimeout)
{
lngNow = DateTime.Now.Ticks;
if (lngNow > (lngCurrent + (3 * lngTickCount)))
{
bTimeout = true;
break;
}
}
lngCurrent = DateTime.Now.Ticks;
while (ObjCom.BytesToRead <= 0)
{
lngNow = DateTime.Now.Ticks;
if (lngNow > (lngCurrent + (1000 * lngTickCount)))
{
bCont = false;
break;
}
}
if (!bCont)
{
strMsg = "Error - Timeout Hit";
RaiseEventMsg(strMsg);
return;
}
int Idx = 0;
string strASCIIFull = string.Empty;
if ((ObjCom.BytesToRead > 0) & (bCont == true))
{
while (ObjCom.BytesToRead > 0)
{
var strASCII = ObjCom.ReadByte();
var TmpHex = System.Convert.ToString(strASCII, 16).ToUpper();
if (TmpHex.Length == 1)
{
strASCIIFull += (" 0" + TmpHex);
}
else
{
strASCIIFull += (" " + TmpHex);
}
lngCurrent = DateTime.Now.Ticks;
while (ObjCom.BytesToRead <= 0)
{
lngNow = DateTime.Now.Ticks;
if (lngNow > (lngCurrent + (2 * lngTickCount)))
{
bCont = false;
break;
}
}
Idx += 1;
}
}
RaiseEventMsg("Recv: " + strASCIIFull);
}
catch (System.Exception ex)
{
string error = $"Exception on StartWriteToPort. Message: {ex.Message}. StackTrace: {ex.StackTrace}";
}
}
Problem on second approach is when I call this function for second time, the timeout will hit . But for Serial event, it does not have the problem, the protocol for timeout is set to 1 seconds. My device currently connected using USB without converter. The input cable to device is type B port (like standard printer port).
Is the any other way to read directly from port or any improvement on current code?

You need to learn how to layer your code. At the moment you have one long function that tries to do everything.
If you had several smaller functions that did specific things like reading or writing a chunk of information then it would make what you are trying to do simpler.
For example, serial communications generally have some sort of protocol that encapsulates how the packets of information are stored. Say the protocol was "", then you know every packet starts with an STX byte (0x01), a length byte, which tells you how many bytes are in the section, and there must be an ETX byte (0x02) at the end. You could write a function that would return an array of bytes that are just the because the function would interpret the stream and extract the relevant parts.
Then it might be as simple as:
var packet1 = ReadPacket();
WritePacket(outputData);
var packet2 = ReadPacket();

I am getting raw text while reading emails using IMAP

I have taken some code from MSDN to read emails using IMAP Client. I have changed little bit code so i can only read unseen email.
I am writing all response in Richtextbox.
The problems is format of Body text of Email is unreadable while all other text is fine.
void ReadEmail()
{
try
{
// there should be no gap between the imap command and the \r\n
// ssl.read() -- while ssl.readbyte!= eof does not work because there is no eof from server
// cannot check for \r\n because in case of larger response from server ex:read email message
// there are lot of lines so \r \n appears at the end of each line
//ssl.timeout sets the underlying tcp connections timeout if the read or write
//time out exceeds then the undelying connection is closed
tcpc = new System.Net.Sockets.TcpClient("imap.gmail.com", 993);
ssl = new System.Net.Security.SslStream(tcpc.GetStream());
ssl.AuthenticateAsClient("imap.gmail.com");
receiveResponse("");
username = "charlie#gmail.com";
password = "********";
receiveResponse("$ LOGIN " + username + " " + password + " \r\n");
receiveResponse("$ LIST " + "\"\"" + " \"*\"" + "\r\n");
receiveResponse("$ SELECT INBOX\r\n");
receiveResponse("$ UID SEARCH UNSEEN\r\n");
MatchCollection collection= Regex.Matches(Result,#" (\d{1,4})");
foreach (Match m in collection)
{
UNREAD_UID.Add(int.Parse(m.Groups[1].Value));
}
foreach (int x in UNREAD_UID)
{
receiveResponse("$ FETCH " +x + " body[header]\r\n");
richTextBox1.Text += Environment.NewLine+"-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"+Environment.NewLine;
receiveResponse("$ FETCH " +x + " body[text]\r\n");
richTextBox1.Text += Environment.NewLine + "###########################################################2" + Environment.NewLine;
richTextBox1.Update();
}
//receiveResponse("$ STATUS INBOX (MESSAGES)\r\n");
// int number = 1;
receiveResponse("$ LOGOUT\r\n");
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Console.WriteLine("error: " + ex.Message);
}
finally
{
if (sw != null)
{
sw.Close();
sw.Dispose();
}
if (ssl != null)
{
ssl.Close();
ssl.Dispose();
}
if (tcpc != null)
{
tcpc.Close();
}
}
}
void receiveResponse(string command)
{
try
{
if (command != "")
{
if (tcpc.Connected)
{
dummy = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(command);
ssl.Write(dummy, 0, dummy.Length);
}
else
{
throw new ApplicationException("TCP CONNECTION DISCONNECTED");
}
}
ssl.Flush();
buffer = new byte[5120];
bytes = ssl.Read(buffer, 0, 5120);
sb.Append(Encoding.ASCII.GetString(buffer));
Result = sb.ToString();
richTextBox1.Text += Environment.NewLine + Environment.NewLine + Environment.NewLine + Environment.NewLine + sb.ToString();
sb = new StringBuilder();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
throw new ApplicationException(ex.Message);
}
}
Here is Sample of what i am getting
108 FETCH (BODY[TEXT] {25656}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Kindly help me.

You need to examine the Content-Transfer-Encoding header to undo Transfer encoding (in this case, that's Base64. Other alternatives are 7-bit or Quoted Printable). Or, better, download the entire message (Body[]) and apply a MIME parser/decoder to it to get an object representation of the headers, body, and attachments.

Max's answer above is correct, but I'm going to illustrate how to implement his suggestion using my MailKit library:
using (var client = new ImapClient ()) {
client.Connect ("imap.gmail.com", 993, true);
// since we're not using an OAuth2 token, remove it from the set
// of possible authentication mechanisms to try:
client.AuthenticationMechanisms.Remove ("XOAUTH2");
client.Authenticate ("charlie#gmail.com", "*****");
// SELECT the INBOX folder
client.Inbox.Open (FolderAccess.ReadWrite);
foreach (var uid in client.Inbox.Search (SearchQuery.NotSeen)) {
var message = client.Inbox.GetMessage (uid);
// at this point, 'message' is a MIME DOM that you can walk
// over to get the particular MIME-part that you want. For
// example, we could get a body part with a filename of
// "test.txt" using LINQ like this:
var attachment = message.BodyParts.OfType<MimePart> ()
.FirstOrDefault (x => x.FileName == "test.txt");
// decode the content to a MemoryStream:
using (var memory = new MemoryStream ()) {
attachment.ContentObject.DecodeTo (memory);
}
// since the attachment is probably a TextPart
// (based on the file extension above), we can actually
// use a simpler approach:
var textPart = attachment as TextPart;
if (textPart != null) {
// decode the content and convert into a 'string'
var text = textPart.Text;
}
}
client.Disconnect (true);
}

Serializing a manually written code

I am having a problem receiving files from the client. Someone suggested that I should use binary serialization to send and receive messages in stream. Can you give me ideas on how I should serialize this? I just learned about serialization not long ago so I am quite confused on how I should associate it with my program.
This is the client that 'should' be serialize
public void sendthedata()
{
if (!_timer.Enabled) // If timer is not running send data and start refresh interval
{
SendData();
_timer.Enabled = true;
}
else // Stop timer to prevent further refreshing
{
_timer.Enabled = false;
}
}
private List<int> listedProcesses = new List<int>();
private void SendData()
{
String processID = "";
String processName = "";
String processPath = "";
String processFileName = "";
String processMachinename = "";
listBox1.BeginUpdate();
try
{
piis = GetAllProcessInfos();
for (int i = 0; i < piis.Count; i++)
{
try
{
if (!listedProcesses.Contains(piis[i].Id)) //placed this on a list to avoid redundancy
{
listedProcesses.Add(piis[i].Id);
processID = piis[i].Id.ToString();
processName = piis[i].Name.ToString();
processPath = piis[i].Path.ToString();
processFileName = piis[i].FileName.ToString();
processMachinename = piis[i].Machinename.ToString();
output.Text += "\n\nSENT DATA : \n\t" + processFileName + "\n\t" + processMachinename + "\n\t" + processID + "\n\t" + processName + "\n\t" + processPath + "\n";
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
wait.Abort();
output.Text += "Error..... " + ex.StackTrace;
}
NetworkStream ns = tcpclnt.GetStream();
String data = "";
data = "--++" + processFileName + " " + processMachinename + " " + processID + " " + processPath;
if (ns.CanWrite)
{
byte[] bf = new ASCIIEncoding().GetBytes(data);
ns.Write(bf, 0, bf.Length);
ns.Flush();
}
}
}
finally
{
listBox1.EndUpdate();
}
}
And deserializing in the server
private void recieveData()
{
NetworkStream nStream = tcpClient.GetStream();
ASCIIEncoding ascii = null;
while (!stopRecieving)
{
if (nStream.CanRead)
{
byte[] buffer = new byte[1024];
nStream.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length);
ascii = new ASCIIEncoding();
recvDt = ascii.GetString(buffer);
/*Received message checks if it has +##+ then the ip is disconnected*/
bool f = false;
f = recvDt.Contains("+##+");
if (f)
{
string d = "+##+";
recvDt = recvDt.TrimStart(d.ToCharArray());
clientDis();
stopRecieving = true;
}
//else if (recvDt.Contains("^^"))
//{
// new Transmit_File().transfer_file(file, ipselected);
//}
/* ++-- shutsdown/restrt/logoff/abort*/
else if (recvDt.Contains("++--"))
{
string d = "++--";
recvDt = recvDt.TrimStart(d.ToCharArray());
this.Invoke(new rcvData(addToOutput));
clientDis();
}
/*--++ Normal msg*/
else if (recvDt.Contains("--++"))
{
string d = "--++";
recvDt = recvDt.TrimStart(d.ToCharArray());
this.Invoke(new rcvData(addToOutput));
}
}
Thread.Sleep(1000);
}
}
public void addToOutput()
{
if (recvDt != null && recvDt != "")
{
output.Text += "\n Received Data : " + recvDt;
recvDt = null;
}
}
Thank you.

There are a couple of rules to follow when serialising a piece of data.
It's easy to convert data to bytes, but consider how to reconstruct the data on the other side. Assume that the server can't have any knowledge on what you sended.
In your serialiser you just convert a couple of strings into a byte[] and send it over. Example:
string x = "abcdef";
string y = "ghijk";
var bytes = Encoding.Ascii.GetBytes(x + y);
the server receives: "abcdefghijk";
Is it possible for the server to determine and reconstruct strings x and y?
Since the server has no knowledge of the length of either x and y: no.
There are ways to solve this:
Use fixed length fields. In my example x should always be 6 chars and y should always be 5 chars in length. decoding on the server then becomes as trivial as
string x = data.Substring(0, 6)
string y = data.Substring(6, 5)
Use delimiters between the fields. If you are familiar with cvs, the ',' splits the fields. This however has it drawbacks, how to handle a ',' somewhere in a string? The data send over would be like "abcdef,ghijk"
Send the size of each field before the content of the field.
A naive approach just to clarify: string x would be send as '6abcdef' and y as '5ghijk'
Doing all this things by hand can get really hairy and is something that I would consider only if really needed.
I would resort to existing frameworks that do an excellent job on this subject:
Json.net
protobuf ported by Jon skeet
In this case I would first create a class to define the data send to the server instead of a bunch of strings:
class ProcessInfo{
public string ProcessID {get;set;}
public string ProcessName {get;set;}
public string ProcessPath {get;set;}
public string ProcessFileName {get;set;}
public string ProcessMachinename {get;set;}
};
the using Json to serialise this:
var procinfo = new ProcessInfo{
ProcessId = "1",
...
};
var serialised = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(procinfo);
var bytes = Encoding.Utf8.GetBytes(serialised);
ns.Write(bytes, 0, bytes.Length);
And restore it on the server just by:
var procInfo = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<ProcessInfo>(json);

How to Parse BlobColumn into Words, while removing spaces and carriage returns, in SSIS? [duplicate]

Struggling with a C# Component. What I am trying to do is take a column that is ntext in my input source which is delimited with pipes, and then write the array to a text file. When I run my component my output looks like this:
DealerID,StockNumber,Option
161552,P1427,Microsoft.SqlServer.Dts.Pipeline.BlobColumn
Ive been working with the GetBlobData method and im struggling with it. Any help with be greatly appreciated! Here is the full script:
public override void Input0_ProcessInputRow(Input0Buffer Row)
{
string vehicleoptionsdelimited = Row.Options.ToString();
//string OptionBlob = Row.Options.GetBlobData(int ;
//string vehicleoptionsdelimited = System.Text.Encoding.GetEncoding(Row.Options.ColumnInfo.CodePage).GetChars(OptionBlob);
string[] option = vehicleoptionsdelimited.Split('|');
string path = #"C:\Users\User\Desktop\Local_DS_CSVs\";
string[] headerline =
{
"DealerID" + "," + "StockNumber" + "," + "Option"
};
System.IO.File.WriteAllLines(path + "OptionInput.txt", headerline);
using (System.IO.StreamWriter file = new System.IO.StreamWriter(path + "OptionInput.txt", true))
{
foreach (string s in option)
{
file.WriteLine(Row.DealerID.ToString() + "," + Row.StockNumber.ToString() + "," + s);
}
}

Try using
BlobToString(Row.Options)
using this function:
private string BlobToString(BlobColumn blob)
{
string result = "";
try
{
if (blob != null)
{
result = System.Text.Encoding.Unicode.GetString(blob.GetBlobData(0, Convert.ToInt32(blob.Length)));
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
result = ex.Message;
}
return result;
}
Adapted from:
http://mscrmtech.com/201001257/converting-microsoftsqlserverdtspipelineblobcolumn-to-string-in-ssis-using-c

Another very easy solution to this problem, because it is a total PITA, is to route the error output to a derived column component and cast your blob data to a to a STR or WSTR as a new column.
Route the output of that to your script component and the data will come in as an additional column on the pipeline ready for you to parse.
This will probably only work if your data is less than 8000 characters long.