Does anybody suggest a mobile printer able to print receipt with a good SDK to interface wireless an iOS application adhoc developed ? The printer should be small and should use rechargeable batteries for field use.
I cannot use wifi because not always a trusted access point (customer premises) is available, so I think to use Bluetooth, but of course any suggestion is welcome !
FYI I already checked Zebra printers SDK for iOS but it seems able to print only using a TCP/IP address, it means (for as I know) I should use wifi. In my case the application should be used in the field from an iPad connected with cellular network. In iPad there is no hot-spot and not always there is an available wifi access point tho connect the iPad and the printer the the same network to use TCP/IP addresses. That is the reason I'm guessing the last chance should be bluetooth.
Unfortunately iOS5 does not support Bluetooth printing.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3647
Have you considered VPN via WEP to a network printer?
Alternatively some printers can be set up with their own email address. PDF attachments can be sent via this address to be printed. These emails can be sent encrypted.
I know that this isn't the IDEAL answer, but it is likely to work for the time being until iOS is properly updated.
Yes, I have Bluetooth printer for IOS device, it is Apple MFI approved
see details from this URL http://www.bluebamboo.com/other_file/P25i%20Datasheet%20%28EN%29%20v1.0%2009-Oct-2011.pdf
I know you already accepted an answer, but here's another one: have the technician bring their own wireless base station (AirPort Express perhaps) and create his own wireless network (that won't have internet access, but that's not needed) with appropriate security. Then you can use any HP wireless capable printer and have the iOS device and the printer connect to the wifi network created by the wireless access point (which should be set with DHCP to vend IP addresses in a non-routable range like 192.168.x.x, obviously).
We also have a Bluetooth printer that is MFI certified along with an easy to understand iOS SDK. Please take a look at the EZPay App on the Appstore. The app's currently in Japanese (fir one of our clients) but the description explain a little about the printer. I'm currently traveling at the moment, but if you shoot me an email from the contact info on the App Store. I can get a few other things out to you. Cheers... B
No need to develop a full blown SDK, check out Mobi Print. it has the Zebra sdk already implemented and connects to any webservice or ODBC database. It also has stored label/receipt formats in there app so just upload your format and should be good to go.
here is link for Mobi Print
Related
I want to create an iPad app that connects to another machine, laptop or otherwise, via USB and communicates to some other application I develop running there.
I know that this is easy to achieve via Bluetooth or WiFi but this particular set of solutions must be done via a USB cable.
Is it possible to do so without access to the Apple MFi program? (I am about 5 weeks in and the response is not looking good).
iOS App --> USB Cable --> Mac OSX --> Desktop App (without MFi access)
Thanks
To use USB communication Apple does not provide any API within IOS SDK. The only option right now is MFI. I don't think Apple will allow this in near future.
To use serial communication, you need MFI as you may have discovered. However, there is a poor man's way of achieving this. I have done so during development.
Enable "Internet sharing" on your device and connect to it. Use "ifconfig" on your Mac to find out the interface to use. You do not need to use this as the default connection, but it needs to be active. If I remember correctly, only one end can initiate connections (it was a while so I am sorry that I don't remember the details).
EDIT: I would also like to point out that I did this on an iPhone, not an iPad.
Not over USB but over RS232 (serial port)
Look here: http://www.redpark.com/c2db9.html
But:
The cable uses the old 30 pin connector, but according to them it's compatible with the Lightning adapter
The application won't be accepted on the AppStore, it's for internal use only.
There is a (small) book that explains how to use this cable to connect an iPhone directly to an Arduino, it's been published in late 2011. "iOS Sensor Apps with Arduino Wiring the iPhone and iPad into the Internet of Things" http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920021179.do
I'm developing an iPhone/iPad app that requires it communicate with another device. I'm actually more interested in receiving input from another device that the iPhone is connected to through USB. The solution needs to work with any iOS device and cannot require it to be jailbroken.
I've heard of apps that communicate with a piece of hardware that can be plugged to the iOS' serial connection, which is similar to what I'm going to develop except that the other device I'll be connecting to is a standalone music keyboard.
best regards,
fbr
If you are developing accessories that need to connect to iOS devices and want to use your own communication mechanism then you need to join the Apple MFi program.
Several options:
Forget MFi unless you have 1000s of $ backing up your product development. Apple won't even talk to you. I've tried.
Take a look at the Serial Cable from Redpark (http://redpark.com/c2db9.html)
I've got one of those and it's ideal for apps that you can deliver on your own, but you might also be able to get them into the App Store.
Another option is to use Wifi with a Wifi-to-Serial adapter on the other end. I've used the RN-174 and RN-134 from Roving Networks successfully.
However, these solutions only get you Serial connections, but can be quite fast, especially with the RN modules. There are also Serial-to-USB converters you can use on the device's end, but that would require the device to work as a USB host, usually. If you have a USB device that wants to act as a client, these common adapters won't do the trick.
So, unless you can actually afford the MFi program, and if you really need USB connectivity, you'll have to let someone create a small box containing a USB host adapter with a Wifi chip. I don't know of a ready-made solution for this yet, although I've seen quite a few area where people would like to have such a unit.
I want to develop an iPhone application where i want to access any printer present in my wifi network.
But according to Apple :" Printing is not supported because there is no direct support for connecting printers or other print-related hardware to an iPhone or iPod touch".
But there are many application in appstore which is providing this facility.
So Is it possible to access any printer present in my wifi network and print any PDF/Any file.
If yes then how?
Is there any API available for this?
There is no current API for this.
What those applications do is implement the raw functionality - ie. the HP app for printing to HP printers opens a raw socket connection to the printer and converts the document to be printed into the raw format for the printer. So it may be converting the PDF document into PCL for example. There is no iphone API for PCL, so you would have to read the PCL specification and learn how to generate it "by hand", or find a library from another platform you can port onto the iphone.
The problem is, there are a large number of printers, some speak PCL, some speak postscript, some speak custom languages - it is a large task to implement them all.
Some of the apps in the appstore rely on you having a PC, and they install a piece of software on the PC - effectively all these are is a frontend to send the document to the PC to be printed, using the printer drivers already present on the PC.
Apple have stated that they will be releasing printing for the ipad - ipad printer support confirmed by Steve Jobs. Presumably that will involve an API other apps can use, and it seems likely that will eventually come to the iphone too.
Here's one of the apps you mention:
http://mobile.eurosmartz.com/faqs/faqs_index.html
You can print direct to most WiFi printers or installing by the WePrint helper software on your Mac or PC you can print to any printer connected to your computer via USB cable, network, WiFi, BlueTooth or other means.
So the PC will have a custom bit of software which will print documents to an attached printer, and the iPhone must communicate with said PC software and transmit the required document.
Hope that helps!
Has anybody succeeded in developing a bluetooth application on the iPhone that prints to a Bluetooth printer?
I have been investigating the feasibility of developing an iPhone application that could print to a Bluetooth-enabled printer. I've gone through the most of the postings in this thread and was confused by the mail exchanges.
As per my analysis:
Gamekit - can be used for bluetooth connectivity between iPhones and IPods ONLY
Bonjour - can be used for wi-fi connectivity between iPhones/IPods and bonjour-enabled printer
We can use an external accessory to connect to a third party Bluetooth-enabled printer provided the 3rd-party printer complies with the necessary regulations from Apple (registering for either “Made for iPod”/ “Works with iPhone”, and also customizing their printer with specific hardware/software, etc.)
Could someone please share their experiences?
You want their external accessory framework. Not GameKit. Happy coding!
The External Accessory framework provides support for communicating with external hardware connected to an iPhone OS–based device through the 30-pin dock connector or wirelessly using Bluetooth.
(This is exactly what you were looking for)
To detect and connect to external devices ExternalAccessoryFramework should be used.Me too developing an application for connecting iphone to other hardware devices via bluetooth .A'm facing the problem with the protocol.The protocol should be the hardware supported ones and the protocol should be given in the info plist file..
Happy coding.
You can want to try this Bluetooth printer, which is Apple MFI approved
http://www.bluebamboo.com/other_file/P25i%20Datasheet%20%28EN%29%20v1.0%2009-Oct-2011.pdf
I would bet that you would need to use Bonjour and Wi-Fi for this application. The bluetooth hardware is restricted to gameplay from what I've seen.
well i have sucsessfully accomplished bt printing on a customers I-phone both devices have to be in discovery mode to do so and then the combination wireless and bt will allow only photo printing though otherwise you will need an app
I was just wondering if it is possible to set up a data transfer tunnel between an iPhone and a Mac using the Wifi hardware present on both devices? My main objective is to transfer data from my iPhone to my Mac through an app along an ad hoc wifi connection. If there are any other methods you would like to suggest, then please do.
Looking forward to your replies.
Thanks!
A.K.
You can make use of Bonjour, via NSNetServices and CFNetServices APIs.
Basically:
Create a server on the Mac
Announce the server via Bonjour
Browse Bonjour on the phone and resolve the bonjour service.
Establish connection
Exchange data via socket streams
You cannot automagically do this, yet. That is, you must manually create the ad hoc wireless network (a "computer-to-computer network" in Apple parlance) first on the Mac, then join the iPhone to it just like any other WiFi network. After this, the methods suggested above will work just fine.
What I think you are suggesting, also known as WiFi Direct, is a very new specification that is not yet supported by the iPhone or OS X (as of this writing).
You'd probably want to look at NSNetServices/CFNetServices (Bonjour) for a common API to accomplish that sort of connection.