Wasatch Barcode "pull" in Python

This software has been produced to work with Wasatch SoftRIP and the Wasatch XML Access Option. The XML Access option is an extra-cost add on to Wasatch SoftRIP.

Pull from Print Queue

Complete source code is below. This Python 3 script has been tested on Windows, and can easily be adapted for Linux or other environments. It has been kept simple to serve as an illustration. Refer to documentation for Job Submission in the XML Access Option. This is a simple piece of software. Wasatch SoftRIP and XML Access Option are doing all the "heavy lifting".

This example pulls jobs from a Print Queue, after they have already been RIP'ed and commited to a printer. For a similar sample, to pull from a central repository in a large bank of RIP's and printers, see our related barcode pull sample.

This script simply looks for a match to a file name, bu it can be modified to find files based on regular expression string matching. See the 'SOURCEFILEREGEXI' tag in Wasatch XML Access, which can easily be used in place of the 'SOURCEFILE' tag in this example.

That is an option, but the first step in using this simple example is to set up Wasatch SoftRIP with XML Access enabled, and an active hot folder for the print unit to be used. Configure the hot folder for "RIP Only", as shown here:

Files placed into the hot folder will be RIP'ed and then held in suspense in the "Print Queue", ready to be pulled out through scanning of the barcode. The "Print Queue" can comfortably hold up to 10,000 jobs ready-to-go, on a suitably configured computer.

This software has been tested with the Datalogic QuickScan QD2100 barcode scanner configured to communicate via 'USB-COM-STD' (simulates RS-232 standard interface). See Datalogic's Quick Reference Guide for more information.

Source Code

# Barcode pull based on simple exact match to file name
#
import serial
import urllib.request

scannerPort = 'COM17'
wasatchSoftRIP = '127.0.0.1:80'  # localhost - edit this to address your Wasatch SoftRIP
printUnit = 1
copiesToPrint = 1

def processScan(s):
    print("Submitting '" + s + "'")
    url = 'http://' + wasatchSoftRIP + '/xmlSubmission.dyn?'
    data = '<WASATCH ACTION=JOB><PRINTUNIT>' + str(printUnit) + '</PRINTUNIT><PRINTQUEUE>'
    data += '<SOURCEFILE>' + s + '</SOURCEFILE>'
    data += '<Copies>' + str(copiesToPrint) + '</Copies>'
    data += '</PRINTQUEUE></WASATCH>'
    url += urllib.parse.quote_plus(data)  # escape all special characters in data
    try:
        p = urllib.request.urlopen(url)
        mybytes = p.read()
        p.close()
        print("Success")
    except:
        print("Failure")
#
# the loop to poll the scanner follows
#
try:
    scanner = serial.Serial(scannerPort, 9600, timeout=1) # 1 second timeout
    print("Watching Scanner on port " + str(scannerPort))
    while True:
        b = scanner.readline()
        s = b.decode("utf-8").rstrip("\r\n")
        if len(s) > 0:
            processScan(s)
    scanner.close()   # we never actually get here
except:
    print("Failed to access scanner on port " + scannerPort)