Comment line in ZPL code

Question

I want to comment lines in the ZPL code, for example:

^XA
^MMT
^LL0531
^PW1280
^LS0
^FT81,528^A0B,29,28^FH\^FDTEXT^FS               
// ^FT336,495^A0B,29,33^FH\^FDEAN^FS^FX         ----
//^BY3,2,42^FT384,492^BEB,,Y,N                  Commented lines
//^FD789690466123^FS                            ----
^PQ1,0,1,Y^XZ

I want this because sometimes my variable is null and do not want to print the barcode. This is possible? or what the best way to not print the barcode?

Solution 1

The short answer is "Can't be done."

The comment-indicator is ^FX after which characters are ignored - but end-of-comment is any ^ or ~ command which makes ^FX next to useless.

Unless there has been a "block-comment" command added, with a specific start/end-block-comment mnemonic-set, then sorry - you're out-of-luck.

All is not quite lost however.

^XA
^FT336,495^A0B,29,33^FH\^FDEAN^FS^FX
^BY3,2,42^FT384,492^BEB,,Y,N
^FD789690466123^FS
^MMT
^LL0531
^PW1280
^LS0
^FT81,528^A0B,29,28^FH\^FDTEXT^FS               
^PQ1,0,1,Y^XZ

will recognise the lines-to-be-commented-out.

^FT336,495^A0B,29,33^FH\^FDEAN^FS^FX
^BY3,2,42^FT384,492^BEB,,Y,N
^FD789690466123^FS
^XA
^MMT
^LL0531
^PW1280
^LS0
^FT81,528^A0B,29,28^FH\^FDTEXT^FS               
^PQ1,0,1,Y^XZ

would ignore them, as data between ^XZ and ^XA is disregarded.

Solution 2

I build the line to a string variable in code and put my comments in the concatenation - then send that whole string to the printer the comments will stay behind.

 StringBuilder sb = New Stringbuilder("");
 sb.append("^XA");
 sb.appendLine("^MMT");
 sb.appendLine("^LL0531");
// sb.append("this line will be commented out");
// sb.append("this line will be commented out");
// sb.append("this line will be commented out");
 sb.appendLine("^PQD,0,1,Y^XZ");

string s = sb.toString();

Something like that. You might use an 'if-else' statement instead of comments to determine if it stays in the string.

Solution 3

@Mangoo

The short answer is "Can't be done."

The comment-indicator is ^FX after which characters are ignored - but end-of-comment is any ^ or ~ command which makes ^FX next to useless.

Not necessarily. I found ^FX to be very useful when commenting out variables to put in test information. In this case, it is actually useful to have end-of-comment triggered by any ^ or ~ command.

With variables as field data.

^XA^PQ1
^FO12,15^A0N,36,33^FDTitle^FS
^FO210,15^A0N,36,33,^FDInfo^FS
^FO750,15^A0N,165,150^FD|Variable.Number|^FS
^FO90,60^BY4,3.0^BCN,90,N,N,Y,N^FD|Variable.Number|^FS
^XZ

With test info and variables commented out.

^XA^PQ1
^FO12,15^A0N,36,33^FDTitle^FS
^FO210,15^A0N,36,33,^FDInfo^FS
^FO750,15^A0N,165,150^FDTestNumber^FX|Variable.Number|^FS
^FO90,60^BY4,3.0^BCN,90,N,N,Y,N^FDTestNumber^FX|Variable.Number|^FS
^XZ

This makes it possible to use test information while adjusting the format and not losing the original variable names. You can also use this to make informational comments like this:

^FX This is a test label.

^XA^PQ1

^FX This is the title.
^FO12,15^A0N,36,33^FDTitle^FS

^FX This is the info.
^FO210,15^A0N,36,33,^FDInfo^FS

^FX This is the number.
^FO750,15^A0N,165,150^FD|Variable.Number|^FS

^FX This is the barcode.
^FO90,60^BY4,3.0^BCN,90,N,N,Y,N^FD|Variable.Number|^FS

^XZ