# How things work - ignition and TCP printer **URL:** \ **Category:** Ignition\ **Tags:** vision\ **Created:** [May 18, 2022, 10:22am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/how-things-work-ignition-and-tcp-printer/59712 "2022-05-18T10:22:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![hewking32](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@hewking32](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/hewking32)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 10:22am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/how-things-work-ignition-and-tcp-printer/59712/1 "2022-05-18T10:22:09Z")
Hi All. If i would like to trigger label printing from TCP printer by pressing a button on ignition Vision client what would like have to consider to get it set up? Any gateway settings, anything other thoughts please? Sorry its a bit broad question. Regards ---
**Author:** ![Transistor](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/transistor/32/3380_2.png) [@Transistor](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Transistor)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 11:11am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/how-things-work-ignition-and-tcp-printer/59712/2 "2022-05-18T11:11:39Z")
Tag your question as _Vision_ or _Perspective_. It will matter. ---
**Author:** ![hewking32](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@hewking32](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/hewking32)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 11:24am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/how-things-work-ignition-and-tcp-printer/59712/3 "2022-05-18T11:24:00Z")
i edited my question as Vision related ---
**Author:** ![Transistor](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/transistor/32/3380_2.png) [@Transistor](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Transistor)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 11:32am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/how-things-work-ignition-and-tcp-printer/59712/4 "2022-05-18T11:32:47Z")
That’s fine but some of the experts will be watching by tag and may miss your question. That’s why I suggested the tag. ---
**Author:** ![hewking32](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@hewking32](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/hewking32)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 11:48am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/how-things-work-ignition-and-tcp-printer/59712/5 "2022-05-18T11:48:35Z")
good point - i just added Vision tag ---
**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 12:25pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/how-things-work-ignition-and-tcp-printer/59712/6 "2022-05-18T12:25:28Z")
Depends on how you generate your label. ZPL, perhaps? A Vision client can open a socket, send the bytes of ZPL, and close the socket in one go. Since it is likely to execute in less than a tenth of a second, I would just call the function that does it in the button’s actionPerformed event. ---
**Author:** ![hewking32](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@hewking32](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/hewking32)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 12:40pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/how-things-work-ignition-and-tcp-printer/59712/7 "2022-05-18T12:40:54Z")
Thanks for your reply Phil. yes it is ZPL indeed and in the project the existing code does have socket transmission code which i can simulate on chrome ZPL simulator (using local address) to see what label will look like. I am wondering what might go wrong 🙂 or what i need to consider when this label print command go to the TCP printer ? ---
**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 1:07pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/how-things-work-ignition-and-tcp-printer/59712/8 "2022-05-18T13:07:00Z")
When driven by a button, I just tolerate any error dialogs that result from comms problems. ---
**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 1:08pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/how-things-work-ignition-and-tcp-printer/59712/9 "2022-05-18T13:08:02Z")
If there is any chance of non-ASCII content, I would use the `java.net` classes, not python’s `socket` module. ---
**Author:** ![hewking32](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@hewking32](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/hewking32)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 1:09pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/how-things-work-ignition-and-tcp-printer/59712/10 "2022-05-18T13:09:40Z")
Good point regarding java classes. Thank you ---
**Author:** ![paul-griffith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/paul-griffith/32/37249_2.png) [@paul-griffith](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/paul-griffith)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 2:40pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/how-things-work-ignition-and-tcp-printer/59712/11 "2022-05-18T14:40:09Z")
> [@pturmel](#): > > If there is any chance of non-ASCII content, I would use the `java.net` classes, not python’s `socket` module. Sidebar, I wonder if a `system.net.socket()` context manager would be used often enough to be worth inclusion. Might just cause more confusion in Perspective... ---
**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 2:47pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/how-things-work-ignition-and-tcp-printer/59712/12 "2022-05-18T14:47:38Z")
> [@paul-griffith](#): > > Might just cause more confusion in Perspective… Nah, already maxed out. 😆 ---
**Author:** ![Kevin.Herron](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/kevin.herron/32/7259_2.png) [@Kevin.Herron](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Kevin.Herron)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 2:48pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/how-things-work-ignition-and-tcp-printer/59712/13 "2022-05-18T14:48:28Z")
Opening and closing a socket isn’t the hard part about what most people are trying to do with sockets. The hard part is it’s not easy to set up a long running / background task or anything that needs a more complicated lifecycle than when projects restart. You need a PhD in Ignition’s obscure scripting implementation details to maybe not screw it up and have a memory leak. ---
**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 2:50pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/how-things-work-ignition-and-tcp-printer/59712/14 "2022-05-18T14:50:03Z")
> [@paul-griffith](#): > > if a `system.net.socket()` context manager More seriously, `java.net` and friends are not that difficult to use, and anyone trying to use advice from StackOverflow and such will want them as-is. I wouldn't bother. ---
**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2022, 2:52pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/how-things-work-ignition-and-tcp-printer/59712/15 "2022-05-18T14:52:05Z")
> [@Kevin.Herron](#): > > obscure scripting implementation details I probably should encapsulate some of my techniques in my LifeCycle module to make this easier.