Android device with built-in thermal printer

Question

Im currently developing an app for a handheld device, running Android OS and with a built-in termal printer. The app will be used for selling and ticketing. Now, boss ordered a few POS for testing (from China) and, well, shipping takes forever to get here so im doing some research in terms on how the "printing" part works. As of right now, what im doing is storing the tickets inside the sdcard and then i download the file to my pc and print it using my TSP700 desktop printer. My question is.. when it comes to printing on the built-in printer, is it possible to send the file that's supposed to be printed right to the printing queue without having to store a copy of it in the sdcard? Anyone with experience on this kind of situation?

Answer 1

In a word, yes. There isn't any reason for the SD card to be involved at all. I've used receipt printers that are connected via Bluetooth. Since yours is built in, it's likely to be USB. Hopefully the manufacturer publishes a well-documented SDK for the printer, but don't count on it. I had to write my own frame-based serial protocols and receipt formatters. There's probably not a printing queue unless you write one.

Answer 2

How your app can communicate with the built-in printer depends on the manufacturer’s implementation. I would start by finding out from the manufacturer what interface is available to your app and any SDK or samples they offer to integrate printing into your app.