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Struggling to print using thermal printer via laravel.

Updated: Mar 04, 2025

Struggling to print using thermal printer via laravel.

Printing using a thermal printer in Laravel can be a challenging task, but it's not impossible. Here's a step-by-step guide to help you get started:

  1. Install the required packages: To print using a thermal printer in Laravel, you'll need to install a few packages. One of the most popular packages for thermal printing in Laravel is the "barryvdh/laravel-dompdf" package, which is used to generate PDFs that can be printed using a thermal printer.

You can install this package using Composer by running the following command in your terminal:

composer require barryvdh/laravel-dompdf
  1. Generate a PDF using Laravel: Once you have installed the "barryvdh/laravel-dompdf" package, you can generate a PDF using Laravel. Here's an example of how to generate a PDF of an HTML view:
use Barryvdh\DomPDF\Facade as PDF;

// In your controller method
public function printInvoice($id)
{
    $invoice = Invoice::find($id);

    // Load the view and pass the data to it
    $pdf = PDF::loadView('invoices.print', ['invoice' => $invoice]);

    // Save the PDF to a public directory
    Storage::disk('public')->put('invoices/'.$invoice->id.'.pdf', $pdf->output());

    // Return the PDF file to the user for download
    return response()->download('storage/app/public/invoices/'.$invoice->id.'.pdf');
}

In this example, we're loading the "invoices.print" view and passing the $invoice data to it. We then generate a PDF using the DomPDF library and save it to a public directory. Finally, we return the PDF file to the user for download.

  1. Print the PDF using a thermal printer: To print the PDF using a thermal printer, you'll need to install a thermal printer driver on your server and configure it to work with Laravel. One popular thermal printer driver for Linux servers is the "Esc/P-Ribbon" driver.

Once you have installed the driver, you can use a command-line tool like "lp" or "lpr" to print the PDF. Here's an example of how to print a PDF using the "lp" command:

lp -d thermal:/dev/lp0 storage/app/public/invoices/1.pdf

In this example, we're printing the PDF located at "storage/app/public/invoices/1.pdf" to the thermal printer with the device name "thermal:/dev/lp0". You may need to adjust the device name based on your printer configuration.

  1. Automate the printing process: If you want to automate the printing process, you can schedule the controller method using Laravel's scheduler. Here's an example of how to schedule the "printInvoice" method to run every day at 2 AM:
// In your App/Console/Kernel.php file
protected function schedule(Schedule $schedule)
{
    $schedule->command('app:print-invoices')->daily();
}

// In your terminal
php artisan make:command App\Console\Commands\PrintInvoicesCommand

In this example, we're creating a new command called "PrintInvoicesCommand" and scheduling it to run every day at 2 AM using the "daily" method. We then define the "handle" method in the command file to call the "printInvoice" method:

use App\Http\Controllers\InvoiceController;

namespace App\Console\Commands;

class PrintInvoicesCommand
{
    /**
     * The name and signature of the console command.
     *
     * @var string
     */
    protected $signature = 'app:print-invoices';

    /**
     * The console command description.
     *
     * @var string
     */
    protected $description = 'Print invoices using thermal printer';

    /**
     * Create a new command instance.
     *
     * @return void
     */
    public function __construct()
    {
        parent::__construct();
    }

    /**
     * Execute the console command.
     *
     * @return int
     */
    public function handle()
    {
        $invoiceIds = Invoice::where('status', '=', 'paid')->pluck('id')->toArray();

        foreach ($invoiceIds as $id) {
            $invoice = Invoice::find($id);

            $pdf = app(App\Http\Controllers\InvoiceController::class)->printInvoice($id);

            Storage::disk('public')->put('invoices/'.$invoice->id.'.pdf', $pdf->output());

            $this->info('Printing invoice #'.$id.'...');

            $this->line('');

            $command = 'lp -d thermal:/dev/lp0 storage/app/public/invoices/'.$invoice->id.'.pdf';

            $output = shell_exec($command);

            if (strpos($output, 'Error') === false) {
                $this->info('Invoice #'.$id.' printed successfully.');
            } else {
                $this->error('Error printing invoice #'.$id.'.');
            }

            Storage::disk('public')->delete('invoices/'.$invoice->id.'.pdf');
        }

        $this->info('Finished printing invoices.');
    }
}

In this example, we're using the "printInvoice" method to generate a PDF for each paid invoice and then printing it using the "lp" command. We're also deleting the PDF file from the server after printing to save disk space.

That's it! With these steps, you should be able to print using a thermal printer via Laravel. If you encounter any issues, please let me know in the comments and I'll do my best to help you out.

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