Horizon Receipt Printer Instructions

Contents:

Overview

Horizon Receipt Printer is a program that intercepts, reformats, then passes on to the LPT1: port any text that Horizon sends to the receipt printer. This works only when the following conditions are met:

  1. Horizon Receipt Printer must be running. If Horizon Receipt Printer is not running, it will not process slips for the receipt printer. See Running Horizon Receipt Printer below.
  2. Horizon must be configured so that instead of printing directly to the receipt printer, it prints to a file that can be read by Horizon Receipt Printer. When Horizon prints a slip to this file, Horizon Receipt Printer reads it, makes changes to it, then sends it along to the receipt printer. See Configuring Horizon to use Horizon Receipt Printer below.

Running Horizon Receipt Printer

By default, the Setup program places a shortcut to Horizon Receipt Printer in your Startup folder, making it so Horizon Receipt Printer loads whenever you start the PC. Horizon Receipt Printer can be started manually by going to the folder where you installed it (e.g. C:\Program Files\MVLC) and double-clicking on the HorizonReceiptPrinter.exe icon.

Double-clicking HorizonReceiptPrinter.exe opens a console application window that looks like Figure 1.

Figure 1
Figure 1

Note that this window does it accept user input. If you wish to stop running Horizon Receipt Printer, simply close this window, either by pressing the Enter key on your keyboard or by clicking the X in the upper-right corner.

Because Horizon Receipt Printer requires no user interaction, shortcuts created by the Setup program cause the program to launch as a window minimized to the Taskbar (Figure 2).

Figure 2
Figure 2

Configuring Horizon to use Horizon Receipt Printer

Open a Checkout window in Horizon. Click Tools, then Change Receipt Options (Figure 3).

Figure 3
Figure 3

In the Workstation Receipt Options window, click Windows Printing. Leave all your other settings the same (your settings may be different from those shown in Figure 4).

Figure 4
Figure 4

You may get a window prompting you to click 'Setup...' to select and set up a receipt printer (Figure 5). Click OK.

Figure 5
Figure 5

Choose Horizon Receipt Printer from the list of printers (Figure 6). If you do not see Horizon Receipt Printer listed, see the section below on manually adding Horizon Receipt Printer to your printers list.

Figure 6
Figure 6

You may get a window prompting you to select font settings for this printer (Figure 7). Click OK.

Figure 7
Figure 7

When you click OK, you will see the Font window shown in Figure 8. For Font, select Device Font 12cpi. For Font style, select Regular. The values for Size and Script should remain 10 and Western, respectively. Click OK.

Figure 8
Figure 8

Your Receipt Printer window should now look like Figure 9.

Figure 9
Figure 9

Click OK, then click OK again to go back to the Checkout window. Horizon is now configured to use Horizon Receipt Printer. There is no need to restart the PC or Horizon at this point, but you should turn your receipt printer off and on once before printing with the new settings.

Configuring Horizon not to use Horizon Receipt Printer

To stop using Horizon Receipt Printer, open a checkout window in Horizon, click Tools, then Change Receipt Options. In the Workstation Receipt Options window (see Figure 4, above), uncheck Windows Printing, click OK, then turn your receipt printer off and on. Horizon will now print slips the usual way, even if Horizon Receipt Printer is running.

How to uninstall Horizon Receipt Printer

To uninstall Horizon Receipt Printer, use the Add or Remove Programs applet in the Windows Control Panel. Alternatively, run the Uninstall program found in the folder you installed Horizon Receipt Printer to (e.g. C:\Program Files\MVLC).

Important note: Be sure to configure Horizon's receipt printer options so that Horizon no longer uses Windows Printing. See Configuring Horizon not to use Horizon Receipt Printer above.

Technical details

Manually adding Horizon Receipt Printer to your printers list

The Setup program that installs Horizon Receipt Printer also attempts to add a new printer called Horizon Receipt Printer to your list of available printers. If it cannot, you will need to add it manually.

Open the Printers and Faxes applet of the Windows Control Panel.

Verify that Horizon Receipt Printer is not listed. If it is not, double-click Add Printer to start the Add Printer Wizard.

At the Local or Network Printer window, choose Local printer. Do not check the option to Automatically detect and install my Plug and Play printer.

At the Select a Printer Port window, choose Use the following port: and select c:\spool\receipt.txt (Local Port). (This port was created during setup.)

At the Install Printer Software window, Choose Generic from the Manufacturer list and Generic / Text Only from the Printers list.

If you get a Use Existing Driver window, choose Keep existing driver (unless you know of a reason why you shouldn't).

At the Name Your Printer window, replace "Generic / Text Only" with "Horizon Receipt Printer." Where it asks if you want use use it as the default printer, choose No.

At on the Printer Sharing window, choose "Do not share this printer."

When you finish the Add Printer Wizard, the Horizon Receipt Printer will be added to your printers list.

Manually editing the setup.ini file

Registered copies of Horizon Receipt Printer include enhanced features. These can be configured either via the setup wizard, or by manually editing the setup.ini file that the setup program places in your C:\receipt printer folder.

Warning! Modifying the setup.ini file incorrectly can cause Horizon Receipt Printer's enhanced features to stop working. If you are uncomfortable editing configuration files, it is better to re-run the setup program and let the wizard make the changes for you.

The setup.ini file can be opened, modified and saved with a text editor like Notepad.

adding a telephone number

If your checkout receipt / date due slips don't already show your library's phone number, you can add it here. The number will appear near the top of the slip, centered, under your library's name.

Enter the number under the [LIBRARY PHONE NUMBER] section, to the right of the phoneNumber= key (see sample setup.ini file, below).

If the value of the phoneNumber= key remains blank, no number will be specially printed on your slips.

presorting libraries and mini-slips

If you do presorting for certain libraries, or if there are certain libraries for which you do not want routing / in transit slips to be printed, you can specify the names of those libraries under the [LIBRARIES YOU PRESORT FOR] section, to the right of preSorts= key. Separate multiple library names with commas (see sample setup.ini file, below). When an item destined for one of these libraries is checked in, no slip will be printed. This is useful if your presorting bins are located near where you do checkins.

When the mini-slips option is enabled and you check in an item that is destined for a library in your preSorts= list, a short slip showing just that library's name will be printed. This is useful if your presorting bins are in another location. Enable mini-slips by entering YES to the right of the miniSlips= key (under the [MINI-SLIPS] section).

If the preSorts= key is blank, routing slips will be printed for all items that are destined for other libraries and the miniSlips= key's value will be ignored.

about the custom message

If you have a text file (yourfile.txt) containing a message you would like to appear at the tops of your checkout receipts and date due slips, enter the path to it under the [PATH TO MESSAGE FILE] section, to the right of the messagePath= key.

Examples:

If you specify or create a custom message during the setup program, a copy of your text file will be placed in the C:\receipt printer folder and renamed message.txt. If your original message becomes unavailable for some reason, Horizon Receipt Printer will print the text in this C:\receipt printer\message.txt file instead.

sample setup.ini file:


; File: 	setup.ini
; Description: 	parameters file for Horizon Receipt Printer

[LIBRARY PHONE NUMBER]
; or the circulation desk
phoneNumber=(978) 623-8400 x10

[LIBRARIES YOU PRESORT FOR]
preSorts=Andover,Burlington,Chelmsford,Lawrence

; If you need a mini-slip printed, i.e., 
; if you handle presorting in another room, location, etc.,
; set it to YES, else set to NO; branches of presorts always print

[MINI-SLIPS]
miniSlips=

[PATH TO MESSAGE FILE]
messagePath=C:\messages\announcement.txt

manually uninstalling Horizon Receipt Printer

It is recommended that you try an automated method of uninstalling Horizon Receipt Printer and rebooting your PC before attempting to uninstall Horizon Receipt Printer manually.

To remove Horizon Receipt Printer manually, do the following in order:

  1. Restart your PC.
  2. If Horizon Receipt Printer is running, close it.
  3. Configure Horizon not to use Horizon Receipt Printer (see above), then close Horizon.
  4. Delete Horizon Receipt Printer from the Printers and Faxes applet of the Windows Control Panel.
  5. Delete the following folders and their contents:
    C:\spool
    C:\receipt printer
    C:\Program Files\MVLC (or wherever you chose to install Horizon Receipt Printer during setup)
  6. Delete the following shortcuts, if they exist:
    C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Horizon Receipt Printer.lnk
    C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\MVLC
    C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\Horizon Receipt Printer.lnk
  7. Delete the following registry subkeys, if they exist:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\MVLC
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\MVLC
  8. In the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Ports subkey, delete the c:\spool\receipt.txt value, if it exists.
  9. Restart your receipt printer.

source files

Source files, if you chose to install them during setup, are placed in the code folder under C:\Program Files\MVLC (or wherever you installed Horizon Receipt Printer). The code folder contains two subfolders: console app, which contains the files used to create the HorizonReceiptPrinter.exe program, and installer, which contains the files used to create the setup wizard.

In all these source files, code used to make and install Horizon Receipt Printer's enhanced features has been removed; however, the remaining code can be used to make and install the free basic version. This code may be freely changed and/or distributed.

Acknowledgments

Horizon Receipt Printer relies heavily on code written and shared by Michael Wofsey of the Public Library of Brookline. Thanks, Michael!