2D Label & Barcode Printing (TSPL & ZPL)

While traditional receipt printers feed continuous thermal rolls vertically using ESC/POS and Star Line Mode, industrial and retail label printers require precise 2D coordinate positioning (x, y) on die-cut adhesive stickers, shelf tags, and shipping labels.

The papermint-label crate brings native, type-safe 2D label creation to the papermint ecosystem with zero external layout overhead.

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Supported Label Protocols

Protocol	Hardware Manufacturers	Use Cases
TSPL / TSPL-II	TSC, Xprinter, Rongta, Gprinter, Munbyn, Brother (TD Series)	Coffee cup tags, retail price stickers, warehouse inventory labels
ZPL II	Zebra (ZD410, ZD420, ZD621, ZT411), Citizen, Godex, Datamax	4×6 logistics shipping labels (FedEx/UPS/DHL), medical specimen tubes

Both protocols compile from a unified fluent API and generate wire bytes in under 5 microseconds.

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Adding papermint-label to Cargo.toml

[dependencies]
papermint = "0.2.3"
papermint-label = "0.2.3"

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Creating a Label Canvas

Labels are declared with physical dimensions in millimeters, inches, or printer dots:

use papermint_label::{Label, Unit, BarcodeType, QrErrorCorrection, Rotation};

let label = Label::new(50.0, 30.0, Unit::Millimeters) // 50mm x 30mm sticker
    .dpi(203) // 8 dots/mm (default)
    .gap(3.0, 0.0) // 3mm gap between die-cut labels
    .speed(4) // 4 inches per second
    .density(8) // print darkness (0-15)
    // Header text
    .text(16, 16, "MINT SPECIALTY COFFEE", 1, 1)
    // Product details
    .text(16, 44, "Oat Milk Latte (16oz)", 1, 1)
    .text(16, 68, "Extra Shot • Sugar Free", 1, 1)
    // Inverted order badge (white text inside black box)
    .reverse(310, 16, 70, 36)
    .text(318, 22, "#104", 1, 1)
    // 1D Barcode with human-readable label
    .barcode(16, 110, BarcodeType::Code128, 48, "ORD-9021", true)
    // 2D QR Code for customer pickup loyalty
    .qr(280, 100, "https://mintcafe.com/order/9021", 4, QrErrorCorrection::M)
    // Print 1 copy
    .print(1);

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Encoding Wire Commands

Convert the label canvas into hardware wire bytes for your target printer:

1. TSPL-II (Xprinter, TSC, Rongta, Munbyn)

let wire_bytes: Vec<u8> = label.encode_tspl();

Output wire stream:

SIZE 50 mm, 30 mm
GAP 3 mm, 0 mm
SPEED 4
DENSITY 8
DIRECTION 1
CLS
TEXT 16,16,"2",0,1,1,"MINT SPECIALTY COFFEE"
TEXT 16,44,"2",0,1,1,"Oat Milk Latte (16oz)"
TEXT 16,68,"2",0,1,1,"Extra Shot • Sugar Free"
REVERSE 310,16,70,36
TEXT 318,22,"2",0,1,1,"#104"
BARCODE 16,110,"128",48,1,0,2,2,"ORD-9021"
QRCODE 280,100,M,4,A,0,"https://mintcafe.com/order/9021"
PRINT 1,1

2. ZPL II (Zebra, Citizen)

let wire_bytes: Vec<u8> = label.encode_zpl();

Output wire stream:

^XA
^PW400
^LL240
^LH0,0
^PO0
^PR4
~SD19
^FO16,16^A0N,18,18^FDMINT SPECIALTY COFFEE^FS
^FO16,44^A0N,18,18^FDOat Milk Latte (16oz)^FS
^FO16,68^A0N,18,18^FDExtra Shot • Sugar Free^FS
^FO310,16^GB70,36,36,B^FS
^FO318,22^A0N,18,18^FD#104^FS
^FO16,110^BCN,48,Y,N,N^FDORD-9021^FS
^FO280,100^BQN,2,4,M^FDMA,https://mintcafe.com/order/9021^FS
^PQ1,0,1,Y
^XZ

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Virtual SVG Sticker Preview

Before transmitting to a physical roll or wasting adhesive label media, render an instant, pixel-accurate SVG vector preview:

let svg_string = label.render_svg();

The generated SVG features:

• Rounded die-cut sticker corners (rx="8" ry="8") matching physical sticker rolls.
• Drop-shadow elevation for realistic UI display in admin portals.
• Simulated barcode stripes and vector QR code matrices.
• Inverted reverse blocks and high-contrast typography.

You can display this SVG directly inside React, Svelte, Vue, or web dashboards.

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Streaming to Network or USB Printers

Send the generated wire bytes to any thermal label printer using papermint transports:

use papermint::TcpTransport;
use papermint::transport::Transport;
use std::net::SocketAddr;

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    let wire_bytes = label.encode_tspl();

    // Stream directly over raw TCP (Port 9100)
    let addr: SocketAddr = "192.168.1.150:9100".parse()?;
    let mut transport = TcpTransport::new(addr);
    transport.write_all(&wire_bytes).await?;

    println!("✅ Label dispatched to Xprinter!");
    Ok(())
}

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Coordinate Cheat Sheet

Parameter	Unit	Description
x, y	Dots	Top-left coordinate relative to the label peel edge
font	Integer	Standard bitmap/scalable font family index
x_mult, y_mult	Integer	Width and height multipliers (1x to 8x)
rotation	Enum	Rotation::D0, Rotation::D90, Rotation::D180, Rotation::D270
dpi	Integer	203 DPI = 8 dots/mm; 300 DPI = 11.8 dots/mm