argox_ix4 0.1.2

Windows USB driver for ARGOX iX4-series PPLB label printers via the inbox usbprint.sys device interface — no vendor driver or print queue needed.

argox_ix4

Windows USB driver for ARGOX iX4-series PPLB label printers. It opens the inbox usbprint.sys device interface directly (dart:ffi + win32) — so it needs no vendor driver, no Seagull/ARGOX SDK, and no print queue. Just plug the printer in.

⚠️ Early release (0.1.x) — not yet complete. USB discovery and status read-back are hardware-verified on an ARGOX iX4-350, but physical label printing has not yet been confirmed on real media — only that the byte stream transmits. Tested on a single model and environment; the API may change before 1.0.

Built on pplb (the command/label layer), which this package re-exports — one import gives you both.

Platform: Windows only (Windows 7 SP1+ when built with Flutter 3.19 / Dart 3.3; Windows 10+ on Dart 3.4+). UsbPrinter throws UnsupportedError elsewhere. The pplb command layer it builds on is cross-platform.

Usage

import 'package:argox_ix4/argox_ix4.dart'; // re-exports pplb too

Future<void> main() async {
  final printer = LoggedPrinter(
    RetryPrinter(const UsbPrinter(), attempts: 2),
    print,
  );

  // Read status (no paper -> code 7, media out)
  final status = await printer.status();
  print('ok: ${status.ok()}  mediaOut: ${status.mediaOut()}');

  // Print a label
  await printer.print(CommandLabel(const [
    BufferClear(),
    LabelDimensions(length: 100, gap: 20),
    Text(x: 50, y: 30, font: 3, data: 'ARGOX iX4'),
    Barcode1d(x: 50, y: 80, type: '1', height: 60, data: '0123456789'),
    Copies(1),
  ]));
}

Flutter consumers: the re-exported pplb includes a class named Text (PPLB A command) that clashes with Flutter's Text widget. Import with a prefix — import 'package:argox_ix4/argox_ix4.dart' as ix4; — and use ix4.Text(...), ix4.UsbPrinter(), etc.

How it works

UsbPrinter enumerates the usbprint.sys device-interface class, selects the ARGOX device by USB vendor id 0x1664, opens its device path with CreateFile (overlapped), writes label.bytes(), and for status() writes ^ee and reads the reply — mapping it to a PrinterStatus. Verified against an ARGOX iX4-350.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.