As I mentioned in a previous post, a new configuration option for Zebra printing has been added in InterForm400. This helps installations where InterForm400 shares printers with other applications.

Another change that has been introduced with the 2010 versions of InterForm400 is, that you can now preview the merged ZPL spooled files as PDF (e.g. via option 5 on the command APF3812/APFWRKOUTQ). This is a great feature, which helps you to verify that the printed result looks as expected without actually printing out anything.

In order to provide this great feature, it has been necessary to include the length of the labels in the data stream, when printing ZPL from InterForm400. Previously this length was not included and InterForm400 simply used the label length that printer itself had found via calibration. So if someone had specified a wrong label length, then this would previously not have had any large effect, but with 2010 versions the label length stated in InterForm400 must  be correct.

If you do not state the correct length in the overlay in InterForm400, you could e.g. experience, that the printer prints additional empty labels or the the print out is placed too high or too low on the labels.

You should also make sure, that the printer is calibrated with the label length in use. You can verify that the label length has been correctly calibrated via the web interface of the printer  - or by printing out the printer configuration.

Another important thing is, that you need to state the right resolution, when setting up the printer type of the merge in InterForm400. You select either ZEBRA203, ZEBRA300 or QLZPL203 as the ZPL printer type.

You use the QLZPL203 printer type for the wireless QL printers supported and ZEBRA203 or ZEBRA300 for other ZPLII compatible printers. Just be sure to use ZEBRA203 for 203 DPI printers and ZEBRA300 for 300 DPI printers. (DPI is short for Dots Per Inch). If you select the wrong printer type (for the wrong resolution), then the label length is interpretated wrong and you could experience the same problems as described above.

So in short: If you experience a difference in the ZPL printed result after upgrading to a 2010 version, then I suggest you check/correct the above and then it will run fine.