How can I print an image on a Bluetooth printer in Android?

Question

I have to print some data on thermal bluetooth printer, I'm doing with this:

String message="abcdef any message 12345";
byte[] send;
send = message.getBytes();
mService.write(send);

It works well for text, but not for images. I think I need to get the byte[] of the image data. I tried getting the data of the image this way:

Bitmap bitmap=BitmapFactory.decodeResource(getResources(), R.drawable.qrcode);
ByteArrayOutputStream stream=new ByteArrayOutputStream();
bitmap.compress(Bitmap.CompressFormat.PNG, 90, stream);
byte[] image=stream.toByteArray();

Unfortunately the printer prints a lot of strange characters (approx. 50 cm of paper). I don't know how to print the image.

I would like to try getting the pixels of the bitmap and next converting it to a byte[] and sending it, but i don't know how to do it.

Thanks

UPDATE:

After so much time, i'm doing this: I have a method called print_image(String file), the which gets the path of the image that i want to print:

private void print_image(String file) {
    File fl = new File(file);
    if (fl.exists()) {
        Bitmap bmp = BitmapFactory.decodeFile(file);
        convertBitmap(bmp);
        mService.write(PrinterCommands.SET_LINE_SPACING_24);

        int offset = 0;
        while (offset < bmp.getHeight()) {
            mService.write(PrinterCommands.SELECT_BIT_IMAGE_MODE);
            for (int x = 0; x < bmp.getWidth(); ++x) {

                for (int k = 0; k < 3; ++k) {

                    byte slice = 0;
                    for (int b = 0; b < 8; ++b) {
                        int y = (((offset / 8) + k) * 8) + b;
                        int i = (y * bmp.getWidth()) + x;
                        boolean v = false;
                        if (i < dots.length()) {
                            v = dots.get(i);
                        }
                        slice |= (byte) ((v ? 1 : 0) << (7 - b));
                    }
                    mService.write(slice);
                }
            }
            offset += 24;
            mService.write(PrinterCommands.FEED_LINE);
            mService.write(PrinterCommands.FEED_LINE);          
            mService.write(PrinterCommands.FEED_LINE);
            mService.write(PrinterCommands.FEED_LINE);
            mService.write(PrinterCommands.FEED_LINE);
            mService.write(PrinterCommands.FEED_LINE);
        }
        mService.write(PrinterCommands.SET_LINE_SPACING_30);


    } else {
        Toast.makeText(this, "file doesn't exists", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT)
                .show();
    }
}

I did it based on this post

This is the class PrinterCommands:

public class PrinterCommands {
public static final byte[] INIT = {27, 64};
public static byte[] FEED_LINE = {10};

public static byte[] SELECT_FONT_A = {27, 33, 0};

public static byte[] SET_BAR_CODE_HEIGHT = {29, 104, 100};
public static byte[] PRINT_BAR_CODE_1 = {29, 107, 2};
public static byte[] SEND_NULL_BYTE = {0x00};

public static byte[] SELECT_PRINT_SHEET = {0x1B, 0x63, 0x30, 0x02};
public static byte[] FEED_PAPER_AND_CUT = {0x1D, 0x56, 66, 0x00};

public static byte[] SELECT_CYRILLIC_CHARACTER_CODE_TABLE = {0x1B, 0x74, 0x11};

public static byte[] SELECT_BIT_IMAGE_MODE = {0x1B, 0x2A, 33, -128, 0};
public static byte[] SET_LINE_SPACING_24 = {0x1B, 0x33, 24};
public static byte[] SET_LINE_SPACING_30 = {0x1B, 0x33, 30};

public static byte[] TRANSMIT_DLE_PRINTER_STATUS = {0x10, 0x04, 0x01};
public static byte[] TRANSMIT_DLE_OFFLINE_PRINTER_STATUS = {0x10, 0x04, 0x02};
public static byte[] TRANSMIT_DLE_ERROR_STATUS = {0x10, 0x04, 0x03};
public static byte[] TRANSMIT_DLE_ROLL_PAPER_SENSOR_STATUS = {0x10, 0x04, 0x04};
}

As is seen in the print_image method I'm calling a method, called convertBitmap, and im sending a bitmap, this is the code:

   public String convertBitmap(Bitmap inputBitmap) {

    mWidth = inputBitmap.getWidth();
    mHeight = inputBitmap.getHeight();

    convertArgbToGrayscale(inputBitmap, mWidth, mHeight);
    mStatus = "ok";
    return mStatus;

}

private void convertArgbToGrayscale(Bitmap bmpOriginal, int width,
        int height) {
    int pixel;
    int k = 0;
    int B = 0, G = 0, R = 0;
    dots = new BitSet();
    try {

        for (int x = 0; x < height; x++) {
            for (int y = 0; y < width; y++) {
                // get one pixel color
                pixel = bmpOriginal.getPixel(y, x);

                // retrieve color of all channels
                R = Color.red(pixel);
                G = Color.green(pixel);
                B = Color.blue(pixel);
                // take conversion up to one single value by calculating
                // pixel intensity.
                R = G = B = (int) (0.299 * R + 0.587 * G + 0.114 * B);
                // set bit into bitset, by calculating the pixel's luma
                if (R < 55) {                       
                    dots.set(k);//this is the bitset that i'm printing
                }
                k++;

            }


        }


    } catch (Exception e) {
        // TODO: handle exception
        Log.e(TAG, e.toString());
    }
}

This is the printer that i'm using, resolution: 8 dots/mm, 576 dots/line

And this is what I like to do (i did it with the same printer, but with an app downloaded from play store) Image that I want to print

This is what i'm getting now My printing trying

Closer: A closer part

Closer2: enter image description here

A little part of the image can be seen, so I think that i'm closer to can print the image...

The image that i'm using is this (576x95): enter image description here

And this is the converted image (i'm converting it with the upper code):

Inverted

So, the answer is: what I'm doing wrong?, I think that the error is in this command:

  public static byte[] SELECT_BIT_IMAGE_MODE = {0x1B, 0x2A, 33, -128, 0};

But, how can I calculate the correct values for my image?, thanks

Yeah, i send it of the same way that 1st snipplet mService.write(image), the printer has a SDK but it don't compile, so I don't know how to do it. — Leonardo Sapuy
If you have the source for the SDK you can look at how they do it. — dutt
Now I decompile it, they use a method to return the byte[] array, but it don't works, I implemented that method but when I run the app on the tablet, it dies, generate a force close error... `` — Leonardo Sapuy
I just have the .jar library, this is the SDK proportioned by the printer... But i'm not using this because it don't works for me, it don't compiles... I get no error in the stack trace... When I try to print a image, it prints normally, but not the image, print some stranger characters... — Leonardo Sapuy
@nlsbshtr I recommend the Bixolon SPP-R200. However we're not using the official SDK to print, but rather we implemented our own pairing and printing procedures. — AgentKnopf

Md Imran Choudhury Md Imran Choudhury · Accepted Answer · 2017-02-07T09:22:05

I solve it converting Bitmap to Byte array. Remember that your image must be black & white format.

For full source code: https://github.com/imrankst1221/Thermal-Printer-in-Android

 public void printPhoto() {
        try {
            Bitmap bmp = BitmapFactory.decodeResource(getResources(),
                    R.drawable.img);
            if(bmp!=null){
                byte[] command = Utils.decodeBitmap(bmp);
                printText(command);
            }else{
                Log.e("Print Photo error", "the file isn't exists");
            }
        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
            Log.e("PrintTools", "the file isn't exists");
        }
    }

How can I print an image on a Bluetooth printer in Android?

8 Answers