Communicate directly with printer from a plugin

[bradk3 14]

Is it possible for a plugin to communicate directly with a connected printer without worrying about the underlying communication method?  By this, I mean send gcode directly and read the printer's response whether the printer is connected directly using USB or through something like Octoprint?  

 

I'm combing through the source code but am having trouble figuring out how to do this.  I've found UM's OutputDevice, for instance, which provides a "requestWrite" function, that looks promising, but doesn't give me much hope to be able to read the printer's response.

 

Is there a plugin that already does this sort of thing I could look at?

 

Cheers and thanks!

[ahoeben 1,992]

1 hour ago, bradk3 said:

Is it possible for a plugin to communicate directly with a connected printer without worrying about the underlying communication method? 

In a word: no.

 

Every PrinterOutputDevice has a PrinterOutputController, and some PrinterOutputControllers implement a sendRawCommand method (the PrinterOutputController will have its can_send_raw_gcode property set to true). But there is no generic way to retreive the response.

 

The requestWrite method is for sending and queueing whole gcode files and is not suitable for individual commands.

[GregValiant 1,359]

I've written a Windows app that I think does what you want.  It isn't for printing via USB but rather for controlling SD card printing from a connected PC.  Gcode commands can be sent and the responses received and are displayed in a text box.  It has other functionality (tuning a print on the fly, bed leveling, macros) as well as some odd post-processing ("cooling profile" is one) that I added because I could.  It is more an alternative to PrintRun (which interface I don't care for) than anything else.

The full version begat a smaller version which just functions as a print utility with leveling commands but you can send one command at a time and receive and display the printer response.

Greg's Toolbox is the full monte and includes instructions (such as they are) and a readme for installation.

Greg's SD Print Tool is the Cliff's Notes version.  This one has just a readme as the program itself is pretty self-explanatory.

 

They are un-signed Windows apps (VB doesn't port to Linux or Mac) so you would need to fool your anti-virus/firewall in order to install either.

 

The opening dialog looks like this.  In this case I have a print running.  The gcode for it was post-processed with both a M117 to message the display and an M118 to bounce the same info back to the textbox in the app.

[bradk3 14]

7 hours ago, ahoeben said:

In a word: no.

Well, it's not the answer I was hoping for, but you saved me a lot of fruitless searching.  Thank you!

[bradk3 14]

2 hours ago, GregValiant said:

I've written a Windows app that I think does what you want.  It isn't for printing via USB but rather for controlling SD card printing from a connected PC.  Gcode commands can be sent and the responses received and are displayed in a text box.  It has other functionality (tuning a print on the fly, bed leveling, macros) as well as some odd post-processing ("cooling profile" is one) that I added because I could.  It is more an alternative to PrintRun (which interface I don't care for) than anything else.

The full version begat a smaller version which just functions as a print utility with leveling commands but you can send one command at a time and receive and display the printer response.

Greg's Toolbox is the full monte and includes instructions (such as they are) and a readme for installation.

Greg's SD Print Tool is the Cliff's Notes version.  This one has just a readme as the program itself is pretty self-explanatory.

That looks interesting.  I'll check it out.  

 

Thank you!