Use the Windows Printer Service
===============================

.. note::
   I apologize, but most of this document is outdated and inaccurate already.
   Hopefully I'll clean it up soon... ;)

Rattail's Cognitive hardware package provides a simple printer server for use
with the Blaster BT42 Series of label printers.

Basically it implements a Windows service which will monitor a folder for any
files ending in ``*.labels``.  When such a file is found, its contents are read
and copied to the printer (the assumption being that this will be via ``LPT1``
or some similar port).  Then the label batch file is deleted.

The label batch files are expected to contain commands which will be
interpreted directly by the printer; the server does nothing beyond logistics.
Creating the batch files will be the responsibility of some other app.

Configuring the Printer
-----------------------

The printer is expected to be using the ``LPT1`` (or similar) port.  USB and
other ports are untested.  Despite this, there is no default location for the
printer; you must provide one in your config file.

.. note::
   Since the Windows service will not run as *you* but rather as some system
   user, any config needed by the server must be placed in a system-wide
   rattail.conf file.

In addition to the printer path, you must also provide the path of the batch
folder which will be monitored::

   [rattail.hw.cognitive]
   server.printer_path = LPT1
   server.batch_path = C:\Rattail\Label Batches

Using the Windows Service
-------------------------

Using the print service is fairly straightforward; there are logical commands
to install/run/etc.  The only gotcha is that on Windows 7 (and I assume Vista),
you must first launch ``cmd.exe`` as an administrator in order to gain
sufficient privileges to execute the commands:

* ``rattail blaster-print --install``
* ``rattail blaster-print --start``
* ``rattail blaster-print --stop``
* ``rattail blaster-print --uninstall``

When installed, the service should show up in all normal Windows Service lists,
and generally behave as expected.