Zebra Programming Language/ZBI Introduction

This lesson introduces the Zebra BASIC Interpreter.

Readings

1. Wikipedia: Zebra Programming Language
2. Zebra: ZPL II, ZBI 2, SetGet-Do, Mirror, WML Programming Guide

Multimedia

1. YouTube: Zebra DevTalk – Introduction to Zebra Basic Interpreter (ZBI)

Activities

1. Review Zebra: Zebra BASIC Interpreter (ZBI)
2. Download and install the ZBI Developer Utility.
3. Run the ZBI Developer Utility.
4. Create a new project (File / New / New Project). Name the project whatever you wish.
5. Select or open Printer View (Window / Show View / Printer View). Under Virtual Printers, right click on the default Virtual Printer and Create Debug Connection.
6. Select or open Navigation View (Window / Show View / Navigation View). Create a new ZBI program (File / New / New ZBI Program). Save the file as hello.zbi.
7. Enter and save the following program:
   AUTONUM 1,1
CLOSE ALL
OPEN #1: NAME "ZPL"
PRINT #1: "Hello world!"
SLEEP 5
8. Run the program (Run / Run\Debug ZBI Application). Observe the results. You should see "Hello world!" in the ZPL window for five seconds. Note, for this to generate an actual ZPL label requires generating additional ZPL codes (~XA, ~XZ, etc.). See the Zebra programming guide for details.
9. Download the Zebra: ZBI 2.0 Examples. Review the example code files for ideas.