receiptline

Markdown for receipts. Printable digital receipts. 🧾
Generate receipt printer commands and SVG images.

ReceiptIO - Simple and easy API and CLI using receiptline, supporting printer status.

Features

The reference implementation of the OFSC ReceiptLine Specification.
http://www.ofsc.or.jp/receiptline/en/

ReceiptLine is the receipt description language that expresses the output image of small roll paper.
It supports printing paper receipts using a receipt printer and displaying electronic receipts on a POS system or smartphone.
It can be described simply with markdown-like text data that does not depend on the paper width.

This reference implementation also provides the development tool "ReceiptLine Designer" for editing, previewing, hex dumps with a virtual printer, and test printing on receipt printers.

Receipt Printers

• Epson TM series
• Seiko Instruments RP series
• Star MC series
• Citizen CT series
• Fujitsu FP series

Installation

$ npm install receiptline

Usage

receiptline.transform() method transforms ReceiptLine document to printer commands or SVG images.

const receiptline = require('receiptline');

const doc = '{code:2012345678903;option:ean,hri}';

// printer example
const printer = {
    cpl: 42,
    encoding: 'multilingual',
    upsideDown: false,
    gamma: 1.8,
    command: 'escpos'
};
const command = receiptline.transform(doc, printer);

// display example
const display = {
    cpl: 42,
    encoding: 'multilingual'
};
const svg = receiptline.transform(doc, display);

Method

receiptline.transform(doc[, printer])

Parameters

• doc
  • a string of ReceiptLine document
• printer
  • an object of printer configuration

Return value

• printer commands or SVG images

Printer configuration

• cpl
  • characters per line (default: 48)
• encoding
  • multilingual: Multilingual (including cp437, cp852, cp858, cp866, cp1252)
  • cp437: United States (default)
  • cp852: Central European
  • cp858: Western European
  • cp860: Portuguese
  • cp863: French Canadian
  • cp865: Nordic
  • cp866: Cyrillic
  • cp1252: Western European
  • cp932: Japanese
  • shiftjis: Japanese
  • cp936: Simplified Chinese
  • gb18030: Simplified Chinese
  • cp949: Korean
  • ksc5601: Korean
  • cp950: Traditional Chinese
  • big5: Traditional Chinese
• gradient (for printer)
  • false: image processing for text, barcodes, and 2D codes
  • true: image processing for photos (default)
• gamma (for printer)
  • image gamma correction (range: 0.1 - 10.0, default: 1.8)
• threshold (for printer)
  • image thresholding (range: 0 - 255, default: 128)
• upsideDown (for printer)
  • false: normal (default)
  • true: upside down
• spacing
  • false: no line spacing (default)
  • true: line spacing
• cutting (for printer)
  • false: no paper cutting
  • true: paper cutting (default)
• command
  • svg: SVG (default)
  • escpos: ESC/POS (Epson)
  • sii: ESC/POS (Seiko Instruments)
  • citizen: ESC/POS (Citizen)
  • fit: ESC/POS (Fujitsu)
  • impact: ESC/POS (TM-U220)
  • impactb: ESC/POS (TM-U220 Font B)
  • starsbcs: StarPRNT (SBCS)
  • starmbcs: StarPRNT (Japanese)
  • starmbcs2: StarPRNT (Chinese, Korean)
  • starlinesbcs: Star Line Mode (SBCS)
  • starlinembcs: Star Line Mode (Japanese)
  • starlinembcs2: Star Line Mode (Chinsese, Korean)
  • emustarlinesbcs: Command Emulator Star Line Mode (SBCS)
  • emustarlinembcs: Command Emulator Star Line Mode (Japanese)
  • emustarlinembcs2: Command Emulator Star Line Mode (Chinsese, Korean)
  • stargraphic: Star Graphic Mode (TSP100LAN)

Transform stream API

receiptline.createTransform() method is the stream version of the receiptline.transform().

const fs = require('fs');
const receiptline = require('receiptline');

const source = fs.createReadStream('example.txt');
const transform = receiptline.createTransform({ command: 'svg' });
const destination = fs.createWriteStream('example.svg');

source.pipe(transform).pipe(destination);

Method

receiptline.createTransform([printer])

Parameters

• printer
  • an object of printer configuration

Return value

• Transform stream <stream.Transform>

Examples

example/receipt/*

Display digital receipts in the web browser and print paper receipts on the printer as needed.

example/cloud/*

Print order slips from cloud server using Epson Server Direct Print or Star CloudPRNT.

example/nodejs/*

Enter markdown-like text from the web form, transform it to printer commands on the server, and print it out.

example/js/*

Enter markdown-like text from the web form, transform it to SVG images on the web browser, and display it.

example/data/*

The documents (markdown-like text) are the same as the examples in the OFSC ReceiptLine Specification.

example/command/*

Customize the command object to output your own commands.

Libraries

lib/receiptline.js

JavaScript ES2015(ES6) version. It works on both web browser and Node.js.
To output printer commands on a web browser, use Browserify.

$ browserify -o receiptline-full.js receiptline.js

lib/qrcode-generator/qrcode.js

Generate the QR Code for display. Optional.

ReceiptLine Designer

Online version is available.
https://receiptline.github.io/designer/

The ReceiptLine Designer provides more features.

• Edit and preview
• Data transmission via TCP socket
• Hex dump view by listening TCP 19100 port

Setup

1. Copy the following files to your working directory

   • designer/*
   • designer.js
   • printers.json
   • servers.json

2. Start the server

   $ node designer.js

3. Open http://localhost:8080

   Use a modern browser.

4. Configure printers.json

   "printer_id": {
       "host": "127.0.0.1",
       "port": 19100,
       "asImage": false,
       "cpl": 48,
       "encoding": "cp932",
       "gradient": true,
       "gamma": 1.8,
       "threshold": 128,
       "upsideDown": false,
       "spacing": true,
       "cutting": true,
       "command": "escpos"
   }

   • printer_id
     • printer identifier (alphanumeric or underscore characters)
   • host
     • printer address
   • port
     • printer port (will be 9100)
   • asImage
     • false: print with device font (default)
     • true: print as image (Requires puppeteer)
   • cpl, encoding, gradient, gamma, threshold, upsideDown, spacing, cutting, command
     • see the printer configuration above

Serial-LAN Converter

The serial-LAN converter enables test printing to USB / Bluetooth printers that support virtual serial ports.

Setup

1. Install the virtual serial port driver for the printer and Node Serialport

   $ npm install serialport

2. Configure servers.json

   "serial": {
       "host": "127.0.0.1",
       "port": 9100,
       "device": "COM9"
   }

   • serial
     • to enable it, change from _serial
   • host
     • local address
   • port
     • local port
   • device
     • the system path of the serial port

3. Restart the server

   $ node designer.js

Syntax

Railroad diagram

document

line

columns

column

text

char

escape

ws (whitespace)

property

member

key

value

Grammar

Structure

The receipt is made of a table, which separates each column with a pipe |.

Line	Content	Description
column | column | | column column |	Text Property	Single column
column | column | column | column | | column | column column | column |	Text	Double column
column | ... | column | column | ... | column | | column | ... | column column | ... | column |	Text	Multiple columns

Alignment

The column is attracted to the pipe | like a magnet.
␣ means one or more whitespaces.

Column	Description
column |column| |␣column␣|	Center
|column |column␣| column␣|	Left
column| |␣column| |␣column	Right

Text

The text is valid for any column.

Asparagus | 0.99
Broccoli | 1.99
Carrot | 2.99
---
^TOTAL | ^5.97

Characters are printed in a monospace font (12 x 24 px).
Wide characters are twice as wide as Latin characters (24 x 24 px).
Control characters are ignored.

Special characters in text

Special characters are assigned to characters that are rarely used in the receipt.

Special character	Description
\	Character escape
|	Column delimiter
{	Property delimiter (Start)
}	Property delimiter (End)
- (1 or more, exclusive)	Horizontal rule
= (1 or more, exclusive)	Paper cut
~	Space
_	Underline
"	Emphasis
`	Invert
^	Double width
^^	Double height
^^^	2x size
^^^^	3x size
^^^^^	4x size
^^^^^^	5x size
^^^^^^^ (7 or more)	6x size

Escape sequences in text

Escape special characters.

Escape sequence	Description
\\	\
\|	|
\{	{
\}	}
\-	- (Cancel horizontal rule)
\=	= (Cancel paper cut)
\~	~
\_	_
\"	_
\`	`
\^	^
\n	Wrap text manually
\xnn	Hexadecimal character code
\char (Others)	Ignore

Properties

The property is valid for lines with a single column.

{ width: * 10; comment: the column width is specified in characters }

Key	Abbreviation	Value	Case-sensitive	Default	Saved	Description
image	i	base64 png format	✓	-	-	Image (Recommended: monochrome, critical chunks only)
code	c	textdata	✓	-	-	Barcode / 2D code
option	o	see below	-	code128 2 72 nohri 3 l	✓	Barcode / 2D code options (Options are separated by commas or one or more whitespaces)
align	a	left center right	-	center	✓	Line alignment (Valid when line width < CPL)
width	w	auto * 0 -	-	auto (* for all columns)	✓	Column widths (chars) (Widths are separated by commas or one or more whitespaces)
border	b	line space none 0 - 2	-	space	✓	Column border (chars) (Border width: line=1, space=1, none=0)
text	t	wrap nowrap	-	wrap	✓	Text wrapping
command	x	textdata	✓	-	-	Device-specific commands
comment	_	textdata	✓	-	-	Comment

Barcode options

Barcode options are separated by commas or one or more whitespaces.

Barcode option	Description
upc	UPC-A, UPC-E (Check digit can be omitted)
ean jan	EAN-13, EAN-8 (Check digit can be omitted)
code39	CODE39
itf	Interleaved 2 of 5
codabar nw7	Codabar (NW-7)
code93	CODE93
code128	CODE128
2 - 4	Barcode module width (px)
24 - 240	Barcode module height (px)
hri	With human readable interpretation
nohri	Without human readable interpretation

2D code options

2D code options are separated by commas or one or more whitespaces.

2D code option	Description
qrcode	QR Code
3 - 8	Cell size (px)
l m q h	Error correction level

Special characters in property values

Special characters in property values are different from special characters in text.

Special character	Description
\	Character escape
|	Column delimiter
{	Property delimiter (Start)
}	Property delimiter (End)
:	Key-value separator
;	Key-value delimiter

Escape sequences in property values

Escape special characters.

Escape sequence	Description
\\	\
\|	|
\{	{
\}	}
\;	;
\n	New line
\xnn	Hexadecimal character code
\char (Others)	Ignore

Restrictions

• Communication with the printer, status event processing, and error handling are out of scope.
• SVG images depend on the font family installed on the computer and may not display properly.
• The QR code for display is encoded in UTF-8, while the QR code for printing is encoded in ASCII or Shift_JIS.
• Impact printer has some limitations for printing.
  • Characters larger than 2x size
  • Inverted characters (will be printed in red)
  • Double height characters in different colors on the same line
  • Multibyte characters
  • Image position and size ratio
  • Barcodes and 2D codes
• Star Graphic Mode printing only supports images, line feeds, and paper cuts.

Author

Open Foodservice System Consortium
http://www.ofsc.or.jp/

License

• receiptline
  • Apache License, Version 2.0
• QR Code Generator for JavaScript with UTF8 Support
  • MIT License