homeassistant-frosterlabels

To connect the Power of Home-Assistant with Label-Printer to print Froster-Labels and maintain a List of the Content of your Froster.

Overview

To print Froster-Labels and add the items to the Content-List of my Froster I use the following Workflow:

• In the Gui I enter the details of a product being added to the froster.
  Additional Infos can be entered in my case:
  • Weight/Amount
  • Color of the Container
  • Color of the Cover
  • Format of the Container
• by pressing a Button
  • A label is printed with "Product", "Weight/Amount" and the actual Date and
  • the Item is added to a ToDo-List called froster.

Now I am able to see the content of my froster in the ToDo list.
When I take Items out, i can check them and they gonna be deleted from the List.

Requirements

• Label Printer Brother QL 810W

The Brother QL 810W has the possibility to store a template and print this template with Ad-Hoc provided date with a simple TCP/IP packet.
If you don't own this printer you have to find a possibility to print a label using a shell command e.g.: /usr/local/bin/printlabel -p PRODUCT -m AMMOUNT

Environment

My Home-Assistant runs as a Docker-Container, but I think this tutorial can also be applied to other Home-Assistant types of installation.

Brother QL 810W Label Templates

Howto generate and store Templates for the Brother QL 810W Label Printer.

Design your Label with the P-Touch Label Software.

You'l find my templates is located in the folder p-touch-templates, this should be a good point to start with.
There are two Templates

• template_text.lbx only one textfield
• template_froster.lbx three textfields for product, ammount and date.

Transfer Templates to the Printer

• This can be done with the P-Touch Transfer Manager (I used Version 2.5.004) or by
• starting the P-Touch Transfer Manager from the P-Touch Editor
  In the German Version it is done via Datei/Vorlage übertragen/übertragen
  
  
  
• You have to take care, that the Schlüsselzuordnung contains the numbers of the template position, wehre it is stored in the printer.
  • The Printer must bee connected via USB.
  • The Field Schlüsselzuordnung (maybe keyvalue in English) contains the numbers of the template as handled by the printer.
• Then you can transfer the Templates to Printer by clicking Übertragen (maybe transfer in English)
  
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Activate WiFi on the Printer

• Set the Printer that it can be accessed via WiFi and write down his IP-Address e.g.: 203.0.113.80

Test Template Print

• To test the Template-Printing via WiFi use any Unix Shell with netcat ant type:
  echo -e "^II\n^TS002\nBolognese\t550g\t22.02.2022\n^FF" | nc -N 203.0.113.80 9100
  be sure to change the IP-Address to the one of your printer.

Store python-script in /config folder

• Store the python-scripts
  print_t1.py and
  print_t2.py
  in the Config-Folder of your Home-Assistant installation (where your configuration.yaml is stored).
• Edit the python-scripts
  • Change host = '203.0.113.80' to match the IP-Address of your Printer
• Test python-scripts by running the follwing commands
  • python3 print_t1.py -t "Hello World"
  • python3 print_t2.py -p "Bolognese" -m "666g"

Settings in Home Assistant

Add Shell-Command to your configuration.yaml

append this to your configuration.yaml

shell_command:
  # Print labels on Brother QL810W
  print_t1: 'python print_t1.py -t "{{ states("input_text.label_text") }}"'
  print_t2: 'python print_t2.py -p "{{ states("input_text.label_produkt") }}" -m "{{ states("input_text.label_menge") }}"'

Add Helpers to Home-Assistant

I have containers and covers in different colors and in squared and rectangular shapes.
I store Container- and Cover-Color as well as geometry to be able to find a desired container easier in the froster.
To meet this requirements, we need the following helpers, you may change them to meet your needs.

Text

• Helper/Add Helper/Text
  • "name": "Text"
  • "min": 0,
  • "max": 100,
  • Edit Helper and set ID to input_text.label_text
• Helper/Add Helper/Text
  • "name": "Produkt"
  • "min": 1,
  • "max": 100,
  • Edit Helper and set ID to input_text.label_produkt
• Helper/Add Helper/Text
  • "name": "Menge"
  • "min": 0,
  • "max": 10,
  • Edit Helper and set ID to input_text.label_menge

Dropdowns

• Helper/Add Helper/Dropdown
  • "name": "Dose"
  • "icon": "mdi:cog-box"
  • "options": "transparent", "rot", "grün", "gelb", "blau"
  • Edit Helper and set ID to input_select.dosenfarbe
• Helper/Add Helper/Dropdown
  • "name": "Deckel"
  • "icon": "mdi:checkbox-blank-circle-outline"
  • "options": "grün", "gelb", "blau"
  • Edit Helper and set ID to input_select.deckelfarbe
• Helper/Add Helper/Dropdown
  • "name": "Form"
  • "icon": "mdi:rectangle-outline"
  • "options": "Originalverpackung", "qwuadratisch", "rechteckig"
  • Edit Helper and set ID to input_select.dosenform

Add thist Scripts to Home-Assistant

You'll find the yaml-code of the scripts in the /scripts-directory. Add the Froster Manager Script:

• Settings/Automations & Scenes/Scripts/New ScriptCreate/New Script
  • Name: Froster Manager
  • Entity-ID: script.froster_manager
    
  • Switch to YAML Mode and paste: Frostermanager.yaml,
    Add the Print Test Label Script:
• Settings/Automations & Scenes/Scripts/New ScriptCreate/New Script
  • Name: Print Text Label
  • Entity-ID: script.print_text_label
    
  • Switch to YAML Mode and paste: PrintTextLabel.yaml,
    

Add cards to your Dashboard

You'll find the yaml-code of the cards in the /lovelance-directory.

• goto a dashboard of your coice
• edit
• add card and choose any
• activate yaml-mode
• paste code from /lovelance-directory
  
  

Have fun.