winsock--seems to be sending binary data

[Jasen]

I have a very simple bit of code that instantiates a winsock object, opens a connection to port 9100, sends a string of ZPL code (zebra printer language), and quits.
It works perfectly in VB.

That same code ported to VBA does not work.

I setup a program to act as a fake destination printer so I could see what data actually gets sent, and the VB app sends a nice string.. the other seems to send the data in a binary form. Or maybe it's just corrupted?

The winsock control is pretty simple, it doesn't have many properties to mess with, and I can't see any that would affect this. Has anyone else seen this behavior?

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Could you show us the code you're using?

HarleyQuinn
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[Jasen]

This is pretty much it.

    Dim Zebra as Object
    Dim data as String

	Set zebra = createobject("MSWinsock.Winsock.1")

	Zebra.Protocol = sckTCPProtocol
	Zebra.RemotePort = 9100
	Zebra.RemoteHost = "x.x.x.x"
	     
    data="^XA~TA000~JSN^LT0^MMT^MNW^MTD^PON^PMN^XZ" 'truncated for brevity

    Zebra.Connect
    
    Do While Zebra.State < sckConnected
        DoEvents  
    Loop
    
    If Zebra.State = sckConnected Then
        Zebra.SendData data
    else
        'error condition
    end if

    Zebra.Close

 

[dilettante]

I'm not sure what VBA host you are automating, but a client Office license does not include the use of the Winsock control or many of the VB controls at all. I believe the only legal way to use this from Office VBA is to develop a deployable solution using Office Developer Edition (2000, 2002) or one of the developer add-on kits VSTO/VSTA (2003, 2007).

 

[Jasen]

It's not Office, but an HMI application that uses a VBA/VBS scripting interface.
This is also on a machine where the full VS6 is installed, so I would think the proper registry entries for enabling the winsock control are there. I don't think licensing is making my Winsock output garbage data anyhow.
It's a bizarre problem.