# Tulip Serial Connection **URL:** \ **Category:** Support, Troubleshooting, & Help\ **Tags:** devices\ **Created:** [April 18, 2024, 7:11pm UTC](https://community.tulip.co/t/tulip-serial-connection/11254 "2024-04-18T19:11:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jasonh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e0b2c6/32.png) [@jasonh](https://community.tulip.co/u/jasonh)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2024, 7:11pm UTC](https://community.tulip.co/t/tulip-serial-connection/11254/1 "2024-04-18T19:11:38Z")
I’m testing a new printer we may be purchasing in the future, and I’m connected to the printer via a Serial to USB cable. My janky test app has a list ports button to confirm the printer is connected: ![2024-04-18 14_07_43-Window](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/agilemfg/original/2X/d/d121dad34b3216a496a3f4376c00335425ec681b.jpeg) When I try printing I get the following error message: ![2024-04-18 12_59_21-Window](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/agilemfg/original/2X/7/702ffb1f0a26fed49d122cbc3ca962dee1a0f3ed.jpeg) My trigger is pretty basic, I’m not sure what could be causing the issue? ![2024-04-18 13_00_15-Window](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/agilemfg/original/2X/7/7d2be547578a0a7826a46cf7c2d1542a603fb01d.jpeg) I would appreciate any help or ideas to test out. I am able to print using notepad in windows so I know it’s semi working at least! ---
**Author:** ![jmlowden](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.tulip.co/jmlowden/32/8645_2.png) [@jmlowden](https://community.tulip.co/u/jmlowden)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2024, 8:07pm UTC](https://community.tulip.co/t/tulip-serial-connection/11254/2 "2024-04-18T20:07:29Z")
Try making a button to run the disconnect function to diconnect that Identifier, then try connecting again. ---
**Author:** ![jasonh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e0b2c6/32.png) [@jasonh](https://community.tulip.co/u/jasonh)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2024, 7:35pm UTC](https://community.tulip.co/t/tulip-serial-connection/11254/3 "2024-04-19T19:35:27Z")
Thanks Jim, I updated my test app and removed additional triggers to make things more simple. While i’m a but further than yesterday, I’m not successful in printing labels… yet. Here’s my super fancy app: ![2024-04-19 14_13_57-Tulip _ AirTrack Label Printer](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/agilemfg/original/2X/c/ce8b85f56002b215f2c41179e873985ee6adc9fd.jpeg) So at this point no connections have been made. I press the connect button to make the RS232 connection: ![2024-04-19 14_06_38-Tulip _ AirTrack Label Printer](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/agilemfg/original/2X/4/4a683f906970aad777bee2a708c7e1143dce627a.jpeg) And this is what the console in the Tulip Player reports back: ![2024-04-19 14_10_53-](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/agilemfg/original/2X/7/788bf3462737a9e9996d34ce14f261e0d00e4f1f.jpeg) When I click the “Print Hello Tulip EXP” button, I get a **single blank label to print out**. I guess it’s something! Here’s what that trigger looks like: ![2024-04-19 14_06_56-Tulip _ AirTrack Label Printer](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/agilemfg/original/2X/2/2feef4ce0370663743ea823e0043c67921b7cbdb.jpeg) Clicking the “Print Hello Tulip Static” button does nothing. ![hello tulip static](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/agilemfg/original/2X/0/0e0721c9901bbbacc5951c73a09b6973ce4906b5.jpeg) I will get an error if I haven’t clicked connect first, but that’s by design. Same thing goes for the “Connect AND Print Static Text” button. That button’s trigger is just the connect and print static text trigger put together. …and the disconnect is just a disconnect: ![disconnect](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/agilemfg/original/2X/5/5fdee9e191d4c8dcfb92587dd43f9ab0c7a0f1a1.jpeg) The printer does work. I can open notepad and print a label right now: ![Labels](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/agilemfg/original/2X/4/4d38139aec9be3e4ee0460e603aa7931cf93e0cf.jpeg) I would greatly appreciate any ideas or things to try. ---
**Author:** ![jasonh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e0b2c6/32.png) [@jasonh](https://community.tulip.co/u/jasonh)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 3:05pm UTC](https://community.tulip.co/t/tulip-serial-connection/11254/4 "2024-04-22T15:05:52Z")
So it turns out the Expression was the cause. The returns in the expression work on the [labelary](https://labelary.com/viewer.html) site, but breaks the message in Tulip. Turing this: ![2024-04-22 10_05_27-2024-04-19 14_06_56-Tulip _ AirTrack Label Printer.jpg ‎- Photos](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/agilemfg/original/2X/4/45bce997be6020bd5c5c1f4c6509e0d66406269a.jpeg) Into this: ![2024-04-22 09_56_41-Tulip _ AirTrack Label Printer](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/agilemfg/original/2X/9/98e0aec20aeb46b58d0e5abbb8a99e797dcad0d9.jpeg) Fixed the problem. It would be helpful in the future to have a knowledgebase article that specifically talks about what is/is not possible in an expression for ZPL. If anyone else has this issue, hopefully this post will point you in the right direction! ---
**Author:** ![Beth](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.tulip.co/beth/32/5987_2.png) [@Beth](https://community.tulip.co/u/Beth)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 3:34pm UTC](https://community.tulip.co/t/tulip-serial-connection/11254/5 "2024-04-22T15:34:01Z")
Thank you for sharing your solution Jason! I’m glad you figured it out and everything is working nicely now. I will work with @L_Churchill and team to update the KB with this information 🙂