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Visitor management

Set up a visitor sign-in tablet with Realtime and print visitor passes on a DYMO label printer.

Guides on this page

  1. Setting up visitor pass printing with a DYMO LabelWriter 550
  2. Advanced troubleshooting: network and print service tests
1 Setting up visitor pass printing with a DYMO LabelWriter 550 ▼

Connect a visitor tablet to Realtime and print visitor passes on a DYMO LabelWriter 550 attached to a local PC near the tablet.

What you need

  • A visitor tablet on WiFi, on the same network as the local PC.
  • A local PC near where the tablet will be kept, with the DYMO LabelWriter 550 plugged in, the print driver installed, and a test print already sent from the driver. The label printer we supply is USB only.
  • The RTConfig.ini file configured and saved in the Realtime folder (example below).
  • The visitor print service saved to the Realtime folder, installed and running on that PC. It is installed the same way as the RealservV2 service.
  • The port number used by the print service allowed through the PC's firewall.

The RTConfig.ini file

This file holds the port you want to use internally on your network and the name of the printer. The printer name must be spelt exactly as Windows shows it. The easiest way to get it right is to print once from Realtime first (see Step 3), which saves the chosen printer name to the registry, then copy that exact name in. There is more on this in the advanced troubleshooting guide below.

[PrintServer] PrintServerPort=4626 LabelPrinter=DYMO LabelWriter 550

Step 1: Enter the REST server IP and port on the tablet

  1. The IP is the internal server IP.
  2. The port is always the same port as the Portal.
  3. On the tablet, open the tablet settings within the visitor app and enter that REST server IP and port number.
  4. Save the settings.

Step 2: Do a test sign in

  1. Sign in as a test visitor on the tablet.
  2. In Realtime, check the visitor appears under Personnel, then Manage Visitors.

If the visitor appears, the tablet is talking to Realtime correctly and you can move on to printing. If not, recheck the IP address and port from Step 1 before going any further.

Step 3: Print the visitor pass

  1. In Realtime, go to Manage Visitors.
  2. Select Print Visitor Pass.
  3. Choose the DYMO LabelWriter 550 as the printer.
  4. Check the label prints at the printer next to the local PC.

The printer must be plugged into the local PC near the tablet, and the visitor print service must be running on that PC with the RTConfig.ini file in place.

If nothing prints

  • Print service: confirm the visitor print service is running on the local PC, and that RTConfig.ini is in the same place as the service.
  • Firewall: confirm the port number used is allowed through the local PC's firewall.
  • Printer: confirm the DYMO LabelWriter 550 is switched on, shows as ready in Windows, and prints a test label from the DYMO software.
  • Network: confirm the tablet and the local PC are on the same network.

Still stuck? The advanced troubleshooting guide below walks through testing the port and the print service directly with PowerShell.

2 Advanced troubleshooting: network and print service tests ▼

If a pass will not print, these checks isolate whether it is the printer driver, the port, the firewall or the print service. They are aimed at IT or installers.

Before you test the network

  • The printer driver must be able to send a test print on its own.
  • In Realtime, on the Manage Visitors page, the Print Visitor Pass icon should be printing. When you press it, Realtime asks which printer to use and saves that choice to the Computime registry key under the name LabelPrinter.
  • The name recorded in that key is the one to copy into the config file, because you know it is printing and the spelling matters. To change the default printer Realtime uses, delete that key and choose again.

For the network tests, the IP is the client PC that has the printer service installed, and the port can be any port that will not clash internally. These two settings go into the app under Printer Server IP and Port.

Test 1: Is the port listening locally?

Run this in PowerShell on the PC with the service, using 127.0.0.1 and the port from your config. A result of True means the port is listening.

$Client = New-Object System.Net.Sockets.TcpClient $Client.Connect("127.0.0.1",4626) $Client.Connected

Test 2: Can another PC reach it?

Run the same test from a different PC, using the IP address of the PC running the service.

$Client = New-Object System.Net.Sockets.TcpClient $Client.Connect("192.168.0.101",4626) $Client.Connected

If Test 1 is True but Test 2 is False, the firewall is blocking the port, and the app will hit the same problem. Open the port on the service PC's firewall.

Test 3: Send a test print

Best run from a different PC. Use the IP address of the PC running the service (or 127.0.0.1 if testing locally). If the service is working, a label prints.

$Server = "192.168.0.101" $Port = 4626 $Client = New-Object System.Net.Sockets.TcpClient $Client.Connect($Server, $Port) $Stream = $Client.GetStream() $Writer = New-Object System.IO.StreamWriter($Stream) $Writer.WriteLine("Computime is doing a TEST PRINT") $Writer.Flush() $Writer.Close() $Stream.Close() $Client.Close() Write-Host "Message sent."
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