What is Websocket Printing in Pacejet?

WebSocket printing is a real‑time printing method that connects your Descartes Pacejet portal to your on‑premise Pacejet Print Connector over a persistent WebSocket connection.

Instead of relying on legacy pull or batch style printing, WebSocket printing keeps an active channel open between Pacejet in the cloud and your local print connector. When a shipment is processed, print jobs are pushed immediately to the connector, which then sends them to your local or networked printers.

How it Works at a High Level

• Pacejet portal generates labels/documents when a shipment is completed.

• A Websocket Printing license enables real‑time communication between Pacejet and the Pacejet Print Connector service.

• The Pacejet Print Connector listens over Websockets (see Websocket_*.log in the connector logs) and forwards jobs directly to the configured printers.

• The connector writes detailed logs (PrintConnector, SaaSPrintService, Websocket) so support can diagnose performance or reliability issues quickly.

This is different from traditional pull behavior where the connector periodically checks for work; WebSocket printing lets Pacejet notify the connector instantly when a job is ready.

Why Websocket Printing Improves Speed and Reliability

Websocket printing is designed to reduce delays and variability in print times:

• Faster time‑to‑label

  • Jobs do not wait for the next polling interval. As soon as a shipment is processed, the connector receives the job and sends it to the printer.

  • Internal troubleshooting guidance treats anything over a few seconds as abnormal and flags print jobs exceeding ~30 seconds as potential performance issues to investigate.

• More consistent performance under load

  • The connector receives jobs as a continuous stream instead of bursts tied to a polling schedule, which helps avoid queues backing up and users seeing slow printing during busy times.

  • The Websocket log lets support measure actual print times and pinpoint where delays occur (network, workstation, printer driver, etc.).

• Better diagnostics and control

  • Dedicated Websocket logs give visibility into connection health, failures, and retries.

  • Combined with connector tools (version checks, log viewers, workstation configuration), support can quickly distinguish between connector/Websocket issues and local printer or BarTender issues.

When Websocket Printing is Most Valuable

Websocket printing is especially helpful when:

• High shipping volume requires labels and documents to appear almost instantly at pack stations.

• Users complain about slow printing or intermittent label output, and you need better telemetry to troubleshoot.

• Distributed operations (multiple warehouses, many workstations) make polling‑based approaches too slow or fragile.

How to Position it With Users

When explaining Websocket printing to customers, focus on these outcomes:

1. Speed: Labels and documents print in seconds rather than waiting on background polling.

2. Stability: Fewer timeouts and nothing printed situations tied to connector or polling delays.

3. Supportability: Clearer logs and tools for quickly isolating whether issues are in Pacejet, the connector, BarTender, Windows, or the printer itself.

How to Check if Websocket Printing is on

You can confirm that Websocket printing is active in your portal as follows:

1. From the main menu, click Help, and then click About.

2. Click the Licenses tab and scroll down, close to the bottom.

3. Look at the Websocket Printing license indicator.