Manual Ug DesignerPro Eng

Designer Pro User Guide
EnglishEdition
Rev-1602
2016EuroPlusd.o.o.Allrightsreserved.

EuroPlusd.o.o.
PoslovnaconaA2
SI-4208enur,Slovenia
tel.:+38642805000
fax:+38642331148
www.nicelabel.com
info@nicelabel.com
-1-
Table of Contents
Table of Contents 2
Introduction 8
Welcome to NiceLabel 8
Setting up the Software 9
User Interface 9
Basic and Advanced User Interface 9
Keyboard Shortcuts 9
Main Window 11
Main Window 12
Attached form 12
Coordinates 12
Label Tabs 12
Label area 12
Label Rotation 12
Modified 12
Object Description 12
Ruler 12
Scroll bar 12
Selected printer 13
Mouse Wheel support 13
Using the Keyboard and Mouse Effectively 13
Label Security 14
Tracking Label Design and Printing 14
Enable Revision History Comment 14
Use History Log to Track Label Printing 14
Define User Passwords and Permissions 15
Login 17
System Folder 17
Designing Labels 19
Designing a Basic Label 19
Overview 19
Create a Basic Label 19
Create a New Label 19
Select a Printer 20
Define Label and Page Dimensions 20
Enter Non-Changing Text 22
Insert Barcode 23
Insert Pictures 24
Save a Label 25
Use Alignment Tools 25
Object Positioning Guidelines 26
Create Guidelines 26
Using Guidelines 26
Guideline Properties 26
Use Drawing Tools 26
Add Variable Fields 27
Overview 27
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Create Keyboard Entry Variable Fields 28
Create Serialized Data Variable Fields (Counters) 28
Create Date and Time Variable Fields 29
Use Prefix or Suffix Options 30
Using Advanced Functionality 30
Creating a Label with GS1-128 (EAN.UCC 128) Compliance 30
Add Content to GS1-128 Barcode Using GS1-128 Wizard 30
Edit Barcode GS1-128 32
Using EPSC 33
Using the PIATS Function 33
Designing Label with Variable Length 35
Controlling Cutter in the Printer 36
Defining Label Batch Printing and Using Header and Tail Labels 37
Designing Double-Sided Label 38
Designing Labels for Mobile Devices 39
Multicolor Printing 39
Setting up Stock Manager to List Commonly Used Labels 40
Tracing Variable Values 40
Using Contents Mask 41
Using Expression Builder 41
Using Label Inspector 42
Using Pictures from the Memory Card 44
Designing an RFID Smart Label 44
Overview 44
Create RFID Smart Label 45
Encode RFID Tag 45
RFID Tag Settings 47
RFID Tag Locking 48
Support for RFID Tags 49
RFID Read and Store Data 50
Database Storage Plug-in 50
Changing Printer Settings 51
Changing Common Printer Settings 51
Changing Dithering Options 52
Defining Unprintable Area 52
Using Toolbars 53
Using Standard Toolbar 53
Using Database Toolbar 53
Using Design Toolbar 54
Using Printing Toolbar 54
Using Text Toolbar 55
Using Toolbox 56
Using Variable Toolbar 56
Using Zoom Toolbar 57
Working with Objects 58
Using Text Wizard 58
Text Wizard 58
Text Wizard - Choosing Variable Text 59
Text Wizard - Keyboard Input 59
Text Wizard - Counter 60
Text Wizard - Counter Continuation 61
Text Wizard - Date Field 62
Text Wizard - Time Field 62
Text Wizard - Database 63
Text Wizard - Prefix and Suffix 64
Using Barcode Wizard 66
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Barcode Wizard 66
Barcode Wizard - Choosing Variable Barcode 66
Barcode Wizard - Keyboard Input 67
Barcode Wizard - Counter 67
Text Wizard - Counter Continuation 67
Barcode Wizard - Date Field 67
Barcode Wizard - Time Field 67
Barcode Wizard - Database 68
Barcode Wizard - Prefix and Suffix 68
Defining Objects 68
Defining Text Object 68
Defining Text Box Object 68
Defining Rich Text Box (RTF) Object 70
Defining Barcode Object 70
Defining Picture Object 70
Defining Rectangle Object 71
Defining Line Object 71
Defining Ellipse Object 71
Defining Inverse Object 72
Curved Text 72
Using GS1-128 Wizard 74
Using GS1-128 Wizard 74
Step 1: Choosing the application identifier 75
Step 2: Application Identifier Input Type 77
Step 3: Entering the value for the Application Identifier 77
Calculating Check Digit 79
Defining New Variable 79
Step 4: List of selected application identifiers 80
Selecting Barcode Type 81
Settings for Advanced Barcodes 81
GS1-128 Barcode 81
PDF 417 2D Code 81
DataMatrix Barcode 82
MaxiCode 83
Edit Barcode Dialog Box 84
General Tab 84
Check Digit Tab 85
Human Readable Tab 86
Details Tab 87
Supported Barcode Types 88
Working with Images 89
Place Images on the Label 89
Use Variable Images 89
Using Transparent Images 90
Using Variable Pictures from Blob Fields 90
Handle Missing Images 91
Designing Objects with Relative Positions 91
Rotating Label 92
Selecting Objects 92
Editing Objects 93
Moving Objects 93
Aligning Objects 93
Resizing Objects 94
Rotating Objects 94
Grouping Objects 94
Clipart Galleries 95
Font Files 95
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Supported Graphics Formats 96
Working with Text Objects 97
Working with Variable Data 97
Dynamic Data Overview 97
Contents Providers 98
Contents Providers 98
Working with Variables 100
Using Variable Wizard 100
Variable wizard 100
Variable Wizard - Keyboard input 101
Variable Wizard - Counter 102
Variable Wizard - Counter Continuation 103
Variable Wizard - Date Field 104
Variable Wizard - Time Field 104
Available Data Types 105
Available Date Formats 106
Available Time Formats 106
Changing the Order of Entering Prompted Variables 107
Creating a Prompted Variable 107
Creating a Serial Number, Counter 108
Make a Counter that Preserves Last-used Value 108
Overriding Default Values 109
Global Variable 110
Groups of Allowable Characters 110
Internal Variables 111
Types of Variables 112
Using Printer Internal Increment Counter 112
Using Variable Quantity 113
Working with Functions 113
Defining a Function 113
Define a Function 113
Function Types 114
Using Functions to Manipulate Label Data 114
Using Functions to Manipulate Label Data 114
Using Concatenate Function 115
Using VBScript (Visual Basic Scripting Edition) Function 116
Working with Databases 118
Using Database Wizard 118
Using Database Wizard 118
Selecting Database File 119
Selecting Desired Fields 120
Selecting Which Records will be Printed 121
Selecting Variable Quantity from the Database Field 122
Adding the Fields to the Label 122
Finishing the Process with Database Wizard 122
Linking Label to Text Databases 123
Overview 123
Connect to a Database 123
Format the Data with the Text File Wizard 124
Place Database Fields on a Label 126
Use Print Preview to Select Data and View a Label 127
Print a Label 129
Using Text File Wizard 130
Text File Wizard 130
Choosing Data Type 130
Setting the Fields 131
Formatting the Fields 133
Linking a Label to Advanced Databases 133
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Overview 133
Link to a Database Using Database Wizard 134
Link to a Database Manually 136
Print All Database Records 137
Print Selected Database Records 137
Query and Create a Database Filter 139
Database Access 140
Changing the Order of Database Records 140
Quickly Editing Database 141
Read Data from the Database 141
Using Data from Excel Spreadsheet 141
Using ODBC Databases 142
Creating Custom Check Digit 143
Creating Custom Check Digit 143
Special Characters 144
Using Special Characters 144
Entering characters with <#hex_code> syntax 144
Entering characters with Alt+<ASCII_code> 144
Predefined Character Shortcuts 145
Working with Memory Cards 146
Using the Printer Memory Card 146
Using Label Setup Wizard 148
Using Label Setup Wizard 148
Defining Label Dimensions 148
Stock 149
Selecting Label Layout 150
Defining the Page Size 151
Selecting Printer 152
Formatting Allergens for Food Ingredients 153
Printing and Previewing Labels 164
Preview and Print a Label 164
Store and Recall Printing Mode 164
Previewing Pictures 166
Optimize the Printing Speed 166
Reprint Labels 167
Use Custom Edit Forms 168
NicePrint 168
Integration and Connectivity 170
Overview 170
Command Files 170
Use Command Files 170
Command File: JOB File 171
Automatic Print with JOB Files 171
Using JOB Files 172
Command File: CSV File 172
Command File: XML File 174
Automating the Software 176
Automation with ActiveX 176
Programming interface: Automation (ActiveX) 176
Programming Samples 176
Automation with DDE 177
DDE Communication 177
Integration to SAP R3 177
Integration to SAP/R3 177
Label Export 178
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Label Export 178
Commands 179
NiceCommands 179
COMMENT 180
CREATEFILE 180
DELETEFILE 180
EXPORTLABEL 180
IGNOREERROR 181
LABEL 181
LABELCLOSE 181
LOGIN 181
MESSAGEBOX 182
OEMTOANSI 182
PORT 182
PRINT 182
PRINTER 183
PRINTJOBNAME 183
QUIT 183
RETURN 184
SESSIONEND 184
SESSIONPRINT 184
SESSIONSTART 184
SET 184
SETDATABASE 185
SETPRINTPARAM 185
SETTABLE 186
TEXTQUALIFIER 186
Command Line Parameters 187
Technical Support 188
Online Support 188
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Introduction
Welcome to NiceLabel
NiceLabelisafamilyofprofessionallabelingsoftwareproductsthatb ringsacompletebarcode
labelprintingsolutiontodesktopandenterpriseusers.NiceLabelisusedallovertheworldbycom-
paniesinallindustries,includingretail,logistics,manufacturing,FMCG,healthcare,chemical,
automotiveandothers.
ThelatestsoftwareisavailablefordownloadattheNiceLabelproductwebsiteatwww.nicela-
bel.com.
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Setting up the Software
User Interface
Basic and Advanced User Interface
Thelabelingsoftwarehastwo-leveluserinterface.Bydefault,basicuserinterfaceisenabledthat
makesthesoftwareeasiertouseforbeginnersa ndinexperiencedusers.
Softwareinbasicmode:
l Hidestheadvancedtabsindialogboxes.
l Enablesallwizardsforfrequenttasksinlabeldesign.
l HidestheadvancedToolbars.
l Showslargeicons.
Toswitchbetweenbasicandadvancedmodes,dothefollowing:
1. ClickontheUser InterfacecommandintheToolsmenu.
2. ClickonthecommandSet Basic Modetoenablebasicmodeor
clickonthecommandSet Advanced Modetoenableadvancedmode.
Note:Youcanalsoenableonlysomepropertiesofthebasic/advancedmode.Looka ttheother
User InterfaceoptionsintheToolsmenu.
Keyboard Shortcuts
Youcanquicklyaccomplishtasksyouperformfrequentlybyusingshortcutk eys-oneormore
keysyoupressonthekeyboardtocompleteatask.N
otethatthisisjustafasterandmorecon-
venientwayofchoosingcommands.C ommanditselfisexecutedjustasifitwasselectedfromthe
menuortoolbar.
Shortcut Command
Delete Deletes selected element
Shift + Delete Cut
Ctrl + Insert Copy
Shift + Insert Paste
Alt + Backspace Undo
+ (numeric pad) Zoom In
- (numeric pad) Zoom Out
Alt + Shift + Back- Redo
space
Ctrl + 1 Open the label design for the next template within
current label file. Only applicable if you use the head-
er/main/tail or front/back labels.
Ctrl + Shift + 1 Open the label design for the previous template
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within current label file. Only applicable if you use
the header/main/tail or front/back labels.
Ctrl + Shift + N Creates a new label with default settings, bypassing
wizards.
Ctrl + T Rotate 90 counter-clockwise
Ctrl + A Align
Ctrl + X Cut
Ctrl + C Copy
Ctrl + V Paste
Ctrl + Z Undo
Ctrl + Y Redo
Ctrl + N New
Ctrl + O Open
Ctrl + S Save
Ctrl + P Print
Ctrl + R Print Preview
Ctrl + G Snap to grid
Ctrl + H Display guidelines
Alt + F4 Exit
Ctrl + move object Parallel moving of the object by main axes only.
with mouse
Alt + move object Object snaps to grid even if it is off.
with mouse
Shift + move Toggles object snapping to guidelines (if they are dis-
object with mouse played).
Ctrl + move object Fine tuning the position of the object.
with cursor keys
Shift + cursor keys Fine tuning the dimensions of the object, resize
width and height in very small steps.
Click Text icon Dialog box for Text pops up.
in
ToolBox, then
press Ctrl + click
on the label
Click Graphics Dialog box for Graphics pops up.
icon
in
ToolBox, then
press Ctrl + click
on the label
Select variable Variable Quantity is automatically connected with
from the list in tool- text object and placed on the label.
bar, click Text
icon
in
ToolBox, then
click on the label
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Select variable Variable Picture is automatically connected with
from the list in tool- graphics object and placed on the label. This is a
bar, click Graph- great shortcut for using variable graphics, where file-
ics icon names for pictures are received from database.
in
ToolBox, then
click on the label
Right-clicking the Opens pop-up menu with shortcuts to commands.
object The content of the pop-up menu greatly depends on
where you clicked your mouse button and what was
selected at that time.
Enter (or F2) Dialog box with element's properties will open.
F2 On-screen edit is enabled for text elements.

Space + left-click Freely move the label within the working window. If
and dragging you want to change the view on the label, you do not
need to separately scroll the label in up/down and
left/right direction, but just grab it and move it to
proper position.
Main Window
Themainwindowhasmanypartsandfunctions.Youcanclickspecificp artsofthescreen-shot
imagetoseethedescription.
Mainwindow
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Main Window
Attached form
Showsthenameoftheformthatisattachedtolabel.Infrontthereisalsoanindication,whichside
oflabeliscurrentlyactive.

Coordinates
ShowsXandYcoordinatesofthepointeronthelabelinselectedmeasurementu nits.
Label Tabs
Labeltabsallowyoutoquicklyswitchbetweendifferentlabeldesignsstoredwithinthesamelabel
template(.LBLfile),likefront/backsidefordual-sideprinting,orheader/main/taillabelforbatch
printing.
Label area
Thisareashowsthecurrentpageoflabels.Ifmorelabelsareononep age,onlytotopleftmostis
activeandyoucaneditit.
Theredlinesmarktheprintableareaofselectedprinter.Notethatifyouputobjectsonorbeyond
theredline,theywillnormallynotbep rinted.YoucanhoweveroverridethatinPreferencesmenu.
Label Rotation
Clickthisbuttontorotatethelabelin90degreesstepsclockwise.T heactionwillonlyrotatethe
labelonthescreen,thelabelwillprintinthedirectionspecifiedinthelabelsetup.
Youcanusethisoptiontomakelabeldesigneasier.Yourlabelcana lwaysberotatedinawayto
haveallobjectplacedhorizontal.
Modified
Showswhetherthecurrentlabelhasbeenmodifiedsincethelastsavec ommandhasbeen
executed.
Object Description
Showsdescriptionofselectedobject.
Ruler
Thisisrulerthatshowstheavailableareaforlabel(white)andpage( gray)
Scroll bar
Youcanusethisscrollbartoscrollthelabelifeverythingisnotv isible.
- 12 -
Selected printer
Showscurrentlyselectedprinter.DoubleclickingitexecutesthePrinters etupcommand
Mouse Wheel support

Ifyouhavemouse,thathasawheelinplaceofthemiddlebutton,youc anuseittospeed-upzoom-
ingandscrollingalot:
l Turningthewheel,scrollsthelabelupordown.
l Holding<SHIFT>andturningthewheelscrollsthelabelleftorright.
l Holding<CTRL>andturningthewheel,zoomsthelabelinorout.
Using the Keyboard and Mouse Effectively

Whenselectingobjectsyoucanuse<CTRL>keytoadjustobject'sa nchoringpointbyclickingthe
objectplaceholders.
IfyouhaveaWheelMouse,youcanusethewheeltoscrolllabelupa nddown.Holding<CTRL>
whenrotatingthewheeladjustszoomfactor,<
SHIFT>scrollslabelleftorright.
DoubleclicktheformnameinthestatusbarstartsNiceFormandopensf ormthatisattachedtothe
label.
Doubleclickonprinter'snameinstatusbaropensprinterpropertiesd ialogboxinwhichyoucan
setvariousoptionsregardingcurrentlyselectedp rinter.Ifyouhold<CTRL>whiledoubleclicking,
printersetupd ialogboxisopened,inwhichyoucanselectdifferentprinter.
Youcanquicklymoveobjectsfromoneopenlabeltoanotherbysimplyd raggingdesiredobjectto
anotherwindowwhileholding<ALT>.Ify ouwanttocopyobjectsinstead,holdboth<ALT>and
<CTRL>.N otethatyoumusthavebothlabelwindowsvisibletodothat.
Differentobjectsonlabelcanbeselectedusingthe<TAB>and<
SHIFT>+<TAB>keys.
Pressingcursorkeyswhileholding<Ctrl>keycanmovecurrentlys electedobject.Thiscanbe
usedtofine-tunepositionoftheobject.H
olding<SHIFT>whilepressingcursorkeyswillresize
theobject.
Youcanusetherightmousebuttonalmostanywhereonlabeltoaccessm ostcommonoptionsfor
thatarea/object.Forexample,ifyouclickano bjectwithrightmousebutton,apop-upmenuisdis-
playedthatcontainso ptionsandactionsthatcanbeperformedonselectedobject.Similarlyc lick-
ingtheotherpartsoflabelproducespop-upmenuwithoptionsforthatpartoflabel.
Multipleobjectscanbeselectedbyholding<SHIFT>whileclickingthem.
Usetheelementshortcutsintoolbarswheneverpossible.Eachlabele lementthatcanbeconnected
tosomeContentsProvider,hasashortcute nabledtoquicklyaccessexistingvariablesordefine
newones.Clicktheelement'sshortcuthandleforthisshortcut.Itisshownasasmalla rrowbythe
sideoftoolbarbutton:
l IntheToolbox: , , ,
and
l IntheVariabletoolbar: .
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Label Security
Tracking Label Design and Printing
Enable Revision History Comment
Toenabletherevisionhistoryfunctionality,dothefollowing:
1. SelectOptionsfromToolsmenu.
2. GotoSettingstab.
3. TicktheoptionEnablerevisionhistorylogging.
Note:Ifyouwanttobeabletowriteacustomcommentforeachrevision,alsoe nabletheoption
Promptforrevisionhistorycomment.
4. ClickontheOKbutton.
Eachtimethelabelissaved,arevisionnoteissavedwiththelabel.
Toreviewtherevisionhistorydata,dothefollowing:
1. Openyourlabelfile.
2. SelectPropertiesfromFilemenu.
3. ClickontheAdvancedbuttoninthebottomofthedialogboxtoshowtheRevision His-
torytab.
4. GototheRevision Historytab.
5. Reviewrevisionhistorydata.
6. ClickontheOKbuttontoclosethedialogbox.
Use History Log to Track Label Printing

Thelabelingsoftwarehastheabilitytologallinformationaboutprintinga ctioninthedatabasefor
laterreviewandreports.Bydefaulttheloggingisdisabled.Tobeabletotracklabelprinting,do
thefollowing:
1. SelecttheoptionConfigureLogFileintheToolsmenu.
2. SelecttheoptionEnable logging.
Toviewatthelogofprintedlabels,dothefollowing:
1. SelecttheoptionViewLogFileintheToolsmenu.Thetablewiththeprintingactionsis
displayed.
2. Browsethetable,sorttherecords,filtertherecords(intheAdvancedmode)andgenerate
reportfile.
- 14 -
Define User Passwords and Permissions
Ifyouwanttodefineaccesspermissionsfortheusersworkingwiththelabelingsoftware,youcan
enableusermanagementfeatureinthesoftware.I fyourcomputerispartofadomain,youcan
definepermissionsfordomainu sers.Ifyoudonotusedomain,youmustdefinetheapplication
users.
Toenableusermanagementandassignthepermissions,dothefollowing:
1. StartNiceLabel Designer Pro.

2. SelectTools -> Options.
3. ClickonUser Rights and Accessintheleftpane.
4. ClickonUser configuration...button.
Dialogboxfordefiningusersandtheirp ermissionsinthesoftware
2. SelecttheConfigure Usersoptionintheleftpane.
3. ClickontheoptionSet authentication modeintherightpane.TheAuthentication
Modedialogboxwillopen.
4. SelecttheoptionMixed (Windows and Application authentication).ClickontheOK
button.
Ifyoudonothaveordonotwanttousedomainusers,definenewuserb ydoingthefollowing:
1. MakesureyouarestillintheConfigure Usersdialogbox.
2. ClickonthebuttonAdd userinthemaintoolbar.Fortheusernameenterthenameyou
wanttouseforyouruser(like'User'),thendefineapasswordfortheuser.
Setuptheprofileanddefineuserpermissionsbydoingthefollowing:
- 15 -
1. MakesureyouarestillintheConfigure Usersdialogbox.
2. ClickontheAdd Profilebuttoninthemaintoolbar.
3. OpentheGeneraltabanddefinethenameoftheprofile,forexampleMy profile.
4. GotoPermissionstab.
Hereyouwilldefinetheaccesspermissionstoallapplicationsthatwillbecontainedin
thisprofile.
5. ExpandtheNiceLabelselection,thenticktheoptionsLabel design,Label printand
Label view.Themembersofthisprofilewillbeabletousethelabeldesignapplication
infullmode.Theywillbeabletoopenthelabel,viewit,designitandalsoprintit.
Definitionofthepermissiongrantedbytheprofile
6. GotoMemberstabandaddtheusertotheprofile.Selecttheuseryouhavecreatedin
previoussteps.
- 16 -
Addtheuser'NiceLabelUser'totheprofile'MyProfile'
7. Closetheapplications.
8. StartNiceLabelDesignerPro,logonwiththenewuserandseehowtheaccessper-
missionsareappliedtohim.
Login
Thelabelingsoftwaresupportsdifferentaccesspermissionstovariousp artsoftheapplications.
Youradministratormighthavesetupdifferenta ccessprofilessoyoumustlogintovalidateyour
credentials.Youru sernameandpassworddefinesyourpermissions.
Inordertousethelabelingsoftwaretheproperusernameandpasswordm ustbeentered.Different
usershavedifferentprivilegesforusageoftheprogram.Forexample,theaccesscanbegranted
onprintonly,designo nly,viewonlylevel,orfulladministrativeaccesslevel.
Thepurposeofloginistheabilitytodistributedifferenttasksamongd ifferentusersandmainly,to
haveabilitytoprotectthedatafromunauthorizeda ccess.Usuallythegroupoflabeldesignerscon-
sistsoutofdifferentp eoplethanthegroupoflabelprintoperators.Theprintoperatorsshouldn ot
havetheaccesstolabeldesign.
Note:thedefaultpasswordforthebuilt-inAdministratoraccountis'NICE'.
System Folder
Thelabelingapplicationusesitssystemfolderforstoringfilesneededtoruntheprogram.Theloc-
ationofthefoldervariesdependingontheW
indowsoperatingsystemused.
ThelocationoftheSystemfolderis:
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c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\EuroPlus\NiceLabel
6\system\.
Itisvitallyimportanttoownthe write accesstothisfoldero nyourcomputersystemandtheright

towritetoandmodifyfilesinthisfolder.
Note:TheMulti-userclientsusetheSystemfolderonthenetworkserver.I fyouhaveMulti-user
editionallclientsmusthavethefullaccessalsototheSystemfolderontheserver.
ThesoftwarestoresimportantsystemsettingsintheSystemfolder,a sfollows:
n Userdataanduserrights
n Variousapplicationsettings
n Labelprintinglogs
n Barcodestandards
- 18 -
Designing Labels
Designing a Basic Label

Overview
Inthissectionyouwilllearnhowtodesignasimplelabelfilewithf ixedandvariableobjects.The
variableobjectscanobtainvaluesfroms everalsources.Youwilllearnhowto:
l Provideobjectvalueswithakeyboardprompt.
l Obtainobjectvaluesfromadatabase.
l Previewthelabelonthescreen.
l Printthelabel.
Thelabelyoucreatewilllooklikethis:
Basiclabel
Create a Basic Label

Create a New Label
Tocreateabasiclabel,dothefollowing:
1. Openthelabelingsoftware.
2. SelectNew labelunderFilemenuorclickontheicon inthestandardtoolbar.
Eachtimeyoucreateanewlabel,aLabelSetupWizardwillstarttoh elpyousetupthelabeland
connecttotheprinter.
Note:YoucanleavetheWizardatanytimeandacceptthedefaultsettingsforthelabelbyclick-
ingontheFinishb utton.
- 19 -
Select a Printer
1. Selecttheprinteryouwanttouseforlabelprinting.
Note:Ifyoudontfindyourprinteronthelist,refertochapterInstall Printer Driverfor

installationinstructions.
Selectingaprinter
2. ClickontheNextbutton.
Define Label and Page Dimensions

1. Ifyouwanttousethelabelstock,selectyourchoicesinthewindowSelect Stock.
2. ClickontheNextbutton.Anewwindowwillopentodefinethelabeldimensionsmanu-
ally.
3. LeavetheoptionPageSizeon'Userdefined'defaultandcheckAutomatic Sizing.
4. ClicktheNextbutton.Anewwindowwillopen.
5. Selectlabelorientationandprintdirection.
- 20 -

Selectinglabellayout
6. ClickontheNextbutton.Anewwindowwillopen.
Enter10forlabelwidthand7forlabelheight.
Note:Dialogboxdiffersfromthermalandofficeprinters.
Defininglabeldimensions
- 21 -
Note:Tochangetheunitofmeasurefromcentimeterstoinchesorothersupportedu nits,clickon
thebuttonwithunitofmeasurebelowthelabelpreviewinthedialogbox.
7. ClickontheFinishbutton.Newemptylabelwillopen.
Enter Non-Changing Text
1. Clickonthe buttonintheToolbox.Thetextcursorappearsonthe
screen.
Cursorfortextobject
2. Movethecursortothelocationonthelabelwhereyouwanttoplacethetextobjectand
clickonthemousebutton.
Thedialogboxwithobjectpropertieswillopen.
3. Enterthetext"SAMPLE"andclickontheFinishbutton.
Enteringcontentfortextobject
- 22 -
4. Clickonthetextobjecttoselecttheobject.
5. ChangethefontforthetextobjectusingtheTexttoolbar.
ChooseArialfont,28pointsizeandboldstyle.

Usingformatoptionsinthetexttoolbox
6. Tochangethepositionandsizeofthetextobject,selectthetextobjectanddragobject
withyourmousetothepositionwhereyouwanttohaveit.
Thescreenshouldshowthefollowing:
Thetextobjectisplacedonthelabel
Insert Barcode
Nowyouwilladdanon-changeableCode128barcodeonthelabel.
1. Toinsertthebarcode,clickonthe buttonintheToolbox.
2. Movethecursortothedesiredpositiononthelabelandclickonthemousebutton.
3. Thedialogboxwithobjectpropertieswillopen.
4. Enterthevalue1234567890forthebarcodecontents.
5. ClickontheDefinebutton.
EditBarcodedialogboxopens.
6. MakesureyouselectbarcodeCode128andclickontheOKbutton.
- 23 -
Selectingbarcodetype
7. ClickontheFinishbuttontoreturntothelabel.
8. Changethepositionofthebarcodebyselectingthebarcodeanddraggingittothe
desiredposition.
9. Changetheobjectsizebydraggingtheobjecthandles.Thehandlesaresmallrectangles
surroundingtheobjectwhenitisselected.
Labelwithtextandbarcodeobjects
Insert Pictures
ThelabelingsoftwareworkswithBMP,PCX,GIF,WMF,JPEGandmanyo therpopulargraphic
formats.
1. Toinsertthepicture,clickonthebuttonintheToolbox.
2. Movethecursortothedesiredpositiononthelabelandclickonthemousebutton.
3. TheOpendialogboxwillopenallowingyoutobrowseforyourpictureonyourhard
drive.GotothefolderSampleGraphicsandselectthepictureLEISURE.WMF.Click
ontheOpenbutton.
- 24 -
Labelwithtext,barcodeandpictureobjects
Save a Label
Alwayssaveyourlabelduringthedesignprocess.Tosavealabel,dothefollowing:
1. Selectthe icon.
2. Typeinthenameofthelabel.Forexample,enter'label'forthenameofthelabel.
3. Thenameofthelabelisvisibleintheprogramc aption.
Nameofthelabelintheprogramcaption
Use Alignment Tools

Youhaveplacedtheobjectsonthelabel.Nowyouwanttomakesuretheyarealignedonthehori-
zontalcenterofthelabel.Youcanaligno bjectsonthelabelbyusingtheAligntoolbarontheright
sideofthew
orkingwindow.
Toalignobjectsonthelabel,dothefollowing:
1. Selectallobjectsonthelabel.
Note:Thefirstobjectyouselectdeterminesthealignmentorientationforalls electedobjects.
2. ChooseaselectarrowintheToolboxanddrawaframearoundallobjectstoselectall
objects.
- 25 -
Selectingtheobjectsonthelabel
3. IntheAligntoolbarontheright,clickonthe icontoarrangetheobjects.
Theselectedobjectswillberearrangedandpositionedonthehorizontalcenteronthe
label.
Note:TherearealsootheralignmentcommandsavailableintheAlignToolbar.
Note:YoucanalsoaligntheobjectstothelabelgridortheGuidelines.BothGridandGuideline
optionsareavailableintheViewmenu.
Object Positioning Guidelines

Guidelinesareavailabletoassistyouinpositioningobjectsonthelabel.Thefunctionalityof
guidelinesissimilartogrid,buttheyallowyoumuchmorefreedomregardingpositioning,moving,
andcombiningpositioningdelimiters.
Althoughtheguidelinesmaybevisiblewhiledesigningthelabel,theywillnotbeprintedonthe
finalproduct,regardlessofwhetherthe"Display Guidelinessettingisturnedonoroff.
Create Guidelines
Createverticalandhorizontalguidelines:
l Clickanywhereintherulerareaanddragthelineoutofit(thetoprulercontainshori-
zontal,andthesiderulercontainsverticalguidelines.
l Alternatively,youmayright-clickonthelabelandselecttoaddaguidelinetothatpos-
itionfromtheGuidelinesmenu.
l Finally,youcanopentheViewmenuandaccessthecommandsthere
Using Guidelines
Theguidelinesaremovedatanytimewiththedragofamouse.Iftheyaredrugbacktotheruler
area,theyaredeleted.Itispossibletotogglebetweendisplayingandhidingtheguidelines,either
byusingthemenuorrightclickingthem.
TheguidelinescanbehiddenwiththeCtrl+Hshortcutkeycombination,andwhentheyarehidden,
theSnaptoGuidelinefunctionalityisalsodisabled.ThemenualsoincludesaDelete all
Guidelines command,whichremovesalltheguidelinesonthelabel.
HoldingdowntheSHIFTkeywhiledraggingobjectsallowsyoutotemporarilyturnontheSnapto
Guidelinesfunction.
Guideline Properties
Double-clickaguidelineorrightclickaguidelineandchooseEdit Guideline Propertiestoopen

theGuidelinePropertiesdialogwindow.Thedialogallowsyoutoenterthenumericpositioning
value,choosethehorizontalorverticalguidelinetype,orremovetheindividualguideline.
Use Drawing Tools

Nowyouwillinsertalinetoseparateatextobjectfromotherobjectsa ndarectanglearoundthe
pictureobject.
- 26 -
1. Selectthe iconfromToolboxandmovethecursortotherequiredstart-
ingpointoftheline.
2. Pressandholddownthemousebuttonwhiledrawingtheline.Movethemousetothe
endpositionofthelineandreleasethebutton.TheLineobjectisplacedonthelabel.
3. Clickonthe iconintheToolboxandpointthemousetotheupperleft
cornerofthepicture.
4. Clickandholdthemousebuttonwhileyoustretchtherectangletothelowerrightcorner
ofthepicture.
5. Tochangethethicknessoftheverticalandhorizontalline,double-clickontherectangle
objecttoopenitsproperties.SelectthethicknessyouwantandclickontheFinishbut-
ton.
6. Toeditthedrawingobject,double-clickonthelineorrectangletoopenthedialogbox
withitsproperties.
Thelabelshouldshowthefollowing:
Labelwithfixedobjects
Add Variable Fields

Overview
Youmaywanttoprintthelabelonwhichthedatachangesforeachlabel.T helabelingsoftware
offersdifferentvariablefields(counters,date/timef ields,operator'sinputfromthekeyboard)that
youcanusewithtext,g raphicsandbarcodeobjects.
Forthisexampleanewlabelwascreated.Thefollowingstepsexplainh owtocreatealabelthat
containsapromptedfield,acounteranddate/timef ields.Thecaptionsinthefollowingscreenshots
wereaddedseparately.
- 27 -
Theleftlabelshowsdesignmode,therighttwolabelsaretwoconsecutivelabelsfromprintpre-
view
Create Keyboard Entry Variable Fields

Thecontentofapromptedfieldcanbedifferentforeveryprintjob.B
eforeyouprintthelabel,you
enterthevalueforthefield.
1. Clickonthesmallarrownexttothe iconintheToolboxtodisplayalist
ofavailablevariabletypes.
2. SelectNew Keyboard Inputfromthelistandclickonthelabelwhereyouwanttopos-
itiontheobject.
AdialogboxwiththeVariableWizardwillopen.
Creatingnewkeyboardinputvariablefield
3. Type'Enterproductname'fortheoptionDisplaythistexttotheprintoperator.
4. ClickontheFinishbutton.Thecursorchangesitsshapetoanarrowwithatextobject.
5. Clickonthelabelwhereyouwanttopositionthepromptedfield.
Thetextobjectisplacedonthelabelandlinkedtothenewvariable.
Note:Whenyouprintthelabel,youwillbepromptedtoentertheproductname,w
hichwillbe
showninpreviewonthelabelandontheprintedlabel.
Create Serialized Data Variable Fields (Counters)

Nowcreateacounterfieldonthelabel.Thevalueofthatvariablef ieldwillautomaticallyincrease
byoneoneverylabel.
- 28 -
2. SelectNew Counterfromthelist.
3. Adialogboxwithcounterpropertiesopens.
Creatingnewcountervariablefield
4. Leaveeverythingasdefaultsothatthecounterwillalwaysstartfrom1andincreaseby
oneoneachlabel.
5. ClickontheFinishbutton.
6. Clickonthelabelwherethecountershouldbeplaced.
Thenewvariableislinkedtothetextobjectonthelabel.
Note:Typically,thecounterwillincreaseby1oneachlabel.Forexample,1,2 ,3,4,5,etc.You
canalsodefinedifferentincrementalsteps.
Create Date and Time Variable Fields

Contentofthevariablefieldcanbefilledautomaticallywiththedateo rtimestampfromthecom-
puterclockorprinterclock(forsupportedp rintermodels).
2. SelectNew Date Fieldfromthelist.Adialogboxwithdatepropertiesopens.
Creatingnewdatevariablefield
3. Leaveeverythingasdefaultandthedatewillbeusedonthelabelusingtheformatas
definedinyourWindowsoperatingsystem.
Toplaceatimestamponthelabel,dothefollowing:
- 29 -
2. SelectNew Time Fieldfromthelist.
4. Clickonthelabelwherethecountershouldbeplaced.
Thenewvariableislinkedtothetextobjectonthelabel.
Thedateandtimefieldsareupdatedwhenyouprevieworprintthelabel.I nthisexampletheval-
ueswillcomefromthesystemclockofyourcomputer.
Use Prefix or Suffix Options

Youcanaddaprefixandsuffixtoeachvariablefieldonthelabel.B
othareaddedtothevalue
whenyoupreviewandprintthelabel.
2. SelectNew Keyboard Inputfromthelist.
3. Adialogboxwithvariablepropertieswillopen.
4. Typethetext'Enterproductweight'fortheoptionDisplaythistexttotheprintoperator.
SettheallowablecharacterstodigitsandclickontheNextbutton.
5. Enter'kg'fortheSuffixoption.
Definingthevariablesuffix
7. Clickonthelabelwhereyouwanttopositionthepromptedfield.
Thetextobjectisplacedonthelabelandlinkedtothenewvariable.Whenyouwillpre-
vieworprintthelabel,thesuffix'kg'willbeappendedtotheenteredvalueontheright
side.
Using Advanced Functionality

Creating a Label with GS1-128 (EAN.UCC
128) Compliance
Add Content to GS1-128 Barcode Using GS1-128 Wizard
UsetheGS1-128WizardtohelpyouaddthenecessaryApplicationI dentifiers(AI)inthebarcode.
Completethefollowingstepswiththew
izard:
1. Select10 Batch or Lot number.
- 30 -
SelectingApplicationIdentifierfromthelist
3. SelectFixedandclickontheNextbutton.
4. Enterthesampledata,forexample'12345'.
5. ClickontheNextbutton.AdialogboxshowingallAIcontainedinthisbarcodewill
open.
6. ClickontheAddbuttontostartaddinganewAI.
Forexample,selectAI21(SerialNumber).Repeatstepsfrom1to5above.
- 31 -
TwoApplicationIdentifiersaredefined
7. WhenyouaresatisfiedwiththedesignedAIandtheirpositionswithinthebarcode,click
ontheFinishbutton.
TheGS1-128barcodeisplacedonthelabel.
Edit Barcode GS1-128
ThedesignedlabelwithGS1-128barc ode
TodefinetheGS1-128barcode,youfirstselectthisbarcodetypea ndassignavaluetoit.
1. Clickonthesmallarrowbuttonnexttothe buttonintheToolbox.
2. SelectFixed Barcodeinthecontextmenu.
- 32 -
Creatingafixedbarcode
3. Movethecursortothelocationonthelabelwhereyouwanttoplacethebarcodeobject
andclickonthemousebutton.
4. Thewizardwithobjectpropertieswillopen.
5. ClickonthebuttonDefine.ThedialogboxEditBarcodewillopen.
6. ExpandthegroupEAN.UPCandselectthebarcodeGS1-128.
7. ClickontheOKbuttontogobacktotheBarcodedialogbox.
TheGS1-128Wizardwillopen.
Using EPSC
Using the PIATS Function
TheProductIdentificationAuthenticationandTrackingSystemCode(PIATSCODE),also
referredtoasEPSC,isamonitoringsystem,setupbytheGeneralAdministrationofQualitySuper-
vision,InspectionandQuarantineofthePeople'sRepublicofChina.Itsintentandpurposeisto
improveproductqualityandsafety,aswellassimplifyproducttrackingthroughouttheproduction
cycle.
PIATSStandardscompliancerequirements:
l Barcodetype:GS1-128(MULTI)AI=21
l Barcodestructure:AI+20supervisioncode
l Minimumbarcodemodulewidth7mm(recommendedminimumis10mm,fullbar-
codewidthinthiscaseis42,5mm)
l Minimumbarcodeheight8mm
l Barcodequality:AboveC(1.5/10/670)
l Blankareaonsides=10*minimummodulewidth
Setting up a PIATS Variable
APIATScodeisbasedonafunction,whichdrawsitsdatafromavariable.Therefore,thevari-
ablemustbecreatedfirst.
UsetheNew Variabletoolbarbuttontocreateanewvariable.Nameitandsetthefollowingset-
tings:
l Source=Global
l MaximumLength=20
- 33 -
l Dataformat=Numerical
l Incrementalcounter
l Incrementby=1
l Initialvalue1
Onlyiftheabovecriteriaarefulfilled,willthebarcodevariableprovideforvalidPIATScodes
Setting up the PIATS Function
UsetheFunctiontoolbarbuttontoaddanewfunction.NameitandselectElectronicProduct
SelectionCodeinthetypelist.Ifthevariabledescribedabovewascorrectlysetup,youwillbe
abletoselectitastheGlobal Variable intheDetailedtab.Onlyvalidvariabletypesaredis-
played,andifyourvariableisnotavailable,therewasanerrorinthevariablesetup.

ClicktheImport buttonandbrowsetothe.txtfilewhichincludesthePIATScodesyouhave
beenissued.Importthefile,andyourlistofavailablecodeswillbepopulated.Youcanpreview
thelistbyclickingontheView button.
Theimporteddataisboundtotheglobalvariable,thereforedataimportedforonevariablewill
notbeavailableinanother.Likewise,ifthelabelisexported,thedatafromtheglobalvariable
willnotbetransferredandwillremainavailableonlylocally.
- 34 -
InsertaGS1-128barcodeontothelabelandconnectitwiththePIATSinformation.Oncethe
labelsareprinted,theyaremarkedasprintedinthelog,alongwiththetimestampoftheirprint-
ing.Itisnotpossibletoprintacodethatisalreadymarkedasprinted,norisitpossibletoimport
thesamelistofcodestwice.
NOTE:Itispossibletodeletethelogofprintedcodes,makesitpossibletoperformimportand
printingthesecodesasecondtime.Becautiouswhendeletingprintedcodesfromthelog,or
youmaylosetrackofpastprintingactivities.
Designing Label with Variable Length

Inmostlabel-printingscenariosyoudesignandprintthelabelwithf ixeddimensions.Thelabel
widthandheightdonotchangesoyoumustm akesuretofitallobjectsonthelabel.
However,insomecasesyouneedtheabilitytodesignthelabelwiththevariablelength.Thelabel
lengthchangesinaccordancetothesizeo fthelabelobjects.Whenyouassignmoredatatothe
labelobjects,theirsizeincreasesandoccupiesmorespaceonthelabel.Inordertof itsuchobjects
onthelabel,thelabelheightmustchange.
Note:Therequirementf orvariablelabelsizingisquiteofteninthetextileindustry,wherelabels
printtoendlesslabelmaterial.Therearenogapsbetweenthelabels.Theprintercuttercutsthe
materialafterthelabelprints.
Toenablethevariablelabelsizing,dothefollowing:
1. SelectFile -> Label Setup.

2. GototheDimensionstab.
3. ClicktheAdvancedbutton.
4. EnabletheoptionEnable variable label size.
5. Makesuretosettheoffsettothepropervalue.Theoffsetdefinestheamountofspace
betweenthelastobjectonthelabelandthebottomlabeledge.
Seethescreenshotsbelowtounderstandtheautomaticlabelresizingfunction.
Thevariablelabelsizeisenabledonthelabel.Thereisalways1cmg apfromthebottomlabelbor-
derandthelastobjectonthelabel,barcodeinthiscase.Thetextobjectisamulti-lineobject.If
- 35 -
youenterm
oredataforthetextobject,thelabelheightmustincreasetoaccommodatef orthelar-
gertextobject.
Variablelabelsizingfeatureincreasesthelabelheighto ndemand
Totakefulladvantageofthevariablelabelsizing,youmustenabletheobjectrelativepositioning.
Inthiscasetheobjectswillnotalwaysb eplacedonthesamespotonthelabel.Theirplacement
willchangeaccordinglytotheplacementofparentobjects..
Note:Whenyouenablethevariablelabelsizing,youcannotusethe"labelsacross"o ptionatthe
sametime.However,multibandprintingisavailable.
Controlling Cutter in the Printer

Ifyouhaveathermalprinterequippedwiththecutter,youcancontrolthecutteractionfromthe
labelingsoftware.YoumustuseNiceLabelPrinterDriverfory ourthermalprinterifyouwantto
controltheinstalledcutter.Tosetu pthecuttercontrol,dothefollowing:
1. SelecttheoptionLabelSetupintheFilemenu.
2. GototheCutterSettingstab.
3. SelecttheoptionEnablecutter.
- 36 -
Enablingcutterfunctionality
Note:DesignerExpresseditioncancontrolthecutter.However,youcannotusetheLabelSetup
dialogbox.InsteadyoumustdefinethecutterparametersinthepropertiesoftheNiceLabel
PrinterDriverprinterdriver.PleaserefertotheD
esignerExpressuserguideforinstructionshow
tosetupcutter.
Defining Label Batch Printing and Using

Header and Tail Labels
Labelbatchreferstoagroupoflabelsthathavesomepropertyincommon.T hepurposeofidenti-
fyinglabelbatchistoexecutetheactionsandtoe ncloseeachlabelbatchwithheaderandtail
label.Theheaderandtaillabelsareprintedinfrontofthefirstlabelinthebatch(headerlabel)a nd
afterthelastlabelinthebatch(taillabel).Theycanbeusedasp ageseparatorsandcaninclude
additionalinformationforthelabeloperators.T oenablelabelbatchprinting,dothefollowing:
1. SelecttheoptionLabelSetupintheFilemenu.TheLabelSetupWizardwillopen
2. SelecttheoptionOpen the advanced options dialog boxandclickonthebutton
Finish.ThemainLabelSetupdialogboxwillopen.
3. GotothetabBatchPrinting.
4. ClickonthebuttonAdvancedinthebottompartofthedialogbox.TheAdvancedtab
willopen.
- 37 -
5. LookattheLabelBatchDefinitionsections.Ifyourlabelbatchwillcontain5labels,
enabletheoptionFixednumberoflabelsandtype5inthecomboboxintheright.
Settinguplabelbatch
6. Toenclosethemainlabelswithheaderand/ortaillabels,ticktheoptionUse header
labeland/orUse tail label.
Headerandtaillabelarestoredinthesamelabelfile,butyoucans tilldesignthemasseparate
labels.Accesstoheaderandtaillabelf romtheViewmenuwhereyoucanenableanddisable
viewonthetheselabels.
Designing Double-Sided Label

Thelabelingsoftwaresupportsdoublesideprintingforofficeprinters( inkjet,laser...)andfor
thermalprinters.TheoptionisenabledintheLabelSetupdialogbox,Printertab.Lookatthe
optionDouble-sided printing.
Note:Theoptionisavailableonly,whentheusedprinterdriversupportsdouble-sidedp rinting.
Assoonasyouenablethisoption,theoptionLabelSideintheViewm enubecomesavailable.Use
ittoswitchbetweenfrontandbacksideso fthelabel.Theidentificationofthecurrentpageisalso
visibleinthestatuslineatthebottomofthewindow.
Whenprintingtoofficeprinter,thesetwopagesarealwaysprintedo neafteranother.Theyare
senttotheprinteroneafteranothersomakes ureyouenableduplexfunctionalityintheprinter
driver.
- 38 -
Whenprintingtothermalprinter,printerdriverNiceLabelPrinterDriverwilltakec areofproper
labelprocessingandprinting.YouneedtousetheappropriateN
iceLabelPrinterDrivertoenable
double-sidedfunctionality.
Designing Labels for Mobile Devices

ThelabelingsoftwarehassupportformobilelabelprintingfromWindowsM obiledevices.You
candesignthelabelwiththedesktoplabelingsoftwarea ndthenexportittotheMobiledevice.
Thepocketeditionoflabelingsoftwareisnotaspowerfulasdesktopeditiona nddoesnotsupport
somefeaturesthatareavailableinthedesktopedition.Y
oumustbecarefulwhendesigningthe
labelforMobiledevice.Ifyous electsomeunsupportedfeature,thelabelexportisnotpossible.
Someexamplesofunsupportedfeatures:
l Majorityofcomplexfunctionsarenotsupported(VisualBasicscripting,Userdefined
checkdigitalgorithms,HIBC,Lookuptable,Linktofile,etc.),butsomeare(Con-
catenate).
l Globalvariablesarenotsupported.
l Variablegraphicsarenotsupported.
l Databasesarenotsupported(butdatabasesaresupportedontheformcreatedin
NiceForm).
l VariabletextobjectsformattedinTruetypefontsarenotsupported(youcanusevariable
Truetypefontsifyoudownloadthemtothememorycardintheprinter)
l Advancedvariablefeaturesarenotavailable(prefix/suffix,advancedserialization,
rememberingthelastvalueused,formattingthedate/timestamps,etc.)
l etc.
Tofindoutifyourlabeliscompliantwiththeexportlimitations,d othefollowing:
1. Savethelabel.
2. SelectthecommandFile->Export->ExporttoPocketPC.
3. Ifyourlabelcomplieswiththelimitations,thelabelisexported.Thefileswithextensions
.PNLand.LVXwillappearinthesamefolder,whereyourlabelisstored.Youcancopy
themtotheMobiledevicewiththeMicrosoftActiveSync.
Ifyourlabeldoesnotcomplywiththelimitations,youwillseetheerrordialogboxthat
willexplainwhichunsupportedfeatureyouuseonthelabel.Removethatfeatureandtry
toexportthelabelagain.
FormoreinformationaboutthelabeldesignforMobiledevicesrefertothewhitepapersavailable
online.
Multicolor Printing
Somethermalprinterssupportmulticolorprinting.Theyusemultipleh eads,eachheadforaribbon
ofadifferentcolor.Thecolorsforeachp rinterheadarecustomizableandcanbedefinedinthe
printerdriver.E
achprintheadisassignedacolorthatmatchestheusedribbon.Thes amecolors
becomeavailableinthelabelingsoftware.Formulticolorp rintingtoworkyouneedtousethe
appropriateNiceLabelPrinterDriver.
- 39 -
Colorpalettesynchronizestheavailablecolorswithsettingsinthep rinterdriver.Allcolorsyou
havedefinedintheprinterdriverarer etrievedinthelabelingsoftwareandmadeavailablefor
colorselection.C olorpalette,colorselectiondialogboxandlabelsetupdialogboxalld isplayonly
theavailablecolorsfromtheprinter.Eachlabelelementc antheneasilybeassignedsomeofthe
availablecolors.Theelementisthenprintedusingthatcolor.Morethanonecolorcannotbeused
witha singlelabelelement.
Whenyouusecolorimagesonthelabel,theirappearanceonthelabelc hanges.Theycannotbe
printedinmorecolorsthansupportedbytheprinter.T
heimagesarenotdisplayedinfullcolor.
Eachimageisconvertedtom onochromegraphicsandpreviewedonthelabelassuch.Conversion
fromc olortomonochromegraphicsisdoneusingditheringsettinginthedriver.Y
oucanassignthe
imageonecolorandthustheprintheadwheretheimagew illbeprinted.
Thecolorsonthelabelidentifywhichprinterheadwillbeusedforp rintingtheelements.
Setting up Stock Manager to List Commonly

Used Labels
Whenyoucreateanewlabel,youcanbasethenewlabelonsomepredesignedlabelformat
referredtoasstock,oryoucandesignthenewlabelfromthescratch.Thelabelingsoftware
comeswithalibraryofpredefinedstocks,b asedonthelabelsfromdifferentmanufacturers.You
canalsoaddthed efinitionofyourownlabelsintothelibrarybyusingtheStockM
anagement.To
openStockManagement,dothefollowing:
1. SelecttheoptionStockManagementintheFilemenu.Anewwindowwillopenshow-
ingalldefinedstockslistedinatable.
2. UndertheStock typeoption,selectthegroupfromthecomboboxforwhichyouwish
toshowthestocks.Thetablewillcontainstocksfromthisgrouponly.
Defineyourowngroupbydoingthefollowing:
1. Clickontheellipsisbutton.ThedialogboxofStockTypeswillopen.
2. ClickontheAddbuttonandprovidethenameofthegroup.ClickonSaveandClose.
3. SelectyournewgroupandclickonthebuttonNewinthebottompartofthedialogbox.
Thestockdefinitiondialogboxopens.
4. OpentheGeneraltabanddefinetheidentificationpropertiesofthestock.
5. OpentheDimensionstabanddefinethewidthandheightofthelabel.
Thestockwillbesavedinthelibraryandavailableforselectionwhenevery ouwillcreateanew
label.
Tracing Variable Values

Eachvalueofthevariablescanbetracedandloggedintothelogfile.
Bydefaultthetracingfunctionalityisdisabled.
Toenabletracing,dothefollowing:
- 40 -
1. SelectVariable Trace SetupfromDatamenu.
2. Selectthevariablesyouwanttotrace.
Note:Bydefault,valuesforallvariablesonthelabelaretraced.
3. SelectConfigure Log FilefromToolsmenu.

4. Enableloggingfunctionality.
5. Whenyouwillprintlabels,thevaluesforvariablesaswereusedonthelabelaresavedto
thelogfile.
Using Contents Mask

Contentsmaskisveryusefulwhenyoumustdisplaytheinputdatadifferentlyo nthelabel.With
contentsmaskyoucansimplyreformatthedatatosuity ourneeds.
Forexample,youmustusedifferentlyformattedhumaninterpretationtextbelowbarcodethanthe
dataisformattedinthebarcode.Youdon otwanttodefinetwovariablesforthispurposeandenter
thesimilard atatwice.
Themaskcharacterwillbereplacedbytheactualdataandanyotheru sedcharacterwillbeused
as-is.Ifthecurrentbarcodevalueis
"AD951"
andthecontentsmaskis
"**C - ** /*/"
theresultingoutputwillbe
"ADC - 95 /1/"
PowerfulformattingstructurescanbedefinedusingContentsmask,butitisonlyavailablewithbar-
codesthatallowcustomformattingoftheh umaninterpretation.Youshouldalsomakesuretoprint
barcodesasg raphics,otherwisethecontentsmaskisnotavailable.
Note:Ifyourdatacontainstheasterisk"*"character,thenyouwillh avetochangethedefault
maskcharactertosomethingelse.Itshouldb eauniquevalue,notappearinganywhereinthe
data.
ThecontentsmaskfunctionalityisavailablewithTextandBarcodeo bjects.
Using Expression Builder

TheExpressionbuilderisaprogrammingtexteditorwithconstantaccesstocommandreferenceof
thescriptlanguageyouarecurrentlyusing.TheE
xpressionBuildercanbeusedforVBScriptand
PythonscriptsaswellasforthenativeNiceCommands.
TheExpressionBuilderletsyouedityourscriptsandexpressionswithe ase.TheLoadandSave
buttonsallowyoutoworkwiththeexternalscripts.
Note:Theexpressione ditorunderstandthesyntaxhighlighting.Theeditorwillhighlightthecom-
mandsoftheselectedscriptinglanguageforeasierunderstandingofthecode.
Theworkingwindowisdividedintofourparts.
Category This section contains the groups of available commands, functions
and operators. Similar objects have been grouped together for
- 41 -
easier identification and faster search.
Some predefined custom functions have been provided in the
VBScript and Python syntax. See Custom Functions in the Cat-
egory list.
Name This section will display the contents of the selected group in the
Category section. All available commands, functions, operators
etc. will be listed here. If you select one of them its properties
will be displayed in the Description section. If you want to insert
the selected operands into the Expression field double click its
name or click the Insert button.
Expression This section is the main workplace of the Expression Builder.
Use it to write and modify the script your are working on.
Description This section displays the name, sample use and description of the
currently selected operand in Name section.
You will get an idea how the current operand should be used.
Script Help:buttonwillopenthehelpfilewiththedetailedreferenceo fthecurrentlyusedscript
(VisualBasicScriptorNiceCommands).Clickittofindoutmoreaboutthecommandyouare
workingwith.
Keyboard Shortcuts
Shortcut Description
Cursors Standard positioning of the cursor.
Ctrl + F Find some text.
Ctrl + R Find & replace some text.
Ctrl + Code completion. When typing the command press this shortcut
Space to display all commands that match the partially entered name.
Ctrl + Define the bookmark at the current cursor position. Next to the
Shift + row number you will see a bookmark number. You can use up to
digit 10 bookmarks simultaneously.
To remove the bookmark go to the row where the bookmark is
defined, then press the same keyboard shortcut again.
Ctrl + Go to the bookmark with the selected number.
digit
Using Label Inspector

LabelInspectorisatoolforadvancedelementanddatamanipulationo nthelabel.Itisusedfor
overviewoflabel'sstructureandmodifyinglabelcomponents,allelement'spropertiescanbe
simplymodifiedfromL abelInspector.Youcanofcoursestilldoubleclicktheelementandc hange
itspropertiesfromdialogbox,butforsmallerchangesitismuchq uickertochangetheminLabel
Inspector.
Nowyoucanchangepropertiesofseveralselectedelementsatthesametime.Ifelementsareof
thesametype,forexample,alltexts,youwillb eabletochangetheireveryproperty.Ifelements
areofdifferenttypes,f orexample,onetext,onebarcodesymbolandonerectangle,onlythep rop-
ertiescommontoallelementscouldbechanged.
WithLabelInspectoryouchangesomeelement'spropertiesthatarenota ccessibleotherwise.
Eachelementcanhaveitsownname,soyoucandistinguishb etweenthem.Wheneveryouselect
- 42 -
theelementonthelabel,itwillbeh ighlightedinthelistofelementswithinLabelInspectorandits
propertiesw
illbedisplayedinthebottompartoftheInspector(Propertiessection).
LabelInspectorcanbeusedtochangethecurrentviewofthelabele lements,variables,functions
anddatabases.Thefollowingviewsarea vailable,thefirstonbeingthedefaultone.
l View by Objects:
Alllabelelementsarelistedalphabeticallybytheirtype.Firstlistedaretextelements,
thenparagraph,barcode,graphics,rectangleandlineelements.Youhaveprobablynoted
thisisthesameorderofelementsastheyappearintheToolbox.Whenyouselectoneor
moreelementsintheupperpartoftheInspector,its(their)propertiesaredisplayedinthe
bottompartofInspector.Youcaninteractivelychangethemandchangeswillbereflec-
tedautomaticallyonthelabel.Youcanright-clickanyelementandquicklyaccessfre-
quentlyusedcommandsfromthedrop-downmenu.Youcanfindouttowhichvariable
someelementisconnectedtobyclickingtheplussigninfrontoftheelement'sname.Ifit
isnotfixed,theviewwillbeexpandedandvariablenamedisplayed.
l View by Variables:
Allvariablesusedonthelabelarelistedhere.Theycanbeeitherprompt(theirvalueis
typed-inbytheuseratprinttime),database(acquiredfromdatabasefields)orfunction-
generatedvariables.Ifyouclicktheplussigninfrontofvariable'sname,theviewwillbe
expanded.Youwillbeabletoreviewfromwherethevariablegetsitsdata(database,
function)andtowhichelement(s)itisconnectedto.Atthetopoftheuppersectionyou
candefineanewvariable.Youcanright-clickanyvariablenameandquicklyaccessfre-
quentlyusedcommandsfromthedrop-downmenu.
l View by Functions:
Allfunctionsusedonthelabelarelistedhere.Ifyouclicktheplussigninfrontoffunc-
tion'sname,theviewwillbeexpanded.Youwillbeabletoreviewwhichareinputand
outputvariablesforthefunction.Atthetopoftheuppersectionyoucandefineanew
function.Youcanright-clickanyfunctionandvariablenametoquicklyaccessfre-
quentlyusedcommandsfromthedrop-downmenu.
l View by Databases:
Alldatabasesusedonthelabelarelistedhere.Ifyouclicktheplussigninfrontofdata-
base'sname,theviewwillbeexpanded.Youwillbeabletoreviewwhichareoutput
variablesfromthedatabase.Atthetopoftheuppersectionyoucandefineanewdata-
base.Youcanright-clickanyfunctionandvariablenametoquicklyaccessfrequently
usedcommandsfromthedrop-downmenu.
l View as List:
ThisviewissimilartoViewbyobjectswithonedifference.Notonlyobjectsarelisted
here,butalsoallvariables,functionsanddatabases.Youcanright-clickanynameto
quicklyaccessfrequentlyusedcommandsfromthedrop-downmenu.
TherightmostbuttonInspector propertiesisusedtodefinethed efaultbehavior:shouldtheview
toInspector'selementsbeexpandedb ydefaultornot.Iftheelementsareexpandedthenallthe
propertiesf orallofthemarevisible.Iftheyarenotexpanded,youwillhavetom
anuallyexpand
theviewoftheelement,youareinterestedin.
- 43 -
Using Pictures from the Memory Card
Toselectthepicturefromthememorycard,dothefollowing:
1. Openthelabelwhereyouwanttousethepicturesfromthememorycard.
2. Makesuretheprinterhasinsertedthememorycardthatcontainsthepictures.
Note:YoumustusetheapplicationNiceMemMastertofillthecontentofthememoryc ard.If
youusesomeotherapplication,thecontentswillnotberecognized.
3. SelectthecommandPrinter SettingsintheFilemenu.
4. GotoPrinter Memorytab.
5. LookattheSlotwhereyouhaveinsertedyourmemorycardintheprinter.
6. ChangetheSlotTypetoMemoryCard.
7. Selecttheappropriate.MMFfile,createdbytheapplicationNiceMemMaster.
8. Closealldialogboxes.
9. SelectthePictureobjectintoolbox,thenclickonthelabel.
10. Browsetothepictureonthediskthatyouwanttouse.
Note:Thisisthesamepictureasyouhavedownloadedtothememorycard.Youn eedtoinsertit
fromthediskforpreviewingpurposesonly.Whenthelabelisprinted,thepicturealreadystored
inthememorycardwillbeu sed.
11. TicktheoptionPicture is stored on the memory card.

Designing an RFID Smart Label

Overview
TheconceptofRFID(RadioFrequencyIDentification)canbesimplifiedtothatofanelectronic
barcode.Firstemerginginthe1980s,RFIDwasp rimarilyusedtotrackobjectsinindustrialenvir-
onmentswherebarcodesw ereunabletosustaintheharshsurroundings.Today,RFIDisbeingused
totrackproprietaryassets,automateaccesscontrolandhasmanymorea dditionalfieldsofusage.
SomethermalprintershavetheabilitytoprogramaRFIDtagatthes ametimeastheyareprinting
thelabel.Twodifferenttechnologiesandtheirencodingmethodsarejoinedonthesamelabel.Of
coursealabelm usthaveembeddedaRFtag.Thetagispaperthin,flexibleandsmallinsize
whichallowsittobeplacedinconspicuouslyunderthelabel.I tconsistsofanetchedantennaanda
tinychipthatcanstoreIDnumbero ryourcustomdatainlargerquantities.Thiscontrastswitha
barcodelabel,whichdoesnotstoreanyenhancedinformation,butmerelysomec odenumber.
Radiofrequencyidentification(RFID)referstotechnologiesthatuser adiowavestoautomatically
identifyindividualorgroupsofitems.Thelabelings oftwareandNiceLabelPrinterDriverssupport
programmingandprintingofRFIDtagse mbeddedinalabel.
- 44 -
Note:YoucanuseRFIDfunctionalityinthelabelingsoftwareonlyifyouhaveinstalleda
NiceLabelPrinterDriverwithRFIDsupport.MakesureyouinstalltheNiceLabelPrinterDriver
ofy ourRFIDprinterbeforeyoudesignandprintanRFIDsmartlabel.
Create RFID Smart Label

1. Clickon buttonintheStandard toolbar.LabelSetupWizardwillstart.
2. SelecttheprinterthatsupportsRFIDsmartlabelprinting.
YouwillseethatRFIDTagcommandisenabledintheToolboxontheleftsideofthe
labelingsoftwareworkingwindow.
RFIDTagisavailableforuse
4. ClickontheRFID TagoptionintheToolboxanddefinethedatayouwanttoencode
intotheRFIDtag.
Encode RFID Tag

TheRFIDtagsembeddedintothelabelareusuallyoftwotypes:ISOtags,whichencodeblocksof
data;orUHFtags,whichcanencodeonestringo fdata.
1. Clickonthebutton intheToolboxtobeginencodingthedata.The
RFIDTagdialogboxopens.
- 45 -
EncodingcontentsforRFTag
2. SelectthetypeoftheRFIDTagyouwanttousefromthelistboxonthetopofthedia-
logbox.ClickontheTag SettingsbuttontoreviewRFIDtagcontentsanddefinethe
encodingadvancedproperties.
3. EnabletheoptionWrite data to RFID tagifyouwanttoprogramthetagatthesame
timeasthelabelisprinted.
Note:Ifyoudontselectthisoption,thedefinitionoftagcontentissavedb utnotsenttothe
printer.
4. SelecttheappropriateentryfromData Fieldssection.
ForRFIDGen2tagsyouareabletoselectfromdifferentdatafields.ForotherRFID
tagsusuallyonlyonedatafieldispossible-RFIDTagMemory.
5. GotothefirstavailableblockinthesectionData BlocksandclickontheDatacellin
thetable.
Note:Youmightnotseethetable-likestructure.Insteadyoucanseeeditfieldstoenterthe
RFIDdata.Thetypoofdataenteringdependsonthetypeo fselectedRFIDtag.
4. Typeinthevalueyouwanttoencodeintothisblock.Repeattheprocessforother
blocks.
5. ClickontheOKbutton.AschematicviewoftheRFIDTagantennawillopeninthe
labelbackgroundidentifyingthedefinitionoftheRFIDdataonthelabel.
- 46 -
RFIDTagantennainthebackground
7. Youcancontinuedesigningthesmartlabelwithnon-RFIDdataasdescribedinthepre-
vioussections.
Wheneveryouprintthelabel,theRFIDdatawillbesenttotheprinter.T
heprinterprintstheRFID
smartlabelandprogramstheRFIDtagembeddedintothelabelatthesame.
Note:ThelabelingsoftwarecanworkwithUniqueRFTagnumbers.EachRFIDtaghasembed-
deda uniqueserialnumber.SomeprinterscanreadtheUniqueRFTagnumbera nditcanbe
usedonthelabellinkedwithsomelabelobjects.
RFID Tag Settings

Tag Information:Thissectionp rovidestheinformationabouttheselectedtagtype.Youcansee
thes tructureoftheselectedRFIDtag.Theoutlookoftheinformationdependso ntheselectedtype
ofthetag.ForRFIDGen2youwillseetable-likes tructurewiththeinformationabouttheavailable
datafields,numbera ndsizeoftheblock,readorwritesupport.
ForotherRFIDtagsyoucanreviewthefollowingstructure:
Number of blocks:ThenumberofblocksthatareavailableintheRFIDtag.
Reserved blocks:Thenumberofblocksthatcannotbeaccessedandused.
Block size:T
hesizeofeachblock(inbytes).
Unique RF Tag:ThispropertyissettoYes,ifyouhavetheprinterand/orthetagtypethat
canprovideyouwiththeUniqueTagID.Eachtaghasa uniqueIDencodedalreadyinthepro-
ductionline.Ifyourprintercanr eadthisinformationfromthetag,youcanuseitwiththe
labelobjectsu singRFID Tag Contentscontentsp rovider.
Forexample:TheprinterscansUniqueTagID,remembersitandprintsito nthelabel
encodedinabarcodeelement.ThevalueofUniqueTagisn everreturnedtothelabelingsoft-
ware.Itishandledinternallybythep rinter.
RFID Tag Data Read:ThispropertyissettoYes,ifyouhavetheprintera nd/orthetagtype
thatallowstheextractionoftheencodeddata.Youc anextractallorpartofthedataencoded
intheRFIDtaganduseitw
iththelabelobjects.
Tag Settings:T
hissectionprovidesmorecontrolforRFIDprogramming.
- 47 -
Antenna offset:Toachievebetterprogrammingaccuracyofthetagshereistheoptionto
definetheoffsetfortheantennaintheprinter.Thisisthedistancefromtheantennatotheto
theembeddedtagonthelabel.T
hisoptionwillhelpyouprogramthetagsmoreaccurately.
Power attenuation:Specifiestheradiooutputpower.UseitdoadjusttheRFemissionfrom
theantenna.
Maximum tags to stop:WhentheprogrammingoftheRFIDtagfails,usuallytheword
"VOID"isprintedonthelabel.Withthisoptionyouc anspecifyhowmanytagscanbepro-
grammedwrongly,beforetheprintingo flabelsstops.Theoptioncanbeusedasaprecaution
measuretoprevente ndlessconsumptionoflabels.
Number of retries:Thenumberoftimestheprinterwilltrytoprogramthetagiffirstattempt
fails.Theparameterissenttotheprinterwiththerestofthedata.
Check for a valid tag:Beforethetagprogrammingbegins,theprinterwillv erifyifthereisa
properRFIDtagavailableinthesmartlabel.Thep rinterwillalsoverifyifthetagcanbepro-
grammedatall.Iftheprinterc annotcheckthecurrentlyselectedRFIDtag,theoptionwillnot
beaccessible.
Verify data write:OncethedatahasbeenencodedintotheRFIDtag,theprinterw
illcheck
ifthewrittendataisequaltotheoriginalvalue.
EAS Settings:T
hissectionprovidessettingsfor Electronic Article Surveillance.
EASisnotavailableforallprintersanddrivers.IfyourRFIDTagSettingsdonotinclude
EASSettings,youmayneedtoupdateyourprinterdriverorselectadifferentprinter.For
moreinformation,seeyourprinteranddriverdocumentation.
Preserve original EAS setting:TheoriginalEASsettingcannotberetrieved,butthedefault
optionassumesthatthetagsettingshouldremainunchanged.
Enable EAS:EnableElectronicArticleSurveillanceintheRFIDtag.Ifthiswastheoriginal
setting,thetagwillremainunchanged.
Disable EAS:DisableElectronicArticleSurveillanceintheRFIDtag.Ifthiswastheoriginal
setting,thetagwillremainunchanged.
Permanently lock EAS tag setting:Checkingthisboxwillpermanentlylockthechosenset-
tingfortheEAS.Thislockcannotbeundone.
RFID Tag Locking

Taglockingisnotavailableforalltagtypes,printers,anddrivers.IftheLocking Settings...button
isnotdisplayedintheRFID tagdialogwindow,youmaybeusinganunsupportedRFIDtagtype,
printer,ordriver.ThelockingsettingsareavailableforcertainGEN2tagtypes.Formoreinform-
ation,seeyourprinteranddriverdocumentation.
RFIDtaglockingenablestheusertolockanRFIDtag.Thismeansthatnochangescanbemade
onitwithoutunlockingthetagfirst.Ifthetagispermanentlylocked,itisnotpossibletounlockit,
andtheRFIDtagcanneverbechanged.
Preserve original locking setting:Theoriginallockingsettingcannotberetrieved,butthedefault
optionassumesthatthetagsettingshouldremainunchanged.
Lock:TheRFIDtagislockedandfurtherchangesonitareprevented.
Unlock:TheRFIDtagisunlocked,sothatitcanbechanged.
Relock:TheRFIDtagisunlocked,thechangesareapplied,andthetagislockedimmediately
after.
- 48 -
Permanent lock/unlock:Checkingthisboxwillapplyyourselectionabovepermanentlyandpre-
ventlaterchangestoit.Thissettingcannotbeundone.
Blocks to be locked:Manuallydefinetheindividualblocksorrange(s)ofblockstobelocked.Indi-
viduallylockedblocksaredefinedwithanindexandseparatedwithacomma(withorwithout
insertingspacebetween).Rangesofblocksaredefinedusingadash.
Support for RFID Tags

WiththelabelingsoftwareyoucanprogramRFIDtagsofdifferentmanufacturers.I tisimportant
touseNiceLabelPrinterDriverprinterdriverforyourthermalprinter.Y
oucannotprogramRFID
tags,ifyoudonotuseNiceLabelPrinterDriver.
NiceLabelPrinterDriverwillletthelabelingsoftwareknowwhichtypesofRFIDtagstheprinter
supports.
Notalltagtypesarealwaysavailable.Itdependsoneachprintermodelw
hatkindofRFIDtags
canbeusedwithit.Therearegenerallytwotypesoftags:
l ISOtags(TagIt,iCode,ISO...):Theseareblockorientedtags.Thedatacanbeencoded
inmultipleblocks.
l UHFtags(EPC):Thedataisencodedinoneblockofdata.
YoucaninputcontentforRFIDtagsusingd ifferentmethods,dependentonthetagtype(UHFor
ISO).
UHF Tags
l Data type:Datatypeoftheselectedtagcanbespecifiedhere.
l Data source:Incomingdatathatisencodedinthetagcanbefixedvalueoracquired
fromsomevariable,definedinthelabel.
l Data size:Thecurrentlyuseddataispreviewedhere.Youcanseetheamountofspace
stillavailableinthetag.Theoccupancyofthetagisseengraphicallywithgrowingbar
andnumericallywiththedigit,explainingthenumberofalreadyusedbytes.
l Block locked:Ifyousettheblockaslocked,thedatawillbepermanentlyencodedinto
thetag.Youwillnotbeabletoerasethisblocktore-programitwithsomeothervalue.
Usethisoptionwithcaution!
ISO Tags
Theblocksthataredimmedandinaccessiblea rereservedblocksthatcannotbeused.
l Block Number:Thesuccessivenumberofblockinthetag.
l Data source:Selectwherethedatablockwillreceivethevaluefrom.ItcanbeFixed,
whereyouwillmanuallytypeinthevalueorcanbeVariable,wherethevalueis
acquiredfromsomevariabledefinedinthelabel.
l Data:Typeinthetagvaluemanually,iftheselecteddatatypeisFixed.Selectthevari-
abledefinedinthelabel,iftheselecteddatatypeisVariable.Ifyourvariablelengthis
greaterthantheblocksize,thenextblockwillautomaticallybereservedforthedata.
l Size:Thecurrentlyuseddataispreviewedhere.Youcanseetheamountofspacestill
availableinthetag.Theoccupancyofthetagisseengraphicallywithgrowingbarand
numericallywiththedigit,explainingthenumberofalreadyusedbytes.
l Data type:ThedatacanbeencodedasASCIIstringorasHEXencodedstring.
- 49 -
l Locked:Ifyousettheblockaslocked,thedatawillbepermanentlyencodedintothe
tag.Youwillnotbeabletoerasethisblocktore-programitwithsomeothervalue.
Usethisoptionwithcaution!
RFID Read and Store Data

HereyoucandefinewhichRFIDdatafieldsfromtheRFIDtagwillbestoredintheselectedstor-
agetype.Putthetickmarknexttothedatafieldyouwanttostore.Thelistofavailabledatafields
mightchangewiththeselectedRFIDtagtype.
OnceyouhaveselectedtheRFIDdatafields,youcanselectthestoragetypethatmatchesyour
requirements.Someofthestorageplug-insshipwiththesoftware.Soyoucanselectthedatabase
andtextstorageplug-in.
Note:Ifnostorageplug-inisselectedtheselectedRFIDDataFieldswillstillbestoredintothe
regularlogfile.
Database Storage Plug-in

TheRFIDdatabasestorageplug-indefineshowtheRFIDdataisstoredintheselecteddatabase.
TheprinterdriverreceivestheRFIDdatafromtheRFIDreaderembeddedinprinter.Thedata-
baseplug-indefinesintowhichdatabasefieldtheRFIDdatashouldbestored.
Storage Database tab
Hereyoucancreatealinktothedatabaseanditstable,whereyouwanttostoretheRFIDdata.
Youcanusedirectdatabaseaccesstoopenthesupporteddatabase,orusetheconnectionusing
ODBC,OLEDBandBDEdrivers.
Note:YoumustselectatruedatabasethatisaccessibleusingSQLsentences.Thisrulesout
spreadsheetslikeMSExcel.
Storage Fields tab

HereyoucanselectthetablefieldintowhichyouwanttostoretheRFIDdata.Youcaninsertnew
recordsinthedatabase,oryoucanupdatetheexistingrecordsinthedatabase.
Update existing data records in the table. UsethisoptiontoinsertRFIDdataval-

uesintotheexistingrecordsinthedatabasetable.Inthefirsttablebelowselectthe
fieldintowhichyouwanttostoreRFIDdata.MakesurethattheDataSourceisset
to'RFIDData'.Atthesametimeyoucanalsostorethevaluesofothervariables(not
justRFIDdata)intothedatabasefields.
Inthesecondtabledefinethequerycondition,whentostorethevaluesinthedata-
base.Thedatavaluesarestoredtothedatabase,whenallconditionsaremet.This
featureallowsyoutodefineaconditionbasedonthefixedvaluesorvariablevalues.
Createajoinbetweenthefieldnameandthedatasource.
For example:UsuallyyoucreateajoinbetweentheProductIDfieldinthedatabase
andthelabelvariableProductID.IfbothIDsarethesame,youcanbesureyouwill
writethedataintothecorrectfield.
Insert new data records into the table. UsethisoptiontoinsertRFIDdatavalues
intonewrecordinthedatabasetable.Inthefirsttablebelowselectthefieldinto
whichyouwanttostoreRFIDdata.MakesurethattheDataSourceissetto
'RFIDData'.Atthesametimeyoucanalsostorethevaluesofothervariables(not
justRFIDdata)intothedatabasefields.
- 50 -
Error Logging
IfyoudonotseetheRFIDdatastoredintotheselecteddatabase,youcanenableerrorloggingto
catchtheerrormessages.TheRFIDdatastoragetakesplaceoutsideofthelabelingapplicationby
anothersoftwarecomponent.TheRFIDdataisreturnedbytheprinterdriverwhentheprinteractu-
allyprintsthelabelandreadstheRFIDdata.Itmightnotbeimmediatelyafteryouissuetheprint
command,thejobmightbedelayedinthespooleroutofseveralreasons.
Whenyouenabletheerrorlogging,selectthetextfileintowhichyouwouldliketostoreerrormes-
sage.Theerrormessageswillhelpyouresolvetheerrorsituation.Usuallytheconditionsyouhave
definedintheStorageFieldstabarenotmet.
Note:RFIDdataisalwaysstoredintheXMLdatastructure.
Changing Printer Settings

Changing Common Printer Settings
Whenyoustartdesigningalabelyoutellthelabelingsoftwaretowhatp rinterthelabelshouldbe
connected.Eachlabelfilerememberstheprinters ettingsfortheselectedprinterdriveronthe
label.
Asanexample,youwillchangetheprintingspeedanddarkness.Tochangetheprintersettings,do
thefollowing:
1. GotoFilePrinterSettings.Thewindowwiththeprintersettingswillopen.
2. OpentheOptionstab.
3. ChangetheSpeedandDarknessoptions.
5. Savethelabelbyclickingthe buttonintheStandardtoolbarorselectingthecom-
mandSaveintheFilemenu.
Printerdriverproperties
Note:A
nychangesintheprintersettingsdialogboxwillbesavedtothelabela ndappliedto
futureprintactions.
Youcanalsochangetheprintersettingsrightbeforethelabelisprinted.
- 51 -
1. SelectthePrintcommandintheFilemenu.
2. GotothePrintertab.
Thistaballowsyoutochangetheprinterjustbeforeprintingbegins,butitalsoenables
youtochangecommonprintersettingslikespeed,darknessandprintdirection.
Note:C hangestothesettingsinthePrintertabwillnotbesavedinthelabelb utusedonlyat

printtime.
Changing Dithering Options

Ditheringisaprocessofconvertingcolororgrayscalepicturestob lackandwhitepicturesthat
canbeprintedonthermalprinters.Thermalp rintersnormallycannotprintcolorimagesandcan
eitherprintadoto nthelabelornot.Therearenointermediateshadesofgray.
Duringtheditheringprocessallcolorsandshadesofgrayinthepicturea reconvertedtoblackand
whitedots,creatingtheillusionofnewcolorsa ndshadesbyvaryingthepatternofdots.Different
shadesofgrayarep roducedbyvaryingthepatternsofblackandwhitedots.Therearenog raydots
atall.Inprinting,ditheringisusuallycalledhalf-toning,a ndshadesofgrayarecalledhalftones.
Tochangetheditheringsettings,dothefollowing:
1. GotoFilePrinterSettings.Thewindowwiththeprintersettingswillopen.
2. OpentheDitheringtab.
3. ChangetheDitheringtypeoptiontosuityourneeds.Lookatthepreviewontheright
sidehowyoucanexpecttheselectedtypetobeappliedonthelabel.
5. Savethelabelbyclickingthe buttonintheStandardtoolbarorselectingthecom-
mandSaveintheFilemenu.
Defining Unprintable Area

Unprintableareaisthepartofthelabelwheretheprintercannotprint.Y oucanvirtuallyincrease
thesizeofthelabelbyenablingunprintablea reaintheprinterdriver.Thethermalprintercanonly
printlabelsthatareplacedbelowtheprinthead.Ifyouhavewiderlabelsandthep rintheaddoes
notcompletelycoverthelabel,thelabelpartjuttingo utoftheprintheadcannotbeprinted.
Withunprintableareafeatureyoucanlettheapplicationknowthatthereisunusuallywidelabel
insertedintotheprinter.Thelabelingsoftwarewilld rawverticalredlinesidentifyingtheunprint-
ablearea.Theunprintablea reaisusuallythelabelarealeftandrightoftheprinterhead.
Theunprintableareaisnotamargin.Thelabelobjectsarenotshiftedo nthelabel.
Todefinetheunprintableareaonthelabel,dothefollowing:
1. OpenthelabelinDesignerPro.
2. SelectFile->PrinterSettings.
3. GotoOptionstab.
4. EnterthevaluesforUnprintable Area.
For example:
Youhaveaprinterwith10cm(4")printerheadanda12cmwidelabel.Y
ouinsertthelabel
- 52 -
centrallyintheprinter,soitsticksoutofthep rintheadevenlyonbothsides.Youdefineanew
labelinthelabelingsoftwarew ith12cmwidth.Bysettingtheunprintableareato1cmontheleft
and1cmontherightsideyouletthelabelingsoftwareknowthattheactuallabelw idthis10cm.
Therewillbetwoverticalredlinesonthelabelidentifyingtheunprintablearea.
Note:
Youmightalsoseetheverticalredlineswhenyouswitchtheprinteronthelabel.Theoriginal
printermighthadwiderprintheadthanthenewp rinter.Maximumwidthsofthelabelsarenotthe
sameforbothprinters.T helabelingsoftwarewilltrytopreservetheoriginallabeldimensionand
automaticallyd efinetheunprintableareaforthenewprinter.
Using Toolbars
Using Standard Toolbar
Clickontheiconsinthestandardtoolbarwillexecutethefollowinga ctions:
Create new label.
Open existing label.
Save currently opened label.
Cut the selected objects to clipboard.
Copy the selected objects to clipboard.
Paste the objects from the clipboard.
Undo last action.
Redo last action.
Access to the print functionality. Click on the small arrow for more
commands.
Access to the zoom functionality. Click on the small arrow for more
commands.
Access to the view functionality. Click on the small arrow for more
commands.
Access to the variables. Click on the small arrow for more commands.
Access to the databases. Click on the small arrow for more com-
mands.
Open the help file.
Using Database Toolbar
- 53 -
Firstfieldshowsthelistofcurrentlyactivedatabases.Itallowsy outobrowsethroughtheattached
databases.
List box lists the links to the databases that are available in the
label.
Define a link to new database using Database wizard. The Database
wizard will guide you through the necessary steps to link database
on the label. The result will be database fields available as vari-
ables.
Define new link to the database manually.
Edit the properties of the selected link to the database. You can
change the database driver, select which records will be printed
and define if quantity of the labels comes from the database.
Delete the selected link to the database.
Note: Make sure that database fields are not used anywhere on the
label, linked to objects or used in the functions. Otherwise the link
cannot be removed. If you are not sure, where the database fields
are used, use the Label Inspector to find that out.
Click on this button to open the database table in database man-
agement application NiceData.
Database navigator buttons can be used to move through the
records in the database. Use these buttons to see how data from dif-
ferent records will be used on the label. You can quickly verify if
the objects fit on the label.
Note: The buttons are accessible only when you have enabled
Data view on the label and when record selection in the prop-
erties of database link is disabled.
Using Design Toolbar

Thedesigntoolbarisusedfor:
l Changingcoloroftheobjects.
l Aligningobjects.
l Rotatingobjects.
l Arrangingobjects.
Using Printing Toolbar
Preview labels on-screen.
Print the current label.
Test print the current label.
Print the label using the form generated in the application NiceForm.
If you want to print a label from the form, you must have a label
- 54 -
already defined. The form file must also be prepared and linked to the
label.
Note: To link a form to the label, use the command Tools -> Design
Form.
Open the dialog box with printer properties. You can change the set-
tings in the printer driver.
Quickly change the print direction of the label.
Using Text Toolbar

Youcanusetexttoolbartoquicklyformatthetextobjectsonthelabel.
Hereishow:
1. Firstselectitthetextobjectbyclickingit.
2. Clicktheappropriateshortcutbuttoninthetexttoolbar.
3. Tochangethefont,selecttheappropriatefontfromthelistinthelistbox.
Note:Youcanlimitthedisplayoffontsinthelist.Youcanlistallfontso nthesystem,only
graphicfonts(truetype,opentype,type1,bitmapWindowsf onts)oronlythermalprinterresident
fonts.Clickonthetwoiconsn exttothelistoffonts.
4. Tochangethesizeofthetext,clickonthelistwithfontsizesandselectappropriatesize.
Youcanalsoclickonthebuttons and thatwillenlarge/reducethesizeofthefont
tothenextstep.
Note:Youcanchangethefontssizealsodirectlyonthelabelbyresizingthetextelementwitha
mouse.
5. Toformatthetextbold,italicorunderline,clickontheappropriateformattingbuttons.
Formats the selected text in bold style.
Formats the selected text in italic style.
Formats the selected text in underline

style.
6. Tochangethealignmentofthetextobject,clickontheappropriatealignmentbuttons.
Note:Thesebuttonsareaccessibleonlyformulti-linetextobjects.
Aligns text to the left edge.
Aligns text to the horizontal cen-

ter.
Aligns text to the right edge.
- 55 -
Using Toolbox
Tousethetoolbox,dothefollowing:
1. Clickontheiconinthetoolboxtoselecttheobject.
2. Movethemouseoverthelabel.Seehowthecursorshaschanged.
3. Clickonthelabelwhereyouwanttoplacetheselectedobject.
Someobjectshaveadditionalshortcutontherightsideoftheicon.U
singthisshortcutyoucan
quicklycreateanewobjectwithfixedcontent,c reateanewvariableandconnectittotheselected
objectorconnecttheobjecttoonealreadydefinedvariable.
Using Variable Toolbar
Thelistboxcontainsthevariablesavailableonthelabel.Ifyouhaves electedsomevariable
object,thelistboxdisplaysvariablelinkedtothatobject.Ifnoobjectisselected,selectingavari-
ablethenclickingo nthelabelplacesnewtextobjectandlinksittothevariable.
Create new variable using the Variable wizard. If you click on the
small arrow, you can specify the type of the new variable.
Create new variable manually.
Edit the properties of the selected variable.
Note: If you select the variable object, the variable linked to the
object will be automatically listed in the list.
Delete the selected variable.
Note: If you want to delete the variable, you must not use it on the
label linked to label objects or used in functions.
Disconnects the variable from the object. The object becomes fixed,
but will preserve the formatting.
The number of the characters in the object will be equal to the length
of the variable. This might be useful when you are changing the data-
base on the label and want to conserve current position and format of
the objects. When you re-connect the other database, you can simply
link the objects to new variables.
Access to the labeling software Functions dialog box. If you click on
the small arrow, you can select which new function you want to cre-
ate.
Thereareseveralmethodstoconnectavariabletosomelabelelementthatshouldcontainvariable
values.
l Ifyouhavetheelementalreadypositionedonthelabel,selectit,thenchoosetheappro-
priatevariableinthelist.
l Iftheelementisnotalreadyonthelabel,youcanfirstselectthevariableinthelistand
thenclickthelabelwhereyouwanttheelementpositioned.Textelementwillappear
thereandwillbeconnectedtotheselectedvariable.
- 56 -
l Ifyouwantanyotherelement(andnottext)connectedtothevariable,youcanfirst
selectthevariableinthelist,thenclickthedesiredelementintheToolboxandthenclick
thelabel.
l Youcanclickonthesmallarrowbuttonnexttotheobjecticoninthetoolbox,selectthe
optionUse Existing Variable, selectthevariablefromthelistandclickonthelabel.
Variabletoolbaralwaysshowsthenameofthevariable,whichisattachedtothecurrentselected
element.Iftherearetwoormoreelementsselected,a nddonothavethesamevariableattachedto
it,thenthevariablecombob oxisempty.
Using Zoom Toolbar

Zoom in: This command increases the selected element or part
of the element.
Zoom out: This command decreases the selected element or part
of the element.
Factor: You can define your own factor of zoom (in %).
Zoom to label: You will see the entire label on the screen.
Zoom to page: You will see the entire page on the screen.
Zoom to objects: You will see all the objects on the screen.
Note: Tobeabletozoomintothelabelatcustomzoomfactor,youcanc lickonthe

buttonandthedrawaframeonthesectiono fthelabelyouwanttozoomin.
- 57 -
Working with Objects
Using Text Wizard
Text Wizard
FirstscreenofTextWizard
TextWizardguidesyoutodefineallparametersforthetextobject.
Fixed text:Selectthisoptionifyouwouldliketohaveafixednon-changeablecontentofthe
object.Ifyouselectthisoption,youcanenterthetextdirectlyinthisdialogbox.
Variable text:Selectthisoption,ifyouwouldliketohavevariablecontentoftheobject.D
efining
thecontentisdefinedinthenextstep.
Font:Currentlyselectedfonttypeisshowninthisfield.
l Inverse:Enablethisoptiontousethetextininverse.
Note:Theoptionisnotavailableforallprinters.
l Select button:Youcanselectdifferentfonttypeforthistextobjectamongavailable
fontsinthesystem.
- 58 -
Text Wizard - Choosing Variable Text
TextWizard-Choosingvariabletext
Selectthetypeofthevariablefieldyouwanttouse.Ifsomeoftheo ptioninthelistisnotaccess-
ible,thefunctionalityisnotavailable.
Variable name:Typeinthenameo fthevariablethatwillbelinkedtothebarcodeobjectandwill
providethevalueforit.
Thenextpageofthewizarddependsonyourselectionhere.
Text Wizard - Keyboard Input

Usethisvariabletypewhenyouwanttheoperatortoenteravalueofthevariablefromthekey-
boardbeforeprintingthespecifiednumbersoflabels.
- 59 -
DialogboxforTextWizardwhenKeyboardinputoptionischosen
Prompt text for this variable field: Fillinthemessagethatwillbeshowntotheuserwhenhe

wille nterthevaluesforthevariablefield.
Format:Selecttheformato fdatayouallowtobeenteredforthevariablefield.
Set maximum number of characters:D
efinethemaximumlengthofcharactersthatcanbe
enteredforthevariablef ield.
Text Wizard - Counter

Onthispageofthewizard,youdefinethecountervariable.
- 60 -
DialogboxforTextWizardwhenCountero ptionischosen
Starting Value:Setthestartingv alueforthecounter.Thecounterwillincrementordecrement

fromthes tartingvalue.
Note:Youcanenteronlydigitsforthestartingvalue.
Prompt for value before print:T ickthisoptiontoenableenteringthestartingvalueofthe

counterw
henyoustartprintinglabels.Enterthetextthatwillbeshowntotheu serbeforeprinting.
Themessagewillbeshownonthescreeneachtimewhenthelabelistobeprinted.
Set maximum number of digits:D
efinethemaximumlengthofdigitsthecountercanoccupy.
Increment or decrement:Youc andefinethatthevariablevaluewillincreaseordecreasefrom
labeltolabel.
Preview:Thefieldshowsthep reviewofthecounter,basedonyourselection.
Text Wizard - Counter Continuation

Step:Definethestepf oryourcounter.Thecounterwillincreasebythisnumberoneverylabel.
Change value every <n> labels:D
efinethenumberoflabels,whenthecounterwillchangethe
value.
Rollover when reached:E
nterthevalue,whenreached,willcausethecountertoresetthevalue
tothestartingvalue.
- 61 -
Text Wizard - Date Field
Definethepropertiesofthedatefield.Thevariablefieldwillgetthevaluefromacomputerclock.
DialogboxforTextWizardwhenDatefieldo ptionischosen
Format:S
electtheformatforyourdatefromthelist.Youcanalsoenterthec ustomformat.
Date offset:Youc anaddacertainnumbersofdays,monthsoryearstoacurrentdateandp rint
thatdateinsteadofthecurrentone.
Preview:Theprinterw
illprintthedateasshownonthePreviewfield.Thiswayyoucanseeh ow
theselecteddateformatwilllookonthelabel.
Text Wizard - Time Field

Definethepropertiesofthetimefield.Thevariablefieldwillgetthevaluefromacomputerclock.
- 62 -
DialogboxforTextWizardwhenTimefieldo ptionischosen
Format: Selecttheformatforthetimefromthelist.Youcanalsoenterthecustomformat.
Preview:TheprinterwillprintthetimeasshownonthePreviewfield.Thiswayyoucanseehow
theselectedtimeformatwilllookonthelabel.
Text Wizard - Database

Variablefieldlinkedtothedatabasegetsthevaluefromthespecifiedd atabasefield.
- 63 -
DialogboxforTextWizardwhenDatabaseo ptionischosen
Define:Clickonthisbuttontoopenthedatabasewizardthatwillhelpyoudefinethelinktothe
database.
Field:Chooseoneoftheavailabled atabasefieldsasasourceforthevariablefield.
Length:Definethemaximumlengtho fthestringinvariable.Iffieldindatabasecontainsmore
characters,theywillnotbeprinted.Thisoptionisusefulifthefieldlengthiny ourdatabaseisnot
fixed(forexampletabdelimitedASCIIfile),orifyoudon'twanttoreservespaceforallthechar-
actersindatabase'sf ield.
Text Wizard - Prefix and Suffix

Thevariableelementcanhaveaprefixandsuffixvalues.Theprefixtextisplacedinfrontofthe
variable'svalue.Thesuffixtextisplaceda ttheendofthevariable'svalue.
- 64 -
SettingPrefixandSuffixstringforthev ariabletextelement
Note:Ifyouleavetheeditfieldsempty,theprefix/suffixwillnotbeused.
Prefixandsuffixcanbeusedinsituationswheretheyarerequiredo nlyifthevariablehassetsome
value.Ifthevariableisempty,thep refix/suffixwillnotbeprintedaswell.
- 65 -
Using Barcode Wizard
Barcode Wizard
FirstpageofbarcodeWizard
BarcodeWizardguidesyoutodefineallparametersforthebarcodeo bject.
Fixed barcode data:Selectthisoptionifyouwouldliketohaveafixednon-changeablecontentof
theobject.Ifyouselectthisoption,youcanenterthetextdirectlyinthisdialogbox.
Variable text:Selectthisoption,ifyouwouldliketohavevariablecontentoftheobject.D
efining
thecontentisdefinedinthenextstep.
Note:WhenenteringvaluesforRSScompositebarcodes,youneedtoprovidethev alueforthe
linearandcomposite(2D)partsatthesametime.
UsethefollowingsyntaxforenteringvaluesforRSScompositebarcodes.T
hepipecharacter(|)is
usedtodistinguishbetweenthecomponents.
The syntax:<linearpart>|<compositep art>
The example:12345|description
Barcode Wizard - Choosing Variable Barcode

Selectthetypeofthevariablefieldyouwanttouse.
Variable name:Typeinthenameo fthevariablethatwillbelinkedtothebarcodeobjectandwill
providethevalueforit.
Thenextpageofthewizarddependsonyourselectionhere.
- 66 -
Barcode Wizard - Keyboard Input
Barcode Wizard - Counter

Onthispageofthewizard,youdefinethecountervariable.
Note:Youcanenteronlydigitsforthestartingvalue.

counterw
labeltolabel.
Text Wizard - Counter Continuation

value.
Rollover when reached:Enterthevalue,whenreached,willcausethecountertoresetthevalue
tothestartingvalue.
Barcode Wizard - Date Field

Definethepropertiesofthedatefield.Thevariablefieldwillgetthevaluefromacomputerclock.
Format:Selecttheformatforyourdatefromthelist.Youcanalsoenterthecustomformat.
Preview:Theprinterw
illprintthedateasshownonthePreviewfield.Thiswayyoucanseeh ow
theselecteddateformatwilllookonthelabel.
Barcode Wizard - Time Field

- 67 -
theselectedd ateformatwilllookonthelabel.
Barcode Wizard - Database

Variablefieldlinkedtothedatabasegetsthevaluefromthespecifiedd atabasefield.
Define:Clickonthisbuttontoopenthedatabasewizardthatwillhelpyoudefinethelinktothe
database.
Field:Chooseoneoftheavailabled atabasefieldsasasourceforthevariablefield.
Length:Definethemaximumlengtho fthestringinvariable.Iffieldindatabasecontainsmore
characters,theywillnotbeprinted.Thisoptionisusefulifthefieldlengthiny ourdatabaseisnot
fixed(forexampletabdelimitedASCIIfile),orifyoudon'twanttoreservespaceforallthechar-
actersindatabase'sf ield.
Barcode Wizard - Prefix and Suffix

Thevariableelementcanhaveaprefixandsuffixvalues.Theprefixtextisplacedinfrontofthe
variable'svalue.Thesuffixtextisplaceda ttheendofthevariable'svalue.
Note:Ifyouleavetheeditfieldsempty,theprefix/suffixwillnotbeused.
Prefixandsuffixcanbeusedinsituationswheretheyarerequiredo nlyifthevariablehassetsome
value.Ifthevariableisempty,thep refix/suffixwillnotbeprintedaswell.
Defining Objects
Defining Text Object
Toplacethetextobjectonthelabel,dothefollowing:
1. ClickontheTexticonintheToolbox.
2. Clickthepositiononthelabel,whereyouwanttoplacetheobject.
TextWizarddialogboxwillopen.
3. Definethecontentsforthetextobject.
4. ClickontheNextbuttontoadvancetothenextstepofthewizard.
5. Followon-screeninstructionsinthenextsteps.
Note: Shouldyoulaterwanttoedittheobject,selectitthendouble-clickit.T
hewizardwithprop-
ertiesappears.
Defining Text Box Object

TheTextBoxobjectenablesyoutousefree-flowtextinsidethedesignedT extBoxframewithout
beinglimitedtoaone-linetext.TocreateaTextB
oxobject,dothefollowing:
- 68 -
1. Clickonthe buttonintheToolbox.Thetextboxcursorappearsonthe
screen.
2. Movethecursortothelocationonthelabelwhereyouwanttoplacethetextboxobject
andclickonthemousebutton.Thepropertiesoftheobjectwillopen.
3. OpentheValuetabandtypeinthetextcontent.
EnteringvalueforTextBoxobject
4. ClickontheOKbutton.TheTextBoxobjectisplacedonthelabel.
5. DoubleclicktheTextBoxtoopenitsproperties.
6. GototheDetailedtabandselecttheoptionBest fit.
Note: WhenyouchangethesizeoftheTextBoxframe,thecontentwillautomaticallya lignto

thenewsize.
Allthreetextobjectsareavailableinthelabelingsoftware
- 69 -
Defining Rich Text Box (RTF) Object
TheRichTextBoxobjectenablesyoutoformattextinanykindoffonttypesandstyles.Tocreate
aRichTextBoxobject,dothefollowing:
1. Clickonthe buttonintheToolbox.Therichtextboxcursorappearson
thescreen.
2. Movethecursortothelocationonthelabelwhereyouwanttoplacethetextboxobject
andclickonthemousebutton.Therichtexteditorwillopen.
3. Enterthecontent.
4. Usethetexttoolbarintheeditortoformatthecharacters.
5. ClickontheOKbutton.TheRichTextBoxobjectisplacedonthelabel.
6. DoubleclicktheRichTextBoxtoopenitsproperties.
7. GototheDetailedtabandselecttheoptionBest fit.
ThetextsizeintheRichTextBoxobjectautomaticallychangeswhenyoure-sizeit.
Defining Barcode Object

Toplacethebarcodeobjectonthelabel,dothefollowing:
1. ClickontheBarcode iconintheToolbox.
2. Clickthepositiononthelabel,whereyouwanttoplacetheobject.
BarcodeWizarddialogboxwillopen.
3. Definethecontentsforthebarcodeobject.
4. ClickontheNextbuttontoadvancetothenextstepofthewizard.
5. Followon-screeninstructionsinthenextsteps.
Note:Shouldyoulaterwanttoedittheobject,selectitthendouble-clickit.T
hewizardwithprop-
ertiesappears.
Defining Picture Object

Toplacethepictureobjectonthelabel,dothefollowing:
1. ClickonthePictureobjectintheToolbox.
2. Clickonthelabel,whereyouwanttoplacethepicture.
TheOpendialogboxopens.
3. Browseforthepictureontheharddisk,thenclickontheOpenbutton.
hewizardordialog
boxwithpropertiesappears.
- 70 -
Defining Rectangle Object
Toplacetherectangleobjectonthelabel,dothefollowing:
1. ClickontheRectangleiconintheToolbox.
2. Clickthepositiononthelabel,whereyouwanttheupper-leftpositionoftheobjecttobe
set.
3. Dragtobottom-rightdirectionuntiltheobjectsizeisasrequested.
4. Theothermethodofpositioningtherectangleobjectonthelabelissimplyselectingthe
Rectangletoolandthenclickingthelabel.Adefault-sizedrectanglewillappearandyou
canre-sizeitusinghandlesaroundtheobject.
Note:Ifyouwanttodrawasquare,grabahandleaononeoftherectanglecorners,s im-
ultaneouslypressandholdShiftkey,thenre-sizetherectangle.As quarewillbedrawn.For
moreusefulshortcutsavailableinthesoftwarer efertothechapterShortcuts.
4. Tomovearectangletoadifferentpositionsimplyselectitanddragitelsewhereonthe
label.
hedialogboxwith
propertiesappears.
Defining Line Object

Toplacethelineobjectonthelabel,dothefollowing:
1. ClickontheLineobjectintheToolbox.
2. Definethelinestartingpointbyclickingthemouseatthestartposition.
3. Movethecursortotheendpoint,whileholdingdownthemousebutton.
Alinewillbedrawnfromthelefttorightsideofthelabel.
Note:Ifyouneedtodrawaverticalline,justclickforstartingpointthend ragthecursorinthe
up-downdirection.
Defining Ellipse Object

Toplacetheellipseobjectonthelabel,dothefollowing:
1. ClickontheEllipseiconintheToolbox.
set.
4. TheothermethodofpositioningtheobjectonthelabelissimplyselectingtheEllipsetool
andthenclickingthelabel.Adefault-sizedellipsewillappearandyoucanre-sizeit
usinghandlesaroundtheobject.
- 71 -
Note:Ifyouwanttodrawacircle,grabahandleaononeoftheellipsecorners,s imultaneously
pressandholdShiftkey,thenre-sizetheellipse.Acirclew
illbedrawn.Formoreusefulshort-
cutsavailableinthesoftwarerefertothechapterShortcuts.
4. Tomoveaellipsetoadifferentpositionsimplyselectitanddragitelsewhereonthe
label.
Defining Inverse Object

Toplacetheinverseobjectonthelabel,dothefollowing:
1. ClickontheInverseiconintheToolbox.
set.
Note:Ifyouwanttodrawasquare,grabahandleaononeoftherectanglecorners,s im-
ultaneouslypressandholdShiftkey,thenre-sizetherectangle.As quarewillbedrawn.For
moreusefulshortcutsavailableinthesoftwarer efertothechapterShortcuts.
4. Tomoveainversetoadifferentpositionsimplyselectitanddragitelsewhereonthe
label.
Curved Text
Toplaceacurvedtextobjectonthelabel,dothefollowing:
1. ClickontheCurved texticonintheToolbox.
2. Clickthepositiononthelabel,whereyouwishtoplacetheobject.
TheCurvedTextdialogboxwillopen.
3. Definethecontentsfortheobject.
4. ClickOKtoplacetheobject.
hewizardwithprop-
ertiesappears.
Using Contents Mask
Contentsmaskisveryusefulwhenyoumustdisplaytheinputdatadifferentlyonthelabel.With
contentsmaskyoucansimplyreformatthedatatosuityourneeds.
Forexample,youmustusedifferentlyformattedhumaninterpretationtextbelowbarcodethan
thedataisformattedinthebarcode.Youdonotwanttodefinetwovariablesforthispurposeand
enterthesimilardatatwice.
Themaskcharacterwillbereplacedbytheactualdataandanyotherusedcharacterwillbeused
as-is.Ifthecurrentbarcodevalueis
"AD951"
andthecontentsmaskis
"**C - ** /*/"
theresultingoutputwillbe
- 72 -
"ADC - 95 /1/"
PowerfulformattingstructurescanbedefinedusingContentsmask,butitisonlyavailablewith
barcodesthatallowcustomformattingofthehumaninterpretation.Youshouldalsomakesureto
printbarcodesasgraphics,otherwisethecontentsmaskisnotavailable.
Note:Ifyourdatacontainstheasterisk"*"character,thenyouwillhavetochangethedefault
maskcharactertosomethingelse.Itshouldbeauniquevalue,notappearinganywhereinthe
data.
ThecontentsmaskfunctionalityisavailablewithTextandBarcodeobjects.
Style Tab
IntheStyletabtheappearanceoftheobjectcanbeset.
Font:ClickonthebuttonSelecttoopenWindowsdialogboxforselectingfontfortheobject.
Note:Ifthecurrentlyselectedprinterisathermalprinter,therewillbesomeadditionalfonts
availableinthelist.Theyareprinterinternalbuilt-infontsidentifiedbyprintericoninfrontof
theirnames.
Effects:Definetheeffectsfortheobject.
l Inverse:Ifselected,textisprintedinreverse.Thisoptionisavailablemainlyfor
truetypefonts.Onlyafewthermalprinterssupportthisoptionwithinternalfonts.
l Mirror:Ifselected,textisprintedmirrored.Mostthermalprintersdonotsupportthis
option,soyouwillhavetousetruetypefontstoprintmirrortext.
l Stacked text:Ifselected,thecharacterwillnotbealignedinleft-rightordernextto
eachother,butintop-bottomorderoneontopofthenextone.Thetextorientationis
remainsthesame,justthealignmentwithintheelementchanges.
l RTL printing:Ifselected,theinternalprintertextwillbeprintedinright-to-leftorder.
ItisusefulifyouoperatingsystemdoesnothavenativeRTLsupportbutyoustillneed
toprinttextinthismanner.
Note:ForRTLprintingoptiontowork,youprinterhastohaveaninternalright-to-leftprinter
fontbuilt-in,forexample:HebreworArabicfont.Thisoptiononlyworkswithinternalprinter
fontsandnotTruetypefonts.
Font scaling:Thisisafactorthatdefines,howmuchthefontisstretchedfromitsoriginalpro-
portions.Ifthefactoris100%,thefonthasanormallook.Iffactoris200%,itmeansthatfontis
twiceaswideasnormal.Ifitis50%,thefontisstretched.
Alignment:Definehowthetextwillbealignedwithintheobject,whenusingmulti-linetext.
l None:Noalignmentisused.
l Left:Textisalignedtotheleftsideoftheobject.
l Center:Textisalignedtothecenteroftheobject.
l Right:Textisalignedtotherightsideoftheobject.
Spacing:Definethecustomspacingintheobject.
l Line:Thedistancebetweenlinesoftext.
l Character:Thedistancebetweencharactersinthelineoftext.
- 73 -
Color:ClickontheColorbuttontochangethecoloroftheobject.
Note:Textwillbeprintedincoloronlyonprintersthatsupportcolorprinting.Thesearemostly
inkjetandcolorlaserprinters,butalsosomethermalprinters.
Appearance Tab
Position and Size:Enterthenewvaluesforpositionandsizeintherelevantfields.Theoriginof

thecoordinatesystemonthelabelisupperleftcornerofthelabel.Thisdialogboxshouldbe
usedforfine-tuningtheplacementanddimensionsoftheelement.Anothermethodoffine-tuning
isusingLabelInspectorfunctionality.
Keep aspect ratio:Lockstheratiooftheelement.Whenyouchangetheheight,widthisauto-
maticallyadjustedsothattheelementisnotdistortedandvice-versa.
Rotation:Itispossibletosettherotationoftheobjectsinstepsof90degreesanti-clockwiseto
fittheappropriateposition.
Anchoring point:Setthecornerofobjectboundingboxthatisusedforpositioningtheobjecton
thelabel.Thisisthecornerwheretheelementispinnedonthelabel.Forexample,ifyouselect
theupperleftbuttonhere,thenupperleftcorneroftheobjectwillbeplacedtopositionthatisset
above.Iftheobjectisvariable,itwillenlargetotherightsideoftheanchoringpoint.Ifyouwant
theobjecttoenlargeontheleftside,settheanchoringpointtotherightside.
Using GS1-128 Wizard

Using GS1-128 Wizard
ThiswizardallowsyoutodefinethedatastructureforGS1-128b arcode.Thiskindofbarcodehas
differentareasofapplicationthatincludetradeitems,logisticunits,assetsandlocations.
TheGS1-128barcodeisanextremelyflexiblesymbology.Itallowsr epresentationofdataofvari-
ablelength,andmakesitpossibletoencodes everalpiecesofinformationinonebarcodesymbol.
Thisiscalledconcatenation.A nApplication Identifieristhef ieldoftwoormorecharactersat
thebeginningofandatavalue.Applicationidentifiersareprefixesthatuniquelyidentifythemean-
ingandtheformato fthedatafieldfollowing.Thedatafieldsareeitheroffixedorvariablelength,
dependingontheAI.
- 74 -
Step 1: Choosing the application identifier
GS1-128Wizard:Choosingapplicationidentifier
ThedialoginthefirststepofWizardallowsyoutoselecttheGS1-128b arcodedatastructure.
EachbarcodeiscomposedoutofoneormoreA pplicationIdentifiersandthecorrespondingdata.
ChooseoneoftheApplicationIdentifiersinthislist.Youcanadd,e ditordeleteApplicationIden-
tifiersfromthebarcodelaterinthep rocess.
- 75 -
GS1-128Wizard:Howcheckdigitshouldb eapplied
IfyouhaveselectedtheApplicationIdentifierwhichdataincludesa checkdigit(forexample,AI
(01)-GTIN,GlobalTradeItemNumber),thenfirstyouwillhavetoselecthowthecheckdigit
willbeapplied.T
hepossibleoptionsare:
n Automatic calculation:Checkdigitwillbecalculatedbytheapplication.
n Check digit to be entered with data:Manuallyenterthedataandcheckdigit.The
applicationwillverify,iftheenteredcheckdigitisvalid.
- 76 -
Step 2: Application Identifier Input Type
GS1-128Wizard:WherethedataforA
Iisobtainedfrom
WhentheApplicationIdentifierisselected,youwillhavetodefinew
hereisthedataforitsvalue
obtainedfrom.Therearethreepossibleo ptions:
l Fixed:Theapplicationidentifierwillhavethefixedvalueoneverylabel.
l New variable:Theapplicationidentifierwillbelinkedtothevariableandhavevariable
valueoneachlabel.Youwilldefineanewvariable.
l Use existing variable:Theapplicationidentifierwillbelinkedtothevariableandhave
variablevalueoneachlabel.Selecttheexistingvariablefromthelist.
Step 3: Entering the value for the Application Identifier

Entering fixed value for the application identifier
- 77 -
Enteringfixedvaluefortheapplicationidentifier
Ifyouhaveselectedfixedvalueinthepreviousdialogbox,youshoulde ntervaluefortheApplic-
ationIdentifierhere.TheWizardwillletyouk nowabouttherequireddataformatfortthisAIand
howlongtheAIvalues houldbe.ForsomeAI'sthefieldlengthisfixedtocertainnumberofd igits,
forothersonlythemaximumnumberofpossibledigitsisstated.Y ouwillalsoberemindedofthe
AI'sproperfieldformat(numeric,alphanumeric)ifyouenterincorrectdata.
Entering variable value for the application identifier
- 78 -
Creatingnewvariablefortheapplicationidentifier
Ifyouhaveselectednewvariablevalueinpreviousdialogbox,anewv ariablefieldwillbecre-
ated.Youwillhavetoprovidesomeinformationa boutvariablebeingused.
Calculating Check Digit

Selecthowthecheckdigitwillbecalculated.
1. Youcanenterthecheckdigitwiththedataandthesoftwarewillvalidateit.
2. Thesoftwarecancalculatethecheckdigit.
Defining New Variable

Definethepropertiesofthevariablethatwillprovidevalueforthea pplicationidentifier.
Prompt:Enterthetextthatw
illbedisplayedtotheuseratprinttime.
Format:Definetheformatofthevariable.
Counter:Ifthevariablewillb eacounter,defineitsproperties.
- 79 -
Step 4: List of selected application identifiers
Listingtheselectedapplicationidentifiers
ThisisthelaststepoftheGS1-128Wizard.Hereyoucanadd,edito rdeleteApplicationIden-
tifiersanddefineseparatoramongthem.
Application Identifiers selected:Inthisfieldallselectedapplicationidentifiersforthebarcode
arelistedintheorderofcreation.Youcanchangetheorderwiththearrowbuttons.
Add, Edit or Delete buttons:Usethesebuttonstoaddadditionalapplicationidentifiersande dit
ordeleteexistingones.
Input Application identifier delimiter:Defineleftandrightseparatoramongdifferentapplication
identifiers.T
hedefaultsettingistouseroundparenthesis.
Preview:Asampleb arcodecontentbasedonyourapplicationidentifierselectionisshownh ere.
ClicktheFinishbuttontoexitthewizard.
- 80 -
Selecting Barcode Type
Settings for Advanced Barcodes
GS1-128 Barcode
ThisbarcodeiscombinedfromoneormoreinputvaluesandstandardA I-ApplicationIdentifiers.
EachAImustbefollowedbythestandardv alues.Thesevaluescanbefixedorvariable.
WhentheGS1-128barcodeisselected,theBarcodedatafieldintheBarcode Wizarddialogbox
isdisabled.Todefinethecontentsofthebarcode,clicktheNextbutton.
FromthelistofavailableApplicationIdentifiersselectthefirstidentifier.Itwillbewrittenin
bracketbellowthebarcode.
WhentheApplicationIdentifierincludesalsocheckdigits,youhavetodefinewhetheritwillbe
calculatedorenteredtogetherwithdata.
Next,definehowyouwillsetthevaluesfortheselectedidentifier.Y
oumayenterfixedvalueor
definevariablevalue.
Fixed values
Whenvaluesarefixed,theWizarddialogboxwillinformyouwhatise xpectedtobeentered
digitsthemaximumplaces...
ThedefinedAIispresentedonthelistofselectedApplicationIdentifiers.C
licktheAddbuttonto
addan ewAIorontheDeletetodeleteexistingone.
ShouldyouneedtochangetheAIandthedata,selecttheAIandclicktheEditbutton.
YoucansortthelistingofAIbyusingtheUpa ndDownbuttons.
AllthesettingscanbepreviewedonthePreviewf ield.
TheseparatoramongApplicationIdentifiercanbedefinedbyenteringtherequiredseparatorfor
theleftandfortherightsideoftheApplicationI dentifier.Thedefaultseparatorisbracket.
Variable values
GS1-128barcodesupportskeyboardvariablesthevariabledataw
illbeenteredfromthekey-
board.
YoucandefinethePromptthemessagefortheoperator,whowillenterthedata.
Thedatacanbenumericonlyortheoperatorisallowedtoenterallc haracters.
Thevaluecanbefixedorincremented/decrementedoneverylabelorc ertainnumberoflabels
withthedesiredstep.
ThevariabledatawillbewritteninthePreviewf ieldasaseriesof"A"character.
Whenyouaresatisfiedwiththesettings,clicktheFinishtoputtheG
S1-128barcodetothelabel.
PDF 417 2D Code
General tab
Y expansion factor
Thisoptiondefinestheheightofthebarcodesymbol.
Security tab
- 81 -
Accordinglytothestandard,youcanselectamong9levelsofsecurity.H ighersecuritylevel
allowsmorereliablereadingregardlesserrors,b utthebarcodesymbolisbigger.
Truncatedbarcodescanbeusedwherelabeldamageisunlikelyandthereisnodemandforvery
highlevelofsecurity.Thetruncatedsymboliss maller.
Aspect Ratio
Itistheratiobetweennumberofcolumnsandnumberofrows.
Contents
PDF417codecanencode:
l Full128ASCIIcharacterset
l All128ExtendedASCIIcharacters
l 8-bitbinarydata
DataMatrix Barcode
General tab
Y expansion factor
Thisoptiondefinestheheightofthebarcodesymbol.
Aspect Ratio
Itistheratiobetweennumberofcolumnsandnumberofrows.Enterthew
antedvalueinthe
fields.
Details tab
ECC Type
ErrorCorrectionCodesdefinethesecuritylevel.Youcanselectonefromthestandardlevelsin
thepull-downmenu.
Format ID
Thisoptiondefineswhichcharactersetwillbeusedinthebarcode.Youc anselectoneofthe
formatswiththefollowingfilter.
01 and 0..9, space
11
02 and A..Z, space
12
03 and A..Z, 0..9, space
13
04 and A..Z, 0..9, space,.-/
14
05 and 7-bit ASCII lower part (from 0 to
15 127)
06 and all
16
07 and 7-bit ASCII
17

- 82 -
Theformatsfrom1to7allowthedatalengthto500characters,whilef ormatsfrom11to17allow
to2000characters.
Border Size
Factorsfrom1to15setthedimensionoftheborderintheshapeofthec haracterL.
DataMatrixcanencode:
l Full128ASCIIcharacterset
l AllISOcharacters
l AllEBCDICcharacters
MaxiCode
MaxiCodeisapublicdomain,machinereadablesymbolsystemoriginallycreatedandusedby
UnitedParcelService(UPS).Suitablefortrackingandmanagingtheshipmentofpackages,it
resemblesabarcode,butusesdotsarrangedinahexagonalgridinsteadofbars.
AMaxiCodesymbol(internallycalled"Bird'sEye"or"Target")appearsasa1inchsquare,witha
bullseyeinthemiddle,surroundedbyapatternofhexagonaldots.Itcanstoreabout93characters
ofinformation,andupto8MaxiCodesymbolscanbechainedtogethertoconveymoredata.The
centeredsymmetricalbullseyeisusefulinautomaticsymbollocationregardlessoforientation,and
itallowsMaxiCodesymbolstobescannedevenonapackagetravelingrapidly.
AllMaxiCodesymbolsincludeaStructuredCarrierMessagecontainingkeyinformationabouta
package.ThisinformationisprotectedwithastrongReed-Solomonerrorcorrectioncode,allowing
ittobereadevenifaportionofthesymbolisdamaged.Thesefieldsinclude:
Anationalpostalcode.MaxiCodesupportsbothnumericpostalcodes(e.g.aZIPCode),andalpha-
numericpostalcodes.
l A3-digitcountrycodeencodedperISO3166
l A3-digitclassofservicecodeassignedbythecarrier
l A20-charactertrackingnumber
l A2-4charactercodeindicatingtheoriginatingcarrier
AdditionalinformationcanbeencodedinaMaxiCodesymbol,butitmayrequirereducederrorcor-
rectionprotection:
l Purchaseordernumber
l Customerreference
l Invoicenumber
ThelabelingsoftwaresupportstwoMaxicodemodes:
l Mode2-Usedfornumericpostalcodes(primaryuseisUSdomesticdestinations)
l Mode3-Usedforalphanumericpostalcodes(primaryuseisinternationaldestinations)
Youcandefinethevaluesforindividualdatafields.Thevaluescanbefixed,justtypeinthevalue.
YoucanalsolinktheMaxicodefieldswithsomeofthevariabledefinedinyourlabeltemplate.

- 83 -
Edit Barcode Dialog Box
ThisdialogboxisdisplayedwhenyouclicktheDefineb uttonontheBarcodedialogbox.
Inthisdialogboxyouspecifythetypeofbarcodeyouwanttouseo nthelabelandallbarcodeprop-
erties:
n Howthebarcodeshouldbegenerated
n Automaticormanualcheckdigitcalculation
n Positionofthehumanreadable
n Otheroptionsdependentonthebarcodetype
ClicktheoptionEnable previewtopreviewthebarcode.Thebarcodesymbolwasdisplayedon
therights ideofthedialogbox.
ClicktheOKbuttontoconfirmthechangesyoumade.
ClicktheCancelbuttontodiscardthechanges.
General Tab
Onthistabyoucanselectthebarcodetypeyouwanttouseandthep ropertiesofthebarcode.
EditbarcodedialogboxGeneraltab
Type of barcode:T
herequiredbarcodesymbologyisselectedfromthetreelistofavailableb ar-
codes.
Symbol height: Theh eightdimensionofabarcodecanbespecifiedeitherbyenteringavalueh ere
orbyresizingthebarcodesymboldirectlyonthelabel.
- 84 -
Narrow bar width:Thewidthofthenarrowestbarinthebarcode.Thisisthebasebarwidth.The
widthsforallwiderbarsarecalculatedbytheformula:'narrowbarwidth'*'ratio'.Theresultof
theformulamustbeawholenumber(itrepresentsnumberofpixels).
Ratio:Thisistheratiobetweenn arrowestandwidestbarinthebarcode.Theratioislockedfor
majorityofb arcodesandyoucannotchangeit.However,forsomebarcodesyoucanchangeitand
adjustthebarcodesizetoyourneeds.
Space correction:Enablethisoptiontoinsertadditionalwhitepixelsforeachwhitespaceinthe
barcode.TheoptionisusefulforInkJetprinterswheretheinkcanspilloutandyouneedanextra
spacebetweenbarsforthereadertodecodethebarcodeproperly.
Base object width:Showsthew
idthofanarrowestbarinthebarcode.
Print barcode as graphics:S electthisoptiontoconvertthebarcodeobjectintotheimageand
senttotheprintera simage.Ifnotselected,thebarcodewillprintasprinterinternalobject.Print-
ingb arcodesasinternalprinterobjectswillspeeduplabelprinting,becauselessdatamustb etrans-
ferredtotheprinter.
Note:TodisabletheoptionPrintbarcodeasgraphics,youmustusetheprinterdriversthatship
withthesoftware,NiceLabelPrinterDrivers.
Enable preview:Enablethisoptiontoseethepreviewoftheselectedbarcodetype.Thepreview
willshowontherightsideofthedialogbox.
Check Digit Tab

Thistabisusedtospecifyifyouwanttousethecheckdigitintheb arcodeornot.Thisoptioncan
onlybemodifiedforthebarcodesthata llowyoutoenableanddisablethecheckdigit.
Somebarcodestandardsincludethecheck-digitbythedefinitionanditcannotbeomitted.An
exampleofsuchbarcodesareEANandUPCbarcodes,wherecheckdigitcannotbedisabledat
all.Butsomecodesallowy outofreelyenable/disablecheck-digit.
Note:Itisalwaysrecommendedtoincludethecheckdigitcharacterinthebarcode.Itwill
increasethescanningreliability.
- 85 -
EditbarcodedialogboxCheckdigittab
Youcanchoosewhetheryouwanttoinputthecheckdigitvalue,orlettheprogramcalculateitfor
you:
Auto-generate check digit:Checkd igitiscalculatedbythesoftware.Youmustonlyenterthebar-
coded ata.Forexample:whenusingEAN-13barcodeinputthefirst12digits,c heckdigiton13th
placewillbecalculatedandaddedautomatically.
Verify the provided check digit:U sethiscommandwhenyouwanttoenterthevalueforthe
check-digit.A
tprinttimetheenteredcheckdigititwillbeverifiedforvalidity.
Enable custom check digit algorithm:Youcansetsomeotheralgorithmy ouwanttouseforcal-
culatingthecheckdigit.ClickonthebuttonSelecttochoosethealgorithm.
Human Readable Tab

Onthistabyoucansettheoptionsregardingpositionandformatofthebarcodeinterpretation.
No interpretation:Barcodeo bjectdoesnothaveanyhumaninterpretation.
Below barcode:Alldataencodedinthebarcodeisplacedbeneaththebarcodesymbolashuman
readablec haracters.
Above barcode:Alldataencodedinthebarcodeisplacedabovethebarcodesymbolashuman
readablec haracters.
Font:UsingtheFontb utton,youcanchoosethesuitablefontforauto-translationtext.Theo ption
Auto font scalingwilla djustthefontoftheautotranslationtexttothesizeofthebarcode.
Note:Youcanonlyformatthefontforhumaninterpretation,ifthebarcodeisprintedasgraph-
ics.Whenprintingbarcodeasinternalprinterobject,theprinterwillprinttheinterpretationusing
residentbuilt-infonts.
Contents masks etsthecustomformatofthehumaninterpretation.
- 86 -
EditbarcodedialogboxHumanreadabletab
Details Tab
Onthistabyoucandefineadvancedsettingsforthebarcode.
Note:Notalloftheseoptionsareavailableforallbarcodesandprinters.
Include quiet zones:Bycheckingthisfieldyouset,thatthebarcodewillhavesomewhitespace

inthef rontandintheendforincreasedreadability.
Descender bars:Somebarsofa barcodewillbelongerthanothers.Thisistypicallyusedwith
EANa ndUPCbarcodesthathavelongerbarsinthebegging,inthemiddlea ndintheendofthe
barcode.
Mirror horizontally/mirror vertically:T hebarcodecanbemirroredverticallyandhorizontally.
barcodewillu suallyhavetobeprintedasgraphicsforthisoptiontobeaccessible.
Intercharacter gap:Somebarcodesallowyoutochangethegapbetweencharactersinthebar-
code(e.g.Code-39).
Include EAN white space:Beforeandafterthebarcodeaspecialcharacterisinserted,< or>.It
indicatesthewidthofthebarcode.Ifyouputanyothero bjectintheextentofthebarcode,itwill
reducethereadabilityofthebarcode.ThisoptionisonlyvalidforEANbarcodes.
- 87 -
EditbarcodeDetailstab
Supported Barcode Types

Barcode Barcode Types
Group
EAN and EAN-8, EAN-8 + 2-digit supplement, EAN-8 + 5-digit supplement,
UPC EAN-13, EAN-13 + 2-digit supplement, EAN-13 + 5-digit sup-
plement, EAN-14, DUN-14, UPC Case Code, UPC-A, UPC-A + 2-
digit supplement, UPC-A + 5-digit supplement, UPC-E, UPC-E +
2-digit supplement, UPC-E + 5-digit supplement, UPC-E(1), GS1-
128, SSCC, Bookland, Addon 2, Addon 5
Linear Interleaved 2 of 5, ITF 14, ITF 16, Code 39, Code 39 Tri Optic,
Code 39 Full ASCII, Code 32, Code 93, CODE 128 (A, B and C
subsets), Code 128 Pharmacy, MSI, Codabar, Postnet-32, Postnet-
37, Postnet-52, Postnet-62, Kix, Pharmacode, Plessy, Anker
GS1 Linear GS1 Databar symbologies
Databar RSS14, RSS14 Truncated, RSS14
Stacked, RSS14 Stacked Omnidirectional, RSS Limited, RSS
Expanded
Composite GS1 Databar symbologies
RSS14, RSS14 Truncated, RSS14 Stacked, RSS14 Stacked Omni-
directional, RSS Limited, RSS Expanded, UPC-A, UPC-E, EAN-8,
EAN-13, EAN.UCC-128 & CC-A/B, EAN.UCC 128 & CC-C
Two-dimen- 2D-Pharmacode, PDF-417, DataMatrix, MaxiCode, Aztec, QR,
sional MicroQR, Codablock F, MicroPDF.

- 88 -
Working with Images
Place Images on the Label
Toinsertanimagetothelabel,usethePictureobjectinthetoolboxandbrowsefortheimagefile
onthedisk.ThesupportedimagetypesaredisplayedintheBrowsedialogbox.Iftheimagesizeis
toobigforthecurrentlabeldimensions,theimagewillbeproportionallyre-sizedtofitintothe
label.Youcanalsofreelyre-sizetheimagebydraggingthehandlessurroundingit.Theimagecan
bere-sizedproportionallyors tretchedinbothdirections.
Theimagescanalsobeplacedonthelabelfromtheclipboardo rimportedfromanotherapplic-
ations,suchasgraphicaldesigners,andscanningprograms,u singeithertheInsertObjectorPaste
commandfromtheEditmenu.Inbothcases,thegraphicsisembeddedinthelabelfile.
Note:WhenyouinsertthegraphicsasOLEobjectonthelabel(copy/pastefromothersoftware),
theentiredesignenvironmentofthatothersoftwareisavailableinlabeld esign.Whenyoudouble
clicksuchOLEobject,thatotherapplicationo pensonthelabel.WhenusingOLEobject,the
labelprocessingmightb eslower.Alabelalsooccupiesmorespaceonthediskandtakesmore
RAM.If possible, avoid using OLE objects on the label.
Onceyouplaceafixedpictureonthelabel,youcanembeditinintothelabel.Thepicturewillbe
savedinsidethelabel,soyounolongern eedtheoriginalpictureonthedisk.Itmakesthelabel
moreportable.I fyoucopythelabeltosomecomputerthepicturegoeswiththelabel.
Therearethefollowingtypesofimageembedding:
l Toembedtheselectedimageincurrentthelabel,openthepicturepropertiesandselect
theoptionEmbed into label.
l ToembedallimagesintothecurrentlabelusethecommandTransformations ->
Embed all Pictures into Label.
l Toenableautomaticembeddingofallimagesthatyouwillplaceonthelabelfromnow
on,enabletheoptionEmbed graphics into labelinTools->Options.
Use Variable Images

Whenyouusevariablepicturesonthelabel,usuallyyouwillprovidethepathandfilenameofthe
picturestoredinsomefilesystem.Thelabelings oftwarewilllocatetheimagefileandusethepic-
tureonthelabel.T
hepicturenamecanbeacquiredfromdifferentsources(contentsproviders):
keyboardprompt,fieldinadatabase,resultofsomefunctionetc.
Tocreateavariablepictureobject,dothefollowing:
1. Makesureyoualreadyhaveanappropriatevariabledesignedthatwillstorethepathand
nameofthepictureonthedisk.
2. ClickonthesmallarrowbuttonnexttothePictureobject inthetool-
box.
3. Fromthedrop-downmenuselecttheoptionUse Existing Variable.
4. Selecttheappropriatevariablefromthelistofavailablevariables.
5. Clickonthelabelwhereyouwanttocreatethevariableimageobject.
- 89 -
Hint!Ifallimagesareofthesamef ileformatandyoustoreallimagesinthesamefolderyou
candefinea prefixandsuffixtothevariable.Whenthevariablewillobtaintheimagenameas
itsvalue,prefixwillprovidethepathtotheimageands uffixwillprovidethefileextensions.This
waythewholepathandextensiono fthegraphicsfilewillbeaddedautomatically,youjusthave
toprovidetheimagename.
For example:Ifyousetthev ariableprefixto"C:\GRAPHICS\"andsuffixto".JPG"w

hilethe
variablehasthevalue"ROSE",theresultwillbe" C:\GRAPHICS\ROSE.JPG".Thelabelingsoft-
warewilltrytolocatethisimagea nduseitonthelabel.
Whenyoudefinegraphicsasanvariableobject(somevariabledefinesthepathanfilenameofthe
picture),thelabelingsoftwaredoesnotknowthesizeo fthepictureinadvance,becausethis
informationisprovidedonlyatp rintorpreviewtime.Untilthepicturenameisknown,thepicture
isp reviewedasaquestionmark.
Usuallyyouwillprinttheimagesfromfilesthatoriginateinsomef ilesystem.However,youcan
alsousetheimagesthatarestoredinthed atabaseBLOBfields.Inthiscasethereisnofilename
onthedisk;thew
holeimageisinfactstoredinthedatabase.
Using Transparent Images

NiceLabelsupportstheimagetransparency(opacity).Transparentimagesarewithoutanyback-
ground,butuseasee-throughbackground.Youcanstackthetransparentimagesontopofeach
otheronthelabelandthetopimagewillnotcutrectangularshapeoutoftheimageslowerinthe
stack.TransparencyishonoredwhenyouuseNiceLabelprinterdriversandalsowhenprintingto
non-NiceLabel,Postscriptandfull-colorprinters.
Youmustusethevalidimagefileformatsthatsupportstransparency.Thepopularformatare
PNG,PSDandWMF.
Note:Ifyouembedyourimagesintothelabel,makesureyouhavetheoptionCompress embed-
ded graphics stored in the labelenabledintheprogrampreferences.
Using Variable Pictures from Blob Fields

YoucanusethepicturesstoredinthedatabaseBLOBfields.Thesedatabasef ieldsdonotcontain
thereferencetotheimagelocationinsomefiles ystem(pathandfilename),butcontaintheimage
itself.Thelabelingsoftwarewillr eadthedatafromtheBLOBfield.
Ifthedatafromblobfieldisidentifiedastheimageitwilldisplaya stheimageonthelabel,when
youlinksuchdatabasevariablewiththep ictureobject.Youcanconnectsuchfieldtoanylabel
object,notonlyp ictureobject.Butthefieldvaluewillbeasfollows:
[IMAGEext=XXX]ID
where:
XXXs tandsfortheimageextensionthatdefinestheimagetype
IDstandsfortheinternalnumberthatidentifiese achimagefromthedatabaseuniquely.
WhenyouusetheBLOBfieldswithMSSQLdatabaseserver,youcanembedd ifferentimage
typesintothefields(BMP,JPEG,GIF,PCX,TIFF,PNG,T GA,PXM,ICO,JP2,J2K).However,
whenyouusesomeotherdatabasetype,n otalltypesmightbeaccessible.Bitmap(BMP)formatis
alwayssupported.

- 90 -
Handle Missing Images
Thelabelingsoftwareremembersthepathandfilenameofthepicturethatyouplaceo nthelabel.
Eachtimeyouopenthelabel,thelabelingsoftwarechecksifthepicturesisaccessibleandthen
usesitonthelabel.Ifthepictureismissing,y ouwillseeawarningdialogbox.Youcan:
l Ignoretheerrorandtemporarilydesignthelabelwithouttheneededpicture.
l Discardthemissingpictureandpermanentlyremoveitfromthelabel.
l Browsetothemissingpictureifyouhavechangedthepicturefolderlocationorfile
name.
Designing Objects with Relative Positions

Duringtheregularlabeldesignprocessyouputtheobjectsonthecertains potonthelabelandthey
occupythatspacewheneverthelabelprints.I fyoulinkobjectwithvariables,theobjectsbecome
variableobject.I flinkedvariablescontainmoredata,theobjectswillusuallyincreasetheirsize
andoccupymorespace.Youmustbecarefultoanticipatethem aximumvariablelengthanddesign
yourobjectsaccordinglysotheobjectsd onotoverlapeachotherorexceedthelabelboundaries.
However,ins omecasesyouneedtheobjecttochangeitsplacementonthelabel.
For example:Youhaveamulti-linetextobjectandbarcodeonthelabel.Thebarcodemust
alwaysprintb elowthetextobject.Tosolvetheproblem,youmustlinktheobjectstogether.The
textobjectisaparentobject,thebarcodeislinkedtoisasachildobject.Youcanlockthevertical
positionofthebarcodetothebottomofthetextobject.Youcanalsodefinetheoffsetbetweenthe
object.
Seetheschemebelow.Thebarcodechangesitsverticalplacement.Thev erticaldistancebetween
thetextandbarcodeobjectisalways1cm,n omatterthenumberoflinesinthetextobject.
Variablepositioningofthebarcodeobject(linkedtothebottomofthetextobject)
Theplacementofeachlabelobjectcanbevariable.Youcandefinethep lacementbasedonthe
labelborderorbasedonthedistancefromsomeo therlabelobject.Ineachcase,youcandefine
theoffsetfromthebordero rotherobject.Ofcourse,youcandefineobjecthorizontalandvertical
relativepositionsindependentlyofeachother.
Toenabletherelativepositioningoftheobject,dothefollowing:
1. Opentheobject'sproperties.
2. GototheAppearancetab.
3. ClicktheAdvancedbuttonintheAnchoringPointsection.
4. Definetheappropriatehorizontalandverticalrelativeposition.
5. ClickOKwhenready.
- 91 -
Whendefiningtherelativeobjectpositionsyoumightalsowanttoenablethevariablelabelsizing.
Thelengthofthelabelcanalsoadapttothes izeoftheobjects.
Rules for Relative Positioning
l Objectpositionscanberelativetoanotherobjectborders.
l Objectpositionscanberelativetoanotherlabelborders.
l Objectverticalpositionscanberelativetotheobjectsonthebackside.
l Youcandefineoffsetsbetweenobjectsandborders.
l Youcanenablethevariablelabelsizing.Whensomeobjectwithrelativepositioning
overlapsthelabelborders,thelabelingsoftwarecanadjustthelabellengthand
increase/decreasethelabeldimensions.
l Variablelabelsizingtakesintoconsiderationtheothersideofthelabelaswell(if
doublesidedprintingisenabled).
l Whenyouexportthelabeltoprinter(File->Export->ExporttoPrinteronsupported
printers),thelinksbetweentheobjectbreakandtheobjectswillhavefixedpositions.
l Whenyougroupobjectstheniftheselectedobjectsaredependentofsomeother
objects,theparentandslaveobjectsareallgroupedtogether.
l Youcannotdeletetheparentobject.Firstremovethelinkstothechildobjectssoit
becomesstand-aloneobject,thenremoveit.
Rotating Label
Torotatethelabelonthescreen,dothefollowing:
1. Clickonthe iconinthetopleftcorneroflabeldesignarea(whereverticalandhori-
zontalrulercollide).
2. Thelabelwillrotatefor90clockwise.
Eachclickonthebuttonwillrotatethelabelforadditional90degrees.T heinitialrotatepositionis
portrait.Eachclickwillrotatethelabeltothenextposition.Thepositionsinlineare:portrait,land-
scape,r otatedportrait,rotatedlandscape.
Rotatingthelabelonscreenwillhelpyoudefinelabeleasier,whentheobjectsonthelabelmust
beprintedrotated,butyouwanttobeabletodesignthelabelintheupsideorientation.
Note:Ifyoudonotu seNiceLabelPrinterDriveroryourprinterdoesnotsupport180printing,
thenonlytworotationsarepossible(portraitandlandscape).
Selecting Objects
Toselecttwoormoreobjects,youshouldpressthe<Shift>key,a ndholddown,whileclickingthe
objectwithamouse.
Theobjectscanbeselected,cut,copied,pastedandeditedwithther ightmousebutton.Ifyouclick
therightmousebuttonontheobject,themenushowsalltheavailablecommands.Notethatthese
commandsaree quivalenttocorrespondentmenucommands.
- 92 -
Youcanalsochangetheanchoringpointofaselectedobjectbyholding<
CTRL>whileclicking
theplaceholders(cornersoftheboundingb ox)oftheobject.
Editing Objects
Toeditthepropertiesoftheobject,dothefollowing:
1. Double-clicktheobjectonthelabel.
Thedialogboxwithobjectpropertieswillopen.
Note:Youcanalsopressthe<Enter>key,whiletheobjectisselected.
2. Makemodificationstotheobjectproperties.
Moving Objects
Tomovetheobjectonthelabel,dothefollowing:
1. Selecttheobject.
2. Clickontheobjectwiththeleftmousebutton.
3. Holdthemousekeypressed.
4. Movethepositionofthecursoronthescreen.
Theobjectwillmovewiththecursor.
Note:Whenyoumovetheobject,itfadesinthepreviewwindow,sothatyoumaybeabletopos-
itionitmoreaccurately.Theopacitywillreturntonormalwhentheobjectisplacedinitsnew
position.
Aligning Objects
Firstyouhavetoselectobjectsthatyouwanttoalign.
Note:Allobjectsarealignedrelativelytothefirstselectedobject.
Thenclickappropriatebuttonsinthe Design toolbartoalignselectedobjectstoeachother.If

Aligntoolbarisnotvisible(bydefaultitislocatedontheveryrightsideo fthewindow),enablethe
DesigntoolbarinToolbaroptioninViewmenu.
Youcanalignobjectsto:
Left
Right
Horizontalcenter
Top
Bottom
- 93 -
Verticalcenter
Youcanalsodistributeobjectevenly,sothatspacingbetweenthemisequal:
Horizontally
Vertically
Note:Ifyouholdthe<CTRL>keywhileclickingthebuttons,objectsarea lignedrelativeto
labelandnottothefirstselectedobject.
Resizing Objects
Tore-sizetheobjectonthelabel,dothefollowing:
1. Selecttheobject.
Theselectedobjectisframedwitharectangle.
2. Clickononeofthesmallrectanglesinthecornersoftherectangle.
3. Holdthemousekeypressed.
4. Movethepositionofthecursoronthescreen.
Theobjectwillre-sizewiththecursor.
Rotating Objects
Torotatetheobject,dothefollowing:
1. Selecttheobject.
2. Clickonthe iconinthedesigntoolbar.
Theobjectwillberotatedfor90clockwise.
Note:Ifthedesigntoolbarisnotvisible,selectthecommandToolbarsintheV
iewmenu,then
clickontheDesign.
Grouping Objects
Youcanworkwithindividualobjectsonthelabel,oryoucangrouptheobjectsintogroupsof
objects.Whenyougrouptwoormoreobjectsintoagroup,theobjectsbehaveasonesingleobject
onthelabel.Ins omecasesthegroupingfeaturewillmakethelabeldesigneasier.
Togroupobjectsonthelabel,dothefollowing:
1. Selecttwoormoreobjectsonthelabel.
2. SelecttheGroupfromTransformationsmenu.
Theindividualobjectswillbegroupedintoonegroup.
Note:ToungrouptheobjectsinagroupyoumustusethecommandUngroupfromT
rans-
formationsmenu.
- 94 -
Clipart Galleries
Thedistributionoflabelingsoftwareincludesalibraryoffrequentlyu sedclipartimagesthatyou
canuseonyourlabels.Imagesarestoredinbitmap(.GIF,.JPG)andvector(.WMF)fileformats.
ClipartGalleriesincorporateusefulimagesfromretail,logistics,c hemical,automotiveandother
industries.SubsetofthesegalleriesisincludedwithinthetwoFontfiles,butforthewholecol-
lectionofavailables ymbolsyoushouldbrowsethegalleries.
Font Files
Alongwiththelabelingapplicationyouhavealsogottwofontswithg raphicalsymbols.Youcan
usethemonyourlabels.Theycontainfrequentlyu sedcaresymbols(usedintextileindustry),sym-
bolsforhandlingdangerousm aterials(usedinchemicalindustry)andmanyotherusefulindustry
symbols.T
hefontsarenotautomaticallyinstalledonyoursystem,butshouldyour equirethem,
theyarestoredonyourCD-ROM.TheyareaccessiblefromthefolderX:\Utility\Fonts,whereX
representstheletterofCD-ROMdriveinyoursystem.
ThefontsareinstandardTrueTypeformatandcanbeinstalledusingF
ontsutilityinControlPanel.
Theyareaccompaniedwithtwodocumentf ilesthatincludeallsymbolsfromthefontsinaeasily
scannedformattedtable.
CharactermapofCareSymbolsFont-CARESYM.TTF
- 95 -
CharactermapofEPSymbolsFont-EPSYM.TTF
Supported Graphics Formats

Thefollowinggraphicalformatsaresupported:
File extension Graphics type
BMP, DIB, Windows Bitmap
RLE
GIF CompuServer Bitmap
JPG, JPEGM JPEG Bitmap
JPE
TIFF, TIF, TIFF Bitmap
FAX, G3N, G3F
PNG Portable Network Graphics
WMF Windows Metafile
EMF Enhanced Windows Metafile
ICO Windows Icon
CUR Windows Cursor
TGA, TARGA, Targa Bitmap
VDA, ICB,
VST, PIX
PXM, PPM, Portable Pixmap, GreyMap,
PGM, PBM BitMap
JP2 JPEG2000
J2K, JPC JPEG2000 Code Stream
PCX Paintbrush
PSD Adobe Photoshop
PDF Adobe Portable Document
Format
- 96 -
Working with Text Objects
Therearetwomodesofoperation,whichcanbesetbysettingprogramp references.Thefirst
(default)is"Onscreenedit".Thismeans,y oucanentertextdirectlyonthelabel,similartoaword
processorp rogram.Whenyouhavetypedthecontents,youcancanceltypingbypressing< ESC>
key,orconfirmitbypressing<CTRL+ENTER>.Thetexto bjectiscreated.
Thesecondmodeimmediatelyopensthedialogboxforthetext,wherey oucanenterthecontents
andsetallotherpropertiesofthetext.Thisd ialogboxcanalsobeopenedanytimebydoubleclick-
ingthetextobjecto rbyrightclickingtheobjectandselectingEditfrommenu.
Working with Variable Data

Dynamic Data Overview
Youmaywanttoprintlabelsonwhichdatachangesforeachlabel,fore xample,counters,serial
numbers,dateandtime,weight,articlepicturesT oaccommodatethechangingdata,thelabeling
applicationcaneasilyb eusedtoformatlabelsusingvariabledata,specialfunctionsonvariables,
anddatabases.
Thereareseveraltypesofvariablesyoucanchoose,andfunctions,w hichyoudefine,tobestsuit
yourneeds.Datathatmustbeprintedasa variableispreparedatthetimeofprinting,andcanbe
enteredintheprogramfromdifferentsourcesi.e.keyboard,databases,systemclock,e tc.Thevari-
abledatacanbethesameforaquantityoflabelsor/ands pecificforonelabelonly.
Tounderstandhowvariabledataishandled,afewtermsmustbeexplained:v ariables,functions
anddatabaseaccess.
Variables
Variablesinthislabelingapplicationaremuchlikeordinaryvariables;theysimplydon'thave
constantvalue.Thebasicideaofvariableswastoallowyoutotypethevariablevaluejust
beforeprintingthelabel,b utthishasexpandedalot.Youcannowautomaticallygetcorrect
valuef romadatabaseorperformacalculationonexistingvariablesandtaketheresultasavari-
ablevalue.
Avariablealsohasseveralproperties:itsname,type(text,numeric,d ate),maximallengthof
valueincharactersandmanymore.Oneotherimportant,butfixedpropertyistheinputforspe-
cificvariable(keyboard,d atabase,function,systemclock).
Functions
Functionsareverypowerfultool,whichoffersalmostunlimitedpossibilitiestotheuser,when
processingdataforthelabel.Thefunctiontakessomev ariablesasinput,makesomeprocessing
onthedata,andreturntheresultinoneormorevariablesthatcontainnewvalues.Complexityof
functionv ariesfromsimpleconcatenatingoftwovariablestoverycomplexmanipulationo f
externaldata.
Forexample,youcanusefunctionstoconcatenatetwostringsofdatatooneiftheyareseparate
indatabaselikeFIRST_NAME+LAST_NAME.Youc analsodonumericcalculationsonvari-
ables.Thatwayyoucanforexampleh avetheweightonalabeldisplayedinpounds,although
theweightind atabaseisinkilograms.Usingthebuilt-inVisualBasicscriptingyouc anaddany
functionalitytothelabelingsoftwareyoucanpossiblyneed.
Database Access
- 97 -
Ifyouhaveexistingdatabaseonyourcomputer(ornetwork)youcanu sethatdatabasetoprint
labels.Simplycreateaspecialdatabasefunctionthatgivesyouvariablesyoucanusetoaccess
thespecificrecordsiny ourdatabase.Thatwayyoucancompletelyautomatetheprocessofprint-
ingthelabelsforyourproduct.
Forexample,asnewproductsarecreated,youfillaspecialtablewiths erialnumbersofthose
products.Theapplicationthenusesthistablea ssourcetoprintappropriatelabels.
Contents Providers
Contents Providers
Contents Providerisanexpressionf oranymethodthatcanbeusedasansourceofdatafor
objectsonthelabel.Itisapplicabletoalllabelobjectsthatcanhavesomesortofd ataassociated
withthem(Text,Textbox,Richtextbox,BarcodeandP icture).
Thecontentsproviderforobjectscanbeoneofthefollowing:
Fixed When you select Fixed, you can enter a desired value in the edit
box. This value will remain the same on each label. To edit the
text, all standard Windows editing features (cut, copy, and paste)
can be used. If you need to enter some special character, that is
not accessible via keyboard, click the button with the arrow to the
right of the dialog box. You can also right-click anywhere in the
edit box and select "Insert special character" from the menu.
Variable When the Variable option is selected, you can connect any vari-
able field to the object, just select the appropriate variable name
from the list. This approach will allow you to change the object
value on the labels.
Object is connected to some variable. The variable is defined on
the label. Its type can be Keyboard Input, Counter, Date/Time
field etc. When variable's value changes, the change will be reflec-
ted in the appearance of the selected object.
If no variable is defined on the label, you should first create one.
Click Wizard button to start Variable Wizard, that will guide you
through the steps of creating the variable. Variable field will be
created very easily, but cannot be used for setting of all the
options. For advanced variable setup click New button. Edit but-
ton will let you change properties of selected existing variable.
You will find more information about variables in the topic Vari-
ables.
Functions When this type of contents provider is selected, you can select the
proper function from the list of defined functions and then also the
output function-generate variable. This variable will be the source
of data for the object.
Click New to create new function. Click Edit to change function's
properties.
Database When this type of contents provider is selected, you can select the
proper database from the list of defined database connections.
Then select the proper field from this database. This field will be
the source of data for the object.
- 98 -
Click New to create connection to new database (click Wizard to
use the wizard for the connection). Click Edit to change function's
properties.
Expression Expression is an simplified version of Visual Basic Script. Expres-
sion can be used in situations when you want to manipulate exist-
ing variables, extract some sub-string or perform a quick
calculation and you do not want to write a dedicated Visual Basic
script. For this purpose Expression will do just fine. You can
enter one-line expression in the edit field that will be validated at
print-time. Of course all Visual Basic scripting commands can be
used in here.
Visual An entire Microsoft Visual Basic Script functionality can be
Basic included on the object. Each object can have assigned its own pro-
Script gramming script for advanced functionality.
Visual Basic Script option will allow you to use a complete imple-
mentation of Visual Basic programming scripting, provided my
Microsoft Corporation. This makes is possible to perform
advanced data manipulations, comparisons and calculations dir-
ectly on the label. If you are not familiar with Visual Basic script-
ing, a comprehensive help system is accompanying the labeling
application. To access is, click the VB Script Help file. Once your
script is written, it will be check for the consistency and syntax
errors and you will be notified of the exact positions of any pos-
sible error for easier problem solving. There is one thing you have
to pay special attention to: your script has to define an output vari-
able Result. The value of variable Result is output of the function
and is used for setting of Visual Basic Script variable.
For more complex scripts click the Build script button to edit your
code in Expression Builder.
Link to The value for the label object is acquired from the specified text
File file in this case. The contents of the file is used for the object.
You can link the object to some fixed file name on the disk. Or you
can use variable file names. To achieve that connect the object to
the variable containing the path and file name of the file.
Lookup Lookup Table is a facility for the user to simplify working with
Table data tables. Although the software can interact to any database,
sometimes there is a need only for one quick simple table that
stores your data. Lookup Table provides a shortcut to database
usage.
Lookup Table is used when you want to use a data from a simple
database on your label. You can use some external databases as
data source for all variable fields. But Lookup Table greatly sim-
plifies this task. It is in fact a table stored within the label file.
Built-in database editor can be used to manage the data records.
Every Lookup table can have a Key (Primary) and Secondary Key
that are used for actual data query. Using these keys you can
make a query into the table and extract only fields that comply to
the condition. Both keys can be either fixed or get a value from
some variable. When the record from the table is found based on
- 99 -
information from one or both keys, the value of the database field
selected in Output fields is returned as the object contents. The
object on the label now has its value from the database. The but-
ton Configure tables will let you manage your Lookup Tables.
ASC ASC (FACT) is used when you want to encode the data using this
(FACT) standard for Data Identifiers (DI). It is much like GS1-128 stand-
ard and its Application Identifiers (AI).
HIBC There is the ability to encode data in the object using HIBC stand-
ard.
Rich Text This contents provider is available only for RTF object. It
Editor provides you with the RTF editor, where you can define the fixed
or variable contents for the object.
Structured This contents provider is available only when using RSS type of
RSS barcode barcode. It provides you with the functionality to provide linear
and composite (if applicable) data to the barcode.
RFID Tag This contents provider is available for text and barcode objects. It
Contents is available when you have RFID-aware printer driver connected
to the label and the printer can extract part of the RFID encoded
data and print it on the label.
Two types of data are usually available:
1. The Unique Tag ID

It is the number that is programmed in the RFID tag dur-
ing the manufacturing process. The number is unique and
usually cannot be changed.
2. RFID Tag Data
Any part of the tag data can be extracted.
The printer will read the data from the tag, remember the value
and use it with the text or barcode objects on the label. The data is
never returned to the labeling software, but is handled internally
in the printer.
Note: The text or barcode objects to which you assign the value
from the RFID tag must be formatted as printer internal
objects. Format the text object with some internal printer font.
Select the barcode object to print as internal printer object, not
as graphics.
For on-screen previewing purposes you can enter some data into
the Preview edit field.

Working with Variables

Using Variable Wizard
Variable wizard
Thevariablewizardsimplifiesandspeedsupthecreationofthemostc ommontypesofvariables.
Youcannothoweversettheadvancedoptionsinvariables.ThesecanonlybesetinaVariable
- 100 -
dialogbox.
VariableWizard-Choosingthetypeofv ariable
Firstyoumusttypeinthevariablenameandselectthetypeofvariable.Y
oucanchoseamong:
Keyboard The value of the variable will be typed in before print-
input ing.
Counter The variable will automatically increment when the
labels are printed.
Date field The value for the variable will be current date (option-
ally with offset).
Time The value for the variable will be current time.
field
Genericvariablenamebasedonthetypeofavariablefieldselectedw
illbeauto-generated,but
youshouldchangeittoamoredescriptiven ame.Usethenamethatwillclearlyonfirstsight
determinethecontentso fthisvariable.
Whenalldata,thatwizardneedsareprovided(youclicktheFinishb utton),thetextwithvariable
contentwillbeinsertedatthespecifiedp ointofthelabel.Youcanlatereditthetextobjectand
variableitselfjustasanyothertextandvariableonthelabel.SeeTextc ommandandVariabled ia-
logboxaboveforfurtherinformation.
Variable Wizard - Keyboard input
- 101 -
DialogboxforVariableWizardwhenKeyboardinputoptionischosen

Variable Wizard - Counter
Onthispageofthevariablewizard,youdefinethecountervariable.
- 102 -
DialogboxforVariableWizardwhenCountero ptionischosen

Note: Youcanenteronlydigitsforthestartingvalue.

counterw
labeltolabel.
Variable Wizard - Counter Continuation
value.
Rollover when reached:E
nterthevalue,whenreached,willcausethecountertoresetthevalue
tothestartingvalue.
- 103 -
Variable Wizard - Date Field
Definethepropertiesofthedatefield.Thevariablef ieldwillgetthevaluefromacomputerclock.
DialogboxforVariableWizardwhenDatef ieldoptionischosen
Format:Selecttheformatforyourdatefromthelist.Youcanalsoenterthecustomformat.
Preview:TheprinterwillprintthedateasshownonthePreviewfield.Thiswayyoucanseehow
Variable Wizard - Time Field
- 104 -
DialogboxforVariableWizardwhenTimef ieldoptionischosen
Available Data Types

Hereyoucandefinetheinputformatandoutputformatofthevariable.
Supportedformattypesare:
None This format is used when you don't need any special format.
Date This format is used to insert the date. Input and output pictures can
be set. Allowed values for input are shown in drop-down list. More
on date inputting can be found in section Variable Wizard - Date
Field.
Time This format is used to insert the time and is similar to date inserting.
More on time inputting can be found in section Variable Wizard -
Time Field.
Floating This format is used to insert large numbers. This type enables you to
Point put comma and points in the right places.
Money This format lets you choose the currency unit, and put it on the cor-
rect place.
Pick This format enables you to define a list of values for the input values.
List Entered entries in the pick list are available to the user in the combo
box that is displayed when the label is printed. The user can select
one of the predefined values.
Binary This format enables the insertion of a binary value on the input. The
- 105 -
output is ASCII character.
Available Date Formats

Thedatefieldscanbeprintedinvariousformats.Inthisfieldyoud efine,howthedatewilllook.
Youcanselectsomeofthepredefinedd ateformatsorenteryouown.Whendefiningtheformats,
thefollowingn otationisused:
D Number of the day in a month. Can occupy one or two characters.
DD Number of the day in a month. Always occupies two characters. (leading
zeros will be added as necessary).
M M is number of the month. Can occupy one or two characters.
MM MM is number of the month. Always occupies two characters.
YY or The year as 2 or 4 digits number.
YYYY
DDD Abbreviation of the day of week name.
DDDD The full day of week name.
MMMM The full name of the month.
MMM The abbreviation of the name of month.
J The number of days since 1. January. Can occupy from one to three char-
acters.
JJJ The number of days since 1. January. Always occupies three characters.
W The week number in current year. Can occupy one or two characters.
WW The week number in current year. Always occupies two characters.
N The weekday. The value range is 1 - 7, where 1 represents Monday and 7
represents Sunday. characters.
Any other sequence of characters will be displayed unchanged. This way
you can insert dots, commas and other characters needed to properly
write the date.
The examples:
Format How the date will look
D/M/YYYY 10/3/2005
DD/MM/YY 10/03/05
DDDD, D. MMMM YYYY Thursday, 10. March
2005
JJJWWYYYY 069102005
Available Time Formats

Thetimecanbeprintedinvariousformats.Inthisfieldyoudefine,h owthetimewilllook.You
canselectsomeofthepredefinedtimeformatso renteryouown.Whendefiningtheformats,the
followingnotationisu sed:
h Hours in 12-hour format (AM/PM will be added if they follow the time). Can
occupy one or two characters.
hh Hours in 12-hour format (AM/PM will be added if they follow the time).
Always occupies two characters. (leading zeros will be added as necessary).
- 106 -
H Hours in 24-hour format. Can occupy one or two characters.
HH Hours in 24-hour format. Always occupies two characters.
mm Used for minutes.
ss Used for seconds.
The examples:
Format How the time will
look
h:mm 8:25PM
{AM/PM}
H:mm 20:25
hh:mm:ss 08:25:36
Changing the Order of Entering Prompted Variables

Whenyouareusingvariables,valuehastobeassignedtothembeforep rinting.Andonewayof
doingthisisbyusingpromptedvariables(othera recounters,functions,databases,...).Youare
askedforthevalueo feverypromptedvariablebeforeeveryprinting.Thenyoufillinthev alues.
Theorderinwhichyouareenteringthevaluesmayormaynotb etheorderyouwant.Ifitisnot
it'sprobablythebestsolution,toc hangeit.
TheordercanbechangedinVariablesdialogbox.
1. ClickVariablesinDatamenutodisplayadialogbox.Allvariablesyouareusingarelis-
tedherealphabetically.
2. Clickthebutton1, 2, 3, ...inthelowerrightpartofthedialogbox.
3. Prompt orderdialogboxpopsup.Thisiswhereyoucanchangetheorderinwhichyou
areenteringvaluestovariables.Selectthevariablefromthelistontheleftandrollitto
appropriatepositionusingbuttonsUpandDown.Repeattheprocedureforeveryvari-
able,thatneedsitspositionchanged.
Creating a Prompted Variable

1. Createanewvariable.Instructionsforthisstepcanbefoundinhow-totopicCreate a
serial number, counter.
2. Namethevariable"Prompted".Setthelengthofthevariable.
3. GotothePromptingtab.
4. TypeintheDisplay this text to the print operatorfieldthecontent"Pleaseentera
value".
5. Ifyouwanttobepromptedforeverylabelthatisprinted,changesettingtoEveryto1.
6. Ifyouwantthevariabletohaveadefaultvalue,gotothePromptingtab.Ifyoudonot
wanttobepromptedforvalueatprinttime,changethemodetoDo not prompt for
value.Thevariablewillbehavelikeaconstant.
7. PressontheOKbuttonandlinkthevariablewithtextorbarcode.
- 107 -
Creating a Serial Number, Counter
TheeasiestwayofcreatingnewvariableisusingVariableWizard.
1. Clickthearrowbuttoninthebutton onvariabletoolbartostartVariable Wizard

2. Fromdrop-downmenuselectCounterasthetypeofthevariable,setthenameofthe
counterandclickNext
3. TypeinStarting valueandyouarefinishedwithsettingupthissimplecounter.
However,usingVariableWizardyouarealsocapableofchangingotherp ropertiesofthecounter:
promptforvaluebeforeprinting,maximumnumbero fdigits,stepofincrementing/decrementing
andmuchmore.
Theothermethodofcreatingcounterisbycreatinganewvariabledirectly( notusingtheWizard)
andthensettingitsparametersappropriately:
1. ClickonthebuttonNewvariable onvariabletoolbaror
2. ClickcommandVariablesinmenuDataandpressNewbutton.
3. Namethevariablee.g."Counter".Setthelengthofthevariable.GototheSerialization
tabofthedialogandsettheparameters:
l Incremental/decrementalcounter
l Step-valueofthevariablewillbeincreasedinsteps
l Changevalueafterthenumberoflabels
Ifyouwanttomakecounterfilledinwithleadingzeroes,dothefollowing:
1. GototheData Processingtab.
2. SetPosition relative to the variable valuetoOnleft.
3. Type0fortheCharacter.
Ifyouwantthevariabletohaveadefaultvalue,dothefollowing:
1. GotothePromptingtab.
2. EnterthevalueintotheDefaultvaluefield.
Note:Ifyoudonotwanttobepromptedforvariablevalueatprinttime,changetheoption
PrompttoDonotpromptf orvalue.Thecounterwillalwaysstartcountingfromthedefault
value.
PressontheOKbuttonandlinkthevariabletotextorbarcode.
Make a Counter that Preserves Last-used Value

Counterwhichpreserveslast-usedvalueisapplicableincaseswhenc ontinuingofnumberingfrom
lastlabelproductionisrequired(e.g.serialn umber).Thelastvalueofthecounterthatwasusedon
thelabelisstoreda ndthenumberingiscontinuedfromthispointatnextuse.
1. Createanewvariable.Instructionsforthisstepcanbefoundinhow-totopicCreate a
serial number, counter.
- 108 -
2. Namethevariablee.g."Counter".SetthelengthofthevariableandFormattoNumeric.
Gotothe"Increment"pageofthedialogandsettheparameters:
l Incremental/decrementalcounter
l Step-valueofthevariablewillbeincreasedinsteps
l Changevalueafterthenumberoflabels
3. GotoPromptingtab,selecttheoptionPromptandentertheDefaultvalueyouwantto
useasthestartingvalueforthecounter.
4. ThenticktheoptionRemember last used value (dynamic value).Thiswillenablethe
countertorememberthelastusedvalue.
Note:Thecounterwhichpreserveslast-usedvaluecannotbemadewithVariablew
izard,but
onlyusingdialogforaddingnewvariables.
Thelastusedvalueisstoredinthesamefolder,wherethelabelis.T
hefileextensionwithlast
usedvalueis.DVV,thefilenameisthesamea sthelabel.
Last-usedvaluesarestoredintheexternaltextfilesinthesamefolderw
herethelabelresides.
Theexternalfileshavethesamefilenameasthelabelfile,buttheextension.DVV.Thelabelfile
doesnothavetob esavedtostorethedynamicvalues.Ifyouuselabelswithdynamicvaluesa nd
exchangethemwithotherusers,makesuretoexchangenotonlylabelf iles(.LBL)butalsofiles
withlastuseddynamicvalues(.DDV).
Note:Ifyouwanttousethecounterthatrememberslast-usedvalue,youmusth avetheper-
missionstowriteinthefolderwiththelabels.
Thistypeofacounterwillrememberthelastvaluethatwasusedforitonthislabel.Ifyouwantto
sharethesamecounteronmanylabelsa nditshouldprogressnomatterwhichlabelisprinted,look
attheglobal variable.Ittoocanrememberlast-usedvalueandcanbeusedondifferentlabels.
Overriding Default Values

Whenyoudefinedefaultvaluesforvariablesinthelabel,theyaresavedinsidethelabelfileor
savedintheexternal.DVVfile(whenusing"rememberlastusedvalue"option).Thedefaultval-
uesareusedeverytimethatyoudontexplicitlyspecifythecustomvalues.Toprintlabelswithcus-
tomvalues,yourprintingapplicationmustsendthevaluestothelabelvariablesjustbeforethe
printout.
Youcanoverridethedefaultvaluesusingtheexternalfilethatprovidesnewvaluesforthevari-
ables.Thefilemusthavethesamenameasthelabelfile,butwiththeextension.defaults.For
example,thefilewithnewdefaultvariablesforthelabelLABEL.LBLmusthavename
LABEL.DEFAULTSandmustbesavedinthesamefolderwiththelabel.
Thefilestructuremustcontainfield-valuepairseachinanewline,suchas:
VariableName1 = Value1
VariableName2 = Value2
Inthiscase,thevariableVariableName1willhavevalueValue1andvariableVari-
ableName2willgetvalueValue2.
- 109 -
Global Variable
Globalvariableisatypeofvariablethatcanbeusedonmanydifferentlabels.Onceitisdefined,
itisstoredoutsidethecurrentlabelsoitisavailableforanyotherlabelaswell.
Itslastvalueisstoredevenafterclosingthelabelfileandexitingtheapplication.Itisusefulwhen
continuingofnumberingfrompreviousp rintingisrequired.Valuesofglobalvariablesarestoredin
aseparatef ileondiskGLOBALS.TDB.
ThelocationofthefolderisC:\Documentsa ndSettings\AllUsers\ApplicationData\EuroPlus
d.o.o.\NiceLabel6\System.
Globalvariableisanadvancedoptionforpowerusers,andisnotavailableintheVariablewizard.
GlobalvariablecanonlybecreatedmanuallyintheVariabledialogbox.Makesuretoselect
GlobalastheSourcef orthevariableintheGeneraltab.
Ifyoucopyyourlabelfile,whichusesglobalvariablestoanotherc omputer,youhavetocopythe
fileGLOBALS.TDBtothenewcomputerasw ell.Ifyoumissthisstep,thenthelabelingapplic-
ationwon'tfinda ppropriateglobalvariableandwillnotifyyouofthissituation.Atthesametimea
substituteglobalvariablewillbecreated,butlastvalueo foldvariablewillnotbeknown,norwill
thecorrectvariablepropertiesb erestored.Checkthesettingsofsubstituteglobalvariableand
changethemappropriatelytosuityouneeds.
Thesameglobalvariableisnotlimitedforuseononlyonelabel.Youc anuseitonasmanylabels
asyoulike.Pleasenote,thatonlyonelabel,u singthesameglobalvariable,canbeprintedata
time.Whenusingglobalv ariables,theyarelockedforonelabelandthispreventsmorelabelsto
usethesameglobalvariableatthesametime.
Groups of Allowable Characters

Theformatofavariableisselectabletofiltertheinputdata.Thish elpsavoidingmistakeswhen
enteringdata.Youcanonlyentercharacters,w hichareincludedinthespecifiedformatrange.
All Select this format when there is no need to limit the variable
data. For example: one variable can be used to define changes in
the barcode, the text and the graphics. You can enter all char-
acters from the keyboard.
Numeric Use this format you need numeric variables, for example, serial
numbers or EAN and UPC barcode. Only numeric characters in
the range 0 to 9 can be entered.
Alphanumeric Use this format when numbers and characters are mixed in the
same variable - for example, identity codes... Characters from 0
to 9, a to z and A to Z can be entered.
Letters Use this format when you need the character variable.
7-bit ASCII The variable will contain only characters with ASCII code from 0
format to 127.
Hex Use this format to allow input of hexadecimal numbers.
Date Use this format to print date stamp.
Time Use this format to print time stamp.
Digits and Use this format to limit the usage only to digits and capitals of
Capitals English alphabet.
CUSTOM You can define your own data format. The allowable characters
can be defined in the Serialization tab.
- 110 -
<printer fam- Use this formats do enable usage only of characters that are
ily name> allowed in the internal fonts of the currently selected printer.
FORMAT
Code 39, Use this formats to enable usage only of characters that are
Code 128A, allowed by these barcodes standards.
Code 128B,
Code 128C,
Code 128,
Codabar

Internal Variables
Internalvariablesarefilledautomaticallybythesoftwareandyoud onothaveanyinfluenceon
them.Theycannotbeeditedandmodified,b utonlyusedinthefunctionsandonthelabel.Their
valueisupdatedf oreveryprintedlabel.
Internalvariablesarerepresentedwiththe iconsotheyc anbeeasilydistinguishedfromthe
othertypesofvariables.
Thelistofavailableinternalvariables:
ComputerName Contains the information about the computer name of a PC
computer where labels are processed, as specified from
Windows system.
CurrentBatchQuantity Contains information about the label quantity reached in the
current label batch.
The value is reset at beginning at each batch in the printing
process.
DefaultPrinterName Contains the name of the default printer on the system.
LabelFileName Contains full name of the current label, including the path
to the file.
LabelPrinterName Contains the name of the printer that is used on the label.
RequestedQuantity Contains the quantity of the labels as specified by the user
or external application.
ShortLabelName Contains the name of the label without the path. Only file-
name with the extension LBL is available.
SystemUserName Contains the name of the system Windows user that is
logged in and is running the application.
TotalQuantityPrinted Contains the quantity of all unique labels printed. Label cop-
ies are not included in this variable, only the number of dif-
ferent labels is.
UserName Contains the name of the user that is logged in and is using
the application. This variable has some value only when you
have enabled user management in the software.

- 111 -
Types of Variables
Eachtypeofvariablehasitsownicontoeasierdistinguishvariablesa mongeachother.Theicon
infrontofthevariablenamedeterminesitstype.
Theavailabletypesofvariablesare:
System Date/Time variable
Printer Date/Time variable
Counter variable
Counter variable with enabled Dynamic
Value
Prompt variable
Prompt variable with enabled Dynamic
Value
Global variable
Database variable
Function-generated variable
Internal variable
Locked variable
Using Printer Internal Increment Counter

Almostallthermalprintersofferinternalincrementcounter.Thisisa specialprintercounterthat
countslabelsinternally.Theprinteronlyr eceivesthefirstvalueofthecounterandthenauto-
maticallyincrementsthecounterinstepsof1onthesubsequentlabels.Usingthisoptionr educes
theamountofdatatransferredbetweencomputerandprinteraso nlystartvalueissenttoprinter.
Thiscansignificantlyspeeduplabelp roduction.
1. Createanewvariable"Counter".Instructionsforthisstepcanbefoundinthetopic
Create a serial number, counter.
2. Tousecounterasinternalprinterelementpleasepayattentiontothefollowingsettings:
l Thevariable'smaximumlengthislimitedbyyouprinter.Youshouldfindthis
valueinyourprinter'sOwnerManuals.Ifyoucannotfindthisvalue,experiment.
l ThevariablelengthhastobesettoFixed.
l ThevariableformathastobesettoNumeric.
l Thetextobjectlinkedtothevariablemustbeformattedintheinternalprinterfont.
l TicktheoptionUse printer internal counterintheValuetaboftheTextobject's
Propertiesdialogwindow.Thisoptionisavailableonlyifthecountervariablehas
beensetupproperly.
3. Thereshouldbetwosymbols inthelowerrightcorneroftextbox.Thefirstone
tellsthatthistextwillbeprintedininternalprinterfont.Thesecondonetellsthatthis
countersisinternalprinterincrementcounter.
- 112 -
Using Variable Quantity
VariableQuantityisaspecialvariableinthelabel.Youusethisvariable,w henyoudonotknow
exactnumberoflabelsforprinting.Usingthisvariable,y oucanenterthenumberoflabelstoprint
duringprintingitself.
The example: Youhavealabelofaproduct.Alreadydefinedvariablesare"Name"a nd"Price".
Wewanttoprintlabelsasfollows:
l EnterNameandPricevalues
l Enterquantityforthisproduct
l Print
l Startwithnewproduct.
Dothefollowing:
1. Createnewvariable,named"Quantity".
2. TicktheoptionThe variable value is used as label quantityintheGeneraltab.
3. Editvariables"Name"and"Price".GotothePromptingtab(assuming,thevariables
arealreadydefinedaspromptedvariables).
4. ChangethePromptsettingtoBasedonvariablequantity.
Whenyoustartprintinglabels,thequantityparameterintheprintd ialogisalreadysettoVariable
quantity (defined from label variable).
Working with Functions

Defining a Function
Define a Function
Functionsallowyoutomodifythedatareceivedintothelabel.Forexample,yougetthecurrent
dayfromthesystemandmustcalculatetheexpirydateforaproduct.Anotherexample,youhave
toimplementthespecificproprietarycheck-digitalgorithm.
Eachfunctionhasinputandoutput.Theinputareoneormorevariables,whichvariablesthefunc-
tionwilluse.Theoutput(resultofafunction)isanewfunction-generatedvariablethatyoucan
useonthelabellinkedwithsomeobject.
Whenyouwanttodefinethefirstfunction,thelistoffunctionswillb eemptyand,youmustclick
theNewb uttontodefinethefunction.TheFunctiondialogboxisthendisplayed.
- 113 -
FunctiondialogboxGeneraltab
Thisdialogboxisalsodisplayedwhenyouwanttochangetheexistingf unction.
Todefine(change)thefunctionallrequiredparametersmustbeentereda ndconfirmedbyclicking
OKbutton.
Dialogboxhasseveralpagestabs.NotethatonlyGeneraltabisfixed,allothertabschange
accordingtothefunctiontypeyous electonGeneraltab.Eachothertabisdescribedseparatelyfor
eachf unction.
Function Types
Using Functions to Manipulate Label Data

Using Functions to Manipulate Label Data
Thelabelingsoftwareenablesyoutoworkwithvariablevaluesonthelabel,m anipulatethevalues
andusethemwithotherlabelobjects.Thelabelings oftwareoffersagroupoffunctionsthathelp
youworkwiththevariablev alues.Thereisalwayssomeinputtothefunctionthatthefunction
manipulatesa ndalwayssomeoutputthatisstoredtoafunction-generatedvariable.T
hefunction-
generatedvariablecanbelinkedtolabelobjectsorusedinotherfunctions.
Therearemanyfunctionsavailable,suchasConcatenate(forlinkedfields),Subset,Dateaddition,
FACT,HIBCandVBScript.VBScriptisapowerfulfunctionallowingyoutoperformadvanced
datamanipulation.
- 114 -
Using Concatenate Function
Theconcatenatefunctionmergestwoormorevariablesintoonenewvariable.T
ocreateacon-
catenatefunction,dothefollowing:
1. Clickonthe buttonintheStandardtoolbarorselectOpenintheFilemenu.Select
thelabelfileID_CARD.LBLfromthesamplefolder.
Thelabelhasalinktothedatabasesoyouseehowtheconcatenatefunctionoperateson
asetofrecords.
2. SelectthecommandFunctionsintheDatamenu.
3. Thereisalreadyonefunctiondefinedinthelabel.IgnoreitandclickontheNewbutton.
Thedialogboxwiththepropertiesofthenewfunctionwillopen.
4. IntheGeneraltabtype'MyConcatenatefunction'forthenameforthefunction.
5. SelecttheConcatenatefunctionfromthelistoffunctions.
6. ClickontheDetailedtabtodefinedetailsforthefunction.
Lookatthetopofthedialogbox.Theleftsidecontainstheavailablevariablesdefined
onthelabel.
7. SelectthevariablesIDandNAME.Notethattheyhaveappearedintherightlistbox.
8. Thenameoftheoutputvariableis'Concatenate'anddelimiterissetto'None'.Clickon
theOKbutton.
- 115 -
DefinitionoftheConcatenatefunction
9. ClickontheClosebuttontoclosetheFunctionsdialogbox.
10. Thefunction-generatedvariableisdefinedonthelabel.Youshouldlinkittotextobject
onthelabel.
11. ClickonthesmallarrownexttoTextObjectintheToolbox.
12. ClickontheoptionUseexistingvariableandselectthevariableConcatenate.
Selectingthefunction-generatedvariableC
oncatenate
13. Clickonthelabelwhereyouwanttoplacethetextobject.Thetextobjectislinkedtothe
newvariableConcatenate.
Thevaluesofvariables'ID'and'NAME'aremergedandsavedtothef unction-generatedvariable
'Concatenate'everytimethelabelisprocessedf orprevieworprint.
Using VBScript (Visual Basic Scripting Edition) Function
VBScriptfunctionallowsyoutoperformthemostdemandinganddifficultd atamanipulationonthe
label.Availableareallthefunctions,proceduresa ndoperandsfromMicrosoftVisualBasicscript.
Yourscriptcantakev aluesfromalllabelvariables,workwiththevaluesandsavetheresultina
function-generatedvariable.
Creating a VBScript function
Tocreateavisualbasicfunction,dothefollowing:
1. Clickonthe buttonintheStandardtoolbarorselectOpenintheFilemenu.Select
thelabelfileID_CARD.LBLfromthesample.
Thelabelhasalinktothedatabasesoyouseehowtheconcatenatefunctionoperates
onasetofrecords.
2. SelectthecommandFunctionsintheDatamenu.
3. Thereisalreadyonefunctiondefinedinthelabel.IgnoreitandclickontheNewbut-
ton.
Thedialogboxwiththepropertiesofthenewfunctionwillopen.
- 116 -
4. Typeinthenameforthefunction,forexample'MyVisualBasicfunction'.
5. SelecttheVisualBasicScriptfunctionfromthelistoffunctions.
SelecttheVisualBasicScriptoption
6. ClickontheDetailedtabtodefinepropertiesforthefunction.
ThevariableNAMEonthelabelprovidesthefirstandlastnamesoftheperson.The
VisualBasicscriptshouldbreakthemapartanduseonlythefirstnameastheresultof
thefunction.
FortheVisualBasicscriptenterthefollowingcode:
DimSpc
Spc=InStr(NAME,"")
ifNAME<>""then
Result=Mid(NAME,1,Spc-1)
endif
TheabovescriptwillsearchforthefirstspaceinthevariableNAMEandsaveallchar-
actersuntilthisspacecharacterasaresult.
Note:RefertotheonlinehelporUserGuideformoreinformationaboutVisualB
asicScript
functionality.
- 117 -
7. TheresultfromtheVisualBasicScriptfunctionisautomaticallystoredinthefunction-
generatedvariable(VBScript1)everytimethelabelisprocessedforprevieworprint.
9. ClickontheClosebuttontoclosetheFunctionsdialogbox.
Using the result of VBScript on the label
Tolinkthefunction-generatedvariableVBScript1toanobjectonthelabel,dothefollowing:
1. ClickonthesmallarrowattherightendoftheTextobject.ClickontheoptionUse
existing variableandselectthevariableVBScript1.
Selectingthefunction-generatedvariableV
BScript1
2. Clickonthelabelwhereyouwanttoplacethetextobject.Thetextobjectislinkedto
thenewvariableVBScript1.
EverytimethelabelisprocessedforprevieworprinttheVisualBasics criptwillre-calculate
theresultandstoreitinthefunction-generatedv ariableVBScript1.
Note:VBScriptiscapableofhandlingUnicode-encodedvalues.Ifyouu semulti-lingualvalues
onthelabel(typicallyforchemicallabels),y oucanmanipulatethevaluesintheVBScript.
Using custom VBScript functions
SomeusefulpredefinePythonscriptsareincludedwiththesoftware.
InExpression Builder,expandCustom FunctionsintheCategorywindowandselectthefunc-
tion.
Working with Databases

Using Database Wizard
Using Database Wizard
ProcessofdefininganewDatabaseaccessfunctionconsistsoffours teps(pages).Onthosepages
youenterthedatarequiredbyWizard.Youc angotothenextstep(page)byclickingNextb utton
orreturntopreviouswithPreviousb utton.
- 118 -
Whenalldataneededhasbeenentered,Finishb uttonwillbecomeavailable,allowingyoutocom-
pletetheprocessofd efininganewDatabaseaccessfunction.Notethatsomeoptionshavepre-
definedv alues,soyoudon'treallyneedtogothroughallthestepsofawizard.
Selecting Database File
DatabasewizardSelectingdatabasefile
EnterthefullpathnameofthedatabasefileineditboxoruseBrowseb uttontofindthefileon
yourcomputer.
Notethatyoucanonlyselectdatabasesthatarestoredinfiles.Ify ouusedatabasesviaODBCor
OLEDBdrivers,youwillhavetosetthatm
anuallyinDatabased ialogbox.
- 119 -
Selecting Desired Fields
DatabasewizardSelectingfields
Onthispageyoucanselectthefieldsyouwanttouseonthelabel.A llfieldsinatableareselec-
tedbydefault,butyouwillprobablywanttounselectsomeofthem,especiallyifyouhavelarge
table.Variablew
illbecreatedforeachselectedfieldandcanlaterbeattachedtoobjects.
- 120 -
Selecting Which Records will be Printed
DatabasewizardSelectingwhichrecordsw
illbeprinted
Selectthedesiredoptionhowyouwanttousetherecordsinthedatabase.B ydefaulttheoptionI
want to print all records from the tableissetandallrecordsinatablewillbeprintedoneata
time.Eachrecordwillbeprintedonlyonce.
Ifyoudonotwanttoprinttheentiredatabase,youcanselectwhichr ecordsshouldbeprinted.In
thiscaseselecttheoptionI want to select which record to print.Priorprintingyouwillb e
shownadialogboxwithallrecordsfromthedatabase.Thenyouwillb eabletoselectwhich
recordsshouldbeprinted.
Bydefaultrecordsareusedonceforasinglelabel.Ifyouwouldliketoprintseveralcopiesofa
labelwithdatabasedata,youcandefineitinthesecondpartofthisstepoftheWizard.
A field in table contains quantity to printoptionwillletyouchosesomefieldinthedatabase.
Thisfieldhastheinformationaboutthequantityoflabelsforeachrecord.
For example:Youhavedatabasewithrecordsofyourproducts.Itcontainsafieldwitha
numericvalue,wheretherequirednumberoflabelcopiesisstored.S
electthisfieldandletthe
applicationprintthequantityoflabelss pecifiedhere.
I will enter print quantity for each record:Thisoptionisonlyaccessibleifyouhavedefinedto

selectw
hichrecordsshouldbeprinted.Priorprintingyouwillbeabletoselectw
hichrecordswill
- 121 -
beprintedintheselectiondialogbox.Atthesametimeyouwillbeabletotypeintheexactlabel
copyforeachselectedr ecord.
Selecting Variable Quantity from the Database Field
Selectafieldinthedatabasethatcontainsthelabelquantityinformation.T
hedatabaserecordwill
beprintedonasmanyconsecutivelabelsasthes electedfieldcontains.
Note: Makesuretoselectthefieldthathasbeenformattedwiththenumericd ata.
Adding the Fields to the Label
DatabasewizardAddingfieldstothelabel
Onthispageyouspecifyifyouwantthewizardtogeneratetextobjectso nthelabelthatare
alreadylinkedtothecorrespondingfieldsintable.T
extobjectsarecreatedinupperleftcornerofa
label,butyoucanlatermovethemtoanotherposition.
Finishing the Process with Database Wizard
Thesummaryoftasksyouhavecompletedwillbeshowninthelaststepo ftheWizard.Ifyouare
satisfiedwithyourselection,clickFinishtocompletetheprocessofcreatinganewdatabase
accessfunction.
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Linking Label to Text Databases
Overview
Textdatabasesaretextfilescontainingdatavaluesthatcanbeusedf orvariableobjectsonthe
label.Thetextdatabaseisnotarealdatabase.I tcontainsthedatavaluesbutlackstheinformation
ofthedatastructure,n ameofthefieldsandmaximumlengthsofthefields.Youhavetoprovide
themissinginformationbeforethelabelingsoftwarecanusethedatafroms uchatextdatabase.
AnexampleofsuchtextdatabaseisaCSVfile(commaseparatedvalues),wheresomedelimiter
(semicolon";")delimitsthefields.Everylineprovidesdataforonelabelandcanbeunderstoodas
a"record"indatabasenomenclature.
Note:ThelabeldesignerdoesnotsupportXMLdatafiles.TousedatafromXMLfiles,see
NiceLabelAutomationlineofproducts.
Thelabelindesignmode(ontheleft)a ndpreviewofthefivelabelswithdatafromthedatabase
Connect to a Database
ThelabelingsoftwareoffersaDatabaseWizardthatguidesyouthroughthenecessarystepstocon-
nectthedatabasetoalabel.ToconnectyourlabeltoadatabaseusingtheDatabaseWizard,dothe
following:
1. Clickonthe buttonintheStandardToolbar.
2. ClickontheBrowsebuttonandpointtothetextdatabase"c:\ProgramFiles\Eur-
oPlus\NiceLabel6\\Samples\Database\data.txt".
Note:Yourlabelingsoftwaremightnotincludethetextdatabasesample.
- 123 -
Selectingthetextdatabase
Note:Ifyouconnecttothedatabaseforthefirsttime,youneedtodefinethed atabasestructure.
Continuewiththenextsection.
Format the Data with the Text File Wizard
Becausethetextfilesdonotcontainthestructuralinformationliker ealdatabasesdo,youmust
definethefieldsandtheirdatastructure.W
henyouusethesametextdatabasesomeothertime,
youwon'thavetod efinethestructureagain.
1. Selecttheencodingofthedatainyourtextfile.Theencodingselectionisimportant
whenyourfilehasmulti-lingualcontents(Unicodedata).Ifindoubtwhattouse,firsttry
theoptionAutomatic detection.Refertothepreview,itmustdisplaytocorrectvalues.
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Definingthefileencoding
2. Choosethedatatypefortheselectedtextdatabase.Thefieldsarealignedincolumns,so
youmustselecttheoptionFixed.
Definingthetypeofthetextdatabase
4. Definethewidthsoftheindividualcolumnsbyplacingabreaklinebeforethesecond
columnandbeforethethirdcolumn.
- 125 -
Definingthefieldsinthetextdatabase
6. AcceptthedefaultfieldnamesandclickontheNextbutton.
7. Reviewthetextdatabasestructure.Thefieldnamesandtheirmaximumlengthsaredis-
played.ClickontheFinishbuttontocloseTextFileWizard.
Thelinktothedatabasehasbeencreatedanddatabasefieldsareavailableo nthelabel.
ThelabelingsoftwarebringsyoubacktotheDatabaseWizard.
Place Database Fields on a Label
ThenextstepintheDatabaseWizardopensthedialogboxwiththelisto favailablefieldsfromthe
database.
1. Bydefaultallfieldsfromthedatabasewillbeusedonthelabel.ClickontheNextbut-
ton.
Usingallfieldsinthetextdatabase
2. Specifywhatrecordsandhowmanyyouwanttoprint:
SelecttheoptionsI want to select which record to printandI will enter label quant-
ity for each selected record.Beforeprintinglabels,thetablewiththerecordswillopen
andyouwillbeabletoselecttherecordsyouwanttoprintandthequantityoflabelsfor
eachrecord.
- 126 -
Specifyingwhichrecordsfromthedatabasew
illbeprintedandinwhatquantity
4. SelectiftheDatabaseWizardshouldlinkallselectedfieldsfromthedatabasetothetext
objectsonthelabelorifyouwanttolinkthefieldsmanuallytothelabel.
6. SelectIwantatextobjectforeachselectedfieldandclickontheFinishbutton.
Eachfieldfromthedatabasewillbelinkedtoatextobject
Thelabelwillshowseveraltextobjects.Everyfieldfromthedatabaseislinkedwiththetext
objectonthelabel.
Use Print Preview to Select Data and View a Label
Nowyouwillsimulatelabelprintingusingprintpreview.
1. Clickontheprinticon intheStandardToolbar.
2. ThePrintdialogboxopenswiththeQuantityoflabelssettoVariable quantity
(entered for each database record).Thissettingcorrespondstoyourselectioninthe
DatabaseWizardwhenyouhaveselectedtheoptionsI want to select which record to
printandI will enter label quantity for each selected record.
Onlytherecordsyouselectwillbeprintedinthedefinedquantity.
- 127 -
Print/Printpreviewdialogbox
3. TochoosewhichrecordstoprintfromthedatabaseclickontheSelect Recordsbutton.
TheRecord Selectiondialogboxwillopen.
4. Selecttherecordsfromthedatabaseyouwanttoprintandenterthenumberoflabelsyou
wanttoprintforeachselectedrecord.
Recordselectiondialogbox
- 128 -
5. ClickontheOKbutton.YouwillreturntothePrintdialogbox.
6. ClickonthePreviewbutton.Nowyoucanpreviewthelabelsonthescreen.Notethat
thetextobjectsonthelabelchangeforeachnewrecord.
Previewofthesecondlabelintheseries
7. ClickontheNextbuttoninthecommandwindowtoadvancetothenextlabelinthe
series.Afteryouseethelastlabelinthepreviewseries,thelabelingsoftwarewillre-open
thePrintdialogbox.
8. ClickontheClosebuttontoclosethePrintdialogbox.
Print a Label
Whenyouarecertainthatthelabeldesigniscorrectandlabelpreviews howsthecorrectvalues
fromthedatabase,youcanstartsendingthelabelstotheprinter.Toprintalabel,dothefollowing:
1. Clickontheprinticon intheStandardToolbar.
ThePrintdialogboxwillopen(sameastheprintpreviewdialogbox).
2. ClickonthebuttonSelect Recordsandselecttherecordsyouwanttoprintandspecify
thelabelquantityforeachrecord.
Selectingrecordsandspecifyinglabelq uantity
3.ClickontheOKbutton.
4.ClickonthePrintbuttontostartprintinglabels.
- 129 -
5.ClickontheClosebuttontoclosethedialogbox.
Using Text File Wizard

Text File Wizard
WhentheinputdatabasefileisaplainASCIItextfileorformattedC SV(CommaSeparatedVal-
ues),Text File Wizardwillbestartedw ithinDatabaseWizardanditwillguideyouthroughquick
andeasystepso ftextdataacquire.Themaindifferencebetweenrealdatabaseandtextf ileisin
theirdatastructureinformation.Databasesincludethewholeinformationabouttheirfields(names,
dataformat,length)andcanbea utomaticallyusedwiththeapplication.Textfiles,ontheother
hand,d onothavestoredsuchinformationandyouwillhavetoinstructthea pplicationhowthedata
isencoded.
WhenTextFileWizardfinishes,itwillreturncontrolbacktoDatabaseW
izard,thatwillguidethe
restoftheway.
Choosing Data Type
Beforeyoucanusetextfile,youwillhavetodefineitsdatastructure.F
ieldscanbedelimitedby
somesortofaseparator(tab,semicolon,commao rsomeentirelyuser-definedseparator)orcanbe
ofafixedlength.
DatabaseWizardChoosingDataType
ChooseDelimited,ifyouknowthatdatafieldsareseparatedwithsomespecialcharacter.Filepre-
viewa tthebottomofthedialogboxcanbehelpful,ifyoudonotknowexactlyh owthedatais
organized.
ChooseFixedifyouknow,thatyourdatafieldsalwaysoccupythesamenumberofcharacters.
Start import at rowoptionisuseful,whenyoudonotwanttoimportsomerowsa tthetopofthe
file.Mostusualsituation,whenyouwouldwanttousethisoptioniswhentextfilecontainssome
headerontopofactualdataf ields.
- 130 -
Setting the Fields
DatabaseWizardSettingseparatorandd elimiter
InthesecondstepoftheTextFileWizardyouhavetosetthefieldsinthetextfile.Ifyouhave
selectedDelimitedinthepreviousstep,choosetheappropriateseparatorhere.Theonesthatare
usuallyusedwithtextfilesarealreadypredefined.Butify ourequiresomeother,thereisanoption
touseacustom-definedone.
YoucanalsoselecttheDelimitercharacterthatisusedwhenseparatorc haracterisusedinthe
textfielditself.Thedelimitershouldbeusedtoenclosesuchfield.Textbetweentwodelimiter
charactersistreateda sonefieldalthoughitcontainsthefieldseparatorcharacter.
Thedatapreviewinthebottompartofthedialogboxwillletyouknowifyourchoiceofasep-
aratorcharacterisacorrectone.Fieldswillb eseparatedwithverticallines,ifaseparatorisvalid.
- 131 -
DatabaseWizardSettingcolumnbreaks
Ifyouhaveselectedthatyourdataisformattedwithfixedwidths,thesecondstepoftheWizard
willbeslightlydifferent.Insteadofselectingc haracterforfieldseparation,youwillhavetodefine
fieldwidths.T
heWizardmakesisassimpleaspossible.Useamouseanddrawaverticallineto
thestartpositionsofthefields.Lineswillindicatewherethen ewfieldstarts.
- 132 -
Formatting the Fields
DatabaseWizardFormattingthefields
InthisstepoftheWizardyoucanreviewthefieldnamesandlengthsa ndmodifythem,ifneces-
sary.Youwillprobablyusemorefriendlyfieldn ames,soyoucandistinguishbetweenthemmore
easily.
WhenyouarefinishedwithTextFileWizard,thestructureinformationo ftheusedtextfileis
storedtoaseparatefilewithaextensionof.SCH(SchemeFile).Ifyouwilltrytousethesame
textfilesomeothertimeonadifferentlabel,youwillbesparedalleffortsofstructurec reating.
SCHfilewillbeautomaticallyusedandTextFileWizardwillb eskippedentirely.
Note,thatSCHfileiscreatedalsowithadd-ondatabasemanagerNiceData,w
henyouopenthe
textdatabaseinNiceDataforthefirsttime.
Linking a Label to Advanced Databases

Overview
Youcanusethelabelingsoftwaretoretrievedatafromanydatabaseo nyourcomputerornetwork.
Ifyouhavetheappropriatedatabasedrivers,y oucanconnecttothedatabaseandusetherecords
onthelabel.
Note:DesignerExpressdoesnothavealldatabaseoptionsavailable.Youcano nlyusedatafrom
textdatabasesandExcelspreadsheets.
- 133 -
Withthelabelingsoftwareyoucanconnecttoanydatabasetypeaslonga syouhavetheappro-
priatedatabasedriversinstalledonyourcomputer.T helabelingsoftwaresupportsdifferentdata-
basedrivers,suchasODBC,OLEDBandBDE.Y ourcomputercomespreinstalledwithdatabase
driversforfrequentlyu seddatabasetypes,butyoucanalwaysinstalladditionaldatabasedrivers.
ThetypicaldatabasesyouwouldconnecttoareMicrosoftAccess,MicrosoftSQLServer,Oracle
SQLServer,MySQLServerandPostgreSQLServer.NiceLabelisnotlimitedtorelationaldata-
basestructure.Youcanconnecttoanyotherdatabaseaslongasyouhavetheappropriatedatabase
driversinstalledonyoursystemandpermissionstoaccessthedatabase.Forexample,youcanuse
datafromNoSQLdatabases,suchasMongoDBandother.
Youhavetotalcontroloverwhichrecordsinthedatabasetablewillb eprinted.Bydefaultall
recordsareprinted,butyoualsohavetheo ptiontoselecttherecordsforprinting.Beforethelabels
areprocessedy oucanselecttherecordsinthetablethatyouwanttoprint.Youcana lsospecify
theprintquantityforeachrecord.
Advancedrecordselectiontechniquesarealsoavailableinthelabelings oftware.Youcancreate
databasefiltersandobtainonlytherecordsthatmatchtheconditions.Thesamefunctionality
allowsyoutojointwoo rmoredatabasetablestogetherandobtainvaluesforthesameproduct
frommultipledatabases.
ManualmodificationoftheSQLsentenceisavailableforadvancedusers.
Link to a Database Using Database Wizard
1. Clickonthebutton intheStandardToolbar.TheDatabaseWizardwill
open.
2. SelecttheoptionDirect database accessandclickontheBrowsebutton.
UsetheoptionDirectdatabaseaccess,ifyouusefile-baseddatabaseslikeMicrosoft
Access,Paradox,dBase,Excelor.TXTfiles.
- 134 -
Selectingthetypeofdatabaseconnection
3. PointtotheAccessdatabasec:\ProgramFiles\EuroPlus\NiceLabel6\\Samples\Data-
base\IDENTITY.MDB.
Note:Thedatabasemightnotbeincludedwithyourlabelingsoftware.
4. ClickontheNextbutton.ThenextstepFieldsSelectionoftheDatabaseWizardwill
open.
Thedialogboxwillshowallfieldsdefinedinthedatabasetable.
Allfieldsdefinedinthedatabasetablea redisplayed
5. LeavethedefaultsettingsandclickontheNextbutton.AnextstepRecordsPrintingof
theDatabaseWizardwillopen.
6. Leaveeverythingonadefaultsettingsinthisdialogbox.
Whatthismeansisthatallrecordsfromthedatabasewillbeprintedandeachrecordis
usedononelabel.
- 135 -
Selecthowtherecordsfromthedatabasew
illbeusedonthelabel
ClickontheNextbutton.An extstepFieldsUsageoftheDatabaseWizardwillopen.
7. Leaveeverythingonthedefaultsettings.
Thewizardwillautomaticallyconnectalldatabasefieldstothetextobjectsonthelabel.
TheDatabaseWizardwillconnecttothedatabase,obtainthefieldsandmakethemavail-
ableonthelabelasvariables.Thevariableswillbelinkedtothetextobjects.
Link to a Database Manually
TheDatabaseWizarddoesnotsupportyourdatabaseifitisnotlistedinthedirectdatabaseaccess
ord oesnothaveanODBCdriver.Injustacaseyouhavetolinkyourdatabasetoyourlabelmanu-
allybydoingthefollowing:
1. Clickonthebutton intheStandardToolbar.TheDatabaseWizardwill
open.
2. SelecttheoptionOther databases (ODBC).
Usethisoption,ifyouuseserver-baseddatabaseslikeSQLserver,Oracle,Informixor
somedatabasenotdirectlysupportedbytheoptionDirect database access.
3. SelecttheavailableODBCdefinitioninthelist.
- 136 -
4. ClickontheDefinebutton,iftheconnectiontoyourdatabaseisnotalreadydefined.
5. ThedialogboxDatabaseopens.
Hereyoucandefinetheconnectiontoyourdatabase.
Manualdefinitionofthedatabaseconnection
7. Continuefromthestep4inthechapterLinktoaDatabaseUsingDatabaseWizard.
Print All Database Records
BydefaulttheDatabaseWizardssetsupthedatabaseconnectiontoprinta llrecordsinthedata-
base.TheDatabaseWizardstepRecordsPrintingiswhereyoucandefinewhichrecordsareprin-
ted.
ToprintallrecordsinthedatabasetablefollowthestepsinthechapterL
ink to a Database Using
Database Wizard.
Note:Toprintallrecordsinthedatabaseitisimportanttoselecttheoption'Iwanttoprintall
recordsfromthetable.'Bydefaulteachrecordisp rintedonceonthelabel.
Print Selected Database Records
YoucandefinewhichrecordsfromthedatabaseyouwanttoprintintheRecordsPrintingofthe
DatabaseWizard.
1. FollowthestepsinthechapterLinktoaDatabaseUsingDatabaseWizarduntilthestep
5.
2. SelecttheoptionIwanttoselectwhichrecordtoprinttobeabletoselectwhichrecords
areprinted.
- 137 -
Youwillbeabletoselectwhichrecordsa reprinted
Thelinktothedatabaseiscreatedandtextobjectslinkedtothevariablesarepositioned
onthelabel.
4. Clickon toopenPrintdialogbox.
ThebuttonSelect Records...becomesavailable.
5. ClickonthebuttonSelect Records...
TheRecordSelectiondialogboxopens.
6. Ticktherecordsyouwanttoprint.
Youcanselectindividualrecordsorgroupofrecordsbyselectingthefirstrecord,press
andholdtheShiftkeyandthenselectthelastrecordintheseries.
Note:Selectingofmultiplerecordsisonlyavailablewhenusingrealdatabasesa ndnotwhen
usingdatafromspreadsheetslikeMicrosoftExcelortextC
SVdatafiles.
- 138 -
Selectingrecordsforprinting
Query and Create a Database Filter
Thelabelingsoftwareallowsyoutoperformqueriesonthedatabasetabletoextractonlythe
recordsmatchingsomecondition.Pleasenotethaty ouhavetoenablerecordselectioninthedata-
basepropertiestobeabletoquerythedatabase.Toenabledatabasefilter,dothefollowing:
1. RefertothechapterLink to a Database Using Database Wizard.Followthesteps

from1to6.
2. SelecttheoptionIwanttoselectwhichrecordtoprint.
Thelinktothedatabaseiscreatedanddatabasefieldsarelinkedtotextobjectsonthe
label.
4. Clickonthe buttonorselectthecommandPrintintheFilemenu.
5. ClickontheSelect RecordsbuttoninthePrintdialogbox.
RecordSelectiondialogboxopens.
6. Clickonthesmallarrowbuttonnexttothefieldnamesinthetableandchoosethecon-
dition.
Definingthefilterbyclickingthearrowb utton
Youcandisplayonlytherecordsthatareequaltotheselectedvalueinthelistoryoucandefine
yourcustomfilter.
Allrecordsmatchingtheconditionwillbefilteredfromthedatabasea nddisplayedinthetable.
Note:Youcandefineconditionsonmultiplefieldsatthesametime.
- 139 -
Database Access
Databaseaccessfunctionsarefunctionsusedtoretrievedatafromthed atabase.
Therecordscanbeobtainedfromthedatabaseusingdifferentapproaches.
1. Youcansuccessivelyreadrecordbyrecordfromthedatabaseandusethemallonthe
label.
2. Youcanselectrecordsforprinting.
3. Youcandefinefiltersthatwillbeusedtoretrievejustasubsetofrecordsfromyourdata-
base,thatwillcomplytoyourconditions.
Theresultofthedatabaseaccessfunctionisasetofvariables,onef oreachselectedfieldofdata-
basetable.Eachdatabasevariableisnamedthesameasthedatabasefield,buthasadditionalpre-
fixofadatabasen ame.Thisallowsyoutoquickeridentifyfromwhichdatabasetablethev ariable
comesfrom.
For example:IfyouhaveafieldnameProductinthedatabasetableDBPROD,theresulting
labelvariablewillbenamedDBPROD.Product.
Thelabelingsoftwaresupportsalltypesdatabase.Theonlyconditionisthatyouhavetheappro-
priatedatabasedriverinstalledintheWindowss ystem.ThelabelingsoftwarecanworkwithOLE
DB,ODBC,BDEandotherdatabasedrivers.
Forconnectivitytomodernmulti-lingualUnicodedatabasestheOLEDBp roviderisavailable.
UsingthistechnologytheUnicodevaluescanbeu sedonthelabel.Thesearethedatavaluesindif-
ferentcodepages.Youc anusethetableswithdifferentlanguagesettingsonthesamelabel.
Changing the Order of Database Records

Youcanchangetheorderinwhichthelabelingsoftwareprintstherecordsfromthedatabase
table.Bydefaulttherecordsareprintedfromthefirsto netothelastoneinorderastheyappearin
thetable(ifyoudonote nablerecordselectionfeature).
Toorderrecordsbyonefieldfromthedatabase,dothefollowing:
1. Connectthedatabasetabletothelabel.
2. MakesuretheDatabasetoolbarisvisible,thenclickonthe (Edit)button.
TheDatabase AccessdialogboxopenswithGeneraltabdisplayed.
Note:IftheDatabasetoolbarisnotvisible,selectToolbarsfromtheViewmenu,thenclickData-
base.
3. IntheOrderdialogboxselectthefield,bywhichyouwanttosorttherecords.
Whenyouwillprintorpreviewthelabeltherecordsareorderedbytheselectedfieldin
ascendingorder.
4. ClickOK.
Toorderrecordsbymultiplefieldsfromthedatabase,dothefollowing:
- 140 -
1. Connectthedatabasetabletothelabel.
2. MakesuretheDatabasetoolbarisvisible,thenclickonthe (Edit)button.
TheDatabase AccessdialogboxopenswithGeneraltabdisplayed.
Note:IftheDatabasetoolbarisnotvisible,selectToolbarsfromtheViewmenu,thenclickData-
base.
3. ClickontheAdvancedbuttonnexttotheOrdercombobox.
TheTable Orderdialogboxopens.
4. LookattheAvailable fieldssection.Selectallfieldsbywhichyouwanttosortthe
records.
5. LookattheSelected fieldssection.Definetheorderorappearanceofthefields.
6. Definethesortorderforeachfield.
Whenyouwillprintorpreviewthelabeltherecordsarefirstorderedbythefirstfieldin
thelist,thenbythesecondfield,andsoonuntilthelastfieldinthelist.
7. ClickOK.

Quickly Editing Database
Clickthe iconintheDatabasetoolbar.TheapplicationN
iceDatawillopenthecurrentlyselec-
teddatabase.
Note:NiceDatamustbeinstalledonyourcomputer.
Read Data from the Database

Toreaddatafromthedatabase,createanewconnectiontothedatabaseu singeitherofthetwo
methodsbelow:
l Clickthe"Newdatabasewizard"button intheDatabasetoolbar
l SelectDatabase accessfromDatamenuandclickingontheWizardbutton.
Followtheon-screeninstructionsuntiltheDatabase Wizardfinishes.
Foreveryfieldinthetable,younowhaveatextobjectonthelabel.E
achdatabasefieldisavail-
ableasavariableonthelabel.
IfyourdatabasetypeisnotavailableintheWizardoryouwanttou sedifferentdriver(OLEDB
provider)forconnectiontothedatabase,y ouwillhavetousedirectdatabaseset-upoptionandnot
theDatabaseW
izard.
Using Data from Excel Spreadsheet

NiceLabelcancollectdatafromanydatasourceforwhichyouhavetheappropriate"drivers"
installed.Adatabasedriverisacomputerprogramthatallowsaccesstothedatastoredinsidea
database.Thedeveloperofthedatabasealsoprovidesthedriversforvariousoperatingsystemplat-
forms,sotheusercanaccessthedata.
- 141 -
ThedriverforMicrosoftExcelspreadsheetsisusuallyalreadyavailablewithyourWindowssys-
tem.
The Recommended Structure of the Spreadsheet
YoucanlookattheExcelfileasthedatabase.Thespreadsheetsareliketablesinadatabase.
Columnsarelikefieldsdefinedinthetables.Rowsarelikerecordsinthetables.Eachrow
(record)willprintoneseparatelabel.
Namethedataineachcolumn.Enterthenameofthecolumninthefirstrow.Thecolumnnames
willbeimportedintothelabelasvariablenames.Havingfieldnameswillmakelabeldesign
easier.Youdon'thavetonamethecolumns,butinthatcasethevariablesinthelabelwillhave
unfriendlynames,suchasF1,F2,F2.
Acquiring the Data from Excel
ToconnecttotheExcelspreadsheetandacquiredata,dothefollowing:
1. Openyourlabel.
2. SelectData>Database Access>Wizard.
3. IntheDatabase and Tabledialogbox,browseforyourExcel file.
4. SelecttheTablecontainingthelabeldata.Tabledrop-downboxwilldisplayallspread-
sheetsinyourExcelfile.
5. ClickNext.
6. IntheFields Selectiondialogbox,selectthefieldsyouwanttouseonthelabel.The
fieldsarecolumnsfromthespreadsheet.YoucanusestandardWindowsshortcutswith
Ctrl+clicktoselectindividualfields,orShift+clicktoselectrangeoffields.
7. ClickNext.
8. IntheRecords Printingdialogbox,selecttheprintingmode.
9. ClickNext.
10. IntheField Usagedialogbox,chooseifyouwantthedesignertocreateaTextobject
foreachselectedfield.
11. ClickFinish.
12. ToclosetheDatabase Access Functionsdialogbox,clickClose.
13. SelectFile>PrintPreviewtopreviewthelabelson-screen.EachlineofdatafromExcel
willbeusedonaseparatelabel.
Using ODBC Databases

TobeabletouseODBCdatabases,youfirsthavetosetupyourODBCd riversproperly.Youcan
dothisinadvancedbystartingODBCsetupprograminControlPanelandmodifyingDataSource
- 142 -
Names(DSN)tosuityourdatabasef ilelocations.Oryoucandothesamethingfromthelabeling
software.
ConnectiontoalreadydefinedODBCdatasourcescanbedoneusingthe Database Wizard.
Ifdatasourceisnotdefinedinthesystemyet,youwillhavetoused irectconnectionmethodand
bypasstheWizard.
1. OpenDatabase Accessdialogbox,thenclicktheDefinebuttoninGeneraltab.
2. InthelistofdatabaseconnectiontypesfirstfindtheOLEDBdrivers,thenODBCData
sources.
3. Intherightsideofthedialogboxselectalreadyprepareddataconnectionorcreateanew
one.
4. OnceyouhavetheODBCdataconnectionprepared,selectitandclosethedialog.
5. Thefieldsfromtheselecteddatabasecannowbeusedonthelabel.
Creating Custom Check Digit

Creating Custom Check Digit
Youcanaddneworeditanddeleteexistingalgorithmsbyclickingappropriateb uttons.Algorithm's
parametersaredefinedinEditalgorithmdialogbox,w
hichhasfollowingoptions:
Editingcheckdigitalgorithm
Tounderstandallparameters,youmustknow,howcheckdigitiscalculated.F irstofall,wemust
haveanumericvalueandontopofthatthecheckd igitwillbecalculated.Ifweightsarerequired,
wewillneedthemasw
ell.Let'slookatEAN13checkdigitcalculation:
Value:123456789012
Weights:1,3
Whenstartingcalculating,eachdigithasitsweight.Whenonlytwow eightsarespecified,thethird
digitgetsthefirstweight,theforththesecond,andsoon.Ifonlyoneweightisspecified,alldigits
- 143 -
havethesameweight.AccordingtoSumdetermination,wecanuseweights(sumo ftheproducts)
ornot(sumofthedigits).EAN13algorithmusesproducts,s owedefineSumoftheproducts.
Thesumis:11+23+31+43+51+.....+23
Whenthesumiscalculated,wetakemodulusparameteranddividethes umwiththatnumberand
remembertheremainderofdivision.Thiscana lreadybetheresult.
IfResultcomplementedisspecified,wesubtracttheresultfrommodulusa ndsowegetthenew
value.Whenthisvalueislessthan10,wealreadyg otcheckdigit.Ifitisgreatervalue(two
digits),wetakethewholev alueorjusttheleastsignificantdigit(Onedigitonly)astheresulto f
checkdigitalgorithm.
Special Characters
Using Special Characters
Specialcharactersarethekindofcharactersyouusuallycannotfindd irectlyonyourkeyboard.In
spiteofthat,someofthemcanbetypedinusingcombinationsofAlternateandControlkeys.
Theproblemusuallydoesnotappearwithyourlanguage-specificcharacters( ,,,,,Aetc),
youcanenterthemdirectlyonthekeyboardorusingAlt+<key_code>combination.alternatively
WindowsutilityCharacterMapcanbeusedtofindappropriatecharactera ndpasteittothelabel.
Youmighthaveproblemsusingotherkindofspecialcharacters.Sometimesthereisaneedto
includeacharacterwithASCIIcodebelow32.Thesea reso-calledcontrolcharacters.Theycan-
notbenormallyenteredtolabelingo ranyotherapplication.Thereisanalternativemethodofenter-
ingsuchc haracters,explainedlaterinthistopic.
Thereareseveralmethodshowspecialcharacterscanbetypedintothelabelingsoftware.
Entering characters with <#hex_code> syntax

Anothermethodofenteringspecialcharactersisusingthesyntax<#hex_code>.T
hehex_code
standsforatwo-charactermarkinhexadecimalnumericals ystem.Theappropriatevaluesgofrom
0(decimal0)toFF(decimal255).
Forexample,<#BC>(decimal188)wouldbethesameas<FNC1>,a stheybothwouldencodethe
characterwithASCIIcode0188.
Entering characters with Alt+<ASCII_code>

ThismethodisvalidonlyforcharactersthatareaboveASCIIcode32.A typicalexamplewould
beFNCcodesthatareusedtoencodeGS1-128b arcodedata.Thelabelingsoftwarewillencode
thistypeofbarcodea ccordingtostandardsandnormallyyouwouldnothavetochangeanything
aboutit.However,sometimesitisnecessarytomanuallyaddsuchcharactertolabeldata.
ToincludeFunctionCodesjusttypeintheappropriatecharacterforF
unctionCode.ASCIIcodes
ofFunctionCodesareasfollows:
FNC1 0188
FNC2 0189
FNC3 0190
FNC4 0191
- 144 -
TotypeincharacterforFNC1,pressandholddownleftAltkey,thentypeindigits0188onthe
numerickeyboard.Notetheleadingzero,itismandatory.ReleasetheAltkeyandFNC1character
shouldappear.
Thesecharacterscanbetypedindirectlyusingthekeyboard.

Predefined Character Shortcuts

Thelabelingapplicationhasseveralcontrolcharacterspredefineda ndtheycanbeselectedfroma
drop-downmenuinanydialogbox,wherea textinputisenabled.Justlookattherightsideofthe
editfielda ndfindabuttonwitharrow.Clickitforalistofallavailableshortcutstopredefined
characters.Thesamelistcanbeaccessedwithright-clicko ntheeditfield,whereyouselect
Insert special character.Forexample:FNC1charactercansimplybeencodeda s<FNC1>.
Ifspecialcharactersyouwanttouseonthelabelisnotavailableinthislistofshortcuts,consult
additionalinputmethods.
ASCII Abbreviation Description of the char-
code used in the acter
application
1 SOH Start of Heading
2 STX Start of Text
3 ETX End of Text
4 EOT End of Transmission
23 ETB End Transmission
Block
25 EM End of Medium
5 ENQ Enquiry
6 ACK Acknowledgement
7 BEL Bell
8 BS Back Space
9 HT Horizontal Tab
11 VT Vertical Tab
13 CR Carriage Return
10 LF Line Feed
12 FF Form Feed
14 SO Shift Out
15 SI Shift In
16 DLE Data Link Escape
17 DC1 XON - Device Control
1
18 DC2 Device Control 2
19 DC3 XOFF - Device Control
3
20 DC4 Device Control 4
28 FS File Separator
29 GS Group Separator
30 RS Record Separator
- 145 -
31 US Unit Separator
21 NAK Negative Acknow-
ledgement
22 SYN Synchronous Idle
24 CAN Cancel
26 SUB Substitute
27 ESC Escape
188 FNC Function Code 1

Working with Memory Cards

Using the Printer Memory Card
Usageofprintermemorycardisrecommendedwheneverfasterlabelprintingisrequired.A
memorycardboostsperformancebecausethereisnoneedtotransferlargebitmapimagesorcus-
tomfontfilestoprinteroverando veragain.Everyelementthatisneededonthelabelisalready
storedo nthememorycard.
Preparing Data for Memory Card
Followthesestepstoprepareanduseyourmemorycard.
1. Firstofall,gothroughtheusermanualofyourmemorycard.Memorycardsaresens-
itivedevicesandmisusecoulddamagethecardaswellasyourprinter.
2. InsertmemorycardintoSlot1.Theslotsareusuallylocatedatthebackoftheprinter.
Switchontheprinter.
3. StarttheapplicationNiceMemMaster,memorycardmanager.Iftheiconfor
NiceMemMasterisnotshowninthelabelingsoftwarefolderintheStartmenucheck
yourinstallation.Reinstallthelabelingsoftwareifnecessary.
4. We'llassumethatmemorycardisemptyorsafetodelete.Firststepis,tolet
NiceMemMasterknowwhattypeofcardisinsertedinprinter.ClickPrint Setup
inCard menu.Selectyourthermalprinterfromthelist.Ifyourprinterisnotlisted,
youwillhavetoinstalltheappropriateNiceLabelPrinterDriver.ClickbuttonProp-
ertiesthenclickbuttonMemorytoopendialogboxPrinter memory.Herewehave
toactivatethememorycardinSlot1.LookatsectionSlot1.InfieldTypeselect
Memory Card,leavefieldConnected fileintact.KeepclickingOKuntilyoureturnto
NiceMemMaster.
Note:NiceMemMasterworksonlyinconjunctionwithNiceLabelPrinterDrivers.
5. Wewillformatthememorycardandprepareitfordownloadingourdata.Becareful,if
thecardcontainsanypreviouslydownloadedelements,theywillbedeleted.Click
FormatfromCardmenuorclick .Formattingwilltakeafewseconds.
- 146 -
6. Nextstepistobuildalistoffontsandgraphicsthatwewanttostoreonmemorycard.
Theinformationaboutthesefontsandgraphicsisstoredinmemorycardfile(.MMF).
Let'smakeasamplememorycardfile.SelectNewfromCardmenu,orclick .
NamethefileSampleandclickOK.IndialogCard setuptypeindescriptionand
selectpropercardsizeinkilobytes.Youcanalwaysreturntothisdialogbyselecting
Memory card informationinCardmenuorclicking .
OntheleftsideoftheNiceMemMasterwindowsisplaceforinsertingfonts;onthe
rightsideisaplaceforgraphicsfiles.ToaddafontselectAddfromFontmenuor
right-clickFontsside ofthewindow.Selectfonttobedownloadedanditsstyleand
size.Nextdialogallowsyoutoselectonlytherequiredcharactersinthisfont.Only
selectedcharacterswillbedownloadedtomemorycard.Usethisoptionifyouarerun-
ninglowonkilobytesonmemorycard.Let'saddthewholefontinoursample.Next
wewe'lladdsomegraphicstoourlist.SelectAddfromGraphicsmenuorright-click
Graphicssideofthewindow.Selectsomepictures(e.g.SAMPLE.PCXor
PRINTER.BMP).
Inthelowerpartofthewindowyoucanseeinformationaboutselectedfontorgraph-
ics:preview,usedmemory,widthandheight.Everyelementcanbeprintedtolabel,
justtoseeifeverythingisallright.UsecommandTest print.Addsomemorefonts
andgraphicstogetagrip.Undesiredelementscanberemovedfromthelist.Use
DeletefromFont/GraphicsmenuorrightclicktheelementandselectDelete.
7. Whenlayoutiscompleteandeveryfontandgraphicsisinthelist,wearereadyfor
download.Youcandownloadthewholelisttotheprinteratonce.Right-clickleftor
rightsideofthewindowandselectDownload Allfromthelist.Oryoucandownload
oneelementatatimebyselectingitandclickingDownloadfromFonts/Graphics
menuorrightclickingitandselectingDownloadfromthelist.Ifforsomereasonyou
wanttoremoveadownloadedelementfrommemorycard,butkeepitinthelistfor
later,usecommandRemove.
Nowlet'sdoastatusprint.Printerwillreportsomeusefulinformationofmemorycard
usage.ClickStatus PrintfromCardmenu.
Using Data from Memory Card in the Designer
Memorycardisnowfilledwithelements(fontsandgraphics)andisr eadytobeusedfromthe
labelingsoftware.
1. Startthelabeldesigner
2. Createnewlabel.ClickNewfromFilemenuorclick .Chooseyourprinterfrom
thelist.Selectpredefinedlabelstockordesignyourownlabel.
3. Wehavetotellthelabeldesignerthatourprinterisequippedwithmemorycardand
whatkindofdataisstoredonthememorycard.
Double-clicktheprinternameinthestatuslineinthebottomofthewindow.Clickbut-
tonMemory,andinsectionSlot1forTypeselectMemory CardandforConnected
fileselectSAMPLE.Thisisthenameofthememorycardfile(.MMF)wecreated
before.ClickOKtoreturntothelabeldesigner.
4. Usingdownloadedfont.
ClickTexticon orParagraphicon andtypeinsome
- 147 -
text.Fromtexttoolbarselectthefont,youdownloadedtomemorycardbefore.Iftext
toolbarisnotshownonyourscreen,switchitonusingcommandText toolinView
menu.Youwillrecognizedownloadedfontbyspecialprintersymbolinfrontofits
name .Tomakesure,youhaveselectedtheproperfont,thesamesymbolisshown
inthelowerrightcorneroftheelementonthelabel.Ifthesymbolisnotthere,you
didn'tselecttherightfontoryoudonothaveswitchedondisplayingofprinterelement.
InthiscaseselectObject propertiesinViewmenuandclickPrinter elements.
5. Usingdownloadedgraphics.
ClickGraphicsicon andselectthepictureyoudownloadedto
memorycardbefore.ClickOK.Insertedpictureisusedfromdiskandnotfrom
memorycardyet.TochangethisdoubleclickthepictureandselectOn memory card
inGeneraltab.ClickBrowseandselectthepicturefrommemorycard.Tomakesure
youareusingpicturefrommemorycardlookatthepictureonthelabel.Itshouldbe
framedinbluebox.Regularpicturedoesn'thaveanyframe.
IfyouneedfurtherexplanationonhowNiceMemMasterworkspleaserefertoNiceMemMaster
documentation.
Using Label Setup Wizard

Using Label Setup Wizard
LabelSetupWizardoffersdefiningdimensionsofthelabelandchangingp rintersetup.Itconsists
ofafewsimplesteps.ClickontheRelated Topicsbuttonformoreinformation.
Defining Label Dimensions

Hereyoucanenterthelabeldimensions.
Note:Thevaluesfordimensionsareenteredautomaticallyifyouselectedthelabelstockinthe
previousstep.
- 148 -
LabelsetupWizard-definingthelabelf ormat
Width, height:Definethelabeld imensions.

Margins:Definethelabelmargins.
Rows, columns:Definethenumbero flabelsinhorizontalandverticaldirections.Thisoptionis
commonlyu sedwithofficeprinters(laserandinkjetprinters).
Gaps:Definethegapsbetweenthelabels.
Note:Definegapsonlyifyouhavechangedrowsandcolumnsoption.Ifyouhaver ollsoflabels,
thegapsbetweenthelabelsareauto-identifiedbytheg apsensorintheprinter.
Unit of measure:Changetheu nitofmeasureyouwanttouse.

Whenyouaresatisfiedwiththelabeldimensions,clickontheFinishbuttontoclosetheLabel
setupw
izard.
Stock
Ifyouuseoneofthestandardpredefinedlabelformats,youcanspecifyithere.
Stock Type:Selectthetypeo fstock.
Stock name:Selectthestockf romthelist.
Stock information:Theinformationa boutlabeldimensions,printersettings,backgroundimages
asdefinedb ytheselectedstock.
Label linked to stock:Ifyoue nablethisoption,youcannotchangethedimensionsofthelabel,
becausethestockslocksthedimensions.
Note:Usingpredefinedstockssimplifiestheprocessoflabelcreationasyoud onothaveto
definethelabeldimensionsmanually.
- 149 -
ClickontheNextbuttontoc ontinuewiththenextstep.
LabelsetupWizard-selectingLabelStock
Selecting Label Layout

Orientation:Selectthelabelo rientation.Lookatthescreenandprinterlayoutsforsuggestionhow
thelabelwillreallybeprintedfromtheprinter.
otatedtorotatethelabelfor1 80degrees,whenprinted.
Print directions:TicktheoptionR
- 150 -
Selectinglabellayout
Defining the Page Size

Selectthepagesizeforyourlabels.Thisstepisonlynecessaryfortheofficeprinters.
Automatic Sizing:Tickthiso ption,ifyouareusingthermalprinterwithNiceLabelPrinter
Drivers.ThelabelingsoftwareandN iceLabelPrinterDriverswillnegotiateaboutthelabeldimen-
sions.
- 151 -
LabelsetupWizard-choosingLabelDimensions
Selecting Printer
SelectdesiredprinterandoptionallyclickPropertiesb uttonifyouwanttosettheprinterpara-
meters.Printsetupdialogboxisshown,allowingyoutosettheprinterparameterssuchasprint
speed,p rintdarknessandprintdirection.NotethatthisisstandardWidowsp rintersetupdialogbox
anditsoptionsmaydifferfromprintertoprintera sitisbasedontheprinterdriver.
IfthecheckboxAlways use default printerischecked,thedefaultwindow'sprinteranditsset-
tingsw
illbeusedalwayswhenopeningthislabel.
ClicktheNextbuttontocontinuew
iththenextstep.
- 152 -
LabelsetupWizard-Selectingprinter
Formatting Allergens for Food Ingredi-

ents
TheEuropeanUnionsmandatoryfoodlabelinglegislation,formalizedinRegulation(EU)No
1169/2011,notonlyspecifieswhatinformationmustbeshown,butalsohowthatinformationis
presented,includingfont,colorandcontrast.Theregulationdealsindetailonlywithfontsize,but
leavestheexacttypeofallergenhighlightingtotheuser.Theallergensintheingredientlistmust
beprintedinatypesetorfontthatdistinguishesthemfromtherestofthelist(suchasbold,italic,
underlined,inverse,differentcolor).
NiceLabelhasabuilt-insupportforallergenformattingthroughthecustomfunctions.Theseare
predefinedfunctionsthatyoucanusetohighlighttheallergensinthelistofingredients.Byhigh-
lighting,youcanyoubold,italic,underline,CAPSformattingorcombinationofthisformatting.
ThefunctionresultisRTF-formatteddatayoucanusewiththeRich Text Boxobject.
Theallergenwordmightappearinsidesomeingredientthatisnotallergen.Inthiscaseyoucan
usethe"WithExceptions"typeoffunctions.Thesefunctionswillacceptanotherinputparameter-
alistofexceptions.Thesearewordsorsentencesthatmustnotbeformattedeveniftheycontain
theallergenword.Forexample,ifyoudefinetheword"milk"asallergen,itwillbealsohigh-
lightedintheingredient"coconut milk",whichiswrong.Youcandefine"coconutmilk"asan
exceptionandNiceLabelwillnothighlighttheword"milk"whenusedincombination"coconut
milk".
Forsamplesandadditionalhow-todocumentationseeNiceLabel.Com:EUFoodAllergenLabel-
ingRegulation.
Prerequisites
TheFoodAllergensfunctionsconnecttotheprovideddatasourceandreadtheallergenswithin.
- 153 -
Inordertoopenthedatasource,theappropriatedatabasedrivers(ODBCdrivers)mustbe
installedonthecomputer.
l For Excel and Access data sources.IfyouhaveMicrosoftOfficeinstalledonthe

samemachine,youalreadyhavethedatabasedrivers.Ifnot,installthedriverssep-
arately.VisitMicrosoftDownloadCenterthendownloadandinstallMicrosoft Access
Database Engine 2010 RedistributableorMicrosoft Access 2013 Runtime.
l For MS SQL data sources.TheODBCdriverhasbeenreleasedwithinthe
Microsoft SQL Server Feature Pack.Youmusthaveinstalledsupportforthepro-
viderSQLSQLNCLI11.VisitMicrosoftDownloadCenteranddownloadthedriver.
Note:IfyouplanusingtheFoodAllergenfunctionsfromNiceLabelAutomationsoftwareon
64-bitmachine,makesuretoinstall64-bitdatabasedriversaswell(AutomationServiceruns
as64-bitprocesson64-bitmachine).
Applying formatting to the allergens
Toformatallergensinthelistofingredients,youhavetoexecutetheformattingfunctionand
providetheinputparameters.TheformattingfunctionsareexecutedasVBScriptfunctionand
willprovidetheresultintheoutputvariable,whichcanbeuseddirectlyintheRicthTextBox
object.Thefunctionthatyouwouldusemustmatchthedatalocation,whereyoukeepthelistof
allergens,suchasCSVstring,MicrosoftExcelspreadsheet,orMicrosoftAccessdatabase.
ToformattheallergensfromalistinExcel,dothefollowing:
1. InNiceLabelPro,selectData>Functions.
2. ClickNew.
3. SelectVisual Basic ScriptandtypeinthefunctionName.
4. GotoDetailedtab.
5. ClickBuild Script.
6. ChangethelineResult = "0"intoResult =andpositionthecursorafterthe
equalsign.
7. IntheCategorysection,expandCustom FunctionsandselectFood allergens.
8. IntheNamecategory,doubleclickthefunctionFormatAllergensFromExcel.
9. IntheExpressioncategory,definethefunctionparameters,forexample:
Result = FormatAllergensFromExcel(Ingredients, "c:\data\aller-
gens.xls", "Sheet1", "1", "bold")
ThiswillreadthelistofingredientsprovidedinthevariableIngredients,readthelist
ofallergensfromMicrosoftExcelfileallergens.xlsinthefirstcolumninthe
sheetSheet1andapplyboldformattingtoallallergenswithin.
10. ClickOK.
11. InOutput variable name,definethevariablename,wheretheformattedallergenswill
besaved.
Note:MakesurethevariablebeginswiththeprefixRTF_,suchasRTF_Allergens.
ThiswillinstructRichTextObjecttohonorthecontrolcodesspecifiedinthevariable.
- 154 -
12. ClickOK.
13. ClickClose.
14. Inthetoolbox,selecttheRich Text Boxobject,thenclickanywhereonthelabel.
15. InRich Text Editor,selectyourvariableinthelistandadditintothecontent.
Youcanaddadditionalvariablesorfixedtextifnecessary.
16. YoucanusethecontrolsavailableintheRichTextEditortoformatthefonttype,size
andcolors.
17. ClickOK.
Youcanfollowthesimilarstepsfortheotherallergenformattingfunctions.
Syntax of Allergen formatting functions
User provided list of allergens
Thisfunctionwillacceptthelistofingredientsandlistofallergensintwovariablesandcreate
theRTFcodewithhighlightedallergens.AllwordsfromtheAllergensthatarematchedin
theIngredientswillbeformattedbytheHighlightspecification.
Syntax:
FormatAllergens(Ingredients,Allergens,Highlight)
Parameter Description
Ingredients The CSV list of ingredients.
Allergens The CSV list of allergens.
The CSV list of formatting switches you want to apply to the allergen. You can
use "bold", "italic", "underline", "caps", text color and/or background color. The
colors are formatted in hex syntax for RGB scheme, for example "#FF0000" for
Highlight red. For text color just provide the color code, for the backround, prefix the
color code with "bg:", such as "bg:#FF0000".
This is optional parameter. If provided as empty value (""), bold format is

used.
Example:
FormatAllergens("wheat flour,salt,veg fat,hazel-
nuts","wheat,hazelnuts","bold,italic")
FormatAllergens(Ingredients,"wheat,hazelnuts","bold,italic")
- 155 -
Allergens from Microsoft Excel spreadsheet
ThisfunctionwillacceptthelistofingredientsandlocationoftheMicrosoftExcelspread-
sheet.ThefunctionreadstheallergensfromthespreadsheetandcreatestheRTFcodewith
highlightedallergens.AllwordsfromthespreadsheetthatarematchedintheIngredients
willbeformattedbytheHighlightspecification.
Syntax:
FormatAllergensFromExcel(Ingredi-
ents,ExcelFile,Spreadsheet,Column,Highlight)
Excel file The full path and filename to the Microsoft Excel file containing the allergens.
Spreadsheet The name of the spreadsheet containing the list of allergens.
The name of the field (column name) containing the allergens.
Field You can also provide the column index number containing the list of allergens.
Column A must be provided as "1", column B as "2", etc.

used.
Example:
FormatAllergensFromExcel("wheat flour,salt,veg fat,hazel-
nuts","c:\files\data.xlsx","Sheet1","1","bold,italic")
FormatAllergensFromExcel(Ingredi-
ents,"c:\files\data.xlsx","Sheet1","1","bold,italic")
Allergens from Microsoft Access database
ThisfunctionwillacceptthelistofingredientsandlocationoftheMicrosoftAccessdatabase.
ThefunctionreadstheallergensfromthespecifiedtableandcreatestheRTFcodewithhigh-
lightedallergens.AllwordsfromthespreadsheetthatarematchedintheIngredientswill
beformattedbytheHighlightspecification.
Syntax:
- 156 -
FormatAllergensFromAccess(Ingredi-
ents,AccessDb,Table,Field,Highlight)
AccessDb The full path and filename to the Microsoft Access file containing the allergens.
Table The name of the table containing the list of allergens.
Field The name of the field containing the allergens.

used.
Example:
FormatAllergensFromAccess("wheat flour,salt,veg fat,hazel-
nuts","c:\data\db.mdb","Allergens","Allergens","bold,italic")
FormatAllergensFromAccess(Ingredi-
ents,"c:\data\db.mdb","Allergens","Allergens","bold,italic")
Allergens from Microsoft SQL database
ThisfunctionwillacceptthelistofingredientsandlocationoftheMicrosoftSQLdatabase.
Thefunctionreadsallrecordsfromtheselectedfieldinthespecifiedtableandcreatesthe
RTFcodewithhighlightedallergens.Allwordsfromthespreadsheetthatarematchedinthe
IngredientswillbeformattedbytheHighlightspecification.
Note:ThefunctionrequirestheSQL Server Native Client ODBC driver.Itisinstalled

withtheSQLServertoolsthatyoucandownloadfromMicrosoftwebpages.
Syntax:
FormatAllergensFromMSSQL(Ingredients, SQLServer, dbUsername, dbPass-
word, dbName, Table, Field, Highlight)
SQLServer The SQL server name and optional instance, for example server\instance
dbUsername The user name defined in the SQL server.
dbPassword The password for the SQL user name.

used.
Example:
FormatAllergensFromMSSQL("wheat flour,salt,veg fat,hazel-
nut-
s","server\sqlexpress","db","password","Allergens","Allergens","bold,italic")
Allergens from any SQL database
ThisfunctionwillacceptthelistofingredientsandconnectionstringtotheSQLdatabase.The
- 157 -
functionreadsallrecordsfromtheselectedfieldinthespecifiedtableandcreatestheRTF
codewithhighlightedallergens.Allwordsfromthespreadsheetthatarematchedinthe
IngredientswillbeformattedbytheHighlightspecification.
Note:ThefunctionrequiresthedatabasedriverforyourflavorofSQLservertobeinstalled.
Syntax:
FormatAllergensFromSQL(Ingredients, ConnectionString, Table, Field,
Highlight)
The connection string providing information to access your SQL server. The
connection string must be provided based on the database driver you are
ConnectionString using.
Connection strings for many flavors of data sources can be found online at
http://www.connectionstrings.com.

used.
Example:
FormatAllergensFromSQL("wheat flour,salt,veg fat,hazel-
nuts","Provider=OraOLEDB.Oracle;Data Source=XE;User Id=use-
er;Password=password;","Allergens","bold,italic")
FormatAllergensFromSQL("wheat flour,salt,veg fat,hazelnuts","Driver=
{MySQL ODBC 5.3 UNICODE Driver-
};Server=mysqldb;Database=Allergens;User=mysql_user-
;Password=password;Option=3;","Allergens","bold,italic")
Allergens embedded within the custom tags
Thisfunctionwillacceptthelistofingredientswheretheallergensaremarkedwithtag.The
tagisacustomcharacterplacedinfrontofandaftertheallergen.Thevaluebetweenthetwo
tagsishighlightedasspecifiedbyHighlight.
Syntax:
FormatAllergensFromTags(Ingredients,Tag,Highlight)
Ingredients The list of ingredients where the allergens have been enclosed by tag characters.
The character that is used in front of and after the allergen. Make sure to select
Tag
the character that is not used anywhere else in this string.

used.
Example:
- 158 -
FormatAllergensFromTags("*wheat* flour,salt,veg fat,*hazel-
nuts*","*","bold,italic")
Syntax of Allergen formatting functions with support for exclusions
User provided list of allergens
Thisfunctionwillacceptthelistofingredientsandlistofallergensintwovariablesandcreate
theRTFcodewithhighlightedallergens.AllwordsfromtheAllergensthatarematchedin
theIngredientswillbeformattedbytheHighlightspecification.Thelastparameter
providestheCSVlistofsentencesthatmustnotbehighlightedeveniftheycontainthealler-
genwords.
Syntax:
FormatAllergensWithExclusions(Ingredi-
ents,Allergens,Highlight,Exclusions)
Allergens The CSV list of allergens.

used.
The CSV list of words & sentences that will not be highlighted even if they con-
tain allergen words.
Exclusions For example: Milk is an allergen so the word "milk" must be highlighted,
but not when used in context "coconut milk". In this case "coconut milk" must
be defined as exception.
Example:
FormatAllergensWithExclusions("wheat flour,salt,veg fat,hazelnuts,
coconut milk","wheat,hazelnuts,milk","bold,italic","coconut milk")
FormatAllergensWithExclusions(Ingredi-
ents,"wheat,hazelnuts","bold,italic",Exclusions)
Allergens from Microsoft Excel spreadsheet
ThisfunctionwillacceptthelistofingredientsandlocationoftheMicrosoftExcelspread-
sheet.ThefunctionreadstheallergensfromthespreadsheetandcreatestheRTFcodewith
highlightedallergens.AllwordsfromthespreadsheetthatarematchedintheIngredients
willbeformattedbytheHighlightspecification.ThelastparameterprovidestheCSVlist
ofsentencesthatmustnotbehighlightedeveniftheycontaintheallergenwords.
Syntax:
FormatAllergensFromExcelWithExclusions(Ingredi-
ents,ExcelFile,Spreadsheet,Field,Highlight,SpreadsheetEx,FieldEx)
Excel file The full path and filename to the Microsoft Excel file containing the allergens.
Spreadsheet The name of the spreadsheet containing the list of allergens.
The name of the field (column name) containing the allergens.
Field You can also provide the column index number containing the list of allergens.
Column A must be provided as "1", column B as "2", etc.
- 159 -

used.
The name of the spreadsheet containing the list of word & sentences to be
SpreadsheetEx
excluded from allergen formatting.
The name of the field (column name) containing the words & sentences to be
excluded from the formatting.
You can also provide the column index number containing the list of allergens.
FieldEx Column A must be provided as "1", column B as "2", etc.
For example: Milk is an allergen so the word "milk" must be highlighted,

Example:
FormatAllergensFromExcelWithExclusions("wheat flour,salt,veg
fat,hazel-
nuts","c:\files\data.xlsx","Sheet1","1","bold,italic","Sheet2","2")
FormatAllergensFromExcelWithExclusions(Ingredi-
ents,"c:\files\data.xlsx","Sheet1","1","bold,italic","Sheet2","2")
Allergens from Microsoft Access database
ThisfunctionwillacceptthelistofingredientsandlocationoftheMicrosoftAccessdatabase.
ThefunctionreadstheallergensfromthespecifiedtableandcreatestheRTFcodewithhigh-
lightedallergens.AllwordsfromthespreadsheetthatarematchedintheIngredientswill
beformattedbytheHighlightspecification.ThelastparameterprovidestheCSVlistof
sentencesthatmustnotbehighlightedeveniftheycontaintheallergenwords.
Syntax:
FormatAllergensFromAccessWithExceptions(Ingredi-
ents,AccessDb,Table,Field,Highlight,TableEx,FieldEx)
AccessDb The full path and filename to the Microsoft Access file containing the allergens.
Highlight The CSV list of formatting switches you want to apply to the allergen. You can
- 160 -
red. For text color just provide the color code, for the backround, prefix the

used.
The name of the table containing the list of word & sentences to be excluded from
TableEx
allergen formatting.
The name of the field containing words and sentences that will not be high-
lighted even if they contain allergen words.
FieldEx For example: Milk is an allergen so the word "milk" must be highlighted,
Example:
FormatAllergensFromAccessWithExclusions("wheat flour,salt,veg
fat,hazel-
nut-
s","c:\data\db.mdb","tblAllergens","Allergens","bold,italic","tblAllergensEx","Ex
FormatAllergensFromAccessWithExclusions(Ingredi-
ents,"c:\data\d-
b.mdb","tblAllergens","Allergens","bold,italic","tblAllergensEx","Exclusions")
Allergens from Microsoft SQL database
ThisfunctionwillacceptthelistofingredientsandlocationoftheMicrosoftSQLdatabase.
Thefunctionreadsallrecordsfromtheselectedfieldinthespecifiedtableandcreatesthe
RTFcodewithhighlightedallergens.Allwordsfromthespreadsheetthatarematchedinthe
IngredientswillbeformattedbytheHighlightspecification.Thelastparameter
genwords.
Note:ThefunctionrequirestheSQL Server Native Client ODBC driver.Itisinstalled

withtheSQLServertoolsthatyoucandownloadfromMicrosoftwebpages.
Syntax:
FormatAllergensFromMSSQLWithExclusions(Ingredi-
ents,SQLServer-
,dbUsername,dbPassword,dbName,Table,Field,Highlight,TableEx,FieldEx)
SQLServer The SQL server name and optional instance, for example server\instance
The user name defined in the SQL server.
dbUsername
Note: This is SQL user, not Windows user account.
dbPassword The password for the SQL user name.
- 161 -
used.
TableEx
Example:
FormatAllergensFromMSSQLWithExclusions("wheat flour,salt,veg
fat,hazel-
nut-
s","server\sqlexpress","SQLuser","password","tblAllergens","Allergens","bold,ital
Allergens from any SQL database
ThisfunctionwillacceptthelistofingredientsandconnectionstringtotheSQLdatabase.The
functionreadsallrecordsfromtheselectedfieldinthespecifiedtableandcreatestheRTF
codewithhighlightedallergens.Allwordsfromthespreadsheetthatarematchedinthe
IngredientswillbeformattedbytheHighlightspecification.Thelastparameter
genwords.
Note:ThefunctionrequiresthedatabasedriverforyourflavorofSQLservertobeinstalled.
Syntax:
FormatAllergensFromSQLWithExclusions(Ingredients, ConnectionString,
Table, Field, Highlight, TableEx, FieldEx)
The connection string providing information to access your SQL server. The
connection string must be provided based on the database driver you are
ConnectionString using.
Connection strings for many flavors of data sources can be found online at
http://www.connectionstrings.com.

used.
TableEx
Example:
- 162 -
FormatAllergensFromSQLWithExclusions("wheat flour,salt,veg fat,hazel-
nuts","Provider=OraOLEDB.Oracle;Data Source=XE;User Id=use-
r;Password=password;","Allergens","bold,italic","tblAllergensEx","Exclusions")
FormatAllergensFromSQLWithExclusions("wheat flour,salt,veg fat,hazel-
nuts","Driver={MySQL ODBC 5.3 UNICODE Driver-
};Server=mysqldb;Database=Allergens;User=mysql_
user;Password=password;Option=3;","Allergens","bold,italic","tblAllergensEx","Exc
- 163 -
Printing and Previewing Labels
Preview and Print a Label

Ifyouwanttoprintalabel,youcanusetheprintpreviewtosimulatea printoutput.Thelabelpre-
viewshowsthelabelonthescreen.
Simulateprinting10labelsonthescreentochecklabellayoutandp rintingprocedure.
1. Clickon iconintheStandard toolbarorselectthecommandPrintintheFile

menu.ThePrintdialogboxappears.
2. Enter10forLabelQuantityandclickonthePreviewbutton.Thesoftwarewillclosethe
dialogboxandsimulatetheproductionfor10labelsonthescreen.
Note:Youcanselectbetweenthequantityofthelabelsandthequantityofthep ages.Thepage
canhaveoneormorelabelsandthelabelsarearrangedo nthepageincolumnsandrows.Ifyou
haveeightlabelsonthepage,thequantityoftenpageswillprint80labels.
Whenyouarecertainthatthelabelswillbeprintedcorrectlyandthep reviewshowsthecorrect
values,youcanproceedtorealprinting.Toa ctuallyprintthelabels,dothefollowing:
1. Clickon iconintheStandard toolbar.ThePrintdialogboxappears.

2. Enter10fortheLabelQuantityandclickonthePrintbutton.Yourprinterwillnow
print10labels.
Note:Tomanagefastandeasylabelprinting,youcanprintlabelsfromtheapplicationN
icePrint
ortheformgeneratedwithNiceForm.FormoreinformationrefertothechapterOther Applic-
ations.
Store and Recall Printing Mode

StoreandRecallprintingmodeisthemethodofoptimizedlabelprinting.
Inthismodethesoftwaredoesnotsendthedataforeachlabelindividuallytotheprinter,aprocess
thatusedinstandardprintingmode.Insteadforeachprintactionlabelrecallcommandissentto
theprinter.Theobviousbenefitisreductionofdatasenttotheprinter.Typicallyafewbytesof
dataissenttotheprinter,comparedtoafewkilobyteswithnormalprinting.
Storeandrecallprintingmethodisaperfectsolutionforlabelprinters,wherehighresponseand
high-throughputisrequired.Usuallywithembeddedandintegrationsystems.Onceyouhave
definedthestoreandrecallprintingmodeinthelabeldesigner,thesamebenefitsareavailable
fromtheformdesignerandmiddlewareintegrationmodule.
Insteadthelabelprintingprocessisbrokenintotwoprocesses:
l Store label
Duringthisprocessthesoftwarecreatesadescriptionofthelabeltemplateformattedin
- 164 -
theprintercommandlanguageoftheselectedprinter.Thesoftwarethensendsthecre-
atedcommandfiletotheprintermemoryandstoresitthere.
Oncethelabelhasbeenstoredintheprinter,itremainsthereuntilyouformattheprinter
memory,orswitchofftheprinter.Therearevariousmemorylocationsintheprinterand
someofthemarenon-volatileandyoucanlosethecontents,whentheprinterswitches
off
l Recall label
Thelabelstoredintheprintermemorycanbeimmediatelyprintedout.Usingtherecall
processthesoftwarecreatesanothercommandfiletoinstructtheprinterwhichlabelfrom
thememorytoprint.Therecall labelcommandcanoccupyafewbytesofdataonly.It
dependsonthesituationyouhave.
l Fixedlabels:Ifyouhavelabelswithoutanyvariablecontents,therecallcommand
filecontainsjusttherecalllabelcommand.
l Variablelabels:Ifyouhavelabelswithsomevariablefields,thecommandfilewill
includethevaluesforthesevariablesandtherecalllabelcommand.
Tousethestoreandrecallprintingmode,dothefollowing:
1. Makesuretoselecttheappropriateprinterdriverforyourlabelprinter.Notalllabelprint-
ershavetheabilitytousethestoreandrecallprintingmode.
2. SelectFile -> Label SetupandgotothePrintertab.
3. EnabletheoptionStore label template and recall for printinginthePrintModesec-
tion.
4. ClickOK.
5. Defineyoulabeltemplate.
Allobjectonthelabelforwhichyouwanttobevariableshouldbeformattedasinternal
printerobjects.Youmustformattextobjectsinprinterinternalfonts(notTruetypefonts).
Youmustformatthebarcodeobjectsasprinterinternalbarcodes.Youcanstillusevari-
ableobjectsformattedinTruetypefonts,orvariablepictures,ordatabasefields,however,
duringthelabelstoreprocessdefaultvalueswillbesenttotheprinter.
6. Whenreadyforprinting,selectFile -> Print.
7. GototheStore Label Templatetab.
8. Makesurethe'Storelocation'pointstothecorrectmemorylocationintheprinter.
9. Typeinorselectthevaluesforvariableobjectsthatarenotformattedasinternalprinter
objects.Thesevariableswillhavethesamevalueoneachlabel,theywillbehaveasthey
areobjectswithfixedvalue.
10. ClickonStorebuttontocreatethecommandfilewithlabeltemplatedescriptionand
sendittotheprinter.
11. GototheGeneralTab.
12. Typeinthevaluesforpromptedvariablesonthelabel.Thesevariableslinktothe
internalprinterobjectsonthelabel,that'swhyyoucansettheirvaluestodifferentvalue
witheveryprint.
13. ClickonRecallbuttontosendthevariablevaluesandrecalllabelcommandtoyourlabel
printer.
- 165 -
14. YoucanpreviewthedatathatissenttotheprinterusingtheStoreandRecallfunction.In
thePrintdialogwindow,selectAnalyze Stream ontheAdvancedtab.APrint
Stream Analysiswindowwillopen,displayingthestoreddataintheStore Stream
frame.TheRecall Frame willdisplaythedatathatissenttotheprinterduringsub-
sequentprintingofastoredlabel.
Previewing Pictures
Whenyouplaceapictureonthelabel,indesignmodeitisalwaysshownincolor-depthasdefined
inthepicture.
However,whenpreviewingthelabelson-screen,thepreviewofthepicturesd ependsonthedither-
ingoptionsetintheprinterdriver.Allcolorpictures( exceptWMFandEMFfiles)areconverted
tomonochromeimages.Theillusiono fcolorsandshadesofgrayisaccomplishedbyvaryingthe
patternofd ots.Moredotsclosetogetherwillprovidedarkershadeofgray.
Thepreviewofthelabelwillshowpicturesinthesamewayastheyw illbeprintedaccordinglyto
theditheringsetting.Moreaccurateprintp reviewisguaranteedthisway.
Ifthepictureisnotpreviewedasyouwouldliketoprintit,changetheditheringsettinginthe
printerdriver.
Optimize the Printing Speed

Therearemanyfactorsthataffecttheprintingspeed.Byfollowingtheguidelinesbelowyoucan
dramaticallyincreasethespeedofprinting:
l Ifyourprintersupportsparallelandserialport,usetheparallelport.Computercansend
datatoprinteroverparallelportmuchfasterthanoverserialport.
l Useprinter'sinternalfontsinsteadofWindows'true-typefonts.True-typefontsmustbe
senttoprinterasgraphicsandthereforethesizeofdatasenttoprinterismuchbigger
(coupleofkilobytes).Whenusinginternalfonts,onlythetextissenttoprinter(coupleof
bytes).Ifyoumustusetrue-typefonts,usetheNiceMemMasterprogram,todownload
thesefontstoprinter'smemoryandlateraccessthesefontsasinternalprinterfonts(only
ifyourprintersupportsthis).
l Avoiduseofgraphicsonlabels.Ifyoumustprintgraphicsonlabels,usethe
NiceMemMasterprogramtodownloadthesegraphicstoprinter'sinternalmemory(only
ifyourprintersupportsthis).
l Whenusingbarcodes,makesurethatyoudon'tprintbarcodesasgraphics,ifyourprinter
supportsprintingbarcodes.
l Whenusingcounters,theprinterwillinternallyincrementthenumbersiftheinternal
fontsareused.(ifsupportedbytheprinter)Thismeans,thattheprinterwillonlyreceive
thefirstnumberofobject,andwilllaterincrementthisnumbertoprintotherlabels.
Usingthisoptionalsoreducestheamountofdatatransferredbetweencomputerand
printer,butthedifferenceisnoticeableonlywithhighquantityoflabels.
- 166 -
l Settheprintingspeedtoahighervalue(ifyourprintersupportsit).Notethatsettingthe
printingspeedusuallyaffectsthequalityofprinting.Thehigherthespeed,thelowerthe
quality.Youwillhavetofindanacceptablecompromiseforthis.
l Don'tprinttoomuchdataonlabels.Ifthespeedofprintingisanimportantfactor,you
shouldconsiderusingpreprintedlabels,andonlyprintthedata,thatisdifferentoneach
label.
Reprint Labels
Theabilitytoreprintlabelsisoneofastrongerkeyvaluesofthelabelings oftware.Whenyou
havetheprintloggingenabled,thesoftwarewillkeeptrackofallprintedlabels.TheMicrosoft
Accessdatabasestoresallinformationabouttheprintedlabels.Notjustbasicinformationlikethe
username,thelabelname,labelquantity,timeofprinting,printern ameandsimilardata,butalso
advancedinformationlikethevaluesofv ariablefieldsonthelabel,statusofcounters,printed
quantityandlabeljobstatus.
Becauseallinformationabouttheprintedlabelisremembered,youcanr eprintthewholeprint
jobs,orindividuallabelsfromthejob.Thereprintf eatureisavailableaslongastheinformation
abouttheprinterjobisstoredinthelogdatabase.Youcanusethereprintfeaturetoprintthelabel
withthesameinformationonthesameprinterasoriginallyu sed,ortoanyotheravailableprinter.
Note:Thereprintf eatureworkswiththesamedataonthelabel,butnotwiththesamejobf iles.

Thesoftwarerecreatestheprintjobson-the-flyusingtheinformationo fvariablesfieldsfromthe
logfile.
Beforeeachreprintaction,thesoftwarechecksthestatusoftheprintedlabel,asfollows:
Label Ver- Version of the label file is checked against the label version information
sion in the log database. If the label version on the disk is greater than the
Change version of the printed label, you will need to confirm printing of
changed label.
Printer Each label file remembers to which printer the label must be sent. If
Availability the printer in not accessible, you can select some other printer driver.
Toreprintlabels,dothefollowing:
1. SelectTools -> View Log File.

2. Selectthelogentryinthetablethatyouwanttoreprint.
3. ClickontheReprintbutton.
4. Visuallycheckthelabelpreviewiftheselectedlabelisreallythecorrectone.
5. Selectwhichlabelorlabelsyouwanttoreprintfromtheprintjob.Putatickmarkinthe
selectionboxbeforetheline.Youcanreprintthecurrentlyselectedlabel,alllabelsfrom
thebeginningoftheprintjob,alllabelsuntiltheendoftheprintjob,orselectindividual
labels.
Note:Tofindalabelw
ithsomeparticularvalueofvariablefield,usetheFindtoolbar.The
labelsmatchingthecriteriawillbeselectedinthetable.
6. Selecttheprintertowhichyouwanttoreprintthelabels.
- 167 -
Note:Youcanselecta nyavailableprinter,nottheoriginalprinteronly,becausethesoftware
willprocessthelabelagain,notjustsendthesameprintjobtothep rinter.
6. ClickOK.
7. ClickClose.
Use Custom Edit Forms

Ifyouhavealotofpromptedvariablesonalabel,youcanusecustomf ormsthatallowuser-
friendlydataentry.
Dothefollowing:
1. Openyourlabel.
2. SelectLabel SetupfromtheFilemenu.
3. GotoPrintingtab.
Note:IfPrintingtabisnotvisible,clickonthebuttonAdvanceda tthebottomofthedialogbox.
4. Typeinthenameoftheformfileyouwanttouseforprinting.
5. Iftheformdoesnotexist,clickonthebuttonDefinetocreateit.
WhenyouwillselectthePrintcommand,theformwillstartandreplacethestandardPrintdialog
boxinthelabelingsoftware.
NicePrint
NicePrintisastandaloneapplicationthatenablesfastandeasylabelp rinting.Youcanstartitfrom
labelingsoftwareprogramgroupintheStartm
enu.Usingtheapplication,youcanperformallprint-
ingstepsinonesinglew
indow:
l Selectthelabelforprinting
l Setthevaluesforvariables
l Selectrecordsinthedatabase
l Changetheprinteranditsproperties
l Definelabelquantity
l Seelabelpreview
l Printthelabel
- 168 -
TheApplicationprovidesfastaccesstolabelprinting
Note:IfyouprovidethelabelnameasaparameterinthecommandlinenexttotheNicePrint
executablename,theapplicationwillopenthatlabel.
- 169 -
Integration and Connectivity
Overview
Themostcommonmethodistoprintlabelsdirectlyfromthelabelingsoftware.Buts ometimes
theremightbeotherrequirementsoflabelproduction.Thelabelingsoftwareh asawidecon-
nectivityandintegrationoptionssoyoudonothavetou sethelabelingsoftwareinteractivelybut
throughActiveXinterfaceorDDEconnectivity.Y oucanusea"print-engine"totallyintegratedto
yourcustomapplicationandinvisibletoend-user'seyes.
Ifyoudonotrequiresuchtightintegrationtoyourapplication,youc anusetheautomationmodule,
add-onutilityfornon-programmingintegrationtoexistings ystemsandfullyautomatedprinting.A
setofactionsisdefinedthata retriggerifpre-definedeventoccurs.Theseactionscanopenthe
label,c onnectittodatabase,fillvariable'svalues,connecttoproperprintera ndprinttherequired
numberoflabels.Youcanevenbuildyourcustomd ata-entryandprintingapplicationswith
NiceForminatotallyuserfriendlyw aywithoutanyprogrammingskillsrequired.
Command Files
Use Command Files
Youcanusecommandfilestoinstructtheprintenginewhattodo.Thecommandfilesusethe
structureofNiceCommandsinordertosendthecommandstotheprintengine.
Thefollowingcommandfilesaresupported:
l JOBfile
l XMLfile
l CSVfile
Youcanusethecommandfilesfromseveralapplications:
l Fromlabelingsoftwareinteractively(commandFile->CommandFiles),orautomatically
(thenameofthecommandfilespecifiedasparameterinthecommand-line,worksfor
JOBfiles)
l FromNiceForminactionRunCommandFile
l FromAutomationapplicationinactionRunCommandFile
Thecommandfilesarealwaysprocessedinorderfromtoptobottomofthefile.Thefirstcom-
mandinthefileisprocessedfirst.Theordero fappearanceisimportant.Forexample:youneedto
specifytheprinterf irstandthenprintthelabel.
Thecommandfilesarestoredinatextfile.Unicodevaluesaresupported.
- 170 -
Command File: JOB File
ThecommandsavailableintheJOBcommandfilesareNiceCommands.
SeethechapterofNiceCommandsformoreinformationabouttheirsyntaxa ndmethodofusage.
Sample JOB Command File
ExampleofNiceCommandsusageinaJOBfile:
LABEL"C:\LABELS\LABEL1.LBL"
SETTitle="Somestring"
SETBarCode="123456789012"
PRINT10
FILECLOSE
ThewordsformattedinboldareNiceCommands.Thesampleabovewillc ommandtheprint
enginetodothefollowing:
1. LoadlabelstoredinafileC:\LABELS\LABEL1.LBL.
2. SetthevariableTitletothevalue"Somestring".
3. Setbarcodevalueto"123456789012".
4. Printtenlabels.Inthiscasetencopiesofthelabel.
5. Closethelabelfile.
SeealsotheSamplesfolder.ItprovidesadditionalJOBfilesamples.
Automatic Print with JOB Files

Usethisfacilityforautomaticun-attendingprintingfromthelabelings oftware.TheJOBfileisa
plaintextfilewithcommandsthatinstructthelabelingapplicationwhattodoautomatically.Usu-
allythescenariog oeslikethis:
1. Thesoftwareopensthelabelfile,asdefinedbyLABELcommand.
2. Thesoftwaresetsthevaluesofvariablesonthelabel,asdefinedbySETcommands.
3. Optionally,thesoftwareselectssomeotherprinterforprinting,asdefinedbyPRINTER
command.
4. Thesoftwareprintstherequiredamountoflabels,asdefinedbyPRINTcommand.
TheAutomaticPrintcanbeusedinteractivelyintheapplicationorw
ithcommand-lineparameter.
TostartAutomaticPrintwithJOBfileinteractively,dothefollowing:
1. Openlabeldesigner.
2. SelectFile->CommandFiles->Print.
3. Browsetothe.JOBfileandclickOpen.
Note:Interactivem
odeisusefulfortestingyour.JOBfiles.Ifthereisanysyntaxerrorw
iththe
commandintheJOBfile,youwillbenotifiedaboutit.
TostartAutomaticPrintwithcommand-lineparameters,dothefollowing:
- 171 -
1. Makesurethesyntaxofyourcommandsinthe.JOBfileiscorrect.
2. Startthesoftwarefromcommandpromptwiththefollowingsyntax:
NLABEL6.EXE<fullpathtoyour.JOBfile>
For example: NLABEL6.EXEc:\MyLabels\PRINT.JOB

YoucanfindthefileNLABEL6.EXEintheBinfolderintheProgramFilesfolderstruc-
ture.
Using JOB Files

JOBfileisoneoptiontoautomatelabelprinting.Whenyoudonotwanttheusertointeractdirectly
withlabeldesignertoprintlabelsusingJ OBfilecanhelp.Theprintoperatordoesnotneedtobe
confrontedwiththelabeldesignerandseealldesignoptionsnotreallyimportantduringtheprint-
out.InsteadaJOBfiledrivestheprintingprocess.
JOBfileisaplaintextfilethatcontainscommands.ThetextcanhaveU
nicodeformatting.The
commandsinstructthelabelprintenginewhata ctionsmustbeexecutedtosuccessfullyprintthe
label.Thecommandsa reexecutedinorderfromtoptobottom.Theorderofcommandsisimport-
ant.
TheJOBfilesarecommonlyusedtoautomatelabelprintingprocess.H
erearesomeideaswhere
touseJOBfiles:
l Command-lineoptioninthelabelingsoftware.ThesoftwarewillopentheJOBfileand
processthecommandswithin.IflastcommandisQUIT,thesoftwarewillclosewhen
printingcompletes.
Forexample:
c:\ProgramFiles\EuroPlus\NiceLabel6\\bin\NLABEL6.EXEc:\MyJOB\FILE01.JOB
n ActionRun Command FileinapplicationsNiceForm(applicationgenerator)and(auto-
mationmodule).
Note:Whenworkingwithjobfilesmakesuretorememberthatthe'\n'sequenceisunderstoodas
thenewlinecharacter.Ifyouhavethefoldernamesbeginningwith'\n'youhavetoputanextra
backslashcharacterinfrontofthesequence.Youmustencodethepathandfilename'c:\NewJob-
s\Print.JOB'as'c:\\NewJobs\Print.JOB'.
Command File: CSV File

ThecommandsavailableintheCSVcommandfilesareasubsetfromNiceCommands.Y oucan
usethefollowingcommands:Label,Set,Port,PrintandPrinter.O
fcourse,thesyntaxofthecom-
mandsdiffersalittlebitwhenusedinC
SVfile.
CSV Command File Structure
TheCSVstandsforCommaSeparatedValues.Thisisthetextfilewheref ieldvaluesaredelim-
itedbythecomma(,)character.Thetextfilecanc ontainUnicodevalue(importantformulti-lan-
guagedata).
EachlineintheCSVfilecontainsthecommandsforonelabelprinting.
- 172 -
ThefirstrowintheCSVcommandfilemustcontainthecolumnnames.T hisisimportantforthe
labelingsoftwaretoknowwhatistheorderofa ppearanceoffieldsandhowisthedataorgan-
ized.Severalcolumnnamesa repre-defined.
Column Name Description
@Label The name of the label to use. It is recommended to include
label path and filename. Note: You can provide label name
only, but be sure that print engine will try locate the label in
the correct folder. Is required.
@Printer Use this field to override the printer defined on the label. Print
the label to some other printer. The other printer must be
accessible from this computer. Use the printer name for value
of this attribute. Not required.
@Quantity Use this field to specify the number of labels to print. Possible
values: numeric value, VARIABLE or UNLIMITED. Is
required.
@Skip Use this field to specify how many labels to skip at the begin-
ning. This feature is useful if you print sheet of labels to laser
printer, but the sheet is partial already printed. Not required.
@IdenticalCopies Use this field to specify how many label copies should print for
each unique label. This feature is useful when printing labels
with data from database or when you use counters, and you
need label copies. Not required.
@NumberOfSets Use this field to specify how many times the printing process
should repeat. Each label set defines the occurrence of the
printing process. For example: setting this value to 5 will cause
the printing process to repeat five times. Not required.
@Port Use this field to specify the port name for the printer. You can
override the default port as specified in the printer driver. Not
required.
Other fields All other fields define the name of the variables from the label.
The fields provide values for variables.
TheorderorappearanceofthecolumnsintheCSVfileisnoimportant.B
utitisimportantthat
allrowsinthesameCSVfilehavethesamestructure.
Sessionprintisusedautomatically.Sessionprintingisdisabledwheny ouchangetheprinteror
labelwithinthesameCSVfile.
AllcolumnsintheCSVfileareusedwhensettingthevaluestothelabelvariables.Ifthevari-
ablewiththenamefromCSVdoesnotexisto nthelabel,noerrormessageisdisplayed.
Sample CSV Command File
ThesamplepresentsthestructuralviewonthefieldsthatyoucanuseintheCSVcommandfile.
@La-
bel,@Print-
er,@Quantity,@Skip,@IdenticalCopies,NumberOfSets,@Port,Var1,Var2
Label name, printer name, Quantity, Skip, IC, NS, port name, variable
value, variable value,
Label name, printer name, Quantity, Skip, IC, NS, port name, variable
value, variable value,
- 173 -
Command File: XML File
ThecommandsavailableintheXMLcommandfilesareasubsetfromNiceCommands.Y oucan
usethefollowingcommands:Login,Quit,Label,LabelClose,Set,P ort,Printer,SessionEnd,Ses-
sionStart,SessionPrint,SetDatabaseandS
etTable.Ofcourse,thesyntaxofthecommandsdiffers
alittlebitwhenu sedinXMLfile.
TherootelementisNice_CommandsthatmustbepresentintheXMLcommandfile.Thenextele-
mentthatmustf ollowisLabel,thatspecifiesw
hichlabeltouse.Nextyouhavetwooptionsfor
labelprinting:
1. PrintlabelsnormallyusingtheelementPrint_Job.
2. PrintlabelsinsessionusingtheelementSession_Print_Job.
Youcanalsochangetheprintertowhichthelabelswillprint,youc ansetthevariablevalueand
youcanchangethedatabasethatiscurrentlyu sedonthelabel.
XML Command File Structure
XML Command File Structure Explained

Belowisthedescriptionofthecommandfilestructure.Thereareseverale lementsthatcontain
attributes.Someattributesarerequired,othera reoptional.Someattributescanoccupypre-
definedvaluesonly,foro theryoucanspecifythecustomvalues.
Nice_Commands:Isrootelementw
ithtwoattributes
l login:Performsloginprocedureintotheprogram.Notrequired.
l quit:Closestheprintenginewhentheactionsexecute.Willremovetheprintengine
fromthememory.Isrequired.
Label:Theelementthatopensthelabelintheprintengine.Ifthelabelisalreadyopened,itwill
bere-used.Youcanusethiselementseveraltimeswithinthecommandf ile.
l name:Attributecontainsthelabelname.Itisrecommendedtoincludelabelpathand
filename.Note:Youcanprovidelabelnameonly,butbesurethatprintenginewilltry
locatethelabelinthecorrectfolder.Isrequired.
l close:Theattributeinstructstheprintengine,ifthelabelshouldcloseafterprinting,or
itshouldremainopen.Possiblevalues:true,false.Isrequired.
Print_Job:Theelementthatu nionsthecommandsforprintinglabels.Youcanusethiselement
severaltimeswithinthecommandfile.
l printer:Usethisattributetooverridetheprinterdefinedonthelabel.Printthelabelto
someotherprinter.Theotherprintermustbeaccessiblefromthiscomputer.Usethe
printernameforvalueofthisattribute.Notrequired.
l quantity:Usethisattributetospecifythenumberoflabelstoprint.Possiblevalues:
numericvalue,VARIABLEorUNLIMITED.Required.
l skip:Usethisattributetospecifyhowmanylabelstoskipatthebeginning.Thisfeature
isusefulifyouprintsheetoflabelstolaserprinter,butthesheetispartialalreadyprin-
ted.Notrequired.
l job_name:Usethisattributetospecifythenameofyourjobfile.Thespecifiednameis
visibleintheprintspooler.Notrequired.
- 174 -
l print_to_file:Usethisattributetospecifythefilenamewhereyouwanttosavethe
printercommands.Notrequired.
Session_Print_Job:Theelementthatunionscommandsforprintinglabels.Itconsiderssession
printrules.Y
oucanusethiselementseveraltimeswithinthecommandfile.Foravailablea ttrib-
uteslookuptheattributesfortheelementPrint_Job.A llofthemarevalid,youonlycannotuse
thequantitya ttribute.SeethedescriptionoftheelementSessiontofindouthowtospecifylabel
quantityinsessionprinting.
Database:Theelementthatoverridesthedatabaseselectiononthelabel.Useitwheneveryou
donotwanttou sedatafromthedatabasethatisconfiguredonthelabel,butsomeotherd ata-
base.Youcanusethiselementseveraltimeswithinthecommandfile.
l name:Theattributecontainsthedatabasename.Required.
Table:Theelementthatoverridesthetableselectiononthelabel.Useitwheneveryoudonot
wanttoused atafromthetablethatisconfiguredonthelabel,butsomeothertable.Y
oucanuse
thiselementseveraltimeswithinthecommandfile.
l name:Theattributecontainsthetablename.Required.
Variable:Theelementthatsetsthevalueofvariablesonthelabel.Youcanusethiselementsev-
eraltimeswithinthecommandfile.
l name:Theattributecontainsthevariablename.Required.
Sample XML Command File
Thesamplepresentsthestructuralviewontheelementsandtheirattributesa syoucanusethem
intheXMLcommandfile.
<nice_commands login="username" quit="true">
<label name="label name 1" close="false">
<session_print_job printer="printer name 1" skip=0 job_name="job

name 1" print_to_file="filename 1">
<database name="db1">database name 1</database>
<table name="table1">table name 1</table>
<session quantity="10">
<variable name="variable name 1" >variable value 1</variable>
</session>
</session_print_job>
<print_job printer="printer name 2 quantity="10" skip=0

identical_copies=1 number_of_sets=1 job_name="job name 2" print_to_
file="filename 1">
<database name="db1">database name 1</database>
<table name="table1">table name 1</table>
<variable name="variable name 1" >variable value 5</variable>
</print_job>
- 175 -
</label>
</nice_commands>
Automating the Software

Automation with ActiveX
Programming interface: Automation (ActiveX)
Theinformationinthischapterisforadvancedusersandapplicationd evelopersonly.Ifyoudon't
plantowriteapplicationsthatusetheembeddedprintenginetoprintlabels,youcanskipthis
chapterentirely.
ThelabelingsoftwarecanactasanOLEAutomationserver.ItsclassnameisNiceLa-
bel6.Application.
Thecommandsactuallyallowyoutohavemorecontroloverthelabelingsoftwaref romyourown
application.ActiveXallowsalsothestatusofvariablem anagingproceduretobereturnedtoyour
applicationsoyoucancontrolp rintingprocessmoreaccurately.Alotmoreprogrammingfunc-
tionalityisallowed.TheActiveXinterfacemakesispossibletoqueryeverylabele lementforits
properties.Thesamegoesforvariablesandfunctionsd efinedonthelabel.Thepropertiesofall
labelelementscanbemodifiedp riorprintingifforsomereasonyoudonotwanttouselabel-
defineds ettings.Youcanevencreatealabelpreviewinyourownapplication.
Formoreinformationaboutprogramminginterfacepleaserefertothem
anualActiveX and DDE
Programming manuala vailableontheproductCD-ROMandontheproductwebsite.
Youcanalsoauto-generatethedescriptionoftheinterfaceusing/typelibc ommand-line para-
meter.ItwillcreateN
LABEL6.OLBwithdescriptionofmethods,propertiesandeventsthatthe
labelingsoftware.Appropriateapplicationforviewing.OLBfilesisrequiredtobeabletoseethe
filecontents.
Programming Samples
Programmingsamplesdemonstratehowyoucanusethelabelingsoftwareasaprint-enginefrom
yourapplications.Theprogrammingsamplesarenotinstalledwiththelabelingsoftware.
However,theyareavailableforseparateinstallastheadd-one,IntegrationPack.Youcaninstall
theIntegrationPackfromtheproductCDorfromtheproductwebsite.
Thesamplesareavailablefordifferentdevelopmentplatforms(MSVisualB asic,BorlandDelphi,
C++andother).Youcantakealookatthereadymadesampleandusethesimilarcodeimme-
diatelyinsideyourapplication.RefertothedocumentsenclosedtotheIntegrationPacktoseehow
toembedthelabelprintengineinsideyourapplication.ThewholeprogrammingAPIisdoc-
umentedintheProgrammingGuide.Itwillhelpyoustartusingthelabelprintenginefromyourcus-
tomapplication.
- 176 -
Automation with DDE
DDE Communication
YoucanuseDDEconnectiontoprintthelabelsfromyourWindowsapplications,thatyoudevelop
instandardprogrammingenvironmentssuchasMicrosoftV
isualBasic,BorlandDelphi,C,
MicrosoftAccess
TocreatetheDDEcommunicationtheclientapplicationmustusethef ollowingDDEparameters:
Service = NiceLabel6
Topic=LINE or JOB
WhenyouareusingtopicJOBthecontentisthenameofthecommandf ile,whichmustberun.
WhenyouareusingtopicLINEthecontentiso neofthecommands.
WhenyouwanttouseDDEcommunicationtomanagethelabelingsoftware,itisprobablythe
best,whentheuserdoesn'tknowforthebackgroundrunningofthisa pplication.Forthispurpose
youcanusethiscommandparameter:
NLABEL6.EXE <label_name> /s
Theparameters(silent)preventsthatthesoftwarewillshowonthes creen.Itisruninthemin-
imizedform.
Integration to SAP R3
Integration to SAP/R3
Thelabelingsoftwarecanbeusedtodesignlabelsthatshouldbeprintedtothermalp rintersfrom
SAPsystem.Twopossiblemethodscanbeimplemented.
Printing Using this option the labels are designed with the labeling soft-
directly ware on a PC computer and are then exported to SAP format.
from Export procedure will generate .ITF native file with description
SAP/R3 of the label. This .ITF file is then uploaded to SAP system and
users can print labels directly from SAP/R3.
The advantage with this approach is that no PC is required for
label printing. Once the label is created, you do not need the label
designer any more.
However, there are several disadvantages. First of all, every label
printer is not suitable for label printing directly from SAP/R3 sys-
tem. SAP has certain limitations that the printer has comply to.
There is also limited support for graphics elements. Variable
graphics cannot be used at all. And only some printer models sup-
port printing of fixed images/truetype fonts. Variable text fields on
the label has to be set in internal printer fonts that usually do not
look as good as truetype fonts. Only prompted variables can be
used. Because the label design application is not present at print-
time, functions and advanced label elements cannot be used.
- 177 -
FormoreinformationaboutconnectinglabelingsoftwaretoSAPR/3systemp leaserefertothe
appropriateWhitePaperonthewebsiteofcontacttechnicalsupport.
Label Export
Label Export
LabelExportfunctionalityisusedheavilyfromstand-aloneandsomep rint-onlyvariantsofthis
labelingsoftware.Itsfunctionalityistightlyc onnectedtotheabilityofprinterthatisusedonthe
label.Exportisonlyavailablewhenusingthermalprinterdriversshippingwiththelabelingsoft-
ware.Theprinterdriveralsomusthavebuilt-inthesupportf ortherequiredexport.
WindowsversionoflabelingsoftwareonPCcomputerisusedtodesignthelabellayoutcompliant
tothelabelingrequest.Alllabelelementsc anbeusedonthelabel(text,paragraph,RTF,barcode,
image,line,r ectangle,ellipse,...).Whenprintingfixedlabels,thereisnoissuey oushouldpay
attentionto.Thelabelelementsareprintedasgraphics.
Theexportedprinterfilecanhavefixedorvariablevalues.Ifyouhavelabelwithfixedfields,you
cansenditdirectlytothelabelprinter.Ifyouhavealabelwithvariablefields,someexternal
applicationhastoassignvaluestothevariablefields.Usually,theexternalapplicationdoesthe
following:
l Takesthegeneratedprintfile
l Searchesforthelocationsofthevariablefields
l Insertsthecorrectvaluesforthesefields
Whenyouusevariablefieldsonthelabel,youhavetopayspeciala ttentiontotheirformat.All
variableelementsmustfollowsomedesigningr ules.
All variables User must be able to set their values before printing.
on the label Date/Time variables have to acquire the data from the
have to be printer clock not from PC system clock.
prompted
Support for As PC labeling software is not available at print time, the
functions is functions cannot be processed, so you cannot use them on
limited (Con- the label.
catenate, Sub- There are some exceptions, for example Export to
set, etc). Pocket PC, where some functions can be used, because
the application that will eventually print these files
knows how to process them.
All counters As PC labeling software is not available at print time, the
have to be printer must be capable of using internal counters. Make
incremented sure you defined the counter variable on the label as the
by printer printer internal hardware counter, not software counter.
Variable Because PC labeling software is not available at print-
graphics are time, it cannot handle the variable graphics. Any image
not supported on the label has to be static.
LabelExportisonemethodoflabelprintingfromoutsideoflabelinga pplication.Itrequiressome
otherapplicationtobeabletoopenexportedlabelformat,parseitandthenprintit.Thereare
- 178 -
numerousotherpossibilitiestointegratelabelprintingtoexistingsystems.Moreinformationis
availableo ntheproductwebsite.
Commands
NiceCommands
Theprintingwiththesoftwarecanbeautomatic.Therearetwowaysf orautomation.Thefirstone
iswiththeuseofthecommandfiles(JOBf ile)whichisusedwithAutomaticprintcommandfrom
Filemenu.Thesecondw ayiswiththehelpofanyotherWindowsapplication,whichenables
DDEc ommunicationbetweentheprograms.
Inthebothwaysyoucanusethesamecommands.Whenyouareusingthea utomaticprint,the
commandsmustbewrittenoneperlineinthecommandf ile(JOBfile).WiththeDDEcom-
municationthecommandsaresendthroughtheDDEchannel.
List of Commands
"COMMENT"onthenextpage
"CREATEFILE"onthenextpage
"DELETEFILE"onthenextpage
"EXPORTLABEL"onthenextpage
"IGNOREERROR"onpage181
"LABEL"onpage181
"LABELCLOSE"onpage181
"LOGIN"onpage181
"MESSAGEBOX"onpage182
"OEMTOANSI"onpage182
"PORT"onpage182
"PRINT"onpage182
"PRINTER"onpage183
"PRINTJOBNAME"onpage183
"QUIT"onpage183
"RETURN"onpage184
"SESSIONEND"onpage184
"SESSIONPRINT"onpage184
"SESSIONSTART"onpage184
"SET"onpage184
"SETDATABASE"onpage185
"SETPRINTPARAM"onpage185
"SETTABLE"onpage186
"TEXTQUALIFIER"onpage186
- 179 -
COMMENT
;
Whendevelopingprogramcodeorscriptsitisverywisetowelldocumenty ourcommands.This
willhelpyoudecodewhatthescriptreallyperforms,w
henyouwilllookatthecodeaftersome
time.
Usesemicolon(;)onthebeginningoftheline.Everythingfollowingitwillbetreatedasscriptcom-
mentandwillnotbeprocessedbyapplication.
CREATEFILE
CREATEFILE <name_of_the_file>s
ThiscommandwillcreateaplainASCIItextfile.Thefilewillcontaino nlyonelineoftext.
Thepurposeofcreatingsuchfileistosignalsomeexternalapplicationthatthelabelprocessingor
printinghasbeganorhasended.
TheexampleoftheCREATEFILEusageisprintinglabelswiththedataf romsometextfile.First
theexternalapplicationpreparesvariabled ataforthelabelsandstoresthedataintothetextfile.
Thenlabelingsoftwareisactivatedandprintingstarts.ACREATEFILEcommandisusedtocre-
atea fileonthedisk.Theappearanceofthefilerepresentsasignaltotheapplicationthatthecur-
rentprintingprocessisfinished.
DELETEFILE
DELETEFILE <name_of_the_file>
Thiscommanddeletesthespecifiedfile.Youcanuseitincombinationw
ithCREATEFILEcom-
mand.
EXPORTLABEL
EXPORTLABEL ExportFileName [, ExportVariant [, CreateLVXFile]]
Thecommandisimplementedtoautomatethe"Exporttoprinter"c ommand.Youcanmanually
accessthecommandusingFile->Export->E xporttoprinter.Thelabelisexporteddirectlytothe
printerandstoredinthememoryforoff-lineprinting.Theusercanrecallthelabelwithk eyboard
ontheprinterorsendingacommandfiletotheprinter.
ExportFileName The parameter is mandatory and defines the filename of a gen-
erated print stream for exporting label to the printer.
ExportVariant Some printers support multiple export variants. When manually
exporting, the user can select the export variant in the dialog.
With the EXPORTLABEL command you must specify which
export variant you want to use.
The first variant has the value 0. The second variant has the value
1, etc.
If you do not specify the variant type, value 0 is used as default.
CreateLVXFile The parameter has two possible values, TRUE or FALSE. If you
set the value to TRUE, besides the generated print stream also the
LVX file will be created. The LVX file contains information about
the variables used in the label.
- 180 -
For more information about exporting labels and LVX files refer
to the white paper section on the Web site.
IGNOREERROR
IGNOREERROR ON|OFF
WhenevertheerroroccursintheJOBfile,theprintingprocesswillterminateandtheprinting
applicationwillreporterrorsbackfromtheprintengine,forexample:
l IncorrectvariableisusedinJOBfile
l Incorrectvalueissenttothevariable
l Incorrectlabelisbeingopened(tobeverified)
l Incorrectprinterisused(tobeverified)
Note:AutomationmoduleprocessestheJOBfilesandwilldisplaytheerrorsinthelogpane.
YoucanignoretheerrorsthatoccurduringJOBfileprocessing,ifyouusetheundocumented
switchintheregistry
SettingtheIGNOREERRORcommandtoONwillignoreerrorsinvariables,printerselection,
labelselection,andJOBfiles.Thiscommandshouldbeusedwithutmostcare,asthelabelingoper-
atorwillnotbewarnedaboutpotentialerrorsinthementionedsettings.
LABEL
LABEL label_name [, printerName]
Thecommandopenstheworkinglabel.Ifthelabelisalreadyopened,theprogramwillusethis
one.Itisrecommendedtowritefullpathnamea longwiththefilename.
Note,ifvariablevaluecontainsspacecharactersorcommas,youwillh avetoenclosethewhole
pathinquotationmarks(e.g.LABEL"C:\MyL abels\sample3.lbl").
ThePrinterName(whenprovided)setstheprinter,forwhichthelabelwillbeinitiallyopened.If
nonexistingprinterisprovided,thecommandwillraiseanerror.
LABELCLOSE
LABELCLOSE
Thecommandclosesthecurrentlyactivelabel.Thelabelapplicationw illstayopened.
FILECLOSEcommanddoesthesamething,butisdepreciated.T ospeeduplabelprintingdonot
usethiscommandfrequently.Youc anhaveopenedmorelabelfilessimultaneously.Ifthelabelis
alreadyo pened,itdoesnothavetobeloadedandthusthelabelprocessingcanb eperformed
quickly.
LOGIN
LOGIN <username>
Performsloginprocedureintothelabelingsoftware.Thisisnecessarywhenloginisrequired.
Note: ThisisaDDEcommandandshouldnotbeusedinbatchcommand.JOBfiles.
- 181 -
MESSAGEBOX
MESSAGEBOX message [, caption]
Displaysthemessageinthemessagebox.Thesecondparameterisusedtodefinethetitleofthe
messagedialogbox.
Ifthevariablevaluecontainsspacecharactersorcommas,youhavetoenclosethetextinquo-
tationmarks(e.g.MESSAGEBOX"Insertlabelsinprinter",Warning).
OEMTOANSI
OEMTOANSI ON|OFF
ThiscommandworksinconjunctionwithcommandSET.Itputsthetextthatfollowsthecommand
SETinpropercodepage,sothatvariableisassignedthepropervalue.
UseittoputthevaluesfollowingSETcommandtothepropercodepage,s ocorrectcharacterswill
betransferredtolabelingapplicationatprinttime.
PORT
PORT <file_name> [, APPEND]
Thiscommandoverridestheprinter'sportname.Thiscommandisusedtoredirectprintoutputtoa
file.
<file_ Specify the name of the filename to which you want to redirect the
name> printer file. You can also include the path in front of the filename. If the
file path or filename contain space characters, enclose the whole string in
double quotes.
APPEND The parameter APPEND is optional. By default the print action over-
writes the file on the disk, when it already exists. If you want to append
the data to the existing file, make sure to use the parameter APPEND.
OnceyouuseacommandPORTintheJOBfileitwillbevaliduntilthenextPORTcommand,or
untiltheendoffile(whichevercomesfirst).IfyouusePRINTERcommandafterthePORTcom-
mandhasbeenexecuted,thePORTsettingwilloverwritetheportdefinedfortheselectedprinter.
Ifyouwanttousetheactualportthatisdefinedfortheselectedprinter,youhavetouseanother
PORTcommandwithemptyvalue,likethisPORT="".
PRINT
PRINT quantity [, skip [, identical label copies [, number of label
sets]]]
CommandPRINTstartsprinting.Thefirstparameteristhequantityofthelabelsthatshouldbe
printed.
<number> This many labels will be printed.
VARIABLE Some variable contains the information how many labels should be
printed. It can be label-defined prompted variable or a field from the
database.
UNLIMITED If you use a database to acquire values for variable fields, unlimited
printing will print as many labels as there are record in the database.
If you do not use a database, there is not much sense to use this
- 182 -
option. In this case the maximum number of labels that thermal
printer internally supports will be printed.
Theparameterskipinthecommandrepresentsthenumberofthelabelsy ouwanttoomitbefore
firstprintedlabelonthepage.Theparameterisusedforlabelprintingonsheetsofpaper.When
thepartofthepageisalreadyprinted,youcanre-usethesamesheetbyshiftingthestartlocation
ofthefirstlabel.Therestoftheunusedlabelsonthepagec anbeprintedwiththehelpofthispara-
meter.
Theparameteridenticallabelcopiesspecifieshowmanycopiesofthes amelabelshouldbeprin-
ted.
Theparameternumberoflabelsetsspecifieshowmanytimesthewholep rintingprocessshouldbe
repeated.
Ifyoudonotneedtosetsomeofthesupplementaryparameters,usetheirdefaultvalues.
Skip 0
Identical label cop- 1
ies
Number of label 1
sets
Note:Makesurethequantityvaluesareprovidedasthenumericvalue,notstringvalue.Donot
enclosethevalueinthedoublequotes.
PRINTER
PRINTER <printer_name>
Normally,thePRINTcommandprintsthelabeltotheprinterspecifiedinthelabelfile.Usingthis
commandyoucanoverridethisdefinedprintera ndprintthelabeltosomeotherprinter.
Iftheprinternamecontainsspacecharacters,youhavetoencloseitinquotationmarks.
Forprinter_namealwaysusethesystemprinternameasisdisplayedinthestatuslineinthelabel
designapplication.Systemprinternamesa reusuallythesameastheprinternamesinPrinters
folderfromControlP
anel,butnotalways,sopayattention.Theydifferonlywhenyouareu sing
network-connectedprinters,whenyoushoulduse"\\SERVER\SHARE"s yntaxandnotaprinter
friendlyname.
PRINTJOBNAME
PRINTJOBNAME <job_name>
Specifiestheprintjobnamethatwillbeusedinprintmanagerwhenu singPRINTcommand.After
printingthenameisreturnedinnormalstate.U
sethisoptiontoeasierdistinguishbetweendifferent
printingjobsintheWindowsspooler.
Ifvariablevaluecontainsspacecharactersorcommas,youhavetoenclosethetextinquotation
marks(e.g.PRINTJOBNAME"Labelforprinting").
QUIT
QUIT
Thiscommandstopsthelabelingprogramafterprinting.Theapplicationisclosed.
- 183 -
RETURN
Thiscommandreturnsfocustothemainlabelingprogramaftertheprintingc ompletes.
SESSIONEND
SESSIONEND
Thefunctionclosesdatastream.
SESSIONPRINT
SESSIONPRINT quantity [, skip]
Yousendthedatastreamtoprinterusingthisfunction.Youcanusem ultipleSessionPrintcom-
mandsoneafteranotherandjointheminsingled atastream.Thestreamisnotcloseduntilthecom-
mandSessionEndoccurs.T
hemeaningofquantityandskipparametersisthesameaswith
NiceCommandP RINT.
Note:Makesurethequantityisprovidedasthenumericvalue,notstringvalue.Donotenclose
thevalueinthedoublequotes.
SESSIONSTART
SESSIONSTART
Allthreecommands(SessionStart,SessionPrint,SessionEnd)areusedtogether.Ifordinarycom-
mandSessionPrintisused,everytimeacompleted atastreamforprinterissent.Ifyouwanttojoin
multiplePrintcommandsintoonedatastream,youcanusethecommandSessionStartfollowed
witha nynumberofSessionPrintcommandsandintheendusethecommandSessionEnd.T he
streamisnotcloseduntilthecommandSessionEndoccurs.
Thesecommandsofferawayofoptimallabelprinting.Itisnotnecessarytogenerateacomplete
datastreamforeachprintsession,youcanjoinm
oresessionsinonestream.
Important for the session printing:
l Youcannotchangethelabeltemplatewithinasession
l YoucannotusecommandsSETDATABASEandSETTABLEwithinasession
l Youcannotchangetheprinter(PRINTERcommand)withinasession
l Youmustsetvaluesforallvariablesfromthelabelwithinasession,evenifsomeofthe
variableswillhaveemptyvalues
l WhenyoutesttheJOBfilesthatusesessionprinting,thecommandFile->Command
Files->PrintPreviewdoesnotwork
SET
SET name=variable_value, [,step[, quantity_of_repetition]]
Nameisthenameofthevariabled efinedonthelabel.Ifthevariableisn'tonthelabel,anerror
willo ccur.StepandQuantity_of_repetitiona reoptionparameter.Theseparameterstelltheincre-
mentofthevariablea ndthenumberofthelabelsbeforechange.
- 184 -
IfVariable_valuecontainsspacec haractersorcommas,youhavetoenclosethetextinthetext
qualifierm
arks.Bydefaultthetextqualifierisadoublequotecharacter,buty oucanuseanyother
character(refertothecommandTEXTQUALIFIER).
Ifyouwanttoassignmulti-linevaluetoavariable,usethesyntax" \r\n"toencodenewlinechar-
acter."\r"isreplacedw
ithCR(CarriageReturn)and"\n"isreplacedwithLF(LineF eed).Both,
CRandLF,representnewlinecharacterinWindowsoperatings ystem.
Note:Becarefulw
hensettingvaluestovariablesthatprovidedataforpicturesonthelabel,as
backslashcharactersmightbereplacedwithsomeothercharacters.
Forexample,ifyouassignavalue"c:\MyPictures\raw.jpg"tothevariable,the"\r"willbe
replacedwithCRcharactera ndthefinalresultisthis:
c:\My Pictures
aw.jpg
Note:YoucannotusethecommandSETtosetthevaluetothevariableofthetypeGlobal.Val-
uesofglobalvariablescannotbesetfromoutsideofthelabeldesigner.
SETDATABASE
SETDATABASE <database_name> = <value>
database_ The name of the currently used database as defined in the pro-
name gram.
value The name of the new table that should be used as data source.
Thiscommandallowsyoutousesomeotherdatabasewiththelabelfilea ndnottheone,thatwas
connectedtothelabelfileatdesigntime.
Thisotherdatabasewillonlybeusedwhenprintinglabels,thelabelf ilewillremainintactwith
connectiontotheoriginaldatabase.
SETPRINTPARAM
SETPRINTPARAM paramname=value
Thiscommandallowsyoutosetadvancedprintparametersbeforeprinting.
CurrentlysupportedPARAMNAMESare:
PAPERBIN Use it to specify from which tray the paper
should be used. If the printer is equipped with
more than just one paper / label tray, you can
control which is used for printing.
The name of the tray should be acquired from
the printer driver.
PRINTSPEED Use this parameter so specify printing speed.
The value for parameter varies from one
printer to the other. Consult printer's manu-
als for numbers.
PRINTDARKNESS Use this parameter so specify printing dark-
ness / contrast. The value for parameter var-
ies from one printer to the other. Consult
- 185 -
printer's manuals for numbers.
PRINTOFFSETX Use this parameter to specify left offset for all
printing objects. The value for parameter
must be numeric, positive or negative, in
pixels.
PRINTOFFSETY Use this parameter to specify top offset for all
printing objects. The value for parameter
must be numeric, positive or negative, in
pixels.
SETTABLE
SETTABLE <table_name> = <value>
table_ The name of the currently used table as defined in the program.
name
value The name of the new table that should be used as data source.
Thiscommandallowsyoutousesomeothertablewiththelabelfilea ndnottheone,thatwascon-
nectedtothelabelfileatdesigntime.Thisotherdatabasetablewillonlybeusedwhenprinting
labels,thelabeltemplatewillremainunmodifiedwithconnectiontotheoriginaltable.
Thenewdatabasetablemustbeofthesametypeasoriginaltable.F orexample,youcannot
changethetablefromdBasetoParadox.Thestructureo fnewtablehastobeidenticaltotheori-
ginalone.
Youcanusetablefromthedatabasethatisalreadyconnectedtothelabelorfromsomeentirely
differentdatabase.
TEXTQUALIFIER
TEXTQUALIFIER %
Text-qualifieristhecharacterthatembedsadatavaluethatisassignedtoavariable.Ifthedata
valueincludesspacecharacters,itmustbeincludedinthetext-qualifier.Otherwiseonlythedata
untilthefirste ncounteredspacecharacterisassignedtothevariable.
ThedefaultdelimiterforthecommandSETisdouble-quotecharacter.B ecausethedouble-quote
characterisusedasshortcutforinchunitofm
easure,sometimesitisdifficulttopassthedatawith
inchmarksintheJOBfiles.
Thework-aroundistousethedoubledouble-quotecharacterinsteado fjustone,butinthiscase
alreadytheincomingdatastreamneededtobechanged.Youcanleavetheincomingdatastream
as-isandchangethedelimiteryouwanttouse.
For example:
TEXTQUALIFIER %
SET Var1 = % EPAK WRP BD 12"X10 7/32" %
ThecommandTEXTQUALIFIERsetthedelimitertopercentsign(%).Thec ommandSETcan
thenusenewdelimitercharacter(%)forspecifyingthev aluetothevariableVar1.
- 186 -
Note:
ThecommandTEXTQUALIFIERispersistent(duringsingleprogramsession).I fyourJOBfile
setstheTEXTQUALIFIERtosomevalue,itwillbeusedu ntilsettoanothervalue.
Command Line Parameters

Youcanusethecommandlineparameterstopassadvancedcommandstothelabeldesignerwhen
theapplicationstarts.
Thefollowingcommandlineoptionscanbeusedwhenstartingthemainlabelingapplication.
NLABEL6.EXE [file_name] [options]
[file_name]Representsthefullp athnameofthefile.Ifthelabelfileisgiven,thenthislabelis
opened.IfJOBfileisgiven,thenthisJOBfileisexecuted.FormoreinformationaboutJOBfiles,
refertothetopicNiceCommands.
[parameter]canbeoneormoreo fthefollowing:
/silent Silent mode, no toolbar, menu or banner is displayed
and window is minimized. This is useful when using
the labeling software as label printing engine for label
production from other application.
/r Registers the software as an OLE server.
/u Unregisters the software as an OLE server.
/i After JOB file is finished, the label designer exits.
/typelib This option will generate NLABEL6.OLB file with
type library description of the ActiveX interface. The
file contains COM interface description, if you would
like to integrate label-printing functionality to your
application.
/lang=<LANG> Run the software in the specified language. This will
override the language selection in the program pref-
erences, but only temporarily. If you start the software
without the /lang switch, the default language is used.
- 187 -
Technical Support
Online Support
Youcanfindthelatestbuilds,updates,workaroundsforproblemsandF
requentlyAskedQuestions
(FAQ)ontheproductwebsite.
Formoreinformationpleasereferto:
l Knowledgebase:http://kb.nicelabel.com
l NiceLabelSupport:http://www.nicelabel.com/support
l NiceLabelTutorials:www.nicelabel.com/Learning-center/Tutorials
l NiceLabelForums:forums.nicelabel.com
- 188 -

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Designer Pro User Guide

F2 On-screen edit is enabled for text elements.

Mouse Wheel support

Using the Keyboard and Mouse Effectively

Use History Log to Track Label Printing

1. StartNiceLabel Designer Pro.

Itisvitallyimportanttoownthe write accesstothisfoldero nyourcomputersystemandtheright

Designing a Basic Label

Create a Basic Label

Note:Ifyoudontfindyourprinteronthelist,refertochapterInstall Printer Driverfor

Define Label and Page Dimensions

Enter Non-Changing Text

Use Alignment Tools

Object Positioning Guidelines

Double-clickaguidelineorrightclickaguidelineandchooseEdit Guideline Propertiestoopen

Use Drawing Tools

Add Variable Fields

Create Keyboard Entry Variable Fields

Create Serialized Data Variable Fields (Counters)

Create Date and Time Variable Fields

Use Prefix or Suffix Options

Using Advanced Functionality

1. Select10 Batch or Lot number.

Edit Barcode GS1-128

Designing Label with Variable Length

1. SelectFile -> Label Setup.

Controlling Cutter in the Printer

Defining Label Batch Printing and Using

Designing Double-Sided Label

Designing Labels for Mobile Devices

Setting up Stock Manager to List Commonly

Tracing Variable Values

3. SelectConfigure Log FilefromToolsmenu.

Using Contents Mask

Using Expression Builder

Using Label Inspector

11. TicktheoptionPicture is stored on the memory card.

Designing an RFID Smart Label

Create RFID Smart Label

Encode RFID Tag

RFID Tag Settings

RFID Tag Locking

Support for RFID Tags

RFID Read and Store Data

Database Storage Plug-in

Storage Fields tab

Update existing data records in the table. UsethisoptiontoinsertRFIDdataval-

Changing Printer Settings

Note:C hangestothesettingsinthePrintertabwillnotbesavedinthelabelb utusedonlyat

Changing Dithering Options

Defining Unprintable Area

Open existing label.

Save currently opened label.

Cut the selected objects to clipboard.

Copy the selected objects to clipboard.

Paste the objects from the clipboard.

Undo last action.

Redo last action.

Using Database Toolbar

Using Design Toolbar

Using Printing Toolbar

Preview labels on-screen.

Print the current label.

Test print the current label.