Brady Codesoft User Manual

CODESOFT

Sentinel

Print PackTM

Welcome to the printing module for CODESOFT Sentinel Print
Pack, the No. 1 Windows

cover the simplest and most powerful way to meet your labeling
needs.

CODESOFT Sentinel Print Pack combines the user friendliness of a
graphical interface with the high-powered features of a sophisticated
software program.

based computer program for label printing. Dis-

™-

Copyright© 1997 TECHNIQUES AVANCEES

®

The information in this documentation manual is not contractual in
nature. It is subject to modification without notice.

The software described in this manual is supplied under a user license.
Its use, duplication, or reproduction on any media whatsoever, except
as provided for under the terms of the license, is not authorized.

No part of the manual may be copied, reproduced or transmitted by
any means whatsoever (unless it is for the purchaser’s personal use)
without the written permission of Techniques Avancées®.

Copyright© 1997 Techniques Avancées®. All rights reserved.

Windows™, MS-DOS® and Paintbrush are registered trademarks of
Microsoft® Corporation.

IBM, PC, and AT PS/2 are registered trademarks of International
Business Machines, Inc.

CODESOFT™ is a trademark of Techniques Avancées®.

Table of Contents

Introduction .................................................. Chapter 1

Sentinel Print Mode...................................... Chapter 2

Sentinel File Mode........................................ Chapter 3

Error Files ..................................................... Chapter 4

CODESOFT Sentinel Interface..................... Chapter 5

Appendix 1 — Sentinel Print Mode............. Chapter 6

Appendix 2 — Sentinel File Mode............... Chapter 7

Introduction

Introduction 5
Definition of Concepts 5
How Sentinel Print Pack Works 6

Introduction

CODESOFT Sentinel Print Pack enables you to print labels created using
CODESOFT on non-Windows

WindowsTM 95 or NT.
CODESOFT Sentinel Print Pack consists of a data capture module

(Sentinel) and a print module (CODESOFT Run Time).
Sentinel Print Pack intercepts the print requests generated by your

applications and re-routes them to CODESOFT Run Time, which does the
final printing. It links your applications’ data to the print functions of
CODESOFT Run Time, whether the applications run on a PC, a
minicomputer or a Mainframe.

Sentinel Print Pack works by monitoring either the print job queues from
your application, or the presence of data files in a specified directory.
Consequently, your application must be able to generate a print job on a
server or copy a file in a directory that is accessible to Sentinel Print Pack.

platforms. The application runs under

TM

Definition of Concepts

CODESOFT Sentinel Print Pack employs new concepts specific to the
application. We will therefore begin by establishing a “mini-glossary” of
terms used. Print Server: a PC running under WindowsTM 95 or Win-

dowsTM NT and installed with a copy of CODESOFT Sentinel Print Pack.
Print Document: this designates a file generated by your application and

containing all the information required to print one or more labels using
CODESOFT Sentinel Print Pack.

Sentinel: a procedure that assumes responsibility for the print document
and transcribes it into print orders for CODESOFT Run Time.

There are three types of Sentinels:

w the Print sentinel;
w the ASCII file sentinel; and
w the Data source sentinel.

Delimiters: a character or strings of characters that frame the data (name
and value of variables) in a Print Document.

How Sentinel Print Pack Works

CODESOFT Sentinel Print Pack operates as a background task under
Windows

or directories that contain print documents generated by your application.
When Sentinel Print Pack detects a print document, the module analyzes
it, transcribes it into print orders for CODESOFT Run Time, and deletes
it. As soon as CODESOFT Run Time receives print orders, it starts
printing labels.

Using CODESOFT, you will create your label’s format (background im­age) by inserting the information you want it to contain (variable fields,
graphics or bar codes). CODESOFT Sentinel Print Pack interprets and
re-routes the data from your application to the label’s field. Since the print
format of the labels is stored in the receiving station, no graphical informa­tion moves through your network.

Using the Sentinels, the program monitors either print queues

TM.

Print Sentinel

Print Sentinel 8

Structure of the Print Document 9

Syntax for Direct Assignment 9
Syntax Assigned by Table 10

Characteristics of the Print Document 11

Header 11
Label Referred To 11
Delimiters 12
Same Variables 12
Combined Assignment 13
Label Recognition 13

Printing Via Network 13

TCP/IP Protocol 13

Print Sentinel

The Print document printed out from your application is added to the print
queue of a Sentinel printer. Figure 1 below illustrates how the Print
sentinel works.

Network

Applications

Unix ,
AS400,
PC,
…

Data

Document
printing by the
application

WindowsTM Station

Printer server

Sentinel

Printer

Network

Sentinel

Pri nt Pack

Data

Print orders

Figure 1: Functional Diagram

By adding a Print sentinel, you automatically create a Sentinel printer of
the same name on the print server.

The Print documents stored in the print queue are analyzed by the Print
sentinel, which transcribes the information into print orders for
CODESOFT Run Time. The Print sentinel is associated with:

w a method for analyzing Print documents;
w an output printer selected earlier in CODESOFT Run Time; and
w print settings (number of labels to print, pages, etc.).

Printer

Note 1: The analysis method, output printer, and all print settings
can be modified from the Print document.

Note 2: The print documents will be processed and then erased.
Documents that do not conform to the analytical method will be
destroyed automatically.

Structure of the Print Document

The Print document must feature a specific structure, which is detailed
below. Moreover, APPENDIX 1 (Chapter 7) discusses an example of a
Print Document (Identity.txt).

Print jobs for CODESOFT can be described in full by entering:

w their control variables;
w the label Import variables; and
w additional information such as print settings (number of labels to

print, etc.).

As you can see, the Print document duplicates descriptive label informa­tion used in CODESOFT.

In addition to containing information that describes the label, text files
must employ a specific syntax for the assignment of data to label variables.

This can be done in two ways:

w direct assignment; and
w assignment by table.

Syntax for Direct Assignment

A directly assigned file consists of variables whose values were assigned di­rectly; the sum of those variables make up the label.

Labels are described successively following the rules of syntax listed below:

w labels must be separated from one another by an end-of-label

delimiter;

w each line describing a variable to initialize must begin with a

start-of-assignment delimiter, followed by the name of the

variable, the assignment operator, and the value of the variable.
It must end with an end-of assignment delimiter (see example
below).

Delimiters: a character or strings of characters whose purpose is to
frame the data (variable name and values) in a Print document.

Example :

[File header]
[start assignment) [variable1] [assignment

operator]

[start assignment] [variable2] [assignment

operator]

... ... ... ... ...

[start assignment] [variableN] [assignment

operator]

[end label]

[start assignment] [variable1] [assignment

operator]

[value] [end assignment]

[value) [end assignment]

[value] [end assignment]

[value] [end assignment]

The variables referred to will either be CODESOFT control variables or
the label’s Import variables.

Label No. 1

Label No. 2

Syntax Assigned by Table

A file assigned by table organizes the variables into a two-part table that
consists of:

w a header specifying the variables associated with the table

columns, framed by a delimiter for the start table header and the
end table header; and

w a set of values associated with header variables, framed by a start

table and an end table delimiter.

Each line corresponds to a label:

[file header]
[start header] [variable1] [separator] ... [variableN] [end header]
[start table] [value1] [separator] ... [valueN] [end table]
[start table] [value1] [separator] ... [valueN] [end table]

[start table] [value1] [separator] ... [valueN] [end of table]

... ... ... ... ... ...

The variables referred to will be either CODESOFT control variables or
the label’s Import variables.

Characteristics of the Print Document

Print files, whether made up of direct and/or table assignments, must obey
the following rules.

Header

To be recognized by CODESOFT Sentinel Print Pack, files must begin
with a header specified using the Sentinel Print Pack interface.

Example:
The default header suggested in the interface, which is “SENTINEL,” re-

quires files to begin with the following sequence: ”SENTINEL”

Label Referred To

CODESOFT Run Time print jobs must be associated with a label file
name.

This can be done:

w either through direct assignment (the name of the variable can be

specified in Sentinel Print Pack); or

w through table assignment.

In the case of table assignments, make sure that the name of the
CODESOFT control variable (for example: “LAB_NAME”) is included in
the specification of the table header.

Delimiters

The CODESOFT Sentinel Print Pack interface gives you a simple and
user-friendly way to define all the Delimiters needed to analyze print
documents, as well as the name of the CODESOFT control variables that
will make up your label (see Interface, Chapter 5).

Note

As soon as you assign a character (or string of characters) to a de­limiter, it becomes a control character and can be used only as such.
However, you may include it in an assignment value, or even within
a variable name, if you take the trouble to duplicate it.

Example

If the delimiter for the start direct assignment line is «start,» and if a
value must be assigned to the «CSstart» variable defined in a
CODESOFT label, write:

start CSstartstart [assignment] [value] [end assignment]

Same Variables

Same Variables allows you to freeze the value of a variable until a new as­signment changes it. Thus, if a variable’s value does not change over the
course of several label specifications, you do not need to re-assign it for the
following ones.

A setting option available from the interface of the Sentinel Print Pack
module specifies whether a variable should stay the same or be re-entered
each time a label is defined.

Combined Assignment

If the Same Variables option is checked, direct assignment and table as­signment can be combined.

Combined assignments set the value of one or more label variables. To do
this, the values requiring setting are defined through direct assignment; the
others are specified using table assignment (see example below):

Example:

>var1 = val1<
>var2 = val2<

[var3,var4, .............]

(val3,val4,...............)

(val5,val6,...............)

For all these labels, the value of the

}

variables var1 and var2 will remain

Label Recognition

A label is sent to be printed when the program encounters an end label or
end table data delimiter.

Printing Via Network

TCP/IP Protocol

If you are using TCP/IP as the communication protocol to link your sepa­rate networks, you can use the LPR/LPD services to print your print docu-

ments. First you must install and start up the TCP/IP print services on the
Print Server, which, in this case, must be a WindowsTM NT station.

When employed using an IBM network, the above method requires
CODESOFT Sentinel Print Pack to translate files into EBCDIC format.
To do this, you must check the EBCDIC ASCII conversion option when
setting up Print Sentinel.

ASCII File Sentinel

ASCII File Sentinel 15

File Structure 16

ASCII File Sentinel

1

0

The Print document is copied from your application into a directory. Fig­ure 2 below illustrates how the ASCII file sentinel works.

Applications

WindowsTM Station

Unix,
AS400 ,
PC,
…

Data

Print document
is copied in the
specified

C :\

Directory
accessible from

Windows

the
station

Sentin el

Print Pack

TM

Data

Print orders

Printer

Network

Network

Figure 2: Functional Diagram

When you add an ASCII file sentinel, you specify a directory dedicated to
monitoring print documents.

The print documents stored in this directory are analyzed by the ASCII file
Sentinel, which transcribes the information into print orders for
CODESOFT Run Time.

The ASCII file is associated with the following:

w an output printer, selected earlier in CODESOFT Run Time; and
w printing parameters (the number of labels to print, etc.).

Note 1: the output printer and all the printing parameters can be
configured from the Print document.