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Version: 5.4

Designer

The Label Designer can be found at the top of the printer plug-in menu next to the buttons for creating and editing labels. With the label designer

  • you can specify the size of the document,
  • define the template variables with default values, and
  • place the elements "Text," "Rectangle," "Barcode," and "Image." Elements of the type "Text" and "Barcode" can be assigned template variables.

Specify document size​

You can freely define the document size in the menu under "Settings - Document size" or select available sizes on the printer of your choice. The second option is particularly useful if you already know which printer you will be using. On the other hand, you are not committing yourself to a specific printer if you use the second option here, e.g. to quickly set a DIN format with the Microsoft XPS printer. The size is specified in millimeters.

  1. Select the "Custom size" or "Supported size" option. You can find this menu item in the Label Designer under "Settings" and "Document Size."
    • Custom Size: Enter the document size.
    • Supported Size: Select the printer and document size.
  2. Confirm with "OK."
  3. If necessary, select the desired format in the "Settings - Landscape" menu area.

Define template variables​

Template variables are dynamically filled with values at runtime, e.g., from the control or batch and job data from the database. At this point, you define the required placeholders and assign default values if desired. The values can be printed as text or barcodes.

  1. Select the "New Placeholder" button.
  2. Assign a name and confirm with "OK."
  3. The template variable appears in the list. Assign a default value if desired.
  4. Repeat steps 1 to 3 for all required placeholders.
  5. If you want to remove a variable, click on the name in the list and you can delete or rename it there.

Placing elements​

The following elements are available:

  • Text: Free text and placeholders in combination. The size and position of the text frame, font, font size, and font color, as well as the text position, can be set.
  • Rectangle: A frame of any size and position. The frame color, type, and thickness, as well as the fill color, can be set.
  • Barcode: Freely definable barcode. Size and position, encoding, content (fixed text/numbers and placeholders) can be set. In addition, the alignment for a barcode and/or barcode text can be configured.
  • Image: Image file in free position and size, to be selected via the file system.
  • Select the "New Element" button and the "Image" type in the list that opens.
  • The element is placed in the upper left corner. Move it using the coordinates in the properties or simply by drag and drop.
  • Set the size of the element. To do this, click on the element frame and drag the element to the desired size or set the size exactly in the properties.
  • Set the other properties.
tip

Tip: With "Insert placeholder" (text and barcode), you can insert a defined template variable at the appropriate place. Do not change the syntax.

tip

Tip: In the color definition, you can specify the "alpha" value in addition to the values for red, green, and blue to set transparency (0 = invisible, 255 = not transparent, for text and frames).

tip

Tip: Placeholders can also be used within the image path to dynamically exchange images.

Under the View menu item, you can select "Show Frames" for image elements.

Test Print, Save, and Close​

  • Under the "Test Print" menu item, select "Print" to perform a test print on a configured printer.
  • A save prompt appears when you want to close your input window using the window button.
  • Use the "Close" window button to exit the Designer and return to the router configuration.

Changing existing templates​

You can change the corresponding template at any time by double-clicking on the entry in the plug-in configuration.

warning

Caution: Do not change variable names or delete template variables that are already used in the connection project. The router cannot use placeholders that have been changed in this way and will output an incorrect label (e.g., with the default value).