barcode and label software - smartcodestudio

Getting Started with SmartCodeStudio

6/30/2007 TechnoRiver Pte Ltd

Contents

Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................... 1

Getting Started with SmartCodeStudio ...................................................................................................... 1

System Requirements ................................................................................................................................. 2

Support ....................................................................................................................................................... 2

1.Creating Labels ............................................................................................................................................. 3

Creating a new label using a pre-defined template .................................................................................... 4

Creating a customized label ........................................................................................................................ 7

Creating a new label using Thermal Printer Wizard ................................................................................. 10

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................ 12

2.Creating Text, Shape and Image Objects .................................................................................................... 13

Working with an existing label to add text, shape and image objects ..................................................... 13

Working with multiple objects ................................................................................................................. 17

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................ 20

3.Creating Barcodes....................................................................................................................................... 21

Creating a one-dimensional barcode with serialization ........................................................................... 21

Previewing the serialized barcode on a page ........................................................................................... 23

Extending a barcode ................................................................................................................................. 26

Creating a barcode with an application identifier .................................................................................... 28

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................ 30

4.Working with Data Sources ........................................................................................................................ 31

Integrating a barcode with a delimited text file ....................................................................................... 37

Connecting a barcode to an ODBC-compliant database .......................................................................... 41

Integrating a text object with a sample database .................................................................................... 49

Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................ 52

5. Printing Labels ........................................................................................................................................... 53

Using print options to print identical copies ............................................................................................ 53

Using print options to add crop marks ................................................................................................... 56

Using print to order the labels ................................................................................................................. 58

Conclusion................................................................................................................................................ 62

1

INTRODUCTION

TechnoRiver’s SmartCodeStudio is the industry-leading label design, barcode and

printing software. It supports most of the industry widely used 1D and 2D barcodes and

has one of the industry largest and expandable Label Stock Database which stores all the

dimensions of the different labels for your convenient usage.

SmartCodeStudio uses a proprietary barcode engine to accurately produce quality-

assured barcodes in the industry. The data source connectivity component is able to

access to delimited text files as well as the common database platforms such as

Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel, FoxPro, dBase, ODBC Data Source File/Name and OLE

DB.

The record filtering component gives unmatched power and flexibility in searching for a

selection of records for barcode printing. The highly intuitive user interface provides

high precision view and enables complete control when designing labels. You can use

the simple ‘One Touch’ technique to ‘drag and drop’ text, rich text, shapes, graphics or

imported pictures from scanner and digital camera onto your label. The integrated

image-processing manager also enables cropping, flipping and rotation of any acquired

images.

SmartCodeStudio is feature rich yet extremely easy to use, making it the ideal tool for

the print industry professionals.

GETTING STARTED WITH SMARTCODESTUDIO

Getting Started with SmartCodeStudio teaches the essential skills needed to

create labels simply and effectively, without going into too much details of each

and every function of the user interface.

The first chapter gently eases you into the process of creating labels. By the end of the

chapter, you will have stepped through the creation, modification and saving of labels.

The next two chapters cover designing of the labels, which includes adding text, shapes,

graphics and barcodes to your labels. The subsequent two chapters include integration

of data sources to the barcodes and the different options of printing the labels.

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Drawing on the training experience of the author, this book relies on the gradual

presentation of tasks to ease you into using SmartCodeStudio. You will see firsthand the

benefits and ease of use of this software.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

The system requirements for installing and running SmartCodeStudio in windows

platform are Microsoft Windows 98, ME, NT 4.0, 2000 ,Win XP or later, 128 MB RAM,

and 30 MB of hard-disk space for the full installation.

SUPPORT

TechnoRiver is committed to software quality and user support. Every effort has been

made to ensure the accuracy of this book and its content. If you have questions or

comments regarding this book, please e-mail them to TechnoRiver at

[email protected]

For product support information, please visit the TechnoRiver Web Site at

http://www.technoriversoft.com/support.html

mailto:[email protected]

3

CREATING LABELS

In this chapter, you will learn about

Creating a new label using a pre-defined template

Working with Label Design View

Saving the label you have just created

Creating a customized label

Creating a new label using Thermal Printer Wizard

Welcome to the world of label creation and design with SmartCodeStudio. This chapter

introduces the creation of labels. You can create a new label from a pre-defined

template or customized your own label.

To begin with, double-click on the icon on your desktop to launch

SmartCodeStudio.

You are now in the SmartCodeStudio Professional Edition screen.

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This window is the powerful SmartCodeStudio’s user interface. The menu bar on top,

the tool box on the left-hand side, the label design view panel on the right and the color

bar at the bottom of the screen contain all the tools and features you need to create

and design your label.

Let’s start with a pre-defined label template.

CREATING A NEW LABEL USING A PRE-DEFINED TEMPLATE

To create a new label, follow these steps.

1. Click on icon on the menu bar. (Alternatively, under the File menu, you can

select New. You can also press Ctrl+N for the shortcut key.)

The Select Template dialog box will be displayed.

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2. You can now select the pre-defined templates found in SmartCodeStudio’s database

in this dialog box. SmartCodeStudio comes with over 2,600 industry templates.

To select a template, you must first select the Group, which includes Labels,

Business cards, CDROM, envelopes, Papers. Select the defaulted Label in this

exercise.

Next, select the Product Type which specifies the brand of product, e.g. Avery, APLI,

MaySpies, etc. Select APLI for the product type. We are going to create an A4 page

of labels.

Select the first Product of APLI. You can see a preview of the template you have

selected on the right-hand side.

Notice that the default units are in inches. You can change your units to millimeters

or centimeters. We will leave it as inches in the exercises.

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3. Click to create this template.

The Select Template dialog box closes and the template is shown in the label design

view of the SmartCodeStudio’s user interface.

Notice the grids on this label. The grids is automatically shown to enable you align

neatly the items in the label. You can click on icon in the menu bar to remove

the grids on the label. Otherwise, we will just leave this as it is.

4. Under the tool box, click and drag CODE128 to the label on the right.

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Notice that the barcode you have selected is dropped nicely to the grids of the label.

However, if you need to align it in between the grids, you can click on icon to

disable the ‘Snap-to-Grid’ property. This will enable your barcode to be positioned

anywhere in the label, without the need to align with the grids.

You can use the (Zoom in) and (Zoom out) icons to suit your viewing needs

of the label. Similarly, you can explore the following zoom properties to customize

your desired view.

Now, you have been briefly introduced to some viewing properties such as ‘Display

Grid’, ‘Snap-To-Grid’ and ‘Zoom in/out’. The next step is to save this label that you

have just created.

5. To save the label, click icon on the menu bar. (Alternatively, under the File menu,

you can select Save. You can also press Ctrl+S for the shortcut key.)

A Save-As dialog box is displayed. Save this label as Label1.lbx on your desktop. We

will be using this label in future exercises.

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You have successfully created a Label1 with a pre-defined template. Now, what if your

label size is proprietary to your company and does not fall under the industry standard

ones? Let’s try to create a customized label.

CREATING A CUSTOMIZED LABEL

In this exercise, you will step through the creation of a customized label.

1. Click on icon on the menu bar to display the Select Template dialog box.

2. Click to create your own label dimensions. The Customize

Template dialog box is displayed. This dialog allows you to customize the current

product label by changing its page size, label dimensions, margins, label spacing and

other properties.

Note: A page is a sheet of paper containing several labels.

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3. Enter “TechnoRiver 3 1/2"x5"” as the product name. You can proceed to change the

Page Width, Height and the label dimensions for this customized label.

4. You can save your modifications for future re-use by selecting the

option in the drop down list located at the

bottom left of the dialog.

5. Click to confirm the page/label dimensions of this label. The Customize

Template dialog box closes and the product name is now shown on the Select

Template dialog box.

Note: All customized templates will be saved under the User Defined group.

6. Click to create this user-defined template.

The Select Template dialog box closes and the label is shown in the label design

view. There! You have created your customized label. You can proceed to design

your customized label as shown in the previous section.

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If you are using a thermal or any laser printer for your barcode printing, you can use the

Thermal Printer Wizard to create your label. The benefit of using this wizard is that it will

identify the printer type that you are using and allow you to select the specified paper

size. Use this option if you want to jump-start your label creation via the printer type.

CREATING A NEW LABEL USING THERMAL PRINTER WIZARD

In this exercise, you will step through the creation of a label using the Thermal Printer

Wizard.

1. Click on icon on the menu bar to display the Select Template dialog box.

2. Click to create a new label using the Wizard. The Select

Printer and Paper dialog box is displayed for you to select your printer and paper

size.

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3. Click to continue the configuration of your label dimensions.

The Specify Label Size and Layout dialog box is shown.

Enter your label width and height in inches, followed by the number of columns and

rows. A preview of your labels on a single page is shown at the right-hand side of

the dialog as you start your changes.

4. Click to continue. A Save Template dialog box is shown.

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5. Check the option. Once you saved this template, you can select

it for re-use in future without the need to re-input the page and label dimensions.

6. Click to close the Save Template dialog box.

7. The Thermal Printer Wizard dialog box closes and the product name is now shown

on the Select Template dialog box.

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8. Click to create this label defined using the Wizard.

The Select Template dialog box closes and the label is shown in the label design

view. You can proceed to design this label as shown in the previous section.

CONCLUSION

Although the examples in this chapter aren’t the most exciting templates, it

demonstrated some key points in creating any labels. It introduced the 3 ways of label

creation, and some basic features in the SmartCodeStudio user interface.

Don’t forget to have some fun. Go back and try a few variations of label creations, click

on the icons on the menu and tool box, and become familiar with the environment.

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CREATING TEXT, SHAPE AND IMAGE OBJECTS


Working with an existing label

Creating different types of text, shape and image objects

Working with multiple objects

In the previous chapter, you learnt about creating new labels. In this chapter, we will

work on an existing label – Label1.lbx which you have created in the previous chapter.

Let’s start by opening Label1.lbx saved on your desktop.

WORKING WITH AN EXISTING LABEL TO ADD TEXT, SHAPE AND IMAGE

OBJECTS

1. Click icon on the menu bar to open Label1.lbx. (Alternatively, under the File

menu, you can select Open. You can also press Ctrl+O for the shortcut key.)

The Open dialog box will be displayed. Search for the Label1.lbx which you have

saved in the previous chapter and click to display Label1.lbx on the

label design view panel.

Next, we want to design this into an address label. For an address label, we need to add

a text object into the label and type in some address in the text object. To accommodate

the text field in the label, you may want to re-position your barcode.

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2. Under the tool box, click and drag the Text object to the label design view panel.

(Alternatively, you can click icon on the menu bar and place the text object on

the label.)

3. To customize the Text object, double-click on the Text

object in the label design view. A Text Properties dialog

box is displayed. Alternatively, you can right-click on the

Text object and select Properties.

Now, it is time to put the mouse down, pick up the

keyboard and start typing the address as follows:

4. When you are done with the typing, click to close the Text Properties

dialog box and the address is reflected on the label.

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5. Next, we want to add an image to this label. To add an image, click icon on the

menu bar. Next, click and drag the cursor on the template. The Open dialog is

displayed for you to locate the image you want to add to the label. Select Bridge.jpg

in the image directory. Click to display the image on the label.

6. Now, we want to add a border around these objects. To do so, click and drag

Rectangle under the tool box to the label on the right. (Alternatively, you can click

icon on the menu bar and place the rectangle object on the label.)

You may need to re-size this rectangle to fix it into the label.

7. To make the rectangle border finer, double-click on the rectangle object in the label.

A Rectangle Properties dialog box is displayed.

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Select the Border Tab. Change the Border Style to Dash and Border Thickness to 0.5

points.

Click to close the Rectangle Properties dialog box.

8. This is the final design of your label on the label design view.

Tip: To select an object which is overlaid by another object on the label, you may need to

send the overlaid object to the back. You can do this by right-clicking on the object and

selecting Send to Back. Similarly, you can also bring an object to the front.

Now, your label has 4 different objects: 1 text, 1 rectangle, 1 barcode and 1 image.

In the next section, you will learn to use some features when working with multiple

objects to create your desire label layout.

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WORKING WITH MULTIPLE OBJECTS

Notice that you are free to re-size and re-position any objects in the label to your desire.

If you want to prevent any re-positioning of the objects in the label, you can choose to

group the objects together as one object.

1. To group the objects, click icon on the menu bar. Next click and drag with your

cursor on the label such that all 4 objects are within the drag area. (Alternatively,

you can press Ctrl and click on all the 4 objects.) The outlines (with square boxed)

highlight the selected objects.

2. Click icon on the arrangement bar to group the 4 objects as one. (Alternatively,

you can right-click on the selected objects and select Group.)

3. The 4 objects are now grouped as one. You have successfully grouped the object

positions in the label.

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There are many different object alignments you can try on to see the effects. You can

click on any of these icons on the arrangement bar to align the

object to the left, right, top, bottom, center and middle of the label respectively.

Tip: To centralize an object in the label, select the object and click on the (align to center)

icon, followed by the (align to middle) icon.

4. To ungroup the objects again, you can click icon on the arrangement bar.

(Alternatively, you can right-click on the selected object and select Ungroup.)

5. Let’s lock all the objects in this label to avoid accidental re-positioning of the

objects. To do so, under the Arrange menu, select Lock Objects.

After locking these objects, click any object to re-position it in the label. You will find

that the cursor turns into a lock symbol to indicate that the selected object you are

trying to move is locked.

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CONCLUSION

You can easily design your labels with our ‘One Touch’ technique using this software.

You have learnt how easily it is to add text and images into your label template; but

there are many more features you can explore.

Try adding a stretchable or circular text, or an ellipse, and play around with their

properties to achieve the outlook that you desire. Remember that the only limitation

you are bounded by is your imagination, and of course, the size of your label!

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CREATING BARCODES


Creating a one-dimensional barcode with serialization

Previewing the serialized barcode on a page

Extending a barcode

Creating a barcode with an application identifier

In the previous chapter, we looked at the ease of adding text, shapes and images using

SmartCodeStudio. We created an address label with a barcode, a text address, an image

and a rectangle border.

In this chapter, we will focus on creating some barcode with unique features such as

serialization, extending a barcode or adding an application identifier to a barcode. At the

end of this chapter, you will be familiar with some common customization of the

barcodes in the industry.

CREATING A ONE-DIMENSIONAL BARCODE WITH SERIALIZATION

A barcode with serialization automatically prints a set of running counters consecutively.

There is no need to manually input the running counters, thereby, making your label

creation job much simpler and faster.

Let’s begin by creating a simple CODE128 barcode on an APLI, 1270 3x11 Address Label

(A4) label template.

Note: The exercises explained in this chapter are based on an APLI Address Label template.

However, the same concepts are also applicable to the different methods of label creation such

as using the Thermal Printer Wizard or creating a customized label.

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Using the ‘One touch’ technique, you will be able to ‘drag and drop’ CODE128 from the

tool box to the label design view.

Now, you are ready to configure this barcode with a running counter:

1. Double-click on the CODE128 barcode on the label design view. (Alternatively, you

can right-click on the barcode and select Properties.)

A Barcode Properties dialog is displayed. Select Counter under the Data Source list

box.

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2. On the right-hand side, you can see that the first number to start in the counter is 1,

with each increment as 1, the minimum counter is 1 and the maximum counter is

99999. These are the default values and we will stick to these figures for now.

3. Click to close the Barcode Properties dialog box. The barcode on the

label design view now has the word ‘Counter’ on it. This is to show that this barcode

is serialized with some running counters.

Now, you have successfully created a CODE128 barcode with serialization. Let’s preview

this barcode and verify the running counters as specified in the setting.

PREVIEWING THE SERIALIZED BARCODE ON A PAGE

To preview a barcode, you need to do the following:

1. Under File menu, select Print Options. (Alternatively, you can press Ctrl-T for the

shortcut key.)

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2. A Print Options dialog box is displayed. In this dialog box, you can see that the

default Number of Labels is 1 and the right side of the dialog, you see a preview of

the page with the APLI, 1270 3x11 Address Label (A4) labels. Note that ‘1’ is

highlighted on the preview.

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Note: Number of Labels field indicates the number of labels to print. Regardless of whether the

data for each label is fixed, obtained from a database, or generated by a counter; the actual

number of labels printed is determined only by this value.

3. Change the Number of Labels to 33, so that you are able to see the running counters

in the print preview option. Click to close the Print Option dialog box.

4. Click icon on the menu bar to open the Print Preview Panel. (Alternatively, under

File menu, select Print Preview. You can also press Ctrl-R for the shortcut key.) The

label design view is replaced by a preview of the labels on a single A4 page.

You can click on and icons to zoom in and out of the preview.

5. From this preview, you are able to verify the running counters in the sequence. This

sequence is horizontal, i.e. the counters run from left to right. You can specify a

vertical sequence, which will have the counters running top down first, in the Print

Options dialog box.

6. When you are done with the previewing, click to close the print preview

and return to the label design view.

We will not touch on the printing of this label now. Printing of labels will be explained in

details in Chapter 5.

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We now move on to the process of creating a barcode with extension. Currently, UPCA,

UPCE, and EAN13 can have an additional barcode located to the right of the main

barcode that contains additional information. The extension is typically used for

publications such as newspapers, books, and other periodicals.

A 2-digit extension is typically used to indicate magazine and newspaper issues which

are useful for sales analysis or restocking purposes. A 5-digt extension encodes the

suggested retail price.

Let’s try to create an EAN13 barcode with an extension.

EXTENDING A BARCODE

We start afresh with a new template. Let’s begin creating an EAN13 barcode on an APLI,

1270 3x11 Address Label (A4) label template by using the ‘One touch’ technique to ‘drag

and drop’ EAN13 from the tool box to the label design view.

1. To extend this barcode, double-click the EAN13 barcode on the label design view.

(Alternatively, you can right-click on the barcode and select Properties.)

A Barcode Properties dialog box is displayed.

2. Click on the Code Type tab. At the bottom of the dialog box, you can see UPC/EAN

Extension is ‘None’. Select ‘2 Digit’.

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3. Click to close the Barcode Properties dialog box.

Now, you can see the EAN13 barcode is extended by 2 more digits, as shown in the

label design view.

Notice that now there are two zeros padded in front of the EAN13 barcode number

due to the 2-digit extension.

4. Let’s extend this barcode by 5 digits and see the difference. Double-click on the

barcode again in the label design view. Under the Barcode Properties dialog box,

select Code Type tab and change the UPC/EAN Extension to 5 digits.

Click Ok to close the Barcode Properties dialog box.

5. Here, the EAN13 is extended by 5 more digits shown on the label design view.

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In the 5-digit extension, 5 zeros are padded in front of the EAN13 barcode number.

In the next section, we will create an UCC/EAN128 barcode and make use of an

application identifier (AI). An AI is a two, three, or four-digit number that defines the

meaning of the data that follows.

CREATING A BARCODE WITH AN APPLICATION IDENTIFIER

We start afresh with a new template. Let’s begin creating an UCC/EAN128 barcode on

an APLI, 1270 3x11 Address Label (A4) label template by using the ‘One touch’

technique to ‘drag and drop’ UCC/EAN128 from the tool box to the label design view.

1. Double-click on the UCC/EAN128 barcode on the label design view. (Alternatively,

right-click on the barcode and select Properties.)

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A Barcode Properties dialog box is displayed. Select the first row and click the

button.

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2. The UCCEAN128 dialog is displayed. A list of the standard application identifiers and

their descriptions are described in the list box at the top of the dialog. You can click

on any Application Identifier to select it. You can see that the SmartCodeStudio

defaults the AI to ‘00’ (SSCC) initially.

3. Let’s select ‘01’ – Global Trade Item Number. Click to close the

UCCEAN128 dialog box.

4. Click again to close the Barcode Properties dialog box. You can see that

the UCC/EAN128 barcode on the label design view prefixed by ‘01’.

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CONCLUSION

As easy as a few clicks on the buttons, you can create any barcodes to suit your needs.

Barcode serialization, extension and addition of an AI have been made revolutionarily

simple in SmartCodeStudio.

Do have fun creating other barcodes such as the 2-dimensional ones (e.g. Datamatrix or

PDF417) and explore the differences in the barcode properties for one-dimensional and

two-dimensional barcodes.

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WORKING WITH DATA SOURCES


Integrating a barcode with a sample database

Integrating a barcode with a delimited text file

Connecting a barcode to an ODBC-compliant database

Integrating a text object with a sample database

In the previous chapter, we learnt how to serialize a CODE128 barcode, extend an

EAN13 barcode and select an application identifier for an UCC/EAN128 barcode. By

now, you should be fairly familiar with the configuration of barcode properties

In this chapter, we will focus on integrating barcode with a data source such as a

database or a delimited text file. At the end of this chapter, you will be able to load data

from a flat file or database to your barcode or text object.

INTEGRATING A BARCODE WITH A SAMPLE DATABASE

Integration of a barcode to a database is an important function as you want to be able

to barcode all the items in your inventory management database system for better

visibility of information on your items.

We will start afresh with a new template. Let’s create a simple CODE39 barcode on an

APLI, 1270 3x11 Address Label (A4) label template. Use the ‘One touch’ technique to

‘drag and drop’ CODE39 from the tool box to the label design view.

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1. Double-click on the CODE39 barcode on the label design view to display the Barcode

Properties dialog box. (Alternatively, right-click on the CODE39 barcode on the label

design view and select Properties.)

A Barcode Properties dialog box is displayed.

2. Under the Data Source list, click Database and click on the right

side of the dialog box. A Database Settings dialog box is displayed.

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Notice that you can select a variety of data sources to link your barcode with. For

this exercise, we will try the Sample Database. This sample database is an Access

database and automatically available to you once you installed SmartCodeStudio.

3. Click to view the data in the sample database. A View Data dialog

box is displayed.

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On the left-hand side of the dialog box, you can see 2 tables – Product and User

respectively. The records on the right-hand side show the Product data. You can

click on the User table to view the data in this table.

4. Click to close the View Data dialog box.

5. For sample database, there is no need to enter a user/password to login to the

database and access the data. However, if you are connecting to your own

database, you will need to key in the user/password here.

For this exercise, we will click to proceed. A Database Records dialog

box is displayed.

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You can specify the record source for the barcode in this dialog box. We will try with

Product. Click to complete the database set up. You are back at the

Barcode Properties dialog box.

Click on Insert DB Fields to insert the data field [[Product]] from the table. The

Product data field will be used to provide data for the barcode.

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Now, you can see that the CODE39 barcode has the ‘Database’ word in the middle.

It shows that the barcode is integrated with the Product table data.

Let’s do a print preview to verify the barcode data. Before we print preview, we need to

configure the print options to show more than 1 label on a page.

7. Under File menu, select Print Options. (Alternatively, you can press Ctrl-T for the

shortcut key.)

A Print Options dialog box is displayed. Change the Number of labels to 33 so that

you can see more than 1 label data on a single page.

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Note: If the number of labels on a single page exceeds the number of records, the extra labels

will duplicate the data again. Hence it is good to know your total number of records in the

database and set the Number of labels to be the same as your total record number.

7. Click to close the Print Options dialog box.

8. Click icon on the menu bar to open the Print Preview Panel. (Alternatively, under

File menu, select Print Preview. You can also press Ctrl-R for the shortcut key.)

The label design view is replaced by a preview of the labels on a single A4

page.

Click to close the Print Preview and return to the label design view.

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9. Save this label as Label2.lbx on your desktop. You will be using this label again in

Chapter 5.

You have learnt how easy it is to integrate a CODE39 barcode with a sample database.

You can try with the different fields in the Product table to be more familiar with the

database settings.

The steps for integrating a barcode with a text file or an Excel file are similar. You just

need to select the desired Data Source in the Database Settings dialog box.

INTEGRATING A BARCODE WITH A DELIMITED TEXT FILE

Now, you are very familiar with database settings. Let’s try to create a text file and use

that file to integrate with your barcode.

Open Notepad, pick up the keyboard and start typing the following:

We are specifying the employee names and age as text fields, delimited by commas.

Save this file as delimitedText.txt on your desktop. We will link this file to your barcode.

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To do so, follow the steps:

1. Double-click on the CODE39 barcode on the label design view to display the Barcode

Properties dialog box.

2. Select the option to obtain barcode data from a single database field.

Click to enable you to select a data source. The Database Settings

dialog box is displayed. Select Text File as the Data Source Type and the

delimitedText.txt as the File Name.

3. The Text File Schema Tabs are displayed as above. If you like to you can click on the

Conversions button to see advanced conversion settings. Ensure that the delimited

is a comma and the text field is identified by double quotes in the Text File Schema

Tab.

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4. Click to see the text file that you have just created. The View Data

dialog box is displayed with the text file data. Using the text file schema which you

have just specified, SmartCodeStudio is able to decipher the text file correctly.

5. If Field2 does not appear in the View Data dialog box, you may want to add a field in

the Text Fields tab.

6. Click to close the View Data dialog box.

7. Continue to click to proceed until you hit the button. Click

on Insert DB Fields to insert the data field [[Field1]] from the table. The Field1 data

field will be used to provide data for the barcode.

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9. Click icon on the menu bar to open the Print Preview Panel. The label design

view is replaced by a preview of the labels on a single A4 page.

Notice that Smith is repeated again. This is because we have only entered 5 names

but we configured the Print Options: Number of Labels to print as 33. Hence the

names will be repeated in the page.

10. Finally, click to close the Print Preview and return to the label design view.

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Next, we move on to connect to an ODBC compliant database. Let’s try to connect to a

Microsoft Access sample database.

We can take a look at the sample database by double-clicking on “C:\Program

Files\TechnoRiver\SmartCodeStudio2005\sample.mdb” if you have Microsoft Access.

The data is shown as follows.

CONNECTING A BARCODE TO AN ODBC-COMPLIANT DATABASE

For a barcode to connect to an access database, do the following:

1. Double-click on the CODE39 barcode on the label design view. The Barcode

Properties dialog box is displayed.

2. Select Database as the Data Source, and the option to obtain barcode data from a

single database field.

3. Click to enable you to select a data source. The Database Settings

dialog box is displayed.

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4. Select ODBC: Data Source Name as the Data Source Type.

5. Click to configure a new ODBC database. The Select Data Source

dialog box is displayed.

In this exercise, we want to connect to a sample Access database.

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6. To do so, we click to start the configuration of a new data source. A

Create New Data Source dialog box is displayed.

7. Select Driver do Microsoft Access (*mdb).

8. Click to continue. You are required to enter the sample database

name. Click to select sample.mdb.dsn in the path: C:\Program

Files\TechnoRiver\SmartCodeStudio2005

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9. Continue to click to proceed until you hit the button. An

ODBC Microsoft Access Setup dialog box is displayed.

10. Click to select the sample.mdb

A Select Database dialog box is displayed.

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11. Select sample.mdb and click to continue.

The Select Database dialog box closes and you are back at the ODBC Microsoft

Access Setup dialog box.

Notice that the database is the sample.mdb which you have just selected.

12. Click to continue. The dialog box closes and you are back at the Select

Data Source dialog box.

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Ensure that the DSN Name is sample.mdb.dsn in the C:\Program

Files\TechnoRiver\SmartCodeStudio2005 directory.

13. Click to close this dialog box. You are back at the ODBC Microsoft

Access Setup dialog box.

14. Click to close the ODBC Microsoft Access Setup dialog box. You are

back at the Database Settings dialog box.

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15. Since there is no authentication needed for the sample.mdb, click to

continue. The Database Records dialog box is displayed.

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Product data is the table provided for the barcode by default.

16. Click to complete the access database setup. The Database Settings

dialog box closes.


Now, you are ready to preview this page of labels that are pulling data from a sample

access database.


view is replaced by a preview of the labels on a single A4 page.

19.

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Notice that the ordering of the products is not the same as in the database. This

ordering can be controlled at Print time. We will look at the ordering in details the

next chapter.

20. Click to close the Print Preview and return to the label design view.

Besides allowing you to integrate barcodes with data sources, SmartCodeStudio also

enables you to integrate a text object with a sample database.

INTEGRATING A TEXT OBJECT WITH A SAMPLE DATABASE

Integrating text with database information is a useful feature if you want to display

information stored in your database in your label. For example, you can display the

names of products that your company carries.


1. Under the tool box, click and drag the Text object to the label design view.

2. Double-click on the Text object on the label design view to display the Text

Properties dialog box.

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3. Select Database as the Datasource.

4. Click to select a database field for the text data.

A Select Fields dialog box is displayed.

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5. Click to select sample database. The Database Settings dialog

box is displayed. Select Sample Database and continue to click until

you hit the button.

6. You are back at the Select Fields dialog box.

This time, you can see that Product is highlighted, which means that the Text object

will be displaying the Product data from the sample database.

7. Click to complete the database setup and close the Select Fields dialog

box. You are back at the Text Properties dialog box.

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Notice the word [[Product]] is shown on the text box. This means that the Product

data from the Product Table will be displayed on the Text object.

8. Click to close the Text Properties dialog box.

This is the final label design of a text object which is pulling data from the Product

field. Let’s preview this label to see what is printed on the text object.

9. Ensure that the Number of Labels to print on a single A4 page is 33 under the Print

Options.


view is replaced by a preview of the text labels on a single A4 page.


CONCLUSION

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Integrating a barcode with a data source is useful as most of you will have a data source

to keep your item information. The integration feature will save you time and effort

when printing labels on these items.

In these exercises, you have learnt how to pull data from a sample database and

delimited text to a barcode, connect to an ODBC-compliant database, and integrating a

text object with a sample database.

Go back and try a few variations of the data source, for example, an excel file or any

other text format or database that you are currently using.

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PRINTING LABELS


Using print options to print identical copies

Using print options to add crop marks

Using print to order the labels

In the previous chapter, we learnt how to integrate different data sources to provide

barcode data. We also learnt how to integrate a Text object with a sample Access

database.

In this chapter, we will be focusing on the print options and the print features. At the

end of this chapter, you will be able to use the print options to customize your printing

requirements.

USING PRINT OPTIONS TO PRINT IDENTICAL COPIES

Let’s load up Label2.lbx on your desktop and we will work on it in this chapter.

Label2.lbx is CODE39 barcode on an APLI, 1270 3x11 Address Label (A4) label template.

It is already connected to an Access sample database.

Click on the print preview icon to preview the data in the sample database.

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If you want to print identical copies of these labels, you can easily configure this setting

in the Print Options.



2. Under File menu, select Print Options.

A Print Options dialog box is displayed.

The Number of Labels limits the number of labels you are printing.

If you select Read From Database Field, the program will automatically print the

number of labels according to the number of records in the database table.

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3. Change the Number of Labels to 9 and check on the Identical Copies field. Leave the

number in the Identical Copies field as 1.


5. Click on the print preview icon to preview the data now.

Notice that only 9 labels are printed, even if there are more data in the Product

table. The Number of Labels you have set earlier limits the number of labels to print.

6. Click to close the Print Preview.

7. Go to File->Print Options again. The Print Options dialog box is displayed.

8. Under the Print Options dialog box, change the Identical Copies to 2.

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Notice that data are repeated twice as specified in the Identical Copies.

In order to print the 9 labels (from ‘RULER’ to ‘BOOK’) twice, you will need to change

the Number of Labels to 18.


USING PRINT OPTIONS TO ADD CROP MARKS

Now, we will go to the advanced print options to see what it can do for us.

1. Under File menu, select Print Options. The Print Options dialog box is displayed.

2. Click on Advanced Options.

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3. Select Dotted Crop Marks and click to close the Print Options dialog

box.


Notice that there is a cropped mark outlining the page.


6. You can try out the different options in crop marks. An Edge Crop Mark will give you

this layout:

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A Cross Crop Mark gives you the following layout:

Crop marks give a good gauge of the edges of the labels for a better measurement of

the actual printing alignment.

USING PRINT TO ORDER THE LABELS

In this last section, you will learn how to order the data from the database when

printing the labels.

Let’s load up Label2.lbx again to the label design view in SmartCodeStudio.

1. Click icon in the menu bar. (Alternatively, under File menu, select Print… or

press Ctrl-P for the shortcut key.) A Print dialog box is displayed.

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2. Click under Records. A Select Records dialog box is displayed.

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In this dialog box, you can select the data you want to print, or filter the data that

you do not want to print, or sort the data in some order preference. Here, we can

see that there are 12 records in the sample database and all of them are selected

for printing. The products are displayed in the order that they are retrieved from the

database.

3. Click to order the product ID in an ascending order. A Filter and

Sort Records dialog box is displayed.

4. Check and ensure that ID and ASCENDING is selected as shown.

5. In the section, ensure that the following is entered:

SELECT * FROM `Product` ORDER BY val(`ID`) ASC

6. Click to close the Filter and Sort Records dialog box. You are back at the

Select Records dialog box.

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Notice that the data is now sorted by ID in an ascending order.

7. Click to close the Select Records dialog box.

8. Click at the Print dialog box to print this page of labels. Here is the

preview of the label:

CONCLUSION

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In this last chapter, you have learnt the various print options such as printing identical

copies, adding crop marks to your labels and sorting your data in an order of your

preference to customize your printing needs.

Do try out other print options to ensure that your printing requirements can be met by

the basic and advanced print options that SmartCodeStudio provides.

By now, you should be able to competently create, design and print your labels. Have

fun with this software!

barcode and label software - smartcodestudio

Documents

identical

print identical

single a4

add crop marks

thermal printer

label design

single database

advanced print