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ZebraDesigner User Guide - Gold Label Technology Limited

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1. 70 Rotate Objects 71 Supported Graphics Formats 71 Working with Variable Data 72 Dynamic Data Overview 72 Working with Databases 72 Using Data from the Databases 73 Work with Visual Basic Expressions 74 Using Expression Editor 75 Database Wizard 76 Link Label to Text Databases 80 Using Text File Wizard 86 Using Printer Real Time Clock RTC 89 Using Printer Real Time Clock RTC 89 Available Date Formats 90 Available Time Form
2. 12 Select the Label Orientation 13 Define the Label Dimensions 14 Designing a Basic Label 15 Overview 15 Create a Basic Label 15 Add Variable Fields 23 Designing an RFID Smart Label 27 Overview 27 Create RFID Smart Label 27 Encode RF Tag 28 Encode RF Tag 28 Change Printer Settings 33 Change Common Printer Settings 33 Change Dithering Options 34 Using To
3. 5 Demo Mode 5 Setting Up ZebraDesigner Software 6 User Interface 6 Main Window 6 Mouse Wheel support 6 Shortcuts 7 Using the Keyboard and Mouse Effectively 8 System folder 9 Welcome Wizard 9 Designing Labels 10 Using Label Setup Wizard 10 Use Label Setup Wizard 10 Select a Printer 10 Select the Label Stock 11 Define the Page Size
4. 1 Contents of the package 1 About this Manual 1 About this Manual 1 Software Restrictions 2 Typographical Conventions 2 Installation and Activation 3 System and Software Requirements 3 ZebraDesigner Editions 3 Installing Software 3 Install ZebraDesigner Pro 3 Run Installation 4 Close All Software Applications 4 Define Setup Options 4 Install Printer Driver 4 Register ZebraDesigner Pro
5. Customer Order 13857L 001 Manufacturer Part 13857L 001 Rev A 2005 ZIH Corp The copyrights in this manual and the label print engine described therein are owned by Zebra Technologies Corporation Unauthorized reproduction of this manual or the software in the label print engine may result in imprisonment of up to one year and fines of up to 10 000 17 U S C 506 Copyright violators may be subject to civil liability This product may contain ZPL ZPL II and ZebraLink programs Element Energy Equalizer Circuit E3 and AGFA fonts Software ZIH Corp All rights reserved worldwide ZebraLink and all product names and numbers are trademarks and Zebra the Zebra logo ZPL ZPL II Element Energy Equalizer Circuit and E3 Circuit are registered trademarks of ZIH Corp All rights reserved worldwide CG Triumvirate is a trademark of AGFA Monotype Corporation All rights reserved worldwide CG Triumvirate font AGFA Monotype Corporation Intellifont portion AGFA Monotype Corporation All rights reserved worldwide UFST is a registered trademark of AGFA Monotype Corporation All rights reserved worldwide All other brand names product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders i Table Of Contents Introduction 1 Welcome
6. 1 To display a list of available variable types click the arrow in the button in the Toolbox 2 Select New Counter from the list A dialog box with counter properties opens Creating new counter variable field Leave everything as default so that the counter will always start from 1 and increase by one on each label 3 Click the Finish button 4 Click on the label where the counter should be placed The new variable is linked to the text object on the label Note Typically the counter increases by 1 on each label For example 1 2 3 4 5 etc You can also define different incremental steps Create Date and Time Variable Fields Content of the variable field can be filled automatically with the date or time stamp from the computer clock or printer clock for supported printer models 1 To display a list of available variable types click the small arrow next to the button in the Toolbox 2 From the list select New Date Field A dialog box with date properties opens Creating new date variable field ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 26 3 Leave everything as default and the date will be used on the label using the format as defined in your Windows operating system To place a time stamp on the label do the following 1 To display a list of available variable types click the small arrow next to the button in the Toolbox 2 From the list select New Time Field 3 Click the Finish button
7. 2 Move the cursor to the desired position on the label and click the mouse button 3 The Open dialog box will open allowing you to browse for a picture on your hard drive Go to the folder Sample Graphics and select the picture LEISURE WMF 4 Click the Open button The screen should show the following Label with text bar code and picture objects ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 22 Save a Label Always save your label during the design process To save a label do the following 1 Click the button 2 Type in the name of the label For example type label for the name of the label The name of the label appears in the program caption Use Alignment Tools You have placed the objects on the label Now you want to make sure they are aligned on the horizontal center of the label You can align objects on the label by using the Align Toolbar on the right side of the working window To align objects on the label do the following 1 In the Toolbox choose a select arrow and draw a frame around all objects to select all objects Note The first object you select determines the alignment orientation for all selected objects Selecting the objects on the label 2 To arrange the objects in the Align Toolbar on the right click the button The selected objects will be rearranged and positioned on the horizontal center on the label Note The Align Toolbar has other alignment commands available in the Align
8. It is important to own the write access to this folder on your computer system and the right to write to and modify files in this folder In these files user data and user rights are stored as well as custom settings variable trace logs label usage logs variable definition files NVR bar code standards and file names GLOBALS TDB It also stores the values of global variables You should design the appropriate folder layout on disk for your label projects You can increase your work efficiency if you always know where certain types of files are stored The application also finds required elements faster this way This is important with more demanding labels which intensively use databases pictures and forms Make a separate folder for each project you are building e g Project1 Beneath this folder make subfolders Database for databases Forms for forms and Labels for labels Store appropriate files in each of these subfolders Welcome Wizard When you start the labeling software a Welcome Wizard will appear It provides a quick access to most used commands when starting working on a label layout Create a new label A blank label will appear and Label Setup Wizard will start You can then design a new label from a scratch Open recently used label A list of recently used labels will appear to provide a quick access to commonly used labels Open some other existing label A common Windows dialog box opens to let you
9. 4 Click on the label where the counter should be placed The new variable is linked to the text object on the label The date and time fields are updated when you preview or print the label In this example the values come from the system clock of your computer Use Prefix or Suffix Options You can add a prefix and suffix to each variable field on the label Both are added to the value when you preview and print the label 1 To display a list of available variable types click the arrow in the button in the Toolbox 2 From the list select New Keyboard Input A dialog box with variable properties will open 3 Type the text Enter product weight for the Display this text to the print operator option Set the allowable characters to digits and click the Next button 4 Enter kg for the Suffix option Defining the variable suffix 5 Click the Finish button 6 Click on the label where you want to position the prompted field The text object is placed on the label and linked to the new variable When you preview or print the label the suffix kg will be appended to the entered value on the right side Designing Labels 27 Designing an RFID Smart Label Overview Radio Frequency Identification RFID refers to technologies that use radio waves to automatically identify individual or groups of items ZebraDesigner Pro and ZebraDesigner printer drivers support programming and printing of RFID tags embedded in a label N
10. RFID Tag antenna in the background 7 You can continue designing the smart label with non RFID data as described in the previous sections Whenever you print the label the RFID data will be sent to the printer The printer prints the RFID smart label and programs the RFID tag embedded into the label at the same Note ZebraDesigner Pro can work with Unique RF Tag numbers Each RFID tag has embedded a unique serial number Some printers can read the Unique RF Tag number and it can be used on the label linked with some label objects ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 30 RF Tag dialog box Some thermal printers have the ability to program an RFID tag at the same time as they are printing the label Two different technologies and their encoding methods are joined on the same label Of course a label must have an embedded RF tag The tag is paper thin flexible and small in size which allows it to be placed inconspicuously under the label It consists of an etched antenna and a tiny chip that can store ID numbers or your custom data in larger quantities This contrasts with a bar code label which does not store any enhanced information but merely some code number RF tag data encoding options are set in this dialog box Use RF Tag in label Enable this option if you want to program the tag at the same time as the label is printed If the option is not selected no RF data is sent to the printer but the definition is remembered for next
11. all fields from the database will be used on the label Click the Next button Using all fields in the text database 2 Specify what records and how many you want to print Select the options I want to select which record to print and I will enter label quantity for each selected record Before printing labels the table with the records will open and you will be able to select the records you want to print and the quantity of labels for each record Specifying which records from the database will be printed and in what quantity 3 Click the Next button Designing Labels 83 4 Select if the Database Wizard should link all selected fields from the database to the text objects on the label or if you want to link the fields manually to the label 5 Click the Next button 6 Select I want a text object for each selected field and click the Finish button Each field from the database will be linked to a text object The label will show several text objects Every field from the database is linked with the text object on the label Use Print Preview to Select Data and View a Label Now you will simulate label printing using print preview 1 In the Standard Toolbar click on the button 2 The Print dialog box opens with the Quantity of labels set to Variable quantity entered for each database record This setting corresponds to your selection in the Database Wizard when you have selected the options I want to select whic
12. browse for the appropriate label file 10 Designing Labels Using Label Setup Wizard Use Label Setup Wizard With the Label Setup Wizard you can define the dimensions of the label and change printer setup It consists of a few simple steps Select a Printer Label setup Wizard Selecting printer If you want to set the printer parameters select the desired printer and click the Properties button The print setup dialog box appears allowing you to set the printer parameters such as print speed print darkness and print direction Note that this is a standard Widows printer setup dialog box and its options may differ from printer to printer because it is based on the printer driver If the check box Always use default printer is checked the default window s printer and its settings will always be used when opening this label To continue click the Next button Designing Labels 11 Select the Label Stock Label setup Wizard selecting Label Stock If you use one of the standard predefined label formats you can specify it here Stock Type Select the type of stock Stock name Select the stock from the list Stock information The information about label dimensions printer settings and background images as defined by the selected stock Label linked to stock If you enable this option you cannot change the dimensions of the label because the stock locks the dimensions Note Using pre defined stocks
13. different objects on a label using the Tab and Shift Tab keys Pressing the cursor keys while holding the Ctrl key can move the selected object You can use this to fine tune the position of the object Holding Shift while pressing cursor keys will resize the object You can use the right mouse button almost anywhere on the label to access the most common options for that area object For example if you click an object with the right mouse button a pop up menu appears that contains options and actions that can be performed on the selected object Similarly clicking other parts of the label produces pop up menus with options for that part of the label You can select multiple objects by holding Shift while clicking them Use the element shortcuts in toolbars whenever possible Each label element that can be connected to some Contents Provider has a shortcut enabled to quickly access existing variables or define new ones Click the element s shortcut handle shown as a small arrow by the side of some toolbox icons Setting Up ZebraDesigner Software 9 System folder The labeling application uses its system folder for storing files needed to run the program The location of the folder varies depending on the Windows operating system used On Windows 9X and Me the location is C Program Files ZebraDesigner Pro Bin System On Windows NT 2000 XP the location is C Documents and Settings All Users Application Data Zebra ZebraDesigner Pro
14. is guaranteed this way If the picture is not previewed as you would like to print it change the dithering setting in the printer driver Preview and Print a Label If you want to print a label you can use the print preview to simulate a print output The label preview shows the label on the screen Simulate printing 10 labels on the screen to check label layout and printing procedure 1 In the Standard Toolbar click the button or from the File menu select the Print command The Print dialog box appears 2 Enter 10 for Label Quantity and click on the Preview button ZebraDesigner Pro will close the dialog box and simulate the production for 10 labels on the screen Note You can select between the quantity of the labels and the quantity of pages The page can have one or more labels and the labels are arranged on the page in columns and rows If you have eight labels on the page quantity of ten pages will print 80 labels When you are certain that the labels will be printed correctly and the preview shows the correct values you can proceed to real printing To actually print the labels do the following 1 In the Standard Toolbar click the button The Print dialog box appears 2 Enter 10 for the Label Quantity and click the Print button Your printer will now print 10 labels ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 94 Optimize the Printing Speed There are many factors that affect the printing speed By following the guidel
15. label Note To edit the object select it then double click it The dialog box with properties appears Designing Labels 39 Define the Line Object To place the line object on the label do the following 1 In the Toolbox click on the Line object 2 Define the line starting point by clicking the mouse at the start position 3 Move the cursor to the end point while holding down the mouse button A line will be drawn from the left to right side of the label Note To draw a vertical line click the starting point and then drag the cursor in the up down direction Define the Ellipse Object To place the ellipse object on the label do the following 1 In the Toolbox click the Ellipse button 2 Click the position on the label where you want the upper left position of the object to be set 3 Drag to the bottom right direction until the object size is correct 4 The other method of positioning the object on the label is selecting the Ellipse tool and then clicking the label A default sized ellipse will appear and you can resize it using handles around the object Note To draw a circle grab a handle an on one of the ellipse corners simultaneously press and hold Shift key then resize the ellipse A circle will be drawn For more useful shortcuts available in the software see Shortcuts 5 To move an ellipse to a different position select it and drag it elsewhere on the label Define the Inverse Object T
16. simplifies the process of label creation because you do not have to define the label dimensions manually To continue click the Next button ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 12 Define the Page Size Label setup Wizard choosing Label Dimensions Select the page size for your labels This step is only necessary for office printers Automatic Sizing Click this option if you are using a printer with ZebraDesigner printer drivers ZebraDesigner Pro and ZebraDesigner printer drivers will automatically size the label dimensions To continue click the Next button Designing Labels 13 Select the Label Orientation Selecting label layout Orientation Select the label orientation Look at the screen and printer layouts to see how the label will be printed from the printer Print directions Click the Rotated option to rotate the label 180 degrees when printed To continue click the Next button ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 14 Define the Label Dimensions Enter the label dimensions in this dialog box Note If you selected the label stock in the previous step the values for dimensions are entered automatically Label setup Wizard defining the label format Width height Define the label dimensions Margins Define the label margins Rows columns Define the number of labels in horizontal and vertical directions This option is commonly used with office printers Gaps Define the gap between the label
17. text in inverse Note The option is not available for all printers Select button You can select different font types for this text object among available fonts in the system Designing Labels 41 Text Wizard Choosing Variable Text Text Wizard Choosing variable text Select the type of the variable field you want to use The next page of the wizard depends on your selection here ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 42 Text Wizard Keyboard Input Use this variable type when you want the operator to enter a value of the variable from the keyboard before printing the specified number of labels Dialog box for Text Wizard when Keyboard input option is chosen Prompt text for this variable field Fill in the message that will be shown to the user when he enters the values for the variable field Format Select the format of data you allow to be entered for the variable field Set maximum number of characters Define the maximum length of characters that can be entered for the variable field Designing Labels 43 Text Wizard Counter On this page of the wizard you define the counter variable Dialog box for Text Wizard when Counter option is chosen Starting Value Set the starting value for the counter The counter will increment or decrement from the starting value Note You can enter only digits for the starting value Prompt for value before print Click this option to enable entering the starti
18. the selected object click on the label where you want to place the object Some objects have additional shortcuts on the right side of the icon Using this shortcut you can quickly create a new object with fixed content create a new variable and connect it to the selected object or connect the object to one already defined variable Use the Text Toolbar You can use the text toolbar to quickly format the text objects on the label To format text objects do the following 1 Select the text object by clicking it 2 Click the appropriate shortcut button in the text toolbar 3 To change the font select the appropriate font from the list in the list box Note You can limit the display of fonts in the list You can list all fonts on the system only graphic fonts TrueType opentype type1 bitmap Windows fonts or only thermal printer resident fonts Click on the two icons next to the list of fonts 4 To change the size of the text click on the list with font sizes and select the appropriate size You can also click on the and buttons that will enlarge reduce the size of the font to the next size Note You can also change the fonts size directly on the label by resizing the text element with a mouse 5 To format the text bold italic or underline click on the appropriate formatting buttons Formats the selected text in bold style Formats the selected text in italic style Formats the selected text in underli
19. you enter the data required by the Wizard You can go to the next step page by clicking the Next button or return to previous with the Previous button When all necessary data has been entered the Finish button will become available allowing you to complete the process of defining a new Database access function Note that some options have predefined values so you don t really need to go through all the steps of a wizard Select the Database File Database wizard Selecting database file Enter the full path name of the database file in the edit box or use the Browse button to find the file on your computer Note You can only browse to the databases that are stored in the files If you use databases through ODBC or OLE DB drivers you will have to set up the connection parameters in the ODBC Data Sources administration in the Control Panel Designing Labels 77 Select the Desired Fields Database wizard Selecting fields On this page you can select the fields you want to use on the label All fields in a table are selected by default but you will probably want to deselect some of them especially if you have a large table Variables will be created for each selected field and can later be attached to objects ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 78 Select the Records to Print Database wizard Selecting which records will be printed Select the desired option for how you want to use the records in the database By
20. 2000 Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 Contents of the package Before starting the installation of ZebraDesigner software check the contents of the package to ensure it is complete The package includes ZebraDesigner CD Software key on a sticker or hardware key not available with all editions If any of the mentioned items are missing please contact your software vendor immediately for package replacement About this Manual About this Manual The ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide helps you design and print labels quickly The User Guide contains the following sections Introduction This chapter will introduce you to ZebraDesigner Pro Installation and Activation This chapter will show you how to install and activate the labeling software Setting up ZebraDesigner software This chapter will show you how to set up and customize software to your preferences Designing Labels This chapter will show you how to create labels You should refer to this chapter regularly while designing labels until you have completely familiarized yourself with the commands By using the information contained in this chapter you will able to use labeling software quickly and efficiently ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 2 Printing and Previewing Labels This chapter will show you how to print and preview labels Interface Reference This chapter describes details and explains all the commands used in the labeling software T
21. Mask is available in the Human Readable tab in bar code properties The mask character will be replaced by the actual data and any other used character will be used as is If the current bar code value is AD951 and the contents mask is C the resulting output will be ADC 95 1 Powerful formatting structures can be defined using Contents mask but it is only available with bar codes that allow custom formatting of the human interpretation You should also make sure to print bar codes as graphics otherwise the contents mask is not available Note If your data contains the asterisk character then you will have to change the default mask character to something else It should be a unique value not appearing anywhere in the data 93 Printing and Previewing Labels Preview Pictures When you place a picture on the label in design mode it is always shown in color depth as defined in the picture However when previewing the labels on screen the preview of the pictures depends on the dithering option set in the printer driver All color pictures except WMF and EMF files are converted to monochrome images The illusion of colors and shades of grey is accomplished by varying the pattern of dots More dots close together will provide a darker shade of grey The preview of the label will show pictures in the same way as they will be printed according to the dithering setting A more accurate print preview
22. Toolbar You can also align the objects to the label grid The option Snap to Grid is available in the View menu Designing Labels 23 Use Drawing Tools Now you will insert a line to separate a text object from other objects and a rectangle around the picture object 1 From the Toolbox select the button and move the cursor to the required starting point of the line 2 While drawing the line press and hold down the mouse button Move the mouse to the end position of the line and release the button The Line object is placed on the label 3 In the Toolbox click the button and point the mouse to the upper left corner of the picture 4 While you stretch the rectangle to the lower right corner of the picture click and hold the mouse button 5 To change the thickness of the vertical and horizontal line double click on the rectangle object to open its properties Select the thickness you want and click the Finish button 6 To edit the drawing object double click on the line or rectangle to open the dialog box with its properties The label should show the following Label with fixed objects Add Variable Fields Overview You may want to print a label on which the data changes for each label ZebraDesigner Pro offers different variable fields counters date time fields operator s input from the keyboard that you can use with text graphics and bar code objects For this example a new label was created T
23. Variable Quantity from the Database Field Select a field in the database that contains the label quantity information The database record will be printed on as many consecutive labels as the selected field contains Note Make sure to select the field that has been formatted with the numeric data Add Fields to the Label Database wizard Adding fields to the label On this page you specify if you want the wizard to generate text objects on the label that are already linked to corresponding fields in the table Text objects are created in the upper left corner of a label but you can move them to another position ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 80 Link Label to Text Databases Overview Text databases are text files containing data values that can be used for variable objects on the label The text database is not a real database It contains the data values but lacks the information of the data structure name of the fields and maximum lengths of the fields You have to provide the missing information before ZebraDesigner Pro can use the data from such a text database Connect to a Database ZebraDesigner Pro offers a Database Wizard that guides you through the necessary steps to connect the database to a label To connect your label to a database using the Database Wizard do the following 1 In the Standard Toolbar click the button 2 Click the Browse button and point to the text database SAMPLE TXT in the Samples f
24. allation instructions Selecting a printer 2 Click the Next button Designing Labels 17 Define Label and Page Dimensions 1 If you want to use the label stock select your choices in the Select Stock window 2 Click the Next button A new window opens to define the label dimensions manually 3 Leave the Page Size option at User defined default and check Automatic Sizing 4 Click the Next button A new window opens 5 Select label orientation and print direction Selecting label layout 6 Click the Next button A new window opens 7 Enter 10 for label width and 7 for label height Note Dialog box differs for thermal and office printers ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 18 Defining label dimensions Note To change the unit of measure from centimeters to inches or other supported units click on the button with unit of measure below the label preview in the dialog box 8 Click the Finish button New empty label opens Enter Non Changing Text 1 Click the button in the Toolbox The text cursor appears on the screen Cursor for text object 2 Move the cursor to the location on the label where you want to place the text object and click the mouse button The dialog box with object properties opens 3 Type SAMPLE and click the Finish button Designing Labels 19 Entering content for text object 4 Click on the text object to select the object 5 Using the Text Toolbar change the f
25. and the format of the data field following The data fields are either of fixed or variable length depending on the AI Step 1 Choose the application identifier EAN UCC 128 Wizard Choosing application identifier The dialog in the first step of the Wizard allows you to select the EAN UCC 128 bar code data structure Each bar code is composed of one or more Application Identifiers and the corresponding data Choose one of the Application Identifiers in this list You can add edit or delete Application Identifiers from the bar code later in the process ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 56 EAN UCC 128 Wizard How check digit should be applied If you have selected an Application Identifier with data that includes a check digit for example AI 01 GTIN Global Trade Item Number then first you have to select how the check digit will be applied The possible options are Automatic calculation Check digit will be calculated by the application Check digit to be entered with data Manually enter the data and check digit The application will verify if the entered check digit is valid Designing Labels 57 Step 2 Application Identifier Input Type EAN UCC 128 Wizard Where the data for AI is obtained from When the Application Identifier is selected you will have to define where the data for its value was obtained These are the possible options Fixed The application identifier will have a fixed value on every labe
26. ats 91 Using Contents Mask 92 Printing and Previewing Labels 93 Preview Pictures 93 Preview and Print a Label 93 Optimize the Printing Speed 94 Technical Support 95 Online Support 95 Contact Information 95 Glossary of Terms 96 1 Introduction Welcome ZebraDesigner software is a family of labeling software products that brings a complete bar code printing solution to desktop users ZebraDesigner offers an easy to use interface and meets any label design and printing requirement for efficient label printing solutions to users in retail logistics health care chemical automotive and other industries ZebraDesigner can be used with any 32 bit Windows operating system Windows 98 SE Windows NT 4 0 Windows ME Windows
27. bar click the button The object will be rotated 90 clockwise Note If the Design toolbar is not visible in the application enable the toolbar in the Toolbars section in the View menu Supported Graphics Formats The following graphical formats are supported File extension Graphics type BMP DIB RLE Windows Bitmap GIF CompuServer Bitmap JPG JPEG JPE JPEG Bitmap TIFF TIF FAX G3N G3F TIFF Bitmap PNG Portable Network Graphics WMF Windows Metafile EMF Enhanced Windows Metafile ICO Windows Icon CUR Windows Cursor TGA TARGA VDA ICB VST PIX Targa Bitmap PXM PPM PGM PBM Portable Pixmap GreyMap BitMap JP2 JPEG2000 J2K JPC JPEG2000 Code Stream PCX Paintbrush ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 72 Working with Variable Data Dynamic Data Overview You may want to print labels on which the data changes for each label for example counter serial numbers date and time To accommodate the changing data ZebraDesigner Pro can be used to format labels using the variable fields Variable field can be used with text and graphic objects There are several types of variables you can choose Data which must be printed as a variable is prepared at the time of printing It can be entered in the program in these ways by the operator from the keyboard from the computer s clock date and time from the label design using counters with predefined start
28. braDesigner Pro running in the DEMO mode has limited functionality The major limitations of the ZebraDesigner Pro DEMO mode are All e characters in the text objects are replaced by Z characters Graphic images are printed with DEMO text written over them You should use the DEMO version only to evaluate the software Any commercial use of the DEMO software is prohibited To obtain the full working version of ZebraDesigner Pro you must purchase and register the software 6 Setting Up ZebraDesigner Software User Interface Main Window This is the ZebraDesigner Pro main window Mouse Wheel support If you have a mouse that has a wheel in place of the middle button you can use it to speedup zooming and scrolling Turning the wheel scrolls the label up or down Holding Shift and turning the wheel scrolls the label left or right Holding Ctrl and turning the wheel zooms the label in or out Setting Up ZebraDesigner Software 7 Shortcuts Delete Deletes selected object Ctrl X Cut Ctrl C Copy Ctrl V Paste Alt Backspace Undo on numeric pad Zoom In on numeric pad Zoom Out Alt Shift Backspace Redo Ctrl T Rotate 90 Ctrl A Align Ctrl Z Undo Ctrl Y Redo Ctrl N New Ctrl O Open Ctrl S Save Ctrl P Print Ctrl R Print preview Ctrl move the object with mouse Parallel moving of the object by main axes on
29. checked a preview of a resulting bar code is displayed on the right side of the dialog box When you are satisfied with the bar codes properties confirm the changes you made by clicking the OK button or reject them and keep previous settings by clicking the Cancel button The Edit bar code dialog box has several pages tabs ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 64 General Tab On this tab you can select the bar code type you want to use and the properties of the bar code Edit bar code dialog box General tab Type of bar code The required bar code symbology is selected from the tree list of available bar codes Symbol height The height dimension of a bar code can be specified either by entering a value here or by resizing the bar code symbol directly on the label X Expansion factor The expansion factor defines the width of the bar code symbol Ratio This is the ratio between narrowest and widest bar in the bar code It is locked for the majority of bar codes but it can be changed for some Base object width Shows the width of the narrowest bar in the bar code Print bar code as graphics Select if bar code should be converted to a picture and sent to the printer as image or should the printer print bar code as an internal element Printing internal bar codes will speed up label printing because less data must be transferred to the printer Note If the printer does not support the selected bar code internally the optio
30. clock Enable this option to recall the date information from the real time clock RTC built in to the printer not the clock from the PC computer The list of available date formats changes accordingly to the capabilities of the selected printer Designing Labels 45 Text Wizard Time Field Define the properties of the time field The variable field will get the value from a computer clock Dialog box for Text Wizard when Time field option is chosen Format Select the format for the time from the list You can also enter a custom format Preview The printer will print the time as shown in the Preview field This way you can see how the selected date format will look on the label Use the printer s internal clock Enable this option to recall the time information from the Real Time Clock RTC built in to the printer not the clock from the PC computer The list of available time formats changes accordingly to the capabilities of the selected printer ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 46 Text Wizard Database Variable field linked to the database gets the value from the specified database field Dialog box for Text Wizard when Database option is chosen Define Click this button to open the database wizard that will help you define the link to the database Field Choose one of the available database fields as a source for the variable field Length Define the maximum length of the string in the variable If a field in the
31. cupy one or two characters WW The week number in the current year Always occupies two characters Any other sequence of characters will be displayed unchanged so you can insert dots commas and other characters needed to properly write the date Designing Labels 91 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 The time can be printed in various formats In this field you define how the time will look You can select some of the predefined time formats or enter you own When defining the formats the following notation is used 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 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 AM PM 8 25PM H mm 20 25 hh mm ss 08 25 36 ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 92 Using Contents Mask The contents mask is very useful when you must display the input data differently on the label With contents mask you can reformat the data to suit your needs Contents
32. d in the labels Each RF tag has a unique ID number that was programmed into the tag during the manufacturing process The Unique number cannot be altered but the RFID enabled printer can read it RF Tag Unique ID functionality allows you to read the unique ID number from the RF tag and use the content with the selected bar code object When the label is printed the printer will first read the unique ID from the tag and then immediately use the value with the bar code object RF Tag Unique ID can only be used with the bar code objects that are printed as internal printer objects You must format the bar code object to use internal fonts not TrueType fonts Dialog box for Text Wizard when RF Tag Unique IF option is chosen Selected RF Tag Select the tag from the list Note Only tags supported by the currently supported printer are listed Read Source Select the source of the RFID data Data Format Select the format of the data Preview WYSIWYG only Because RF Tag Unique ID information is not returned to the labeling software you do not see the actual data Enter the data in a format similar to the format encoded in the RF tag This information will be used for preview on the label only Designing Labels 49 Text Wizard Visual Basic Expression Select this type of field to manipulate your variable fields with the Visual Basic function The result of the expression will be used with the current object on the label You can d
33. database contains more characters they will not be printed This option is useful if the field length in your database is not fixed for example tab delimited ASCII file or if you don t want to reserve space for all the characters in database s field Designing Labels 47 Text Wizard Linked Field Select this type of field to merge the contents of selected variable fields into one field The selected input variable fields are combined values and used as the value for the current object Dialog box for Text Wizard when Linked Fields option is chosen Available elements The combo box contains the list of all defined variable fields on the label You can select the fields and click the Add button to add them to the resulting value Selected elements The list box contains the names of the selected variable fields whose values will be merged into the resulting value Click the up and down arrow buttons to change the relative position of the selected variable fields within the merged value Separator Select the optional separator character that will be included between the merged variable fields Note When you are merging the variable field containing time or date value from the printer Real Time Clock make sure the fields positioned before and after the Real Time Clock field do not exceed 31 characters ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 48 Text Wizard RF Tag Unique ID Printers with RFID functionality can program RF tags embedde
34. default the option I want to print all records from the table is set and all records in a table will be printed one at a time Each record will be printed only once If you do not want to print the entire database you can select which records should be printed In this case select the option I want to select which record to print Before printing you will be shown a dialog box with all records from the database Then you will be able to select which records should print By default records are used once for a single label If you would like to print several copies of a label with database data you can define it in the second part of this step of the Wizard A field in table contains quantity to print option will let you chose some field in the database This field has the information about the quantity of labels for each record For example you have a database with records of your products It contains a field with a numeric value where the required number of label copies is stored Select this field and let the application print the quantity of labels specified here I will enter print quantity for each record This option is accessible only if you have defined that you want to select which records should be printed Before printing you will be able to select which records will be printed in the selection dialog box At the same time you will be able to type in the exact label copy for each selected record Designing Labels 79 Select
35. e it 2 The software can calculate the check digit Define a New Variable Define the properties of the variable that will provide a value for the application identifier Prompt Enter the text that will be displayed to the user at print time Format Define the format of the variable Counter If the variable will be a counter define its properties ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 60 Step 4 List of selected application identifiers Listing the selected application identifiers This is the last step of the EAN UCC 128 Wizard Here you can add edit or delete Application Identifiers and define a separator Application Identifiers selected In this field all selected application identifiers for the bar code are listed in the order of creation You can change the order with the arrow buttons Add Edit or Delete buttons Use these buttons to add additional application identifiers and edit or delete existing ones Input Application identifier delimiter Define left and right separators among different application identifiers The default setting is to use parenthesis Preview A sample bar code content based on your application identifier selection is shown here To exit the wizard click the Finish button Selecting Bar Code Type Settings for Advanced Bar Codes EAN UCC 128 Bar Code This bar code is combined from one or more input values and standard AID Application Identifiers Each AID must be followed by the
36. ebraDesigner Pro User Guide 66 Human Readable Tab On this tab you can set the options regarding position and format of the bar code interpretation No interpretation Bar code object does not have any human interpretation Below bar code All data encoded in the bar code is placed beneath the bar code symbol as human readable characters Above bar code All data encoded in the bar code is placed above the bar code symbol as human readable characters Font Using the Font button you can choose the font for auto translation text The option Auto font scaling will adjust the font of the auto translation text to the size of the bar code Note You can format the font for human interpretation only if the bar code is printed as a graphic When printing the bar code as an internal printer object the printer will print the interpretation using resident built in fonts Contents mask sets the custom format of the human interpretation Edit bar code dialog box Human readable tab Designing Labels 67 Details Tab On this tab you can define advanced settings for the bar code Note Not all of these options are available for all bar codes and printers Include quiet zones Check this field if you want the bar code to have some white space in the front and in the end for increased readability Descender bars Some bars of a bar code will be longer than others This is typically used with EAN and UPC bar codes that have longe
37. echnical Support This chapter provides information on how to contact technical support Software Restrictions All features explained in the document are available in the ZebraDesigner Pro edition however some features are not available in the ZebraDesigner edition Sections discussing features not available with ZebraDesigner Pro will display a note Typographical Conventions Text that appears in bold refers to menu names file names SETUP EXE interface buttons OK PC keyboard keys Alt and menu flows menu flows have a gt that separates one menu to the next menu Start gt Programs gt ZebraDesigner Pro Text that appears in italic refers to confirming actions identifies graphic captions identifies text that you need to type and locations such as Folder This icon identifies the features that are only available in ZebraDesigner Pro 3 Installation and Activation System and Software Requirements ZebraDesigner Editions To run ZebraDesigner you need at least the following Pentium based computer with at least 64 MB of RAM One of these 32 bit Windows operating systems Microsoft Windows 98 SE ME NT 2000 XP or 2003 Hard disk with 100 MB of free disk space CD ROM drive Support for OLE DB database drivers Recent Windows operating systems have included OLE DB database drivers If your operation system does not have the database support the installat
38. ect the appropriate time format from the list 9 Click the Finish button Note When you are using a prefix and suffix with the Real Time Clock field on the label make sure that the length of the prefix and suffix does not exceed 31 characters When you are using a linked field and are merging a Real Time Clock field with other fields make sure that the length of fields surrounding Real Time Clock field does not exceed 31 characters ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 90 Available Date Formats The date fields can be printed in various formats In this field you define how the date will look You can select some of the predefined date formats or enter you own When defining the formats the following notation is used 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 YYYY The year as 2 or 4 digits DDD Abbreviation of the day of the week DDDD The full name of the day of the week MMMM The full name of the month MMM The abbreviation of the name of the month J The number of days since January 1 Can occupy from one to three characters JJJ The number of days since January 1 Always occupies three characters W The week number in the current year Can oc
39. ed Omni directional RSS Limited RSS Expanded Composite RSS 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 amp CC A B EAN UCC 128 amp CC C Two dimensional 2D Pharmacode PDF 417 DataMatrix MaxiCode Aztec QR MicroQR Codablock F MicroPDF InfoGlyph Select Objects To select the object on the label do the following 1 In the Toolbox click the button 2 Click on the object on the label that you want to select To select two or more objects press the Shift key and hold down while clicking the object with a mouse The objects can be selected cut copied pasted and edited with the right mouse button If you click the right mouse button on the object the menu shows all the available commands Note that these commands are equivalent to correspondent menu commands You can also change the anchoring point of a selected object by holding Ctrl while clicking the placeholders corners of the bounding box of the object Designing Labels 69 Edit Objects To edit the properties of the object do the following 1 Double click the object on the label The dialog box with object properties opens Note You can also press the Enter key while the object is selected 2 Make modifications to the object properties 3 Click the Finish button Move Objects To move the object on the label do the followin
40. efine one line expressions that must follow Visual Basic programming syntax Look at the samples in the dialog box for ideas of what can be done with the Visual Basic script Dialog box for Text Wizard when Visual Basic expression option is chosen Expression Enter the Visual Basic expression Include the names of the variable fields in the square quotes Build Expression Click this button to open the Expression Builder text editor with reference to frequently used Visual Basic functions VB Script Help Click this button to open the Microsoft help files explaining syntax and usage of Visual Basic scripting For example The Visual Basic expression functionality can be used for merging text fields or to perform simple mathematical operations ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 50 Text Wizard Prefix and Suffix The variable element can have prefix and suffix values The prefix text is placed in front of the variables value The suffix text is placed at the end of the variables value Setting Prefix and Suffix string for the variable text element Note If you leave the edit fields empty the prefix suffix will not be used Prefix and suffix can be used in situations where they are required only if the variable has a value set If the variable is empty the prefix suffix will not be printed Note When you use the printer Real Time Clock for date or time fields the length of prefix and suffix cannot exceed 31 characters Desi
41. exactly how the data is organized Choose Fixed if you know that your data fields always occupy the same number of characters Designing Labels 87 Start import at row option is useful when you do not want to import some rows at the top of the file You may want to use this option when the text file contains a header on top of actual data fields Set the Fields Database Wizard Setting separator and delimiter In the second step of the Text File Wizard you have to set the fields in the text file If you have selected Delimited in the previous step choose the appropriate separator here Commonly used separators are already pre defined But if you require some other there is an option to use a custom defined one You can also select the Delimiter character that is used when a separator character is used in the text field itself The delimiter should be used to enclose this field Text between two delimiter characters is treated as one field although it contains the field separator character The data preview in the bottom part of the dialog box will let you know if your choice of a separator character is a correct one Fields will be separated with vertical lines if a separator is valid If you selected to have your data formatted with fixed widths the second step of the Wizard will be slightly different Instead of selecting a character for field separation you will have to define field widths Use a mouse and draw a vertical l
42. fine the Prompt the message for the operator who will enter the data The data can be numeric only or all characters The value can be fixed or incremented decremented on every label or a certain number of labels with the desired step The variable data will be written in the Preview field as a series of A characters When you are satisfied with the settings click the Finish button to put the EAN UCC 128 bar code on the label PDF 417 2D Code General tab Y expansion factor This option defines the height of the bar code symbol Security tab According to the standard you can select among 9 levels of security Higher security levels allow more reliable reading regardless of errors but the bar code symbol is bigger Truncated bar codes can be used where label damage is unlikely and there is no demand for a high level of security The truncated symbol is smaller ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 62 Aspect Ratio It is the ratio between the number of columns and the number of rows Contents PDF 417 code can encode Full 128 ASCII character set All 128 Extended ASCII characters 8 bit binary data DataMatrix Bar Code General tab Y expansion factor This option defines the height of the bar code symbol Aspect Ratio It is the ratio between the number of columns and the number of rows Enter the value in the fields Details tab ECC Type Error Correction Codes define the security level Yo
43. g 1 Select the object 2 Click on the object with the left mouse button 3 Hold the mouse key down 4 Move the position of the cursor on the screen The object will move with the cursor ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 70 Aligning Objects First you have to select objects that you want to align Note All objects are aligned relative to the first selected object Then click appropriate buttons in the Design toolbar to align selected objects to each other If Align toolbar is not visible by default it is located on the very right side of the window enable the Design toolbar in the Toolbar option in the View menu You can align objects to Left Right Horizontal center Top Bottom Vertical center You can also distribute object evenly so that spacing between them is equal Horizontally Vertically Note If you hold the CTRL key while clicking the buttons objects are aligned relative to the label and not to the first selected object Resize Objects To resize the object on the label do the following 1 Select the object The selected object is framed with a rectangle 2 Click on one of the small rectangles in the corners of the rectangle 3 Hold the mouse key down 4 Move the position of the cursor on the screen The object will resize with the cursor Designing Labels 71 Rotate Objects To rotate the object do the following 1 Select the object 2 In the Design Tool
44. ge value every lt n gt labels Define the number of labels when the counter will change the value Rollover when reached Enter the value when reached will cause the counter to reset the value to the starting value Designing Labels 53 Bar Code Wizard Date Field Define the properties of the date field The variable field will get the value from a computer clock Format Select the format for your date from the list You can also enter a custom format Date offset You can add a certain numbers of days months or years to a current date and print that date instead of the current one Preview The printer will print the date as shown in the Preview field You can see how the selected date format will look on the label Bar Code Wizard Time Field Define the properties of the time field The variable field will get its value from the computer clock Format Select the format for the time from the list You can also enter a custom format Preview The printer will print the time as shown in the Preview field You can see how the selected date format will look on the label Bar Code Wizard Database Variable field linked to the database gets the value from the specified database field Define Click this button to open the database wizard that will help you define the link to the database Field Choose one of the available database fields as a source for the variable field Length Define the maximum length of t
45. gning Labels 51 Using Bar Code Wizard Bar Code Wizard First page of bar code Wizard The Bar Code Wizard guides you to define all parameters for the text object Fixed bar code data If you would like to have fixed non changeable content for the text object select this option If you select this option you can enter the text directly in this dialog box Variable text If you would like to have variable content for the text object select this option Defining the content is defined in the next step Note When entering values for RSS composite bar codes you need to provide the value for the linear and composite 2D parts at the same time Use the following syntax for entering values for RSS composite bar codes The pipe character is used to distinguish between the components Syntax lt linear part gt lt composite part gt Example 12345 description Element name Each bar code object on the label has a unique name You can refer to the names when you are linking fields together Phantom If the object is marked as phantom it is visible on the label during the label design but is not printed Bar Code Type Click on the Define button to select the bar code type you want to use on the label ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 52 Bar Code Wizard Choosing Variable Bar Code Select the type of variable field you want to use The next page of the wizard depends on your selection Bar Code Wizard Keyboard In
46. h record to print and I will enter label quantity for each selected record Only the records you select will be printed in the defined quantity Print Print preview dialog box 3 To choose which records to print from the database click on the Select Records button The Record Selection dialog box will open 4 Select the records from the database you want to print and enter the number of labels you want to print for each selected record ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 84 Record selection dialog box 5 Click the OK button You will return to the Print dialog box 6 Click the Preview button Now you can preview the labels on the screen Note that the text objects on the label change for each new record Preview of the second label in the series 7 In the Command window to advance to the next label in the series click the Next button After you see the last label in the preview series ZebraDesigner Pro re opens the Print dialog box 8 To close the Print dialog box click the Close button Print a Label When you are certain that the label design is correct and the label preview shows the correct values from the database you can start sending the labels to the printer Designing Labels 85 To print a label do the following 1 In the Standard Toolbar click the button The Print dialog box will open same as the print preview dialog box 2 Click the Select Records button and select the records you want to p
47. he steps in the following topics explain how to create a label that contains a prompted field a counter and date time fields ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 24 The captions in the following screenshots were added separately The left label shows design mode the right two labels are two consecutive labels from print preview Create Keyboard Entry Variable Fields The content of a prompted field can be different for every print job Before you print the label you enter the value for the field 1 To display a list of available variable types click the small arrow next to the button in the Toolbox 2 From the list select New Keyboard Input and click on the label where you want to position the object A dialog box with the Variable Wizard opens Creating new keyboard input variable field 3 Type Enter product name for the option Display this text to the print operator 4 Click the Finish button The cursor changes to an arrow with a text object 5 Click on the label where you want to position the prompted field The text object is placed on the label and linked to the new variable Note When you print the label you are prompted to enter the product name which is shown in preview on the label and on the printed label Designing Labels 25 Create Serialized Data Variable Fields Counters Now create a counter field on the label The value of that variable field automatically increases by one on every label
48. he string in the variable If the field in the database contains more characters they will not be printed This option is useful if the field length in your database is not fixed for example tab delimited ASCII file or if you don t want to reserve space for all the characters in database s field Bar Code Wizard Linked Field Select this type of field to merge the contents of the selected variable fields into one field The selected input variable fields are combined values and used as the value for the current object Available elements The combo box contains the list of all defined variable fields on the label You can select the fields and click the Add button to add them to the resulting value Selected elements The list box contains the names of the selected variable fields which will be merged into the resulting value Click the up and down arrow buttons to change the relative position of the selected variable field within the merged value Separator Select the optional separator character that will be included between the merged variable fields ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 54 Bar Code Wizard RF Tag Unique ID Printers with RFID functionality can program RF tags embedded in the labels Each RF tag has a unique ID number that was programmed into the tag during the manufacturing process The Unique number cannot be altered but the RFID enabled printer can read it RF Tag Unique ID functionality allows you to read the uni
49. iable where the value is acquired from some variable defined in the label Data Type in the tag value manually if the selected data type is Fixed Select the variable defined in the label if the selected data type is Variable If your variable length is greater than the block size the next block will automatically be reserved for the data Size The currently used data is previewed here You can see the amount of space still available in the tag The occupancy of the tag is seen graphically with growing bar and numerically with the digit explaining the number of already used bytes Data type The data can be encoded as an ASCII string or as a HEX encoded string ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 32 Locked If you set the block as locked the data will be permanently encoded into the tag You will not be able to erase this block to re program it with some other value Use this option with caution Designing Labels 33 Change Printer Settings Change Common Printer Settings When you start designing a label tell ZebraDesigner Pro what printer to connect the label to Each label file remembers the printer settings for the selected printer driver on the label This example shows you how to change the printing speed and darkness To change the printer settings do the following 1 From the File menu select Printer Settings The window with the printer settings opens 2 Open the Options tab 3 Change the Speed and Darkness o
50. ine to the start positions of the fields Lines will indicate where the new field starts ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 88 Format the Fields Database Wizard Formatting the fields In this step of the Wizard you can review the field names and lengths If necessary you can modify them You may use more recognizable field names so you can distinguish between them more easily When you are finished with Text File Wizard the structure information of the used text file is stored to a separate file with an extension of SCH Scheme File If you try to use the same text file on a different label you will not have to recreate the structure SCH files will be automatically used and the Text File Wizard will not be necessary Designing Labels 89 Using Printer Real Time Clock RTC When the printer selected on the label has a built in Real Time Clock RTC you can use the time or date fields from the Real Time Clock with text objects on the label The available time and date formats are defined in the printer driver To use the time field from the printer RTC on the label do the following 1 In the Toolbox click the Text button 2 Click the position on the label where you want to place the object Text Wizard dialog box will open 3 Enable the Variable text option 4 Click the Next button 5 Select the Time Field option 6 Click the Next button 7 Enable the option Use the printer s internal clock 8 Sel
51. ines below you can dramatically increase the speed of printing If your printer supports parallel and serial ports use the parallel port Your computer can send data to the printer over a parallel port much faster than over serial port Use the printer s internal fonts instead of Windows true type fonts True type fonts must be sent to the printer as graphics and the size of the file is much bigger kilobytes When using internal fonts only the text is sent to the printer couple of bytes If you must use true type fonts use the Font Downloader program to download these fonts to the printer s memory and access these fonts as internal printer fonts only if your printer supports this When using bar codes make sure that you do not print bar codes as graphics if your printer supports printing bar codes When using counters the printer will internally increment the numbers if the internal fonts are used if supported by the printer This means that the printer will receive only the first number of objects and will later increment this number to print other labels Using this option also reduces the amount of data transferred between computer and printer but the difference is noticeable only with high quantities of labels Set the printing speed to a higher value if your printer supports it Note that setting the printing speed usually affects the quality of printing The higher the speed the lower the qualit
52. ing values and steps from the RF tag embedded into the label RF Tag Unique ID as output of Linked field or Visual Basic expression database can be used to provide data for the fields The variable data can be the same for many labels and or specific for one label only Working with Databases ZebraDesigner Pro allows you to use databases in which your data is stored Database types can be ASCII text file where fields are fixed length or are separated with any selected character Microsoft Excel database Microsoft Access database Existing ODBC Data Sources You can use a single database on the same label Databases are very useful when printing labels with a large quantity of different data and variable values You don t have to enter values for every variable before label production any more you can use previously prepared database instead A database in the ASCII text file can be created in any text editor for example Notepad it can be also exported from other applications for example Microsoft Word You can also use Microsoft Excel to edit your data Before you can use the data from the database you have to link the database on the label During this process the database fields get connected to the variable fields on the label When you start printing labels every variable field will automatically get the value from the linked database field Each record in the database is u
53. ion wizard prompts you to install it Administrator rights to the local computer during installation Installing Software Install ZebraDesigner Pro When you put the ZebraDesigner Pro CD in your CD ROM drive the installation demonstration program automatically starts You can browse the directory of the CD and look at the brochures technical documentation sample files and other documents Note If you are using Windows NT 2000 XP or 2003 you have to log on with Administrator rights perform installation ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 4 Run Installation Use the installation wizard to install ZebraDesigner Pro on your desktop PC To install the software do the following 1 Put the ZebraDesigner Pro CD in your CD ROM drive An installation window automatically opens Note If the installation wizard does not start automatically go to the main CD directory of your ZebraDesigner Pro CD and double click the file START EXE 2 Click Install A new window opens showing all ZebraDesigner editions 3 Click on the version of ZebraDesigner that you want to install and follow the prompts Close All Software Applications To ensure complete installation of ZebraDesigner Pro close all open software applications before you start installing ZebraDesigner Pro Define Setup Options To continue installation do the following 1 Click the Next button 2 Specify the program group you want to use for ZebraDesigner P
54. l New variable The application identifier will be linked to the variable and have variable value on each label You will define a new variable Use existing variable The application identifier will be linked to the variable and have a variable value on each label You will define a new variable ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 58 Step 3 Enter the value for the Application Identifier Entering fixed value for the application identifier Entering fixed value for the application identifier If you selected a fixed value in the previous dialog box you should enter a value for the Application Identifier here The Wizard will let you know about the required data format for this AI and how long the AI value should be For some AIs the field length is fixed to certain number of digits for others only the maximum number of possible digits is stated You will also be reminded of the AI s proper field format numeric alphanumeric if you enter incorrect data Designing Labels 59 Entering a variable value for the application identifier Creating new variable for the application identifier If you selected new variable values in the previous dialog box a new variable field will be created You will have to provide some information about the variable being used Calculate the Check Digit To select how the check digit will be calculated do the following 1 Enter the check digit with the data and the software will validat
55. ly Alt move the object with mouse Objects snap to grid even if it is off Ctrl move the object with cursor keys Fine tuning the position of the object Shift cursor keys Fine tuning the dimensions of the object resize width and height in very small steps Right clicking the object Opens pop up menu with shortcuts to commands The content of the pop up menu depends on where you clicked your mouse button and what was selected at that time Enter F2 or double click Opens properties dialog box of the selected element ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 8 Using the Keyboard and Mouse Effectively When selecting objects you can use the Ctrl key to adjust object s anchoring point by clicking the object placeholders If you have a Wheel Mouse you can use the wheel to scroll the label up and down Holding Ctrl when rotating the wheel adjusts zoom factor and Shift scrolls the label left or right Double click on printer s name in status bar to open printer properties dialog box in which you can set various options for currently selected printer If you hold Ctrl while double clicking the printer setup dialog box is opens and you can select a different printer You can quickly move objects from one open label to another by dragging the desired object to another window while holding Alt If you want to copy objects instead hold both Alt and Ctrl Note that you must have both label windows visible to do that You can select
56. n Print bar code as graphics will not be available All office printers will print bar codes as pictures Designing Labels 65 Check Digit Tab This tab is used to specify if you want to use the check digit in the bar code or not This option can only be modified for the bar codes that allow you to enable and disable the check digit Some bar code standards include the check digit by definition and it cannot be omitted An example of such bar codes are EAN and UPC bar codes where the check digit cannot be disabled at all But some codes allow you to freely enable disable the check digit Note We recommend that you always include the check digit character in the bar code It will increase the scanning reliability Edit bar code dialog box Check digit tab You can choose whether you want to input the check digit value or let the program calculate it for you Auto generate check digit Check digit is calculated by the software You enter the bar code data only For example when using EAN 13 bar code you enter the first 12 digits check digit on the 13th place will be calculated and added automatically Verify the provided check digit Use this command when you want to enter the value for the check digit At print time the entered check digit will be verified for validity Enable custom check digit algorithm You can set a custom algorithm for calculating the check digit Click on the button Select to choose the algorithm Z
57. ne style 6 To change the alignment of the text object click on the appropriate alignment buttons Note These buttons are accessible only for multi line text objects Designing Labels 37 Aligns text to the left edge Aligns text to the horizontal center Aligns text to the right edge Use the Design Toolbar The design toolbar is used for Changing color of the objects Aligning objects Rotating objects Arranging objects Working with Objects Define the Text Object To place the text object on the label do the following 1 In the Toolbox click the Text button 2 Click the position on the label where you want to place the object The Text Wizard dialog box opens 3 Define the contents for the text object 4 To advance to the next step of the wizard click the Next button 5 Follow the onscreen instructions in the next steps 6 Click the Finish button Note To edit the object select it and then double click it The wizard with properties appears ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 38 Define the Bar Code Object To place the bar code object on the label do the following 1 In the Toolbox click the Bar Code button 2 Click the position on the label where you want to place the object Bar Code Wizard dialog box opens 3 Define the contents for the bar code object 4 To advance to the next step of the wizard click on the Next button 5 Follow the
58. ng value of the counter when you start printing labels Enter the text that will be shown before printing The message will be shown on the screen each time the label is to be printed Set maximum number of digits Define whether the maximum length of digits the counter can occupy Increment or decrement Define that the variable value will increase from label to label or decrease Preview The field shows the preview of the counter based on your selection Text Wizard Counter Continuation Step Define the step for your counter The counter will increase by this number on every label Change value every lt n gt labels Define the number of label when the counter will change value ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 44 Rollover when reached Enter the value which when reached will cause the counter to reset the value to the starting value Text Wizard Date Field Define the properties of the date field The variable field will get the value from a computer clock Dialog box for Text Wizard when Date field option is chosen Format Select the format for your date from the list You can also enter a custom format Date offset You can add a certain number of days months or years to a current date and print that date instead of the current one Preview The printer will print the date as shown on the Preview field This allows you to see how the selected date format will look on the label Use the printer s internal
59. nto four parts Category This section contains the groups of available commands functions and operators Similar objects have been grouped together for easier identification and faster search The groups are displayed as a tree view Select the main group name to display all its contents into the Name section Or you can click the plus sign in front of the group name if available to display all defined sub groups Then select the sub group name to display only its contents 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 editor Use it to write and modify the script you are working on Description This section displays the name sample use and description of the currently selected operand in the Name section You will get an idea of how the current operand should be used Language Help The button will open the help file with the detailed reference of the Visual Basic script ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 76 Database Wizard Use Database Wizard The process of defining a new Database access function consists of four steps pages On those pages
60. o place the inverse object on the label do the following 1 In the Toolbox click on the Inverse button 2 Click the position on the label where you want the upper left position of the object to be set 3 Drag to the bottom right direction until the object size is correct Note To draw a square grab a handle an on one of the rectangle corners simultaneously press and hold the Shift key then resize the rectangle A square will be drawn For more useful shortcuts available in the software see Shortcuts 4 To move an inverse to a different position select it and drag it elsewhere on the label ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 40 Using Text Wizard Text Wizard First screen of Text Wizard The Text Wizard guides you to define all parameters for the text object Fixed text Select this option if you would like to have a fixed non changeable content of the object If you select this option you can enter the text directly in this dialog box Variable text Select this option if you would like to have variable content in the object Defining the content is defined in the next step Element name Each text object on the label has a unique name You can refer to the names when you are linking fields together Phantom If the object is marked as phantom it is visible on the label during the label design but is not printed Font Currently selected font type is shown in this field Inverse Enable this option to use the
61. olbars 35 Use the Standard Toolbar 35 ZebraDesigner User Guide ii Use the Toolbox 36 Use the Text Toolbar 36 Use the Design Toolbar 37 Working with Objects 37 Using Text Wizard 40 Using Bar Code Wizard 51 Using EAN UCC 128 Wizard 55 Selecting Bar Code Type 60 Select Objects 68 Edit Objects 69 Move Objects 69 Aligning Objects 70 Resize Objects
62. older Selecting the text database 3 Click the Next button Note If you connect to the database for the first time you need to define the database structure Continue with the next section Designing Labels 81 Format the Data with the Text File Wizard Because text files do not contain structural information like real databases do you must define the fields and their data structure When you use the same text database again you won t have to define the structure again 1 Choose the data type for the selected text database The fields are delimited by comma so you must select the Delimited option Defining the type of the text database 2 Click the Next button 3 Review if ZebraDesigner Pro has properly auto determined the format of the text file The delimiter must be set to Comma Defining the fields in the text database ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 82 4 Click the Next button 5 Accept the default field names and click the Next button 6 Review the text database structure The field names and their maximum lengths are displayed 7 To close the Text File Wizard click the Finish button The link to the database has been created and database fields are available on the label ZebraDesigner Pro brings you back to the Database Wizard Place Database Fields on a Label The next step in the Database Wizard opens the dialog box with the list of available fields from the database 1 By default
63. on Builder text editor with reference to frequently used Visual Basic functions VB Script Help Click on this button to open the Microsoft help files explaining syntax and use of Visual Basic scripting For example The Visual Basic expression functionality can be used for merging text fields or to perform simple mathematical operations Bar Code Wizard Prefix and Suffix The variable element can have prefix and suffix values The prefix text is placed in front of the variable s value The suffix text is placed at the end of the variable s value Note If you leave the edit fields empty the prefix suffix will not be used Prefix and suffix can be used in situations where they are required only if the variable has a set value If the variable is empty the prefix suffix will not be printed as well Designing Labels 55 Using EAN UCC 128 Wizard This wizard allows you to define the data structure for EAN UCC 128 bar code This kind of bar code has different areas of application that include trade items logistic units assets and locations The EAN UCC 128 bar code is an extremely flexible symbology It allows representation of data of variable length and makes it possible to encode several pieces of information in one bar code symbol This is called concatenation An Application Identifier is a field of two or more characters at the beginning of a data value Application identifiers are prefixes that uniquely identify the meaning
64. onscreen instructions in the next steps 6 Click the Finish button Note To edit the object select it then double click it The wizard with properties appears Define the Picture Object To place the picture object on the label do the following 1 From the Toolbox click on the Picture object 2 Click on the label where you want to place the picture The Open dialog box opens 3 Browse for the picture on the hard disk and then click the Open button Note To edit the object later select it and then double click it The wizard or dialog box with properties appears Define the Rectangle Object To place the rectangle object on the label do the following 1 In the Toolbox click the Rectangle button 2 Click the position on the label where you want the upper left position of the object to be set 3 Drag in the bottom right direction until the object size is correct 4 The other method of positioning the rectangle object on the label is selecting the Rectangle tool and then clicking the label A default sized rectangle will appear and you can resize it using handles around the object Note If you want to draw a square grab a handle on one of the rectangle corners simultaneously press and hold the Shift key then resize the rectangle A square will be drawn For more useful shortcuts available in the software see Shortcuts 5 To move a rectangle to a different position select it and drag it elsewhere on the
65. ont for the text object Choose Arial font 28 point size and bold style Using format options in the text toolbox 6 To change the position and size of the text object select the text object and drag the object with your mouse to the position you want it ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 20 The screen should show the following The text object is placed on the label Insert Bar Codes Now you will add a non changeable Code128 bar code on the label 1 To insert the bar code click the button in the Toolbox 2 Move the cursor to the desired position on the label and click the mouse button The dialog box with object properties will open 3 Enter the value 1234567890 for the bar code contents 4 Click the Define button Edit Bar Code dialog box opens 5 Make sure you select bar code Code128 and click the OK button Selecting bar code type Designing Labels 21 6 To return to the label click the Finish button 7 Change the position of the bar code by selecting the bar code and dragging it to the desired position 8 Change the object size by dragging the object handles The handles are small rectangles surrounding the object when it is selected The label should now show the following Label with text and bar code objects Insert Pictures The ZebraDesigner Pro works with BMP PCX GIF WMF JPEG and many other popular graphic formats 1 To insert the picture click on the button in the Toolbox
66. orporation 333 Corporate Woods Parkway Vernon Hills Illinois 60061 3109 U S A Telephone 1 847 634 6700 Facsimile 1 847 913 8766 Zebra Technologies Europe Limited Zebra House The Valley Centre Gordon Road High Wycombe Buckinghamshire HP13 6EQ UK Telephone 44 0 1494 472872 Facsimile 44 0 1494 450103 Customer Order 13857L 001 Manufacturer Part 13857L 001 Rev A 2005 ZIH Corp
67. ote You can only use RFID functionality in ZebraDesigner Pro if you have installed a ZebraDesigner printer driver with the RFID support Create RFID Smart Label 1 In the Standard toolbar click the button The Label Setup Wizard will start 2 Select the printer that supports RFID smart label printing 3 Click the Finish button You will see that RF Tag command is enabled in the Toolbox on the left side of the working window RF Tag is available for use ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 28 Encode RF Tag The RF tags that are embedded into the label are usually one of these types ISO tags which encode blocks of data UHF tags which can encode one string of data 1 In the Toolbox to begin encoding the data click the button The RF Tag dialog box opens Encoding contents for RF Tag 2 From the list box on the top of the dialog box select the type of the RF Tag you want to use 3 Select the Use RF Tag in label option Note If you don t select this option the definition of tag content is saved but not sent to the printer 4 In the section Data Blocks go to the Data Cell column and click the first available block 5 Type in the value you want to encode into this block Repeat the process for other blocks Designing Labels 29 6 Click the OK button A schematic view of the RFID Tag antenna will open in the label background identifying the definition of the RFID data on the label
68. ptions 4 Click the OK button 5 To save the label click the button in the Standard toolbar or from the menu select File gt Save Printer driver properties Note Any changes in the printer settings dialog box will be saved to the label and applied to future print actions You can also change the printer settings right before the label is printed 1 From the File menu select Print 2 Go to the Printer tab This tab allows you to change the printer just before printing begins but it also enables you to change common printer settings like speed darkness and print direction Note Changes to the settings in the Printer tab will not be saved in the label but used only at print time ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 34 Change Dithering Options Dithering is a process of converting color or gray scale pictures to black and white pictures that can be printed on thermal printers Thermal printers normally cannot print color images and can either print a dot on the label or not There are no intermediate shades of gray During the dithering process all colors and shades of gray in the picture are converted to black and white dots creating the illusion of new colors and shades by varying the pattern of dots Different shades of gray are produced by varying the patterns of black and white dots There are no gray dots at all In printing dithering is usually called half toning Shades of gray are called halftones To change
69. put Use this variable type when you want the operator to enter a value for the variable from the keyboard before printing the specified numbers of labels Prompt text for this variable field Fill in the message that will be shown to the user when he will enter the value for the variable field Format Select the format of data you allow to be entered for the variable field Set maximum number of characters Define the maximum length of characters that can be entered for the variable field Bar Code Wizard Counter On this page of the wizard you define the counter variable Starting Value Set the starting value for the counter The counter will increment or decrement from the starting value Note You can enter only digits for the starting value Prompt for value before print Click this option to enable entering the starting value of the counter when you start printing labels Enter the text that will be shown to the user before printing The message will be shown on the screen each time the label is to be printed Set maximum number of digits Define the maximum length of digits the counter can occupy Increment or decrement Define whether the variable value will increase from label to label or decrease Preview The field shows the preview of the counter based on your selection Text Wizard Counter Continuation Step Define the step for your counter The counter will increase by this number on every label Chan
70. que ID number from the RF tag and use the content with the selected bar code object When the label is printed the printer will first read the unique ID from the tag and then immediately use the value with the bar code object RF Tag Unique ID can only be used with the bar code objects that are printed as internal printer objects You must format the bar code object to use internal fonts not TrueType fonts Selected RF Tag Select the tag from the list Note Only tags supported by the currently supported printer are listed Read Source Select the source of the RFID data Data Format Select the format of the data Preview WYSIWYG only Because the RF Tag Unique ID information is not returned to the labeling software you do not see the actual data Enter the data in a format similar to the format of the RF tag This information will be used for preview on the label only Bar Code Wizard Visual Basic Expression Select this type of field to manipulate your variable fields with the Visual Basic functions The result of the expression will be used with the current object on the label You can define one line expression that must follow Visual Basic programming syntax Look at the samples in the dialog box for ideas of what can be done with the Visual Basic script Expression Enter the Visual Basic expression Include the names of the variable fields in the square quotes Build Expression Click on this button to open the Expressi
71. r bars in the beginning in the middle and in the end of the bar code Mirror horizontally mirror vertically The bar code can be mirrored vertically and horizontally The bar code will usually have to be printed as a graphic for this option to be accessible Intercharacter gap Some bar codes allow you to change the gap between characters in the bar code e g Code 39 Include EAN white space Before and after the bar code a special character is inserted or It indicates the width of the bar code If you put any other object in the area of the bar code it will reduce the readability of the bar code This option is valid only for EAN bar codes Edit bar code Details tab ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 68 Supported Bar Code Types Bar code Group Bar code Types EAN and UPC EAN 8 EAN 8 2 digit supplement EAN 8 5 digit supplement EAN 13 EAN 13 2 digit supplement EAN 13 5 digit supplement 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 EAN UCC 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 MSI Codabar Postnet 32 Postnet 37 Postnet 52 Postnest 62 Kix Pharmacode Plessey Anker RSS Linear RSS symbologies RSS14 RSS14 Truncated RSS14 Stacked RSS14 Stack
72. rint and specify the label quantity for each record Selecting records and specifying label quantity 3 Click the OK button 4 To start printing labels click the Print button 5 To close the dialog box click the Close button ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 86 Using Text File Wizard Text File Wizard When the input database file is a plain ASCII text file or formatted CSV Comma Separated Values Text File Wizard will be started within Database Wizard and it will guide you through the steps of text data acquire The main difference between a real database and a text file is in their data structure information Databases include all information about their fields names data format and length and can be automatically used with the application Text files on the other hand do not have such information and you will have to instruct the application on how the data is encoded When the Text File Wizard finishes it will return control to the Database Wizard that will guide you the rest of the way Choose a Data Type Before you can use text file you will have to define its data structure Fields can be delimited by a separator tab semicolon comma or some entirely user defined separator or can be of a fixed length Database Wizard Choosing Data Type Choose Delimited if you know that data fields are separated with a special character File preview at the bottom of the dialog box can be helpful if you do not know
73. ro 3 Specify if shortcuts to ZebraDesigner Pro should be created on the desktop or in the Quick Launch area 4 To finish installation click the Install button After installation you will be asked to install a printer driver It is necessary to install a ZebraDesigner driver If you do not install a printer driver while installing the software you will be asked to install one the first time you run the program 5 Once the installation is complete the Start menu in Windows shows a new program group for ZebraDesigner Pro that contains shortcuts for all ZebraDesigner Pro applications Install Printer Driver To install the ZebraDesigner printer driver on your computer do the following 1 Click Start gt Programs gt ZebraDesigner Pro 2 In the group ZebraDesigner Pro click the shortcut Add printer 3 The printer installation wizard starts 4 Follow the onscreen instructions Installation and Activation 5 Register ZebraDesigner Pro Activate ZebraDesigner Pro to obtain all features If you do not complete the activation process ZebraDesigner Pro only runs in DEMO mode Note ZebraDesigner does not require registration It is free software but available with less functionality than ZebraDesigner Pro To register the software do the following 1 Start ZebraDesigner Pro The DEMO dialog box appears 2 Click the Register button 3 Enter the required information and follow the prompts Demo Mode Ze
74. s Note Define gaps only if you changed the rows and columns options If you have rolls of labels the gaps between the labels are auto identified by the gap sensor in the printer Unit of measure Change the unit of measure you want to use When you are satisfied with the label dimensions click the Finish button to close the Label setup wizard Designing Labels 15 Designing a Basic Label Overview In this section you will learn how to design a simple label file with fixed and variable objects The variable objects get values from several sources You will learn how to Provide object values with a keyboard prompt Obtain object values from a database Preview the label on the screen Print the label The label you create will look like this Basic label Create a Basic Label To create a basic label do the following 1 Open ZebraDesigner Pro or ZebraDesigner 2 From the File menu select New label or click the button in the Standard Toolbar Each time you create a new label a Label Setup Wizard will start to help you set up the label and connect to the printer Note You can leave the Wizard at any time and accept the default settings for the label by clicking the Finish button ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 16 Select a Printer 1 Select the printer you want to use for label printing Note If you don t find your printer on the list see Install Printer Driver for inst
75. s the offset for the antenna in the printer This is the distance from the edge of the label to the embedded tag This option will help you program the tags more accurately Number of retries The number of times the printer will try to program the tag if the first attempt fails The parameter is sent to the printer with the rest of the data Data Blocks This section allows you to provide data values for the RF tag This section has different options available for different tag types UHF or ISO For UHF tags Data type Data type of the selected tag can be specified here Data source Incoming data that is encoded in the tag can be a fixed value or acquired from some variable defined in the label Data size The currently used data is previewed here You can see the amount of space still available in the tag The occupancy of the tag is seen graphically with growing bar and numerically with the digit explaining the number of already used bytes Block locked If you set the block as locked the data will be permanently encoded into the tag You will not be able to erase this block to re program it with some other value Use this option with caution For ISO tags The blocks that are dimmed and inaccessible are reserved blocks that cannot be used Block Number The successive number of blocks in the tag Data source Select where the data block will receive its value It can be Fixed where you will manually type in the value or Var
76. sed on a single label Designing Labels 73 Using Data from the Databases Imagine that you have the following database that contains first and last names of people field1 field2 John Smith Jane Wright Bob Doe 1 To use the data on the label you must first define this database using the Database Wizard 2 To include two variable texts on a label create two text objects 3 In the text wizard select Variable contents and click the Next button 4 Select the Database option as the source of variable data 5 Link both text objects to the variable fields each to a separate field When you print the labels each of the text objects on the label will get the value from the corresponding field in the database When one label is printed the next record is used for the second label and the process is repeated Each name and surname is printed on a separate label ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 74 Work with Visual Basic Expressions Visual Basic expressions allows you to manipulate the data values on the label Input to Visual Basic can be fixed values or variable fields from the label The output is always a data value that is used as content for the current object The expression is a one line Visual Basic script You can use up to 100 characters for your expression Note The multi line commands like if then else cannot be used with the Visual Basic expression You can use one line expressions A Vis
77. standard values These values can be fixed or variable Designing Labels 61 When you select the EAN UCC 128 bar code the Bar code data field in the Bar code Wizard dialog box is disabled To define the contents of the bar code click the Next button From the list of available Application Identifiers select the first identifiers It will be written in brackets below the bar code When the Application Identifier also includes check digits you have to define whether it will be calculated or entered together with data Next define how you will set the values for the selected identifier You may enter a fixed value or define a variable value Fixed values When values are fixed the Wizard dialog box will inform you what to enter The defined AID is presented on the list of selected Application Identifiers Click the Add button to add a new AID or the Delete button to delete an existing one Should you need to change the AID and the data select the AID and click the Edit button You can sort the listing of AID by using the Up and Down buttons All the settings can be previewed on the Preview field The separator among Application Identifiers can be defined by entering the required separator for the left and for the right side of the Application Identifier The default separator is brackets Variable values EAN UCC 128 bar code supports keyboard variables the variable data will be entered from the keyboard You can de
78. the dithering settings do the following 1 From the File menu select Printer Settings The window with the printer settings will open 2 Open the Dithering tab 3 Change the Dithering Type option to suit your needs Look at the preview on the right side to see the result of your selection on the label 4 Click the OK button 5 Save the label by clicking the button in the Standard toolbar or selecting Save in the File menu Designing Labels 35 Using Toolbars Use the Standard Toolbar Click on the buttons in the standard toolbar to execute the following actions 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 in the toolbar for more commands Access to the zoom functionality Click on the small arrow in the toolbar for more commands Access to the view functionality Click on the small arrow in the toolbar for more commands Access to the databases Click on the small arrow in the toolbar for more commands Open the help file ZebraDesigner Pro User Guide 36 Use the Toolbox To use the toolbox do the following 1 Click on the icon in the Toolbox to select the object 2 Move the mouse over the label Notice how the cursor has changed 3 To place
79. time Type Select the type of RF tag you want to use with your printer You must use ZebraDesigner Pro to be able to use RF programming The list of available tags changes with the selected printer Not all tag types are always available It also depends on each printer model and what kind of RF ID tags can be used with it There are generally these types of tags ISO tags TagIt iCode ISO These are block oriented tags The data can be encoded in multiple blocks UHF tags ePC The data is encoded in one block of data Designing Labels 31 Tag Settings This section provides the information about the selected tag type Number of blocks The number of blocks that are available in the RF tag Reserved blocks The number of blocks that cannot be accessed and used Block size The size of each block in bytes Unique RF Tag If you have the printer and or the tag type that can provide you with the Unique Tag ID this flag will be set to Yes Each tag has a unique ID encoded already in the production line If your printer can read this information from the tag you can use it with the label elements When the Unique Tag ID is supported you can connect it with the label elements using RFID Unique Tag ID contents provider For example The printer scans Unique Tag ID remembers it and prints it on the label encoded in a bar code element Antenna offset To achieve better programming accuracy of the tags this option define
80. u can select one from the standard levels in the pull down menu Format ID This option defines which character set will be used in the bar code You can select one of the formats with the following filter 01 and 11 0 9 space 02 and 12 A Z space 03 and 13 A Z 0 9 space 04 and 14 A Z 0 9 space 05 and 15 7 bit ASCII lower part from 0 to 127 06 and 16 all 07 and 17 7 bit ASCII The formats from 1 to 7 allow a data length up to 500 characters while formats from 11 to 17 allow up to 2000 characters Designing Labels 63 Border Size Factors from 1 to 15 set the dimension of the border in the shape of the character L Data Matrix can encode Full 128 ASCII character set All ISO characters All EBCDIC characters MaxiCode 2D Code General tab Y expansion factor This option defines the height of the bar code symbol Details tab When the option Structured is not selected the content of the bar code is optional For Structured bar code you may encode only standard contents Edit Bar Code Dialog Box This dialog box is displayed when you click the Define button on the bar code dialog box On this dialog box you specify the type of bar code you want to use on the label and all additional advanced settings how the bar code should be generated if the check digit should be automatically calculated or not and various other options If the Enable preview check box is
81. ual Basic expression must follow the Visual Basic script programming syntax For more information on how to write your expressions refer to the Microsoft help on Visual Basic scripting Click on the button VB Script Help in VB script step in the Text or Bar Code wizard to open the Microsoft help Note You can also open the Visual Basic reference help file VBS55 CHM in the Bin folder of ZebraDesigner Pro folder Some common samples of Visual Basic expressions Visual Basic Expression The result Comment 1 4 20 81 Numeric calculation LEFT 1234567890 5 12345 Working with string functions MyField1 MyField2 The values from variable fields MyField1 and MyField2 are merged together Concatenating string values Designing Labels 75 Using Expression Editor The labeling software has a simple text built in editor You can use it to design your own simple Visual Basic scripts The Expression editor is a programming text editor with constant access to command reference of the script language you are currently using The Expression editor lets you edit your scripts and expressions with ease The Load and Save buttons allow you to import export Visual Basic scripts from to external text files The editor uses standard shortcuts for positioning of the cursor and working with text files Standard Search and Replace shortcuts Ctrl F Ctrl R are also available The working window is divided i
82. y You will have to find an acceptable compromise for this Don t print too much data on labels If the speed of printing is an important factor you should consider using preprinted labels and print only the data that is different on each label 95 Technical Support Online Support You can find the latest builds updates workarounds for problems and Frequently Asked Questions FAQ under the Support section on the Zebra Web site If you cannot solve the problem on your own please contact your local vendor or representative offices listed in the topic Contact Information Contact Information Worldwide Technical Support is available through your Reseller or at http www zebra com support Zebra Technologies Corporation International Headquarters 333 Corporate Woods Parkway Vernon Hills Illinois 60061 3109 USA Phone 1 847 913 2259 Fax 1 847 913 2578 96 Glossary of Terms Auto translation Bar code interpretation in human readable characters Darkness The print head temperature defines the print darkness The higher is the temperature the darker is the printout thermal printers only Descender bars Longer first and last bar in the EAN 13 bar codes Quiet zone The empty place before and after the bar code symbol This is necessary for the bar code reader to properly read the bar code Security The definition of the control check digit with some bar code types Zebra Technologies C

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