Print solution for normal and RFID labels
Printing from an ERP system can often prove to be unnecessarily complicated. The inflexibility of some environments often becomes apparent when the label design needs to be changed, for example. And that’s not to mention the RFID support, in particular important encodings such as the 6-bit ISO standard. We have established RCOM LabelPrint as light-weight printing software for this purpose. Using this software, you can realise the flexible management of printers and label layouts from simple print orders to complex complete printing solutions.
System architecture
RCOM LabelPrint has a modular server/client architecture, primarily to allow for a wide range of data connectors. With regard to label design, you can choose from existing designer tools or completely free tools such as the Zebra Designer v3 Essentials, as RCOM LabelPrint can import all of these label outputs. The server contains a database for the management of layouts, printers, users and rules for automatic data processing and print output.
The client interface is available as a modern WPF UI for administration of the overall system and for manual generation of print commands. The rights allocation for user administration coordinates which accesses the respective users have. The system is multilingual and is primarily available in English and German; additional languages can be easily added.
Label design and configuration
The aim of the system is that a user can carry out changes to a layout in just a few minutes, instead of this taking entire man-days as is so often the case with ERP service providers. Once the database has been configured, layout design and field allocations are a piece of cake.
Any ZPL-capable designer tools can be used for the design, such as the free Zebra Designer Essentials for example.
RFID parameters and encoding
All relevant print parameters for the printing of RFID labels are integrated directly into the software so they can be sent directly to the printer by the software. As a result, you no longer need to carry out a tedious manual RFID calibration at the printer for every label change. In addition to GS1 standards, ISO encodings such as the 6-bit encoding used by the VDA are also integrated into the software. EPC memory and user memory can be freely defined, as can write protection commands and permalocks.
Integrated formula editor
Frequently, the database only supplies the raw data and this is not yet available in the format desired for the finished layout. For these cases, an integrated formula editor is provided which can modify incoming data as required, similar to Excel. The includes the manipulation of strings, arithmetic and logical operations, queries and coding functions.
Interfaces
The following interface methods are available for the database, among others:
- Receiving TCP/IP data stream
- File interface
- LPD print server
- SAP IDoc
- SAP RFC/BAPI
- REST API
The formats available for use include:
- ZPL data stream (can also be automatically rotated 90° by the software)
- XML
- CSV and XLSX Excel formats
- Text-based spool formats, separated by identifiers or rows
- SAP DESADV IDoc
- JSON