Version 3.4.0.143

Released: 03/26/2001

NOTES:

The following NEW printers are supported:

Datamax I4406 (400 DPI)

Hermes 5F-200

Sato 8459e

Datamax I4604 (600 DPI)

Sato CT400

Sato 8400RVe

Datamax I4208

Sato CT410

Sato CL408e

Hermes 2N-300

Sato 8485Se R (Right Hand)

Sato CL412e

Hermes 4N-300

Sato 8485Se L (Left Hand)

Sato CL608e

Hermes 4F-300

Sato 8490Se R (Right Hand)

Sato CL612e

Hermes 4F-200

Sato 8490Se L (Left Hand)

Zebra Z4M

Hermes 5N-300

Sato 8460Se R (Right Hand)

Zebra Z4M-3 (300 DPI)

Hermes 5F-300

Sato 8460Se L (Left Hand)

The following items were ADDED:

  1. Added ability to magnify the bar widths for the Datamax I and W class printers. This allows creating larger barcodes. The new prompt is “Barcode width magnification” in the barcode field parameters screen.

  2. Added ability to use special value of -999 in the presentation position to indicate that the printers setting should not be changed. Use -999 to use presentation position as set up in the printers front panel.

  3. Added ability for multiple users to open a database (DBF) file. The first user to open the file gets read/write access, any subsequent opens are read only.

  4. Using the right mouse button on a field or label will pop up a context menu allowing various operations to be performed. Clicking on a field brings up menu with cut, copy, paste, erase, and view field specifications. Clicking on the label background allows paste, change label specification, choose all fields, rotate, display grid, snap to grid, and zoom level.

  5. Added ability to print a test pattern label for the Gemini printer. A button in the print queue status display allows for this function.

  6. Added many new date and time formats that can be selected when formatting a field containing date or time.

  7. Added option in the Apollo printer configuration to select type of image format for downloaded graphics. Using the IMG format is slightly faster, but the PCX format gives better graphics detail.

  8. Added ability to use PDF-417 with the Zebra Stripe 300 printer. This symbology is sent as a graphic image.

  9. Added option for Apollo when printing a UPC-A or EAN-13 barcode to specify whether to compute a standard check digit or a random weight check digit.

  10. Added ability to select the sensor type for some models of the TEC printers.

  11. Added ability to select a darkness setting for some TEC printer models. Previously, darkness adjustment had to be done through the printer front panel.

  12. Added ability to use header and/or trailer for DataMatrix and QR-code symbologies.

  13. Added a table view to the database functions. Displays a spreadsheet like view of a database. Allows scrolling by record or screen, in place editing of data, and mark/unmark of data records.

  14. Added ability to do some date/time data embedded in a barcode and be processed by the printer. This results in much faster processing of labels that use this feature.

  15. Added ability to browse for a pathname or filename in the following locations: default command file, search path, in the “Name when printed” prompted, and in the database editor when editing a text field.

  16. Added a message during the install procedure to remind users to setup any needed printers.

  17. Added option in the program configuration to allow for selection of the week number calculation. Previously, the first week of the year was considered the first week that contained a Sunday. You can now select ISO 8601 week number calculation, which is an international standard.

  18. Added a new cut option “Cut by Amount” which allows cutting after a specified number of labels. This allows cutting within a batch of labels.

  19. Added ability in the Zebra driver to allow for barcodes to be printed in reverse image. This allows printing using a white ribbon onto a black label. Due to a firmware limitation in the Zebra printers, this does not work for any 2D symbologies (DataMatrix, PDF-417, etc.)

  20. Added the ability to specify a host name instead of a dotted IP address (e.g. sales.print.server instead of 192.168.1.2). Dotted IP addresses are still supported, in addition to the new host name support.

  21. The Sato “E” series printers now use the Status 4 protocol for bi-directional communications. If using the bi-directional setting, make sure printer is configured for Status 4 protocol. The status 4 protocol allows for label count updates in the printer queue display.

  22. Added support for the real-time clock option for Zebra printers (only on the 90XiII, 140XiII, 170XiII, 220XiII, the XiIII models, and the PAX print engines). Note that there are firmware level requirements.

  23. Added support for the Datamax I4208 Standard and 2+ driver.

The following items were CHANGED:

  1. Increased the size of the label preview to make it easier to find the correct label. The image is now 2 times larger in both vertical and horizontal dimensions.

  2. Changed wording of when selecting height of a 2D symbology. Previously was called “Bar Code Height”. It is now called “Row Height” as it is the height of each row, not the height of the full barcode.

  3. The text of any field that uses TrueType fonts will be shown using the actual font selected. This applies to text fields that have fixed data (including paragraphs). Fields that have “when printed” data will be shown in the correct font when the field is prompted for at print time.

  4. Fields are normally given a default name when the field is created, such as “BAR1” or “TEXT2”. Added the option in the format specification screen to disable this option. The new prompt is called “Auto Field Name” and defaults to Yes.

  5. Changed the font mapping to allow for better conversion of font styles when changing the printer type.

  6. The selection of “Picture preview” is now saved between sessions. If you select this option, it will remain selected until it is explicitly turned off. Previously, picture preview was always turned off by default.

  7. When downloading a format to the memory card on Apollo, you can now use “4-Custom date” as a formatting option.

  8. Increased speed of processing of some Windows Metafiles. This depends on operating system (NT/2000 is faster), contents of the WMF, and the orientation of the field.

  9. If any fields would be deleted due to resizing a label format, you are now prompted whether to continue the operation or not.

  10. When printing to a network printer using the IP protocol, you can now set the timeout value (in seconds). Previously, only a 5 second timeout has used. This value is now user selectable to account for various hardware and printer requirements.

  11. When adding a Sato printer, the “Firmware level” and “Calendar option” now default to Yes.

  12. When printing a format to a file for an Apollo printer, the file will now have line-feeds added to the end of each line. This makes the file much easier to view in many text editors.

  13. When selecting a database system for a field, the list shown shows the internal database system plus any ODBC data sources (user DSN and system DSN). File DSN’s are not shown in this list but can be entered manually in the form:

FILEDSN=dsnname where “dsnname” is the name set up in the ODBC administrator. File DSN’s are easy to move from one machine to another, just copy the files to the correct location on the target machine.

This is usually:

c:\Program Files\Common Files\Odbc\Data Sources

The following items were CORRECTED:

  1. Change made to not shut down the ActiveX server if any clients have ActiveX objects allocated. Previously, exiting EASYLABEL always shut down the ActiveX server. This corrects problem of client applications crashing after EASYLABEL was shutdown.

  2. Corrected handling of multi-byte characters being passed into and out of the ActiveX interface.

  3. Corrected a problem in the Fargo driver where large TrueType fonts were sometimes displayed incorrectly. The fonts would become very wide and unreadable.

  4. Corrected a problem where the positions of some fields were incorrect on the first job sent to the printer.

  5. Corrected a problem where date and time fields using a TrueType font would not print correctly.

  6. Corrected a problem with formats marked as “memory card download” and trying to view the common properties of several fields where one of the fields was a database key.

  7. Corrected a problem in the Apollo driver where printing from a database using $ALL, and one of the database records had a blank field, would create an invalid barcode.

  8. Corrected a problem with data verification of when printed fields on formats downloaded to a memory card.

  9. Corrected problem where port selection (serial, parallel, etc) would sometimes leave an incorrect entry in the port name. It was possible to select a serial port and have it set for “LPT1”, which was incorrect.

  10. Corrected a problem in the Zebra driver where large TrueType fonts were sometimes displayed incorrectly. The fonts would become very wide and unreadable.

  11. Some image files that use 1 bit encoding may have odd color settings for foreground/background colors. These are converted to black/white images.

  12. Sometimes when a field was near the edge of the label, and the label size was changed slightly or the label was changed to a different printer model, the field would be deleted. This has been corrected. A field is only deleted if it is completely outside the label edges.

  13. When downloading a format to the Apollo memory card, fields that are read from a database and also incremented did not work correctly if the database key field was blank.

  14. Corrected a problem in the Fargo and Datamax drivers where a text field with a header or trailer that was incrementing or decrementing also inc/dec the header/trailer of the field.

  15. If more than 99 fonts were displayed in the font list, the last used font was not defaulting correctly if the last font used was above

  17. Corrected a problem with zero suppression of time fields on the Apollo printers. A selection of HH:MM:SS would print 9:30:00 where it should have been 09:30:00.

  18. On some printers, the interpretation would not print correctly for the Interleaved 2 of 5 barcode.

  19. Corrected some minor positioning problems with interpretations on some Sato printer models for the UPC-A and EAN-13 barcodes.

  20. When updating an ODBC database (due to incremented field), sometimes an error occurred (SQL syntax error). This has been corrected.

  21. Corrected a problem where filenames with multiple periods (“.”) were not being handled correctly.

  22. Corrected a problem in the ELJOBINFO object where it was not being initialized correctly if the job number was not valid. Some properties of the object contained garbage data.

  23. Corrected a problem where control codes (ASCII values 01-31) did not get encoded correctly in a DataMatrix symbol.

  24. Corrected problem where user had to manually adjust the left margin if the media width was less than the print width. This is now automatically calculated.

  25. Corrected a problem with PDF-417 symbols on the Gemini printers where a white line was sometimes printed between rows of the symbol.

  26. Corrected a problem with printer threads not exiting. This caused problems with subsequent invocations of EASYLABEL. Printer threads are now properly terminated.

  27. Fixed a problem where IP printing to an Intermec printer did not work correctly.

  28. Corrected a problem where color images that had the “contrast” option enabled were sometimes not displayed correctly on the screen. The images did print correctly, this was a label display problem.

  29. In the Datamax (2+) driver, text fields containing some international characters did not print correctly. This has been fixed.

  30. Corrected a problem in the Refresh method of the ELJOBINFO object. If the job completed normally and has left the print queue, the FormatsLeft property of the object should be 0. Previously, in some cases a non-zero value was being returned.

  31. Corrected problem with the Datamax (standard) driver where DataMatrix or QR-code symbols that were set to increment or decrement did not. The field was sent as fixed value. This has been fixed so that they will increment/decrement properly.

  32. Corrected a problem where users that had only “print” authorization did not have the option of doing a test print. The test print function can be disabled by the system administrator by setting the “Program Options” parameter “Disable test print” to YES.

  33. In some cases (depending on code page selection setup in the printer menu) some international characters would not print correctly when using the Triumvirate font. This has been fixed.

  34. Corrected a problem where new users added in these versions sometimes showed menu items that should have been disabled. For example, users given only “Print” authorizations were allowed to delete serial files.

  35. Corrected a problem with Apollo where blank variable fields would print zeros instead of blanks. This happened if a label was printed with a UPC-A, EAN-13, UPC-E0 or UPC-E1 barcode field that was variable and had no data or blanks. All formats that printed afterwards that had variable fields with no data, would print zeros.

  36. When using ActiveX in certain cases, memory could be corrupted when calling the CreateJob method. This resulted in “Out of Memory” or “Method ‘CreateJob’ Failed” error messages, This has been corrected.

  37. When using an Apollo and PDF-417, corrected a problem where the printed barcode was wider than the screen image. If the barcode was near the edge of the label, it was sometimes cut off.

  38. The Intermec driver was printing Code 39 symbols using the “Full ASCII” mode. This was incorrect and caused certain characters to be encoded differently. This has been corrected.