Real Use Case & User Interactions#

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Printing Using a Third Party Printing System#

On the Critical Manufacturing MES side, it is necessary to:

• Set up a Printing Integration according to the external Printing System and the needed requirements.
• Create a Printable Document with an external layout file (optional) and the Data Contexts matching the variables defined in the external layout.

See the following Use Case diagram with the interactions between Critical Manufacturing MES and the Third Party Printing System, using BarTender as an example:

User Interactions#

The information below will guide you with the necessary operations and user interaction examples for a workable third-party integration.

Create a Printable Document Prepared for an External Printing System#

The Printable Document must define if it is for an External printing system and optionally the External Layout.

Steps#

1. Create a Printable Document and set the property Layout Content Type to External.

   Note

   If the property value is set to Internal, the usual internal printing system is used.

2. As the Layout Content Type is External, you can optionally define the property External Layout with the name of an external label template or file.

3. Specify the Scope, and because we have the Layout Content Type as External, it cannot be Lot Traveler.
4. Specify the Data Contexts - they will be used to send the data to the third-party system.

For more information, see Printable Document.

Create a Printing Integration#

The Printing Integration entity, in the Administration menu, contains all the necessary information for third-party label printing integration.

Steps#

1. Specify the PrintingSystem Lookup Table, which is pre-populated with BarTender and NiceLabel.
2. Specify the Integration Method - File or Web Service (default).
3. If the Integration Method is File, you must specify the following:
   • File Format: CSV or XML.
   • CSV Delimiter - if File Format is CSV.
   • URL - must be well formed.
   • SSL Verify (defaults to False).
4. If the Integration Method is Web Service, you must specify the following:
   • Web Service Call Mode - Synchronous or Asynchronous.
   • Web Service Request Timeout (defaults to 3000 milliseconds) - if Web Service Call Mode is Synchronous.
   • Authentication Method - None or Basic Authentication.
   • HTTP Method - GET or POST.
   • Web Service Content Type - if HTTP Method is POST.
   • URL - must be well formed.
   • Username - if Authentication Method is different from None.
   • Password - if Authentication Method is different from None.
5. Specify the Input Formatter.

For more information, see Create Printing Integration.

Printer Resolution Configuration#

For the Printer Resolution, the PrinterTypePrintersContext smart table will be used, which has a specific column for Printing Integration information.

Steps#

1. Specify the Printing Integration.

System Integration Rules Customization#

All Rules that have Printing Integration as their Scope receive the following information as input:

• Printing Integration
• Context - JSON string with the evaluated items
• Layout - string
• Printer - string
• Number Of Copies - integer

The output of these Rules is always a string with the required information. You can extend the behavior of the Rules shipped with CM MES to provide out-of-the-box integration with BarTender and NiceLabel or create a new Rule.

Steps#

1. Create a DEE Action that is prepared to receive, parse, and transform the resolved Data Contexts of the Printable Document.
2. Create a Rule that has Printing Integration as its Scope and associate it with the created DEE Action.
3. Edit the Printing Integration and associate the created Rule to it.

For more information, see CM MES DEE Actions.