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Printing Integration#

🔒 PrintingIntegration.Show

Overview#

Critical Manufacturing MES offers an out-of-the-box printing mechanism that allows you to effortlessly create labels or reports using the Printable Document entity, which can be found in the Business Data menu. This feature includes the ability to configure both the layout and respective contexts, which are dynamically applied at runtime using an internal layout creator and editor.

Moreover, the Printing Integration entity, which can be found in the Administration menu, works with the Printable Document entity to offer out-of-the-box integration with two popular printing solutions, NiceLabel and BarTender, as well as provides easy extensibility for integration with other vendors.

Additionally, the integration methods supported by Critical Manufacturing MES with NiceLabel and BarTender are File and Web Service based.

You can learn more about how to use Printing Integrations in our tutorial: Third Party Label Printing Integration.

Tying Everything Together#

graph LR
    C1[Printer Type Printers Context] -.- Main[Printing Integration]
    Main --- L1[Printable Document]

classDef mermaid_title color:#000, fill:#fafafa, stroke:#fafafa, stroke-width:0x, font-size:100%, font-weight:200;
classDef mermaid_start color:#000, fill:#fafafa, stroke:#fafafa, color:#fafafa, stroke-width:0x, font-size:100%, visibility: hidden;
classDef mermaid_businessdata color:#000, fill:#65CDE8, stroke:#65CDE8, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_nonbusinessdata color:#000, fill:#B7DEE8, stroke:#B7DEE8, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_entity color:#000, fill:#FB9F53, stroke:#FB9F53, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_entitylinked color:#000, fill:#FCD5B5, stroke:#FCD5B5, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_context color:#000, fill:#B9CDE5, stroke:#B9CDE5, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_optional color:#000, fill:#B7DEE8, stroke:#65CDE8, stroke-width:1px, font-size:100%, stroke-dasharray: 5 5;
class Main mermaid_entity
class A1,A2,A3,A4,A5,A6,A7,A8,A9,A10 mermaid_businessdata
class L1,L2,L3,L4,L5,L6 mermaid_entitylinked
class C1,C2,C3,C4,C5,C6 mermaid_context
class N1,N2,N3,N4,N5,N6 mermaid_nonbusinessdata

click L1 "../../business-data/printable-document"
click C1 "../../administration/tables/smart-tables/printertypeprinterscontext"
click Main "../../administration/printing-integration"

The summary of a Printing Operation workflow can be seen in the following diagram:

flowchart TD
  A[Print Operation] -->|Resolve PrinterTypePrintersContext| C{Has Printer Integration?}
  C -->|No| D[Use default logic]
  C -->|Yes| E[Format Data Context Items<br>Use Printing Integration<br>InputFormatterRule<br>and<br>Printable Document External Layout<br>if exists]
  E -..->|Default DEE Rules| G{Print<br>System?}
  subgraph DEE
  G -->|BarTender| PS{Integration<br>Type?}
  G -->|NiceLabel| PS2{Integration<br>Type?}
  PS -->|File| H1[PrintingIntegration<br>BarTender<br>FileInput]
  PS -->|WebService| H2[PrintingIntegration<br>BarTender<br>WebServiceInput]
  PS2 -->|File| J1[PrintingIntegration<br>NiceLabel<br>FileInput]
  PS2 -->|WebService| J2[PrintingIntegration<br>NiceLabel<br>WebServiceInput]
  end

  E --> IM{Integration<br>Method?}
  IM -->|File|Call1[Call PrintingIntegrationFile<br>NameGenerator]
  IM -->|WebService|Call2[Call WebService<br><br>Use Authentication Method<br>defined in Printing Integration Service body<br>=Result from Printing Integration<br>InputFormatterRule]

  Call2 --> SCM{Web Service Call Mode<br>Synchronous?}
  SCM -->|Yes| FWSR{OutputFormatter<br>defined?}
  SCM -->|No| RIE[Run Integration Entry]
  FWSR -->|Yes| OFYES[Parse the response]
  FWSR -->|No| OFNO[Keep response as-is]
  RIE --> End[End]
  Call1 --> End[End]
  OFYES --> End
  OFNO --> End

  Call2 -.->|Default Authentication Methods| G2{Print<br>System?}
  subgraph DAM
  G2 -->|BarTender| PIAM[Basic Authentication<br>None<br><br>Printing Integration Authentication Method<br>Generic Table]
  G2 -->|NiceLabel| PIAM
  end

classDef mermaid_title color:#000, fill:#fafafa, stroke:#fafafa, stroke-width:0x, font-size:100%, font-weight:200;
classDef mermaid_start color:#000, fill:#fafafa, stroke:#fafafa, color:#fafafa, stroke-width:0x, font-size:100%, visibility: hidden;
classDef mermaid_businessdata color:#000, fill:#65CDE8, stroke:#65CDE8, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_nonbusinessdata color:#000, fill:#B7DEE8, stroke:#B7DEE8, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_entity color:#000, fill:#FB9F53, stroke:#FB9F53, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_entitylinked color:#000, fill:#FCD5B5, stroke:#FCD5B5, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_context color:#000, fill:#B9CDE5, stroke:#B9CDE5, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_optional color:#000, fill:#B7DEE8, stroke:#65CDE8, stroke-width:1px, font-size:100%, stroke-dasharray: 5 5;
classDef mermaid_state color:#000, fill:#d7e4bd, stroke:#000, stroke-width:1px, font-size:100%, font-weight:300;
class Entity mermaid_entity
class Version1,Version2,Version3,Version4,Version5,Version6,Version7,Version8,Version9,Version10,Version11 mermaid_businessdata
class RevisionA,RevisionB,RevisionC mermaid_entitylinked

Available Pages#

Dive into the pages below to explore more about Printing Integration:

Main Page#

Generic Operations#