Braton Group POF Manager User manual

POF Manager
A Non-middleware Printing Solution for Legacy Applications
Braton Groupe Sarl
Copyright 2006
February 23, 2006
PRODUCT WHITE PAPER

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The middleware
approach isn’t always
possible, and custom
code becomes
necessary.
POF Manager
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and other business
management software provide businesses with greater control
over their processes, but thermal printing of labels is often
overlooked or inefficient. A common solution to this problem is to
implement a middleware solution that bridges the gap between
the host system and label printing software.
The Printer Object File (POF) software add-on,provided with your
top-range labeling design software, minimizes the amount of
customization necessary and does not require any understanding
of a printer’s native code.
POF Manager provides
a viable alternative to
completely custom code
for driving thermal
transfer label printers.
What is a Printer Object File?
This utility generates intelligent native printer code to a Printer
Object File based on your labeling design software’s label design.
The POF has placeholders for variable data in the output code
that allow the host application to “swap” field names within the
output file with actual variable data from the legacy database
before the code is sent to the printer. The information in the files
is identified by delimiters that enable an analysis program to
detect the data and replace it with the corresponding values.
How it Works
First a label is designed using your labeling designer, and then
the label is output as a native printer code file using the POF
utility. This printer code can then be uploaded to the host system
for integration into the existing code.
Once the POF file has been generated and incorporated into the
host system, labels can be printed without a labeling software
program, and can be printed from applications that run on
platforms other than Windows. The relationship between your
labeling designer, the POF file and the host systemis illustrated
in Figure 1.
Although this does provide a viable alternative to custom code for
those that cannot use middleware, it is not an on-the-fly solution
and requires a significant knowledge of the legacy system to
properly prepare the analysis program.

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Figure 1: The relationship between your labeling designer, a POF file and the host system.
Generating a POF File
The structure of a POF file is determined by the configuration file
(POC) that is used to generate it. A general configuration file is
provided with your labeling designer; it can be used as-is or as
the base for a customized configuration file.
Use the following steps to generate a POF file based on the
general POC. An example of a label design and its corresponding
POF file are shown in Figure 2.
1.Design a label using your labeling designer, adding as many
fixed or variable text, bar code and graphic fields as needed.
Test and fine-tune the design by printing to the printer using
your labeling designer.
2.Select Export from the File menu.
3.A sub-menu will appear; select as a Printer Object File
(POF).
4.A list of configuration files will appear; select Tki\common
GENERAL.POC.
5.The Save as dialog appears.
6.Assign a name to your file and save it in the folder of your
choice. The file will be saved with the extension “.pof.”

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Figure 2: A label design file and a POF file exported from the label design.
The POF configuration
is completely
customizable.
Customizing POF Output
POF files are written in a printer language enriched with specific
information. Each POC file contains definitions for attributes such
as the field separator, end of field identifier, substitution
characters, quantity identifier and variable identifiers. It also
contains a user information section that contains file description
fields that can be modified by the user.
The top-range of your label design software includes a utility,
POF Configuration Manager, which is used to create a custom
configuration file. When POF Manager is started, the
configuration parameters are set with defaults that can be edited
to make the POF file compatible with any host specification. In
addition to editing the parameters, the configuration settings can
be reordered using drag and drop. Figure 3 illustrates the POF
Manager user interface.
To generate a custom POC file:
1.Select POF Manager from your label design software’s
Program folder.

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2.All possible configuration parameters will appear in a tree
structure. Select a field to be edited and enter or select the
value in the text entry box that appears above the tree.
3.Drag and drop to rearrange the fields if necessary.
4.Save the new configuration file.
5.When exporting a label to a POF file, select the new
configuration file as the template.
Figure 3: The POF Configuration Manager, used to configure POF file settings.

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POF can minimize the
amount customization
necessary when
implementing label
printing.
Conclusion
For many companies that have legacy systems or databases in
place there are few alternatives to custom written code for
implementing thermal transfer printing of labels. Making use of
the POF Manager utility can be an effective solution that
minimizes the amount of customization necessary.
POF Manager provides a non-middleware solution for legacy
applications that does not require the end user to understand
printer code and can be easily integrated into an existing system
by swapping out variables.
Copyright 2005 Braton Groupe sarl. All rights reserved.
This white paper is for informational purposes only. Product specifications are likely to change.