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Controlling BarTender from Within Other ProgramsMost users print their first BarTender labels using the same "stand-alone" print method of most Windows programs -- simply clicking on the "Print" option of the File menu. But, with BarTender, many users are looking to add the label printing capabilities to other programs, such as manufacturing, inventory, shipping, receiving, accounting and other supply-chain applications running stand-alone and networked across the enterprise. There are a number of easy ways to automate control of BarTender. In fact, your users don't even have to know that it's BarTender actually printing the labels. One of the automation tools, the Commander utility available in the Enterprise Edition of BarTender, even allows for control from non-Windows programs. Depending on your goals and the capabilities of your other programs, there are three basic ways to control BarTender: ActiveX AutomationActiveX (also known as OLE2) is a Microsoft standard for interaction between Windows programs. The ActiveX Automation standard supported by the Enterprise Edition of BarTender is a specific class of ActiveX that allows one program to control another.What Can You Do with ActiveX Automation? Any program that can issue ActiveX commands can automatically launch BarTender into "the background" (where it stays "invisible" to your users). You can then have your program specify one or more print jobs and then either close BarTender when done or leave it open (ready to instantly process the next print job request). A wide variety of functions are available for interfacing to and controlling BarTender. You can:
What Kinds of Applications Can Issue ActiveX Commands? Most standard Windows development tools can issue ActiveX Automation commands, including:
Many prewritten applications also provide an interface that gives users access to Windowsī ActiveX capabilities. (Any application such as MS-Word or Excel that supports "Visual Basic for Applications" certainly will have that capability.) Command-Line InterfaceAlthough the Command-Line method of controlling BarTender, available in both the Enterprise and Professional Editions, uses less sophisticated technology than ActiveX Automation, it still allows many programs to load BarTender and define and launch print jobs.What Kinds of Programs Can Issue Command Lines? Almost any development environment is capable of issuing a command line, as can any prewritten application with the ability to start up other programs. Sample Command Line This is a sample command line for use inside of Visual Basic. It launches BarTender (if itīs not already running), loads a label format called "ucc-ean128.btw," and prints it:
The "Shell" part is specific to Visual Basic and differs somewhat in other development environments. The part inside the quotes is the actual command line and will not change for other environments. What Can I Do and Not Do Using Command Lines? Among the available functions are:
Some capabilities not available when using command-line control instead of ActiveX Automation are:
Commander Integration Utility for Enterprise and Stand-Alone ApplicationsThe methods discussed above for integrating BarTender with other label programs involve passing one or more commands from another program to BarTender for execution. Sometimes, however, itīs not convenient or even possible to control a Windows program in this manner. When You Might Need Commander Here are some challenges that Commander solves.
How Commander Works The Commander Integration Utility in the Enterprise Edition of BarTender lets you launch and control label jobs with little or no changes to your current applications.
This is an ideal solution for large, non-Windows enterprise systems where directly controlling a Windows program would be difficult, if not impossible. Great for Windows-Only Systems Too! Although Commander's full benefit is achieved when giving Windows capabilities to non-Windows applications, such cross-platform operation is not required. Commander is so easy to set up and use that some people use it in pure Windows environments so they donīt have to code even the simplest ActiveX Automation or Command-Line functions.
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