Label Magic v1.2

kenho900

Getting Started

   Install Label Magic to your desired directory. You may need to have a zip utility to uncompress the program from it's archive before you are able to install. Windows 98 contains such a utility built in, or you can look for other utilities on the internet (such as WinZip, or pkZip).
   On the left side of the application is the field editor. All fields that you place on your label have several features that you can edit. These features will show up and disappear depending on which field you are editing.
   On the right side of the application, you will see a grid over a white canvas. This is your label, and will be the primary work area where you can customize the label.
   Before you start adding fields to your label, it is probably a good idea to set up your label and page dimensions. You can do this by selecting Edit->Custom Label Settings.

Label Settings

   Using Edit->Custom Label Settings, you can customize your label size, margins, and gutter (the gap between labels on a page).

Customizing your label
* Measurement Units - Select between inches and centimeters.
* Label Dimensions - This is the size of your label, you can individually edit the width and height fields.
* Page Margins - Set the left margin to the size of gap between the left page edge and your first label. Set the top margin to the size of gap between the top page edge and your first label.
* Label Gutters - This is the size of gap between your labels. For the width gutter, enter the distance between the right edge of your first label and the left edge of your second label. If you label sheet only has 1 column, this amount should be 0. For the height gutter, enter the distance between the bottom edge of the top label, and the top edge of the label immediately below.
   On the top right of the form, you will see the calculated label columns and rows for your page. This calculation takes into account the label dimensions, page margins, label gutters, and page size. If you want to select a different size page, or select a different orientation (landscape, portrait), then click on the print setup button.
   Also pay attention to printer page limitations. Most printers are unable to print up to the very edges of the page. This is not a limitation of Label Magic, but a limitation of your printer. If the label sheet your attempting to print to has margins smaller than your printer limitation, you are likely to see some of your label cut off. Most label manufacturers are diligent about trying to create labels that will print within most printer's limitations. If you run into a case where your labels are getting cut off, the only solutions are to try and use only the center portion of your label, selecting a different label stock with more acceptable margins, or switching to a printer with little or no page margin limitations.
  

Adding Text


* Basics
   To add a text field to your label, click on the text button in your main form (represented by a capitol "A"). Your cursor should now change to an arrow with an outline attached. Position your cursor over the label canvas and click the left mouse button.
   You should now notice a blank outline. This is where your text will appear. You will also notice on the left hand side of the application, an edit box (just below simple text). You can enter your desired text here. If you wish to add a complex field (such as text imported from a file, a sequence, or a time/date stamp) you can select the Advanced Fields option. For more information, see the "Working with Advanced Fields" help.
   You will notice as you enter text that the size of the outline continues to grow toward the edges of the label. This is because you have "autosize" turned on. This is the default for the text field. If you wish to constrain the size of the text field, turn off "autosize" by right clicking on the text in the label, and deselecting "autosize".


* Changing font
   You can change the font of the text by clicking of the font bottom (located by a "F" on the left of your screen). You should see the font changes applied to your text on the label.


* Alignment
   All fields are able to be attached to corners of a label, and or be vertically and horizontally aligned. You can do this by right clicking on a field and selecting your desired alignment.


* Rotation
   You can rotate your barcode 90, 180, or 270 degrees clockwise. Simply left click on the text field, and select your desired rotation.


* Transparency
   You might notice that you can see the label's grid through the gaps in the text. This is transparency. You may wish for your text to appear opaque (nothing will show through the gaps). You can turn transparency off by right clicking on the text field and deselecting transparency.

Adding Memos


* Basics
   A memo field is much like a text field. However, a memo field allows word wrapping, and hard carriage returns. To memo a text field to your label, click on the memo button in your main form (represented by a page graphic). Your cursor should now change to an arrow with an outline attached. Position your cursor over the label canvas and click the left mouse button.
   You should now notice a blank outline. This is where your text will appear. You will also notice on the left hand side of the application, an edit box (just below simple text). You can enter your desired text here. There is also a new button by the text edit box. This button will bring up an editor where you can enter text including hard returns. If you wish to add a complex field (such as text imported from a file, a sequence, or a time/date stamp) you can select the Advanced Fields option. For more information see the "Working with Advanced Fields" help.
   While your entering text, this time you will notice that the size of the outline does not grow outwards. This is because the "autosize" option is turned off. This is the default for the text field. If you wish to allow the memo field to freely expand downwards, turn on "autosize" by right clicking on the text in the label, and selecting "autosize".


* Changing font
   You can change the font of the text by clicking of the font bottom (located by a "F" on the left of your screen). You should see the font changes applied to your text on the label.


* Alignment
   All fields are able to be attached to corners of a label, and or be vertically and horizontally aligned. You can do this by right clicking on a field and selecting your desired alignment.


* Rotation
   Rotation is not supported in Memo fields. Sorry.


* Transparency
   You might notice that you can see the label's grid through the gaps in the text. This is transparency. You may wish for your text to appear opaque (nothing will show through the gaps). You can turn transparency off by right clicking on the text field and deselecting transparency.

Adding Barcodes


About Barcodes

  If you are new to barcoding, please read the follow section.
  

  Barcodes are used to store text information into a set of black and white bars with the intention of electronic retrieval of the encoded text. There are many different types of barcodes available. These types vary by size, what characters they are able to store, and standard usages. UPC's, for example, are only able to encode 12 numeric digits. No letters, punctuation, or special characters are allowed. UPC's are used for retail product identification, so you usually wouldn't find one for shipping/packaging identification. When you scan in a barcode using a Barcode reader (like a barcode wand), these black and white bars are automatically decoded back into regular text. Many Barcode readers are "keyboard wedge" type, which actually makes the barcode act just like it was typed in! The uses for barcodes are many, and varied. The primary advantages being accuracy (scanning a barcode has a much higher percentage accuracy rate, than manually typing them in), speed, and in some cases privacy.
Interpretation Line - This is the human readable portion of the barcode. This may appear above or below your barcode, depending on barcode type. In Label Magic, you can select to show or hide this line by selecting the "Readable Line" option.

Check Digit - A Check Digit is a calculated number against your encoded text used for barcode verification. These check digits are often the last digit in the barcode. For example a UPC "4-99999-00000-7" has a check digit of "7". Often these check digits are shown in the interpretation line, but sometimes they are hidden, and don't even show up when you scan the barcode. Some Barcodes, like Code 39, don't use check digits. Others, like Code93, include 2 check digits. Label Magic automatically generates these check digits for you, so you shouldn't have to worry about them.

Height - All barcodes require a certain amount of height. The taller your barcode, the better chance of it being scanned in by a barcode reader. You can adjust the height of your barcode by draging the bottom right corner of your barcode, or by typing in the height edit box the exact height.

Width - You do not have total control over your barcode width, that is to say, you cannot expect a barcode to be exactly "X" units wide. This is because of how the barcode is created. There is a very specific tolerence of how big the bars in your barcode are, and the ratio between bars and spaces. Label Magic does not allow you to stray from this tolerence, otherwise you could create barcodes that are never able to be read. You can control how big the unit is used to draw the narrowest bar on your barcode. This is called the "Narrow Bar Width", and is the industry common method for increasing/decreasing the size of your barcode. This unit is usually measered in mils (1/1000th's of an inch). Normally you should just let Label Magic determine the barcode width for you. But if you have specific scanning requirements, you can adjust the narrow bar width.


* Basics
   To add a barcode to your label, click on the barcode button in your main form (represented by a miniature barcode). Your cursor should now change to an arrow with an outline attached. Position    your cursor over the label canvas and click the left mouse button.
You should now notice a blank outline. This is where your barcode will appear. You will also notice on the left hand side of the application, an edit box (just below simple text). You can enter your desired barcode text here. If you wish to add a complex field (such as text imported from a file, a sequence, or a time/date stamp) you can select the Advanced Fields option. For more information see the "Working with Advanced Fields" help.
   You will notice as you enter text that the size of the outline continues to grow toward the edges of the label. This is because you have "autosize" turned on. This is the default for the barcode field. If you wish to constrain the size of the text field, turn off "autosize" by right clicking on the outline in the label, and deselecting "autosize".


* Barcode Type
   You can select your desired barcode format on the left side of the application screen under "Barcode Type". Currently, Label Magic supports most commonly used barcode formats (Code 39, Code 39 extended, Code 93, Code 128, EAN 128, UPC A, UPC E, UPC 2 digit Extension, UPC 5 digit Extension, EAN 13, EAN 8, Interleaved 2 of 5, and Postnet). Not all barcode formats allow letters to be entered, and some formats have other constraints. To see more information about barcode formats, see the "Barcode Formats" help.


* Interpretation Line
   The interpretation line is the line of text that appears directly above or below the barcode. You may turn this option off and on by checking the appropriate check box on the left of your screen.


* Barcode Width (Auto Size)
   Barcodes are commonly measured from their smallest unit, the narrow bar element. This measurement in in 1/1000's of an inch (know as mils). Since most barcodes have a very limited tolerance for reading, it is recommended that you leave the "Auto Size" option on, which will automatically select the best size for your barcode.
   You may optionally select a custom barcode width. Either enter your desired narrow bar width in mils in the barcode width edit box, or use the up and down arrows attached to the width edit box. The up and down arrows will only select sizes that are supported by your current default printer. If you manually enter a size that is not supported by your current printer, then the closest available size will be used when you print.


* Alignment
All fields are able to be attached to corners of a label, and or vertically and horizontally aligned. You can do this by right clicking on a field and selecting your desired alignment.


* Rotation
   You can rotate your text 90, 180, or 270 degrees clockwise. Simply left click on the text field, and select your desired rotation.


* Transparency
   Transparency is not supported for barcodes. Barcodes should never have anything appear between the bar sets. This will corrupt the barcode and cause it to be unscannable.

Adding Shapes


* Basics
   To add a shape to your label, click on the shape button in your main form (represented by a miniature square, circle and triangle). Your cursor should now change to an arrow with an outline attached. Position your cursor over the label canvas and click the left mouse button. You should now notice an outline around a square. This is the default shape.


* AutoSize
   AutoSize is not supported since the shape automatically fills the borders of the bounding rectangle.


* Changing Shapes
   On the left hand side of the application, several shape buttons have appeared. Click on the button corresponding to your desired shape.


* Line Size
   This is the width of the line that the shape is drawn with. Select a size up to 9. For a size larger than 9, you should add a rectangle shape and fill it with black.


* Pen Color
   This is the color of the line that is drawn on the outside of the shape. Press the "Select Line Color" button to change from the default color (black).


* Fill Color
   This is the fill color for the shape. You may change the fill color by pressing the "Select Fill Color" button. Also note that when you have transparency turned on, the color white is always transparent.


* Fill Style
   Use this to change the brush style used to fill your shape. This is useful for painting hatch patterns.


* Alignment
   All fields are able to be attached to corners of a label, and or vertically and horizontally aligned. You can do this by right clicking on a field and selecting your desired alignment. Note that since shapes always conform to the size of the selection rectangle, you won't see any effects by changing the vertical and horizontal alignment (except for the vertical and horizontal lines).


* Rotation
   Rotation is not supported for shapes.


* Transparency
   You might notice that you can see the label's grid through the gaps in the shape. This is transparency. You may wish for your shape to appear opaque (nothing will show through the gaps). You can turn transparency off by right clicking on the shape field and deselecting transparency.

Adding Images


* Basics
   To add an image to your label, click on the image button in your main form (represented by a very artistic rendition of a sail boat :-). Your cursor should now change to an arrow with an outline attached. Position your cursor over the label canvas and click the left mouse button. You should now notice a blank outline. This is where your image will appear. You will also notice on the left hand side of the application, an edit box with a button on the right side. Use this to load a graphic image.


* Maintain Aspect Ratios
   After you have loaded an image you may notice that it does not entirely fill the selection rectangle. This is because "Maintain Aspect Ratio" is checked. By keeping this checked, your image will never scale out of proportions (the height and width will always be an exact ratio of the original image's height and width). Deselect this to option to allow the image to stretch to fill the entire selection rectangle.


* AutoSize
   This option is not supported for images. Images are automatically stretched or reduced to fit the bounding rectangle.


* Alignment
   All fields are able to be attached to corners of a label, and or vertically and horizontally aligned. You can do this by right clicking on a field and selecting your desired alignment.


* Rotation
   Rotation is not supported for images. Most image editors can accomplish this for you, and since they are designed for image manipulation, they can perform this action with much more accuracy than what is built in to this application.


* Transparency
   Transparency is handled differently for images than all the other fields. When you add a new image, transparency is defaulted to off. You can turn it on by right clicking on the image and selecting transparent. Instead of white being the default transparent color, the color of the very bottom left pixel is used.

Z Order

   You might notice that some objects are obscured by other fields. This is due to the Z order. The application draws each object in an order. You may change this order by selecting an object on the label, right clicking, and selecting "move to top" or "move to bottom". If your having trouble with an object that is behind another object, you may need to "move to bottom" the top object.
   Also take note that this is the same order that is sent to the printer. Thus if one object is overlaying another object, it will also appear that way on the printout.

Working With Advanced Fields

   Advanced fields are one of the most exciting features of Label Magic. This option allows you to import text from a file, add a sequence number, a date time stamp, some text, or any combination of the above.


* Basics
   When you add a text, memo, or barcode to your label you may allow any of these objects to use advanced fields instead of simple text. Select the advanced fields option on the left of the application screen. By pressing the "Edit" button next to advanced fields, the advanced field editor will appear. To add an advanced field, first select your desired field, and press the button with a single arrow to the right. The list box on the right will show the field you've just added. You can remove a single field by selecting the field, and pressing the button with a single arrow to the left. You can remove all fields by pressing the button with 2 arrows to the left.
   Advanced fields are added together from top to bottom to produce the final text that is printed. You can reorganize the fields in the list box by click and dragging a field in the list box to a new placement.


* Text
   This option is for adding a simple text field.


* Imported Text
   Use this option to add text from a file. Label Magic Pro supports standard ASCII text files, such as those produced by the simple text application. See the "Importing Files" help for a more detailed description of these files.
   Select the field number (the field number depends on it's position in the imported file). The field number 1 is the very first field from a file.
   You can set the minimum size for the imported text. If the imported text is smaller than the minimum size, then extra pad characters are appended onto the end of the text field until it is equal to the minimum size.
   You can also select what character to use for padding. A space is the standard default character.


Label Formats

   In order to get this product out in a timely fashion, we were unable to include any premade label format files with this release. We will try to most popular label formats available soon. You can help posting any formats you've created and saved in our support forums at: http://www.digitalcandle.com/support . Please include the brand, identification number, and small explanation of what type of label.

請下載

Name : gamez
Code : LM-3933-89