NiceLabel

NiceLabel is a comprehensive label design and printing software suite, widely used for creating barcode, RFID labels, and other types of labels.

This document aims to guide through the basic functionalities and features of NiceLabel.

Read detailed docs

Note

In our case we do not need NiceLabel Print Service

It is just used to print the labels manually

Terminology

An enterprise level nice label software consists of four parts

• NiceLabel Designer
• NiceLabel Automation Builder
• NiceLabel Integration Manager
• NiceLabel Print Service

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NiceLabel Designer

NiceLabel Designer is used to make static or dynamic UI of the labels.

Following steps can be followed to generate a new label.

1. Open Nice label Designer Software and click on new label.

2. Select printer from the dropdown in next screen.

3. You can click the next button at bottom of popup if you want to change like page orientation or custom page size.

   Else click Finish Button and a blank label will be created like below.

Detailed docs about creating new labels

In the top section of left menu there are some items that are used for designing the label And the bottom section in left menu is used to print dynamic data on label

1. Top Section

The top section is straightforward and self-explanatory based on the names of the elements, but let’s briefly discuss them.

Text Field

Text field is simple field in which any text can be written. It adjust its size according to its content. This is the most used entity in NiceLabel Designer

Text Box

Text Box is similar to Text Field with only key difference that it can wrap the text according to its specified width.

Barcode

Barcode is use to print barcode or QR code of different types.

To change the type of barcode just simply click on barcode option and click on the label a barcode will be printed and on left section under Barcode section you can select other types of barcode.

We use Code128 type barcode with our NiceLabel labels.

Picture

Picture is used to add image on label. To insert the image just simple drag and drop image on label or click on the picture on left menu bar, click on screen and a popup will be opened to select the image.

Basic Shapes

After picture their are some shapes like circle, rectangle and line that is used to draw any sort of shape or inset borders etc.

Inverse

At last you can see inverse option that just invert the text color and background color of text.

2. Bottom Section

Bottom section is crucial for printing dynamic content in label.

Variables

Variables are used to store dynamic content in them that can be then print on label.

There are four types of variables

1. Variable: Used to store any dynamic data coming from outward source.

2. Current Date: Used to print current date on label.

3. Current Time: Used to print current time on label.

4. Counter: Used to print how many labels have been print.

Steps to create a variable

1. Click on create variable on bottom section of left menu.

2. Enter variable name and hit create.

3. Drag the variable form left menu and drop on screen.

Functions

Function in NiceLabel provides various functionalities for data manipulation.

There are many type of them but we mostly just use the concatenate function.

Concatenate Function

Concatenate function merges two or more data source values into a single value.

Suppose we have two variables names as Style and Color and we want to concatenate them.

1. Select function option from left menu, click on concatenate function write you function name and click on create

   

2. Double click on the created function, a popup will be shown select the variable that we want to concatenate.

3. Select the delimiter that separates the both variables and click ok.

   

4. Just drag and drop function from the left menu on screen.

Read about other functions

Database

Databases can be used as a dynamic data source for label.

Database can be any external data source like excel or sql.

We don’t use db directly in the designer as we need to automate our printing process so we use NiceLabel Builder and NiceLabel Integration Manager to print labels.

Read detailed docs about using database in designer

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NiceLabel Automation Builder

NiceLabel Automation Builder is a tool that helps automate label printing processes, making them faster and reducing the need for manual work.

It integrates with existing business systems, including Web Integration, Excel, and database.

In our case we use

• Database Integration
• Web Integration(HTTP Server)

Database Integration

Nice Label Builder offers a good range of commonly used databases like sql and oracle etc to integrate and ODBC to integrate with other types of dbs and external resources.

Steps to automate label printing using db integration

Connecting to DB

To connect to SQL DB:

1. Open Nice Label Automation Builder:

   Click on New Configuration and select Database Trigger.

   You should see the following page.

   

2. Click on Define button under Database Connection.

3. Select the SQL DB from left menu, Enter the db credential.

4. Click on Test Connection to test the connection, then click OK.

Visual representation of above steps

Print Detection Options

After following the above procedure, you can configure the conditions under which the builder will print the label on the next screen.

We have the following options to set conditions for printing:

1. Get records on based on unique incremental field

2. Get records and delete them

3. Get records and update them

4. Get and manage records with custom SQL

Get records on based on unique incremental field

Retrieves rows from the database based on a selected incremental field (e.g., Primary Key, CreateAT field) and prints them.

The builder stores the highest ID from the previous prints and on next call, only fetches rows with IDs greater than the previous highest one.

Gets records and delete them

Retrieves rows from the database, sends them for printing, and then deletes them.

Get records and update them

Retrieves rows from the database based on your selected field that does not match the value you will update after printing.

Sends them for printing and updates the specified column with a given value.

For instance, after printing, update the isPrinted column to 1 for each printed record to mark it as processed.

Get and manage records with custom SQL

To handle extra cases, nicelabel provide the feature to write the custom queries.

Suppose we have a scenario to print the label from different PCs that need to get the records from same Database and Table.

To handle this scenario we will add some check in database on basis of which we will tell the both PCs which records they needs to fetch.

Suppose we have check in database named as PrinterNo (type int).

• Database stores records with a PrinterNo field.
• Computer checks periodically for new records.
• Computer sends records to Printer 1 and Printer 2 based on their PrinterNo.

Table Selection

From the advanced section at the bottom select table from which you want to print the records.

Importing variables from label file

Click on second tab Variables. Following screen will appear.

You should see the following page.

Click on Import button to import variables from label file.

Select the label file from the file explorer and click on Open.

All the variables from the label file will be imported to the automation.

Defining Print Job

1) Mapping variables with database entries

CLick on third tab Actions

Here you will see all the fields of the table that you selected in the Table Selection step.

If the variable imported from the label file and names of the database columns are same, then you can directly map the variables by clicking on Auto Map button at bottom right corner.

Else you can map the variables manually from the selection in front of every database variable.

Tip

It is best to keep the variable names same as the database columns name so they be mapped automatically.

Else it create confusion if the variable mapping resets to know which variable was mapped to which database column.

2) Defining Print Actions

2.1) Add label file

CLick on the Open Label button from the top menu. A new entry will be added in the list in left sidebar.

Click on the File Explorer icon to select the label file.

2.2) Set Printer

Click on the Set printer button from the top menu on the right side of Open Label button.

Select the printer from the dropdown in the opened screen.

2.3) Print label

Add print label job by clicking on Add Print Label button from the top menu on the right side of Set Printer button.

3) Deploy Configuration

To deploy the configuration, click on Deploy Configuration button from the very top menu and then click on the Deploy Configuration button.

This will deploy and opens the nicelabel manager software.

By default the configuration deployed on the manager will be stopped.

Click on Start button to start the configuration.

To test all of the process simply add a new record in the database. This will trigger the automation and print the label.