POF Manager
2
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 system is 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.
