XLabel is primarily designed for use in an administrative support environment. It is our goal to provide an easy to use, consistently reliable and inexpensive tool for printing labels. It was decided that an XLabel user should be able to print either from the screen or from a file, in either single or multiple or replicated labels.
XLabel is used to print primarily mailing labels, though it will print to most commercial dye-stamped laser label sheets (we are adding more every day).
XLabel provides automatically incremented serial numbering as well as postal net bar-codes ( currently being reviewed for approval).
XLabel attempts to comply with International Postal regulations and standards where possible. This has the effect of limiting serial number placement to the top most line of an address. Additionally, Post Net bar coding is only allowed on the lowest most line.
# $ K File:
XLabel allows for the opening and printing of addresses (or other information) from a file. The file must be ASCII printable characters not containing any occurrence of two asterisk together (e.g. **). These are the internal delimiters used by XLabel. (This will change with the second quarter 93 release). See File Formats.
To print from a file:
Choose File from the menu. Choose Open from the popup menu. Using the common file dialogs, locate and open the file desired. There are three print related buttons on the FileOpen child window. These are Print, Print All, and Replicate. There is also a multiple selection list box at the bottom of the window. This list box will display all of the addresses found in the file.
The list box will allow for one or more addresses to be chosen to be printed. You can select more addresses than are on a complete sheet of labels. The title bar of the window will keep a running count of the number of addresses chosen. If you choose more than a complete sheet, XLabel is prepared to print multiple sheets. If less than a single sheet is chosen, the addresses will be placed on the sheet beginning at the upper left and flowing down the sheet row, by row. An address can be de-selected by clicking on it a second time to remove the highlight.
The Print button will initiate the printing of all of the addresses currently selected.
The Print All button will initiate the printing of all of the addresses in the file.
The Replicate button will fill the entire sheet with the single address chosen and then initiate the printing.
# $ K File Formats:
Address definitions:
XLabel considers an address to be one to ten lines of less than one hundred (100) characters each. An address file, as defined by XLabel is a series of addresses, each separated by a blank line all contained in a single file. Our default extension for file names is .lbl, but XLabel is not all that particular. Any file name will suffice so long as it contains only ASCII printable characters.
The size of an address file is strictly limited by the management of and size of memory within your machine. XLabel will open the file, counting and displaying the addresses into the list box at the bottom of the file window. We have tested the program with various sizes of address files including one containing twenty thousand addresses without errors. Obviously, the slower the machine and the larger the file, the longer it will take to both open and print the file.
# $ K Label:
Designed for administrative support personnel, XLabel follows a well studied model of refined work patterns from clerical employees in government agencies and small businesses. XLabel is modeled on the current label definition approach.
The current label definition is chosen from the Label Definition Dialog. From the time that the dialog is closed with the OK button, the program will print only the style of label that was chosen in the dialog. You can think of the current label definition as a filter for the information that the program is sending through to the printer. Addresses from files or from the screen data entry forms are filtered through this label.
The current label definition is easily changed. It can also be changed with the File child window in place, though not with the Quick child window as that one is dependent upon the definition resident at the time that the window was created.
# $K Label Definitions
A label definition for the XLabel program requires the following elements:
number of columns of labels on the sheet;
number of labels per column (rows);
height of an individual label;
width of an individual label;
margin from the top of the sheet;
margin from the left hand of the sheet;
margin between the columns of labels;
All of these measurements are expected in whole or decimal fractions of inches. [Our apologies to our European XLabel users. We expect to have metric measurements in place by the 2nd Quarter 1993 release].
As not all laser printers are precise in how they carry the paper across the transfer wire and the image drum, any new definitions should be tried with scrap paper before using expensive laser labels.
A new label definition is added to the XLabel program with the ADD button on the label definition dialog selected from the Label menu item.
A label definition is deleted from the XLabel program using the Delete button from the label definition dialog selected from the Label menu item.
The label definition elements edit boxes in the label definition dialog can be cleared using the Clear button from the label definition dialog selected from the Label menu item.
# $K Selecting a label definition:
The XLabel program uses a label definition as its currently selected goal for printing your labels. This goal is moved into place when you select a label definition. The label definition is selected by choosing Label from the menu. This will bring up the label definition dialog. A list box in the bottom half of the dialog will display the currently available label definitions.
When a definition from the list box is selected (highlighted with a mouse click), it will populate the edit boxes in the dialog with its specific values. Whatever label definition is highlighted when the OK button is pressed will be the currently selected label definition.
i.e.: If you are using Avery:5163 as the current label definition and you wish to change to Avery:5162, you select Label from the menu. When the dialog is displayed, click the mouse on the definition for Avery:5162 and them press the OK button. Thereafter, until the program is shutdown or you change the selection, Avery:5162 is the label definition that the program will print.
A label definition can be made the default by checking the Use as default check box prior to pressing the OK button. That label definition will be saved and used as the default definition whenever the XLabel program is invoked.
# $ K Resolution:
The label definition chosen is defined in inches and decimal fractional inches (e.g. .23 inches). These measurements are translated to the level of precision of the currently selected printer. This resolution means that the same settings on different printers will have different effects.
For instance, if your printer definition has its resolution in dots per inch (DPI) set to 300, then potentially a change in your label definitions can have an impact down to the one three hundredth part of an inch. A left margin of .1 would move the left edge of the label over 30 dots to the right (or one tenth on an inch) . A left margin of .11 would move it over 33 dots.
The same label definition used on a machine with the printer resolution set at 75 DPI would still move the label over a tenth of an inch, but the margin of slop is four times greater as .1 left margin here only translates to 7 dots (true, these are bigger dots).
The margin of error is inversely proportional to the level of the printer resolution.
