Label Flow Command Line Interface

The Label Flow command line interface included with Enterprise Edition allows for easy control of Label Flow from any traditional Windows application or Web application. Load Label Flow, select label designs, specify data source options, choose target printers and configure print options, all from your software application.

Transparent Operation

When you print labels from your application using the Label Flow command line interface, your users don't even need to know that Label Flow is printing the labels. Transparent integration means labels will print in the background with no required user interaction.

Web-based XML Integration

Interfacing with your web application is easy with the Label Flow command line interface. Options and data can be passed via XML from your web application. The command line interface will parse the XML data and print labels using the specified options and data. The command line interface will also accept XML data from traditional Windows applications.

How Integration Works

Download Label Flow Command Line Interface Instructions (52 KB)

• Step 1: Design your labels using Label Flow
• Step 2: Add code to your application that will call the Label Flow command line interface with the appropriate parameters
•  Sample Integration Code (Visual Basic .NET)
  
  

  Public Sub printLabel(ByVal item_number As String, ByVal num_copies As String, ByVal printer_name As String)

  Dim proc_id As Integer
  Dim command As String
  Dim program_location As String
  Dim filter_statement As String
  Dim design_file As String

  ' Set program location
  program_location = """C:\Program Files\Jolly Technologies\Label Flow\CommandLine.exe"""

  ' Set number of copies
  num_copies = """" & num_copies & """"

  ' Set printer name
  printer_name = """" & printer_name & """"

  ' Select the requested item record from the database that was configured at design-time
  filter_statement = """`Item_No`=" & item_number & """"

  ' Set design file
  design_file = """C:\my_label.jps"""

  ' Build the command line
  command = program_location & " /copies " & num_copies
  command = command & " /printer " & printer_name
  command = command & " /filter " & filter_statement
  command = command & " " & design_file

  ' Start the CommandLine application, and store the process id
  proc_id = Shell(command, AppWinStyle.MaximizedFocus)

  End Sub

• Step 3: Print labels from your application

Feature Highlights

Print pre-designed labels
The Command Line Interface can print any labels that were designed using Label Flow.

Comprehensive options
Many of the options available in Label Flow are can be passed as parameters to the Command Line Interface including:

Printing variable data is easy
There are three ways to pass variable data using the Label Flow command line interface.

• 1. Name-value pairs
  Data may be passed in the form of name-value pairs such as Name="Michael Larkin".
• 2. XML formatted data
  Data may be provided in an XML formatted file.
• 3. Database query string
  Records may be selected for printing by passing a database query string, similar to the WHERE clause in a SQL SELECT statement.

Full scripting support
The Label Flow command line interface is fully scriptable and you pass batch files to run sequences of commands for printing multiple groups of labels.

Detailed logging
The details of each action can be logged in a detailed log file.

Simplify User Interaction

The Label Flow command line interface can also be an ideal solution for novice users. For example, a shortcut to the command line interface can be created on the desktop, that when clicked, prints a set of labels, making label printing as simple as double-clicking on an icon.