To customize SerialMagic to fit your workflow and utilize features only in SerialMagic Pro, you can use the SerialMagic Action Profiles.
As long as Application setting “Use Action Profile” is checked, you can click on the Action Profiles Manager in the main SerialMagic window.
If you right-click in this area, you can choose from the following options:
Add Profile – Opens a prompt for a name and description for your new Action Profile.
Load Profile – Allows you to browse for an .msma file, which contains a SerialMagic Action Profile.
Remove Profile – Removes the selected profile from the Action Profiles Manager. This will not remove the .msma file from your computer.
Edit Profile – Edit the name or description of this profile.
Copy Profile – Opens a prompt similar to the Add or Edit Profile options, but will copy the selected profile’s contents into the newly created profile.
Set to Active – Allows the user the option of setting the selected profile to active.
On – Applies to “Default: Global Actions”, only. When “Default: Global Actions” is “On” these actions will be run every scan. These are useful for scanning special barcodes to change the current SMAP, and other such functions.
When you select a profile, you will notice the Actions tab appears. If you switch to this area, you will see a list of Actions or Patterns that SerialMagic will execute in order from top to bottom. By right-clicking, you can Add, Edit, Delete, and arrange (Move Up and Down) Actions and Patterns.
Action options:
Data-In
Inserts the unmodified scanned data, Key
Enters the selected keystroke selected from the drop-down menu. To simulate modifier keys, select the appropriate checkboxes.
Text
Enters the desired string of text.
Delay
This action delays SerialMagic from performing additional actions, for a specified amount of time, in milliseconds.
Date/Time
Places a timestamp with different formatting options.
Focus
Switch the focus to a target window. For easy window selection, drag and drop the crosshair onto your desired application.
Open
Opens a desired application. Use the folder icon to browse to your target executable.
Clip
Clip data from start and/or end of scan or packet. The FIND option will use the chosen characters from the FIND Pattern to clip the contents of the data, instead of a fixed amount of characters.
Post-Data
Post data that has been modified, by a Clip action, for example.
Post-Part
Post the range of data specified from Byte X to Byte Y (each character in the sequence is 1 Byte). Or use specified “FIND value” as marker for Start or End of desired data (must use the “FIND” SMA prior if using “FIND value” as marker).
Prompt-Num / Post-Num
Display a prompt asking for number input. The Message field allows you to customize the prompt with a message, and enabling the location option will let you position the prompt, using pixel coordinates (top-left is 0 x 0). Call the Post-Num action later on to post the input from the prompt.
WEB
Launches default web browser to specified URL prefix, followed by barcode data, with optional URL suffix.
Example: http://restock.com/mobile/findupc.php?w=1&upc=(Barcode) Done
Stop SerialMagic from processing any further actions in the profile.
Exit
Stop SerialMagic from processing any further actions on the selected list. If the list returns to another list processing may resume in the list that is returned to.
SET-ACTIVE-SMAP
Use this action to “Set Active” another SMAP.
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POST-SCAN-TIMESTAMP
Use this action to post the timestamp of the scan to the keyboard cursor. Only available with OPN-series scanners (Scanfob® 2002 and BatchMagic) or KDC-series scanners (KDC100, KDC200, KDC300)
PROMPT-READ-SCAN / POST-SCAN
This action will prompt the user with a message, and allow the user to scan a barcode into the prompt. Describe the type of scan by
“Identifying” it (example: Part Number, Serial Number, etc.) then later you can use SCAN action to post that type of scan. The POST-SCAN Action requires an SMAP to be chosen and will be performed after the data is posted.
SET DATA / GET-DATA / REMOVE DATA
These three actions work as a data storage mechanism. If for example, you wanted to capture a Part Number of an item, and save it to be posted at another time, use the “SET-DATA” action to “Save” the data, with “Marker” set to “Part Number.” To retrieve the data from memory, simply use the “GET-DATA” “Part Number” action, and then to post the data, use the “POST-DATA” action. To remove the stored value for “Part Number” use “REMOVE-DATA”: “Part Number”.
DEVICE-ID-POST
This action has two options to post a unique identifier for the scanner that sent the data. The first option, Friendly name, will post the serial number for the scanner in a format similar to what you see as the connection name the main window of SerialMagic. The other option, BT address, will post the hexadecimal MAC address from the Bluetooth device that sent the data.
SCANNER-SN-POST
This action posts the Serial Number of the device initiating the scan.
Pattern options:
MATCH-BYTE - Looks for a particular hex value in the data. Choose an ASCII character and SerialMagic will pick the matching ASCII hex value.
MATCH - Looks for a certain set of characters at the specified position in the data.
LENGTH – Allows matching based on the total length of data packet, and can optionally require match of data.
DO-WHEN-SCAN-COUNT - Provides actions based on the number of scans received, example “Every 3 Scans do…”
FIND - Searches incoming data for a specified character or string of characters.
SerialMagic Action Profile (SMAP) Example
This example will create 3 columns in a spreadsheet based on the length of the input data. Suppose for example barcodes are being scanned and you want Part Number, Quantity, and a date stamp. The Part Numbers are 6 or more digits and the Quantity is less than 6 digits. The screens following show the proper settings are added to the Edit Action Profile dialog.
-First, go to “Action Profile Settings” from the main screen -Right-click and select “Add Profile”
-Give the profile a name and description, as shown in the following screen.
Click OK, and Save the new profile. Next, highlight the profile, and click on the Actions tab. Right-click and choose “Add Pattern.”
For this profile, we will choose “greater than or equal to” and enter “6” in the field, and click OK. Then select the Length Pattern and you will see an Actions tab appear at top.
Switch to the Actions tab, then right-click and select “Add Action”. First add a “Data-In” action. Then, add a HOME keystroke by selecting Key from the first drop-down menu, and HOME from the second drop-down menu. Repeat this again for the ENTER key. These two keys will ensure that we are in the first column of a blank row in our spreadsheet.
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At this point in the profile, once a barcode over 6 digits is scanned, we will be at the first column of a blank row. Now we can insert the data into this cell.
To insert the scanned data, we will use the action: DATA-IN. Right-click, and again, choose Add Action. Select Data-In, and click OK. Now we want to move into the next column, and the tab key does just that. Add another Key Action with the selected key being TAB. Your complete pattern should look like this:
Click on the Pattern tab to see the main list of Actions again. Create another LENGTH pattern with “less than 6”. When a barcode of less than 6 digits (quantity scan) is scanned, we want SerialMagic to put in that data, tab to the next column, and insert a datestamp. This would use the
Actions Data-In, Key: Tab, and finally the desired date/time format.
Then save the SMA profile and when barcodes of 6 or more digits are scanned, they will be entered into the first column, and barcodes that are under 6 digits will be posted following a date stamp in next two columns.