Label formats are composed of several different fields that determine where and how different types of data appear in the label design. The fields on a label may differ in size, location, orientation, and data type. You must define information that you plan to print on the label as a field in the label format. Once you define the fields, you can pass data into the fields and print them.
This tutorial assumes that you are using IPL commands.
To design a basic label format
1 Using a label from your roll of media, sketch an example of a format that you want to create. Your format can include any or all of these fields:
• Human-readable
• Bar code
• Line
• Box
• User-defined characters (UDCs) or graphics
2 Determine the placement of each field from the label origin. The label origin (oØ,Ø) is the top left corner of the label.
• To determine the horizontal or X origin of each field, measure the distance from the left side of the label to the upper left corner of the field.
• To determine the vertical or Y origin of each field, measure the distance from the top of the label to the upper left corner of the field.
Note: On the 4400 and 7421 printers, be sure to use the label width
command to set the actual width of your labels; otherwise, the Y origins will be incorrect.
When you combine the two numbers, they form the field origin oX,Y. In the illustration below, the horizontal or X origin of the human- readable field measures 12.7 mm (0.5 in) from the left side of the label and the vertical or Y origin measures 6.35 mm (0.25 in) from the top of the label.
T H I S I S T H E S A M P L E L A B E L
label origin = oØ,Ø
IPL.002 x ➤ ➤ 0.5" 0.25" y
field origin = X, Y Label motion from printer
Code 39 label
3 Convert the measurements for the human-readable field from inches to dots. Use this equation:
25.4 mm (1 in) = 203 dots 1 mm = 16 dots
In this example, the human-readable field origin in dots is: 12.7 mm (0.5 in) x 203 dots = 102 dots (X dimension)
Note: If you have a 300 dpi or 406 dpi printer, substitute your dpi
where you see 203 dots in these equations.
4 Convert the measurements for the line field and the bar code field to complete this example.
To create or program the label format
1 Choose a bar code symbology and a human-readable font that suit your needs.
For this example, you are going to use the proportional outline font and the Code 39 symbology. See Chapter 7, “IPL Command Reference,” for information on the different symbologies and fonts available to you.
2 Define the parameters for each type of field in the format.
Field Type in Label Represented By
Human-readable H
Bar code B
Line L
Box W
User-defined characters (UDCs) or graphics U
See “Commands Listed by Task” in Chapter 6 for a list of the
parameters you can define for each type of field. For example, you need to define the following parameters for a human-readable field:
Parameter Value for this Example
Field type H0
Field origin o102,51 Font c25 (outline font) Field direction f0 (horizontal)
Height h20 (multiplied 20 times) Width w20 (multiplied 20 times) Field source and number of characters d0,30
3 Create command strings for each type of field. You must bracket your field information between the start of text character (<STX>) and the end of text character (<ETX>).
When you combine the parameters in the previous table into a command string, it should look like this:
4 Combine the command strings you defined into one file and add the following commands bracketed by <STX> and <ETX>:
Command Description
<ESC>C Selects Advanced mode <ESC>P Enters Program mode
E4;F4; Erases what was in format 4 and creates a new format 4 R Saves the format and exits to Print mode
<ESC>E4 Accesses format 4 <ETB> Prints the format
5 Create the data lines for the human-readable field and the bar code field. Do this by completing the following tasks:
a Type the information that you want to appear in the human-readable field and the bar code field in two separate lines.
b Separate the information with a <CR> at the end of the first text string.
The <CR> tells the printer to enter the text into different fields. The first line will be the text for the human-readable field and so on.
c Preface the data lines with the <CAN> command. It erases all data in the current format.
Your command strings should look like this:
Command String Definition
<CAN> Erases all data in current format THIS IS THE SAMPLE LABEL<CR> Text for the human-readable field SAMPLE Text for the bar code field
d Bracket the command strings between <STX> and <ETX>.
6 Combine all of the command strings into one format and it should look like the following example.
Note: The difference between the lowercase letter “l” and the numeral
“1” is not very noticeable in the Courier font. Make sure that you enter the correct command.
Sample Label Command Strings
Command Definition
<STX><ESC>C<ETX> Select Advanced mode <STX><ESC>P<ETX> Enter Program mode
<STX>E4;F4;<ETX> Erase format 4, create format 4 <STX>H0;o102,51;f0;c25;h20;w20;d0,30;<ETX> Edit/create human-readable field 0 <STX>L1;o102,102;f0;l575;w5;<ETX> Edit/create line field 1
<STX>B2;o203,153;c0,0;h100;w2;i1;d0,10;<ETX> Edit/create Code 39 bar code field 2 with interpretive field enabled
<STX>I2;h1;w1;c20;<ETX> Create interpretive field to go with bar code field 2
<STX>R;<ETX> Save format and exit to Print mode <STX><ESC>E4<ETX> Access format 4
<STX><CAN><ETX> Erase all data
<STX>THIS IS THE SAMPLE LABEL<CR><ETX> Data for human-readable field 0 <STX>SAMPLE<ETX> Data for bar code field 2 <STX><ETB><ETX> Print
Note: The line breaks in the preceding example are shown for
formatting purposes only and do not necessarily represent carriage returns.
This format prints the label shown in the next illustration.
THIS IS THE SAMPLE LABEL
IPL004.eps