Objects & commands

First: the conventions

Before you learn individual commands, learn the rules that apply to all of them. That saves more time than any command list.

The command format

Every command stands in its own template line:

<CMD="BEFEHL"><PARAMETER="Wert"><PARAMETER="Wert">…

For each command you can additionally specify a WHEN condition (see Guide 4).

Color values

All color parameters (COLOR, BGCOLOR, FORECOLOR, BACKCOLOR, TEXTCOLOR, COLOREDGE, …) accept two notations:

• Constant: BLACK, BLUE, GREEN, CYAN, RED, MAGENTA, YELLOW, WHITE
• RGB value: R,G,B, e.g. 255,0,0

The two rules of thumb

Further common values

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CANVAS, the foundation of every template

CANVAS defines the template resolution in pixels. The values must match the physical label values.

<CMD="CANVAS"><WIDTH="640"><HEIGHT="960"><ROTATE="90">

You normally set these values via the Config dialog (see Guide 2), but you can change them directly in the source code at any time.

screenshot201.png

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TEXT, the most important object

TEXT is the command you use most often, and at the same time the most complex. Once you master TEXT, you understand the pattern of all other commands.

<CMD="TEXT"><Y="36"><X="0"><WIDTH="640"><HEIGHT="100"><TEXT="{ARTIKELBEZEICHNUNG 1}"><COLOR="BLACK"><FONT="Segoe UI"><FONTSIZE="40"><BOLD="FALSE"><CENTER>

screenshot202.png

Position and border

The text content

Truncating and clipping text

These parameters save layouts when ERP data is longer than planned again:

Font and alignment

screenshot203.png

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ATEXT, multiple formats in one text

ATEXT (Attribute Text) allows different formats within one text, fonts, sizes, colors, styles, via embedded control commands. The general TEXT parameters apply for overall formatting.

Control commands are opened and closed with two underscores:

Additional ATEXT parameters: ANGLE (rotation angle, here with “L”!), ROTATIONPOINT, LEFT/CENTER/RIGHT, JUSTIFICATION (justified), BGCOLOR and BGDISTANCE (border width of the background color).

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PRICE, the price as its own object

There is a dedicated command for prices. It delivers offset, scalable, optionally underlined decimal places and an optional currency symbol, exactly the typical price-tag layout that you could rebuild with TEXT only with difficulty.

<CMD="PRICE"><X="0"><Y="0"><WIDTH="200"><HEIGHT="100"><TEXT="99.95"><TEXTCOLOR="BLACK"><FONT="Calibri"><FONTSIZE="50"><NSCALE="50"><NOFFSETY="-40"><WAEHRUNG="€"><WSCALE="70"><WOFFSETX="20"><WOFFSETY="-20">

screenshot204.png

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BARCODE, QRCODE, DATAMATRIX

BARCODE

<CMD="BARCODE"><Y="0"><X="0"><TYPE="EAN13"><TEXT="978020137962"><SIZE="150"><WIDTH="200"><HEIGHT="50">

screenshot205.png

QRCODE

<CMD="QRCODE"><Y="0"><X="0"><WIDTH="75"><TEXT="www.esl-easy.de"><QUITEZONES="ZERO">

QRCODE_VCARD creates a QR code as a vCard, smartphones recognize it as a contact and store it. The vCard fields (NAME, FIRSTNAME, TEL_CELL, EMAIL_WORK, URL, STREET, ORG, …) are passed directly as parameters; unused tags can be omitted. Without specifying VCARD_TEMPLATE, the supplied default template vCard.txt is used.

DATAMATRIX

<CMD="DATAMATRIX"><Y="10"><X="10"><WIDTH="75"><HEIGHT="75"><TEXT="www.esl-easy.de">

Additional parameters: MARGINSIZE (margin size), MODULSIZE (size/quality of the code) and SCHEME (Data Matrix scheme per ISO, ASCII is default, further: ASCIGS1, AUTOBEST, AUTOFAST, BASE256, C40, EDIIFACT, TEXT, X12).

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IMAGE, embedding graphics

Supported formats: PNG, JPG, BMP, GIF, TIF, TIFF, WMF.

<CMD="IMAGE"><Y="215"><X="170"><HEIGHT="38"><WIDTH="150"><FILE="ESL-Easy.PNG">

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The WIDTH/HEIGHT trap

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OFFSET & LAYER, the multi-item trick

This is the technique that turns a price tag into a shelf label with four items, without you having to recalculate a single coordinate.

The problem

You have built a finished item block: name, price, unit price, barcode. Now four of them should go one under another on the label. Manually that would mean: copy all lines, adjust all Y coordinates on every copy and change the layer on every data field. With four items and six objects that is 24 manual changes.

The solution in two commands

OFFSET shifts the origin for all following objects. Object position is then: own X/Y value + OFFSET.

<CMD="OFFSET"><Y="150">
<CMD="OFFSET"><X="250"><Y="150">
<CMD="OFFSET"><Y="-75">

LAYER sets the data-field layer for all following data fields, instead of appending a _2 suffix to every single field.

<CMD="LAYER"><LEVEL="2">   → {DESCRIPTION} becomes {DESCRIPTION_2} internally
<CMD="LAYER"><LEVEL="1">   → Reset: the specification in the source code applies again

The recipe

No coordinate is touched. No data field is renamed.

screenshot206.png

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Dynamic alignment, objects that orient to each other

Sometimes a fixed position is not enough: The price should stand under the item name, regardless of how tall the name actually becomes after AUTOSIZE and WORDWRAP.

How it works

An object receives a name:

<NAME="Object1">

Every subsequent object can then access its parameters.

The commands

Structure: <Befehl, @Objektname, Parameter, Parameter, @Objektname, Parameter, …>

Examples

<ADDYFROM="@OBJECT1,Y,HEIGHT">

Adds the values Y and HEIGHT of OBJECT1 to its own Y. Calculation: Own <Y="10">, OBJECT1 has <Y="20"> and <HEIGHT="10"> → Y = 40 (10 + 20 + 10). The object thus sits exactly under OBJECT1, no matter how tall OBJECT1 becomes.

<ADDYFROM="@OBJECT1,Y,HEIGHT,@OBJECT2,Y,HEIGHT">

Access to multiple objects: first object name, then its parameters, then the next object.

<ADDXFROM="@OBJECT1,Y,WIDTH,20">

Instead of parameters, fixed numbers are also possible, here an additional 20 points are added.

<ADDXFROM="PRICE">

Only an object name: The attribute matching the command is used (here the X of the object PRICE).

<ADDXFROM="-100">

Only a number, equivalent to <SUBXFROM="100">.

screenshot207.png

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Further useful commands

CHECKDATA, protect the user from the wrong template

Checks the payload for whether it matches the current template. Relevant when there are multiple templates per label type.

<CMD="CHECKDATA"><FIELD="WGR"><VALUE="10"><COMPARISON="UNEQUAL"><MESSAGE="Artikel und Template passen nicht zur Produktgruppe WEIN. Soll die Verknüpfung trotzdem erfolgen?"><ACTION="YESNO">

PARAM, label-specific values

Defines parameters that the user sets individually for the current label at linking time, e.g. a direction arrow that should appear only on this one label, even if further labels show the same item data.

<CMD="PARAM"><NAME="PFEIL"><VALUES="OHNE;OBEN;RECHTS;UNTEN;LINKS">

• VALUES, Preset values, separated by semicolon. If VALUES remains empty, the user can enter free text.
• GROUP, groups the parameters on the mobile device with a group heading.
• LOCATIONINCLUSION / LOCATIONEXCLUSION, in which locations the parameter is shown.

Such values cannot come from external data; they are stored directly against the label ID. Access in the template is like normal payload data: {PFEIL}.

screenshot208.png

LOCATION, control template visibility

Restricts the visibility of the template in the template selection:

<CMD="LOCATION"><INCLUSION="1"><EXCLUSION="">

INCLUSION = location numbers (comma-separated) in which the template is shown. EXCLUSION = locations in which it is not shown.

NFC, write data to the label chip

The command differs by manufacturer:

Ontime, simple:

<CMD="NFC"><NFC_URL="http://www.esl-easy.de">

A URL is opened automatically by the smartphone after reading.

Hanshow, with public and private area:

<CMD="NFC"><URI_STANDARD="{URI_STANDARD}"><URI_PRIVATE="{URI_PRIVATE}"><NFC_KEY="GeheimerKey"><TAG_PERMISSION="READONLY"><APP_PERMISSION="READWRITE">

Data in the public area (URI_STANDARD, TEXT_STANDARD) are readable with all common NFC readers, e.g. the customer smartphone. Storage is in NDEF format. To read the private area (URI_PRIVATE, TEXT_PRIVATE), special HANSHOW software is required; NFC_KEY is a 16-character key (shorter texts are padded with spaces at the front).

BARGRAPH, bars and progress indicators

<CMD="BARGRAPH"><Y="10"><X="10"><WIDTH="20"><HEIGHT="100"><COLOR="BLACK"><BARCOLOR="RED"><PERCENT="20"><THICKNESS="1"><BARPOSITION="LOWER">

PERCENT specifies the fill level, BARPOSITION the draw direction (LEFT, UPPER, RIGHT, LOWER, default is LOWER, i.e. from bottom to top). BARSTYLE offers more than 50 fill patterns.

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What this guide does not cover

The command reference comprises about 30 commands. Among others, the following were not covered:

• Drawing objects: LINE, RECTANGLE, ELLIPSE, POLYGON, PIE, ARC, COCKPITCHART
• FONT, creates a font for subsequent commands (usually not needed, because the font is specified per command)
• BACKGROUNDCOLOR, background color of the template (default: WHITE)
• Format files (.fmt), can be created for each graphic file
• PAGE, multiple views per label (see Guide 4)

Full reference: Original PDF ESLEasy_TemplateEditor 2.7_EN, p. 26–61.

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Further reading

• Previous guide: Your first template in 15 minutes
• Next guide: Logic: WHEN, macros, formatting, conditional visibility, calculations and label parameters