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| SimpleCoversheet provides an interface for designing, populating and printing barcode document separator sheets, sheets of sticky [[labels]], and any other type of document that contains barcodes. These coversheets and other barcodes allow documents to be automatically indexed after capture. The scanning process is most efficient whenever such coversheets can be printed by the person generating the document. | | SimpleCoversheet provides an interface for designing, populating and printing barcode document separator sheets, sheets of sticky [[labels]], and any other type of document that contains barcodes. These coversheets and other barcodes allow documents to be automatically indexed after capture. The scanning process is most efficient whenever such coversheets can be printed by the person generating the document. |
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| == Design and User Modes ==
| | * [[Design and User Modes]] |
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| SimpleCoversheet works via two modes; designer mode and user mode. Coversheet templates are laid out and linked to ''Data Sources'' in design mode, and, once designed, are ready for user mode.
| | * [[Designer Interface]] |
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| In user mode, the operator is able to select field values and print coversheets. Designer options and other program elements are hidden or disabled to make the user interface as easy to use as possible.
| | * [[Creating a New Coversheet]] |
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| You may switch between design and user modes via the toolbar, or via the ''Mode'' menu.
| | * [[Elements]] |
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| == Designer Interface ==
| | * [[Element Modes]] |
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| [[File:SimpleCoversheet Designer Interface.png|300px|thumb|alt=SimpleCoversheet Designer Interface|SimpleCoversheet Designer Interface]] | | * [[Element Properties]] |
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| In design mode you are presented with the coversheet background and a number of elements that you can put on the page. The placement and configuration of these elements will determine how your coversheet looks and behaves in user mode.
| | *[[File Indexing Settings]] |
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| On the leftmost pane of the design mode interface is a list of elements you can place on to a coversheet.
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| In the middle pane is the coversheet designer.
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| On the rightmost pane the properties for the selected element are displayed.
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| When an element is selected, at the bottom of the properties panel are links for ''[[Edit…]]'' and ''[[Barcode Settings…]]'' that display the element settings wizard and barcode format properties respectively.
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| == Creating a New Coversheet ==
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| [[File:SimpleCoversheet New Coversheet.png|300px|thumb|alt=SimpleCoversheet New Coversheet|SimpleCoversheet New Coversheet]]
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| The coversheet object is the main container for fields and settings.
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| To create a new coversheet, click ''New'' on the toolbar or select ''New'' from the ''File'' menu.
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| On the New Coversheet dialog you may choose whether to create your coversheet from a blank sheet, or from a [[template]].
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| If you create the coversheet from a template, the size, measurements, etc. will be pre-filled from the template.
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| If you create a new coversheet from a blank sheet, you will need to know what size paper you intend to print the coversheets. You are also able to configure the measurement units setting and the grid properties for the new coversheet.
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| * The measurement units control how the rulers are displayed, as well as the (X, Y) coordinates that determine the placement and size of elements placed on the coversheet.
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| * The paper sizes can be filtered based on different standards and locations. If you can’t find a size that you need, click the ''Add custom…'' link in order to add a custom size to the list.
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| * Select ''Align'' fields to grid to use the grid to help align fields. Uncheck if you need fine control over element positions. This option can be changed in the coversheet properties.
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| * Once you have everything setup as desired, click ''OK'' to have the program generate your new, blank, coversheet.
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| === Avery Label Templates ===
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| [[File:SimpleCoversheet Avery Label Templates.png|300px|thumb|alt=SimpleCoversheet Avery Label Templates|SimpleCoversheet Avery Label Templates]]
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| SimpleCoversheet allows for the easy creation of sheets of barcodes on Avery Labels via a template system. A template is basically a saved coversheet configuration with empty values that are configured by the user directly after creating a new coversheet. This saves you time in that all you’re required to do is configure the database that the values will be pulled from. To begin creating a sheet of Avery Labels, choose to create a new coversheet from the file menu or the toolbar.
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| === Template Configuration ===
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| The template configuration is fairly straight forward if you have previously created any coversheets. When creating a new coversheet from a template you will be presented with the configuration wizards for the elements in the template. Once you have finished configuring the template elements the program will switch to ''[[User Mode]]'' and allow you to print your configured coversheets.
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| Each sheet of barcodes created with the Avery Label templates gets its values from a ''Data Source''. So in order to create a sheet of barcoded sticky labels you must configure the elements in the template with a ''Data Source'' containing the values to be used on the barcodes.
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| The first element to configure via the wizard in an Avery Label template will be the Data ''[[Source Connection]]''. This determines the location of the data, whether it be from a database server such as an SQL Server, a file such as an MS Access database, an Excel spreadsheet, or any other ODBC compatible connection.
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| [[File:SimpleCoversheet Template Barcode Configuration.png|300px|thumb|alt=SimpleCoversheet Template Barcode Configuration|SimpleCoversheet Template Barcode Configuration]]
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| After configuring the ''Data Source Connection'', you will need to configure the ''[[Data Source]]'' via the configuration wizard. When configuring a ''Data Source'' you will need to select a table in the database, and then you will need to select the columns of data that you wish to make available as values for the barcodes.
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| Lastly, in the final part of the configuration wizard, you will [[configure the barcodes]] by selecting the column of data you wish to use as values.
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| If everything has been properly configured, the program will switch to [[user mode]] and will display a sheet of barcoded sticky labels encoded with the values from your database. At this point you are now ready to print your newly created coversheet.
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| Be sure to save your new coversheet configuration to a file so it can be used again!
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| == Elements ==
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| Elements are parts that make up your coversheet, and how they are configured determines how the operator will fill it out in [[user mode]]. To create a new element, select the element type from the list on the left panel and draw a box in the position you want to place the element on the page.
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| The types of element are:
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| * '''Pointer''': select existing elements instead of creating new ones
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| * '''Barcode''': a barcode label
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| * '''Label''': a text element that can filled in either by typing in user mode or hand-writing on the page before scanning
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| * '''Text''': a static text element that cannot be changed | |
| * '''Data Source Connection''': a connection to a database
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| * '''Data Source''': a specific table or query from the database that can be used to fill in lists or fields
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| After drawing a new element, a wizard will be displayed that will allow you to configure the placed element.
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| === Arranging Elements ===
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| [[File:SimpleCoversheet Arranging Elements.png|300px|thumb|alt=SimpleCoversheet Arranging Elements|SimpleCoversheet Arranging Elements]]
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| The toolbar contains buttons to add new ''Barcode'' and ''Label'' elements, ''Cut'', ''Copy'', ''Paste'', and ''Delete'' elements, as well as automatically aligning elements on the page.
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| Select multiple elements by holding down the [Shift] or [Ctrl] keys and selecting the elements you wish to align. Use the alignment toolbar options to align them to the left, right, top, bottom or center of the page.
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| With 1D barcodes, the width of the element is determined by the number of characters in the data. In order to ensure that centered barcodes remain centered when the data changes, the ''Horizontal Anchor'' setting in the Layout properties must be set to “Anchor horizontal center.”
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| === Element Hierarchy ===
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| Certain elements, namely the labels and barcodes, can depend upon other elements for their values and configuration. The hierarchy of the elements and their dependencies is as follows:
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| Barcode <br> Data Source <br> Data Source Connection <br> Label <br> Data Source <br> Data Source Connection <br> Text
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| Note that it isn’t necessary to have ''[[Data Source Connection]]'' and ''[[Data Source]]'' elements in order to create labels and barcodes, but if you want the barcodes and labels to have values from a database then you will need to create these elements.
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| === Data Source Connections ===
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| [[File:SimpleCoversheet Elements OBDC Administrator Source Connections.png|300px|thumb|alt=SimpleCoversheet Elements OBDC Administrator Source Connections|SimpleCoversheet OBDC Source Connections]]
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| Data source connections tell the program how to connect to a database that you wish to retrieve values from. They are created, like all the other elements, by drawing them on to the coversheet. However, they are not directly visible on the coversheet; they will appear on the strip below the coversheet display.
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| After drawing the ''Data Source Connection'' on to the coversheet you will be presented with the ''Data Source Connection'' configuration wizard. This wizard will also be displayed if you created a new coversheet from a ''[[Template]]'' that uses a ''Data Source''.
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| You have the options of using ODBC DSN connections (User, System, or File), Access database files, or a custom connection string. If you need to create a new DSN for your ''Data Source Connection'', click the ''ODBC Administrator'' button to display the ODBC control panel application.
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| After selecting where the data will come from you can optionally enter a login and password to be used with the DSN. If no user and password is entered, Windows Authentication will be used.
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| After you click next, you can name the connection so it can be referred to later. After entering a name click ''Insert'' to add the connection.
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| === Data Sources ===
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| [[File:SimpleCoversheet Elements Data Source Configuration.png|300px|thumb|alt=SimpleCoversheet Elements Data Source Configuration|SimpleCoversheet Data Source Configuration]]
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| ''Data Sources'' are dependent on ''Data Source Connections''. The first step in setting up a ''Data Source'' in the ''Data Source'' configuration wizard is selecting one of these connections. If you are creating a new coversheet from a [[template]], the ''Data Source Connection'' will be automatically selected.
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| If you have not yet created a ''Data Source Connection'' you may do so by clicking the ''Add...'' button to show the ''Data Source Connection'' configuration wizard.
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| Once you’ve selected a ''Data Source Connection'', the drop down of tables available from the connection will be populated, allowing you to select one.
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| After selecting a table, the grid display below will show the contents of the selected table. Select the columns in the table you would like to make available to use as values for labels and barcode elements.
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| Finally, give the ''Data Source'' a descriptive name so that you can reference it when configuring labels and barcodes.
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| === Labels ===
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| Labels are elements of textual information on the coversheet that can be handwritten after printing, entered by the user before printing, or selected or populated from ''Data Sources'' or text files.
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| Labels are identical to barcodes in terms of how they are used, they just display as text instead of a barcode. Labels also have the option to display a blank line for writing in data.
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| See ''[[Element Modes]]'' for more information on how to configure labels.
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| === Barcodes ===
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| Barcode elements are used to draw a barcode on the coversheet and populate it with the selected data. They have the same configuration options available as ''Label elements'', outlined in ''[[Element Modes]]''.
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| [[File:SimpleCoversheet Barcodes Elements.png|300px|thumb|alt=SimpleCoversheet Barcodes Elements|SimpleCoversheet Barcodes Elements]] | |
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| Once you have completed the configuration wizard, you are presented with the configured barcode on the page in design mode. At this point you may change how the barcode appears.
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| By default, a code 128 barcode is used because it supports a larger character set than other barcode types. However, you may use other barcode types if you so desire. For instance, sometimes the amount of information you want to have encoded creates a barcode that is too large for the page. In this case we recommend using a two dimensional barcode such as the PDF417 type as it will allow you to fit a lot of information into a smaller space. To do this, right-click on the barcode and choose ''Barcode'' settings.
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| [[File:SimpleCoversheet Elements Barcode Settings.png|300px|thumb|alt=SimpleCoversheet Elements Barcode Settings|SimpleCoversheet Barcode Settings]]
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| This will bring up the barcode configurator. On the left hand side of the barcode configurator is the list of available barcode symbologies that the program supports. To change the barcode type, just select one of the options in the list.
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| Selecting a barcode type will display a page of options for that barcode type. For the most part, you can leave the options at their default values. In addition to changing the barcode type or symbology, you may also change the format and location of the text that accompanies it, the colors, and the orientation. You may also choose whether or not to display a textual version of the value that’s encoded.
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| Once you are done configuring the barcode settings, click OK to have your changes applied to the barcode element on the coversheet.
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| == Text ==
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| Text elements can be any static text that you may need on to the coversheet. You can use them to create a header, footer or title, or to add any other information to the coversheet that won’t be changed by the user. Once you have drawn a text element on to the coversheet, you may change the font settings via the properties pane.
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