newObjects Active Label ActiveX

Price: $50 Discount for resalers $290-$489

Information Download Buy Overview Programming overview What makes it different Compatibility and requirements Purchase information Active Label (ZIP 3.5Mb) Active Label (self install 2.3Mb) ASP.NET Example (install control first!) VB6 example Buy on RegNet (per-machine) Buy on RegNet (branded) Purchase information

Overview

If you are developing WEB based solutions for the business newObjects Active Label ActiveX might be just what you have been missing for a long time. When it comes to printing of labels, notes and note-like outputs or even simple reports the WEB browser alone is not enough. You can print the page, but if you want to print a set of labels, cards on a sheet this is of no use at all. This is the point at which one looks around for a report generator, export of data to another application (then printing from it) etc. This may solve the problem, but nevertheless it breaks the routine - you must, so to say, to reach out of the WEB application boundaries in order to do the job. There comes the Active Label ActiveX (or at least that is what we built it for ;) - it is like a very simple report generator that resides on the WEB page as a visual ActiveX that has a programming interface resembling the browser itself. Still, that "part of the page" that is the ActiveX can print on its own what it shows and fill a page with repeated labels/cards using a database or data you supply programmatically. It supports edit mode, vast programming opportunities and you can expose it to the user in any form you find suitable - from simple preview and print to an advanced label editor where the user can lay out the label design and attach some  elements to the data that needs to be printed that way. Obviously if the ActiveX can do this on a WEB page it can do it also in non-WEB based applications, so if you need to mix the technologies in a project you can use it elsewhere (in a VB, .NET WinForms, Delphi, NSBasic and so on). One unexpected advantage is that the ActiveX is much like a browser, providing very easy ways to download/upload data. label designs, images from almost any network or pseudo-network protocol, which very often will open opportunities you would otherwise discount in non-WEB applications because of the amount of work involved.

Product name note: We published the initial beta version under the name newObjects VisiLabel. The name has been changed to newObjects Active Label, but the old name still remains in some documentation pages and images - we will correct this with the publishing of the official version. The names in the programming interface have not been changed, nor will be changed in future

.

All the tasks - the interactive editing, viewing, printing can be embedded in a WEB page. A little javascript turns the WEB page into a label design and printing application. And the data and the designed labels? You can save them on the server - into the application's database or somewhere else if needed. It looks and works much like another browser embedded in a the page - a browser-like ActiveX that can print sets of labels, put barcodes and images on them and do much more.

What is Active Label? Yet another barcode ActiveX, a label design application or something really different?  The best way to describe newObjects Active Label in a few words is that it is a complete label design and printing application in a single ActiveX which you can integrate in WEB based and other business solutions. Thus the Active Label's heart is an ActiveX which is a hybrid between a simple report generator, label design utility and Internet browser. We offer in its package also an application that makes use of the ActiveX and makes Active Label's functionality available alone - which is a solution for those who do not plan to embed the Active Label ActiveX in their applications prior to using it (e.g. this is for offices and tasks done without business software). However this is just a collateral low cost solution where the main purpose of the Active Label ActiveX is to give the WEB developers ability to integrate all the label and small format printing work in their business, inventory, warehouse management and other similar projects. You can read an introductory article about how the ActiveX does this on Active Label Programming overview page. A label design and printing solution perfect for WEB based applications. It supports most of the 1-d barcodes used today, texts, shapes, images and most importantly it behaves naturally on WEB pages - acts as like the browser itself.  The WEB based industrial applications are able to embed full label design and printing capabilities without need of any other external software. The application can generate labels dynamically or implement a label repository and send different data each time a label must be shown or a set of labels printed. The label itself and image and text elements on the it can be linked from any location and URL allowing the application to work with the Active Label ActiveX in the same manner as with the pages in the WEB browser. For example the image elements of the label have a Src property - changing it loads the image pointed by the new value (URL, local path etc.). Active Label ActiveX goes even further - it allows the application to upload the label and/or its elements to any location. For example the label itself has a Dst property. If set to an URL the label is uploaded to that URL. Active Label ActiveX is much like a browser itself. As you can see in the Active Label Browser application it can be used to implement label browser in which the user can navigate to another labels by clicking over elements that have href URL set. Thus the Active Label ActiveX offers you not only interactive editing, preview and independent printing, but also ultimate connectivity which enables the applications to implement label repositories, manage the data and resources for the labels the way they need with very little code footprint. The ActiveX works with online labels and resources as well as with labels from the local file system. They can be even mixed if that is what the application needs.

Important features of the ActiveX Barcode support: Version 1.0 supports: CODE39, CODABAR, Interleaved 2of5 (ITF), CODE93, UPC-A, EAN-13, UPC-E and UPC-E1, EAN-8, Code128, Standard 2 of 5, GTIN, UCC/EAN 128. Can be rotated 90,180 or 270 degrees. Own printing implementation:  Yes the browser cannot print labels - Active Label ActiveX can be instructed to arrange the labels on the page/paper as needed (label spacing, page size and margins). Non-standard paper formats can be set programmatically or from the property pages. Calling the label's Print method from within the WEB page invokes it print the label shown in it. The labels printed can use data from the internal cache or external database. The applications are enabled to put the data directly into the label - this is especially useful for WEB applications - allows them to send the data as part of their normal functionality and also minimizes the need of direct connection to the database from the client machine. Additionally on the labels can be put: simple text labels, text boxes, simple shapes (rectangles, ellipses, lines, rounded rectangles), symbols, pictures (in most of the image formats used today). Interactive editing:  Can be used on WEB pages as well - especially useful for applications that want to allow the administrators or other responsible personal to create/design labels or label templates within the application. The label and its image and text box elements support download/upload from/to any URL in protocol independent manner (The ActiveX can work through HTTP, ALP, in Windows HTML Help files, from application resources etc.). The ActiveX has the appropriate security features to prevent non-secure operations. Like a browser? Yes any element can be also a hyperlink if the application/page that embeds the control wants it. You can see how it works with the supporting Windows Application - Active Label Browser which is capable of browsing local and online labels. The labels are not WEB pages, but why don't make them behave in similar manner - this can be useful in many scenarios and especially when newObjects Active Label is used alone and not as part of a business application. With a minimal effort the user can make some labels to serve as menus/navigation pages and thus bring some order, help the coworkers find what they need faster, put some hints and instructions for them outside the printing area. Listed on