Printing Labels

Topics:

Label Printing

IP label printing allows users to print labels from BSI directly to a designated printer using a printer's IP address. Printer object files (POF files) are used for IP label printing. Users are able to print labels throughout various managers and editors in the BSI client.

Printing Labels

Labels can be printed from within a BSI table by selecting the Print Labels option from the toolbar, Tools menu, or Current Label column header menu. Additionally, they can be printed directly from the Labels manager.

To print labels from a menu or toolbar option:

Most editors and data tables in BSI include the option to print labels.

  1. Select the table rows for which you want to print labels.
  2. Select the Print Labels option from one of the following locations:
    • Toolbar
    • Tools menu
    • Current Label column header menu
  3. The Printing Label dialog will open.
  4. Select a value for the Label Spec field. The code list button will open the Labels tree from which you can select any saved label you have access to.
  5. Choose the printer to be used:
    1. If you have specified a default printer in the Configure dialog, then select Print.
    2. If the printer is directly connected to the computer you are using, you may choose to mark the box to “Use Local Printer Configuration”. Select Print. Your computer’s print dialog will open and you may select the printer.
    3. If you have not specified a printer in the Configure dialog and the printer is not directly connected, then use the code list button to choose a value for the Printer field from the lkup_printer code list. Select Print.

Advanced label printing:

After selecting a label specification on the Printing Labels dialog, you can select the Advanced button to modify the labels before printing.

  1. Select the table rows for which you want to print labels.
  2. Select the Print Labels option. The Printing Label dialog will open.
  3. Select a value for the Label Spec field.
  4. Select Advanced.
  5. The Label Field Assignment dialog will open. This dialog allows you to map fields in the label specification to different fields visible in the table you are printing labels from. Change mappings, if needed.
    1. For example, you might want to print labels from the requisition editor. If your label specification is mapped to print Parent ID on the label, you instead may want it to print the Global Parent ID value. The current mapping can be updated to use the Global Parent ID value just for this print job.
  6. Select OK.
  7. The Printing Labels dialog will open. Here you can add additional rows, remove rows, import data, generate BSI IDs to print data for, or print a subset of labels. The same options for selecting a printer exist on this dialog as on the basic label printing dialog.
  8. When ready, highlight the rows to print labels for and select the Print Labels icon.

 To print labels from the Labels manager:print_labels.jpg

  1. Select the folder containing the label format to be used for printing in the left pane of the Labels Manager.  Any labels and sub-folders in the selected folder will be displayed in the right pane.
  2. Highlight the label format in the right pane by clicking on it anywhere in the row.
  3. Select the Print Labels button. The Label Creation Method dialog will open.
  4. Select which option to use for label generation:
    • Import label Data - This option will open the Import Wizard immediately. After the import, the Printing Label dialog will open.
    • Generate BSI ID Labels - This option will open the Generate BSI IDs dialog immediately. After the import, the Printing Label dialog will open.
    • Open Dialog with No Labels - This option will open the Printing Label dialog with no label data.
  5. The Printing Label dialog contains a data table for label information with action buttons across the top.  The columns and column labels will be taken from the label configuration created in the Label Editor.
  6. Continue to enter or manipulate the data manually, import data or use the Generate tool for BSI IDs or Sample IDs from the Printing Label dialog, if necessary.
  7. Select the Print Labels button or Print Labels from the File menu to print the labels.

Generate BSI IDs During Label Printing

Use this function to automatically generate a list of BSI IDs and add them to a specific column.  When generating a list of BSI IDs to print labels for this way, you will enter a list of Sample IDs and a list of Sequence numbers which will be generated for each Sample ID.

For example, if you enter Sample IDs AAA000001, AAA000002, and AAA000003, then entering Sequence numbers 0001, 0002, and 0003 would result in the following BSI IDs being generated:

  • AAA000001 0001
  • AAA000001 0002
  • AAA000001 0003
  • AAA000002 0001
  • AAA000002 0002
  • AAA000002 0003
  • AAA000003 0001
  • AAA000003 0002
  • AAA000003 0003

To generate BSI IDs:

  1. From the Label Manager, highlight the label file to print with and select the Print button.
  2. In the Label Creation Method dialog, select Generate BSI ID Labels.
  3. In the Generate Labels dialog, select a column in the pull-down menu labeled "Store generated IDs in column".  This column is where the generated BSI IDs will be entered in the Printing Labels dialog. The dialog can be filtered and the table column header menus can be accessed.
  4. The dialog has two tables. On the left is the Sample ID table, where Sample ID values can be entered. On the right, Sequence numbers can be entered, along with the fields included in the selected label specification.
  5. Manually enter, generate, or Import the Sample IDs. To generate:
    • Press the Generate Sample IDs icon on the toolbar, then enter the Starting and Ending Sample IDs. This will add each sequential sample ID between and including the starting and ending IDs entered to the table.
  6. Manually enter, generate, or Import the Sequence numbers. To generate:
    1. Press the Generate Seq icon on the toolbar.
    2. Enter the first sequence number to be used in the "Start Sequence" text box.
    3. Enter the number of vials in each sample in the "Number of Specimens" text box.
    4. Select the Generate button.  The table for sequence numbers will be populated with the range of sequence numbers, or, if the range is already taken, the next set of available sequence numbers.
    5. Add values for other fields displayed in the Sequence table, if needed.
    6. Select Generate on the Generate Labels dialog.  The generated BSI IDs will be entered in the specified column.  The generated rows will be appended to the bottom of the table.  Additional label data can be imported by matching on the generated BSI IDs.