The purpose of the General tab is to set up additional scan directories for programs that cannot write to the default wddrop directory. Before Scan directories can be configured or added, LPS must be stopped. As you can see in the following dialog, the LPS defaults to scanning a directory called WDDrop, which is a directory under the primary Loftware directory. This default directory is necessary for On Demand Print and ActiveX Client printing and should not be changed. You may, however, add scan directories that are local or on the network.*

*Note: LPS runs in memory as a service; therefore, most mapped drive letters, due to new stringent security standards, will not be accessible. When configuring additional scan directories, instead of using a mapped drive (M:\drop), use the Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path (\\ws1\drop).

Figure 1-D: The LPS Configuration Utility showing the General tab

Scan Settings Section

Multi-Scan Grid – This is for the ‘File Interface’ only.  Consider the following scenario: There are 50 printers controlled with the Loftware Print Server.  Requests for labels happen in ‘on demand.’  Let us say that your UNIX server has made 500 different label requests for 40 of the printers.  At the same time, an ‘on-demand’ operator wants to print one label on printer 41.  If you were scanning only one directory, there may be a considerable delay before the single request is processed, because of the hundreds of requests that are in queue before it.

There are several ways of setting up scan directories for optimizing system performance.  One way is to have a separate scan directory for every printer, and drop file requests to the appropriate directory depending on the target printer for which the request is made.  All scan directories are serviced simultaneously, so that in the above scenario, each single request buried under multiple large requests is serviced quickly and with no noticeable delays.  This is referred to as multi-threaded input and although easy to set up, it represents an advanced feature found only in the Loftware Print Server.  

The concept of ‘multi-scan’ is not an exact science.  The best advice we can give is to carefully consider all aspects of your labeling system and create scan directories based on a logical division of tasks.

Adding a Scan Directory

Before adding a scan directory, you must first create it using Windows Explorer.

§ Click the Add button in the LPS Configuration Utility (General tab)  The following dialog box is displayed:

Figure 1-E: Directory Setup Dialog Box

Scan Directory Path - This is the directory into which print requests are dropped using the ‘File’  Interface.  The directory can reside on any network drive to which both your application and the LPS have Read/Write access.  If you are using the LPS in ‘Service’ mode without logging on, UNC paths like ‘\\remote\server\dir1’ are required, but only if the scan directory is on another PC.  If the scan directory is local, a UNC path is not required.

Use the Browse button to locate the scan directory.  Using the Browse button eliminates possible errors when typing the scan directory  path manually.  The directory must exist before you can actually browse to it.  It is not created for you.  You may create scan directories using file Explorer.

Scan For Section

Pass Files – The LPS scans for .pas (default extension) files.  Fill the extension with the extension for which you wish to scan (i.e. *.pas).  Pass files are documented in the file interface section of this chapter.

CSV Files – The LPS scans for .CSV (default extension) files.  Although harder to read, CSV files are much more compact than .pas or .xml files.  CSV files are documented in the file interface section of this chapter.

Xml Files – The LPS scans for .xml (default extension) files.  This scans for files that have a header row and subsequent data lines.  Xml files are documented in the file interface section of this chapter.

FIFO – Acronym for “First In, First Out,” which means that when checked, files are processed in the order in which they are received, and not the order in which they are entirely written to the sectors on the hard disk.  FIFO is not guaranteed unless this setting is turned on.  Expect to pay a performance penalty due to the sorting that must occur.  Usually any penalty of this type is negligible and can be ignored.

Cmd (legacy) - Scan for Command Files and Batch Files – Legacy settings, don’t use!

Assign Directory to Printer Section

This assigns a designated printer to the added directory.  This is helpful if it is difficult to include a printer number command in your request.  Any files dropped into a directory with this setting turned on are dispatched to the assigned printer regardless of any reference in the file itself.  Extra care must be taken to ensure that the file you are requesting is indeed designed for the assigned device.

Enable Polling Section

Polling must always be enabled for shared network drives. The LPS remains idle until the operating system notifies it that the contents of the scanned directory have changed.  If you have polling disabled and find that the LPS is not processing your files, enable polling and set the polling interval to the millisecond interval that you wish to poll the directory; 1000 mSec (1 second) is the default.

Options Section

Pass/CSV Data Trim - Valid for Pass Mode only.  If your data contains leading or trailing spaces, you can use this setting to trim them.  Choices in the drop-down list are:

None – No leading or trailing spaces are trimmed.  This is the default.
Trailing – Trims trailing spaces only
Leading – Trims leading spaces only
Both – Trims both trailing and leading spaces

When would you set it to “Both”?  Example: You have a label that is connected to a database, and the key field on a label has either a leading or trailing space(s) in it.  In this case, the database data fields connected to that key field are not found because the program is searching for the key field without the spaces.  In this case, selecting “Both” ensures that no spaces are included in the field.

Language Button

As stated in the LLM User’s Guide, selection of the default language for Loftware Applications (Design, On-Demand, Range, etc.) can be made on a "per-user" basis.  However, when a service such as the LPS is being used, the language change is for the service, not for the user; therefore it becomes the default language for all users.

Example: A user logged in to a machine whose default language has been set to "English" would like the language of the LPS Service to be displayed in their native language of French.

To set the default language for the service to French, the following steps are performed:

1.  Open the Loftware service
Start | Programs | Loftware Labeling | Print Server | LPS Configuration

2.  Press Language.. under the General tab.

3.  Select Français from the drop-down list.

Remember, this changes the default language for ALL Loftware users on this machine to French, and also changes the language for ALL the other Loftware services (Web Client, Notification Agent) on this machine as well.  This setting controls the user interface only and does not affect LPS performance.