Intelligent Data Filtering and Decision-Making Tools

Employing a powerful business rules engine, the Loftware Connector for SAP Applications enables you to manage the most complex, variable labeling requirements without having to revise SAP through additional programming or customization. Business rules are user configurable and offer the ability to dynamically alter label content, change label formats, drive printer selection, print multiple/different labels in a single request, and pull label data from other external systems.

Proven Enterprise Scalability

You can leverage the Loftware Connector for SAP to centralize global control of your SAP label printing while easily integrating all SAP Applications with your label printer infrastructure. A single Loftware Connector for SAP Applications supports multiple Loftware Print Servers for load balancing and clustering to achieve optimum label production throughput.

No Coding Needed

The Loftware Connector for SAP Applications does not require coding to support the complexities of enterprise labeling, and it seamlessly integrates with the spooling system in your SAP instance. The SAP instance issues a label request and inserts it into the standard SAP spooler queue. The Loftware Connector for SAP, working with a Loftware Print Server®, delivers the right label to the right printer at the right time.

NOTE: The following are the prerequisites for Loftware Connector® for SAP®

• Microsoft IIS server
• .NET 3.5 (v2.0 or later), .NET 2.0 (v1.1, v1.5)
• Java 1.5 (Command Line Interpreter)
• †Windows Server 2012 R2 clustered environments
• *Windows Server 2016 support is for non-clustered environments

SAP Integration Options

• The Loftware Connector for SAP supports SAP label printing via:
• External Output Management System (BC/XOM XMI) Call
• RFC Listening (Call Function, Destination)
• Doc via ALE

Version 3.0.1  |   Version 2.0.4  |   Version 2.0.3  |   Version 2.0.2  |   Version 2.0.1  |   Version 2.0  |   Version 1.5.2.15  |   Version 1.5.2.13  |  

Loftware Connector for SAP Applications Version 3.0.2

Release Notes - November 2017

What new features are available in this release?

• Operating System Support: Added support for Windows Server 2016 non-clustered, as well as support for IIS 10.
  • Note: As of Loftware Connector® for SAP® Applications (LCfSAP) version 3.0.0, Windows Server 2003 is no longer available.
  • Note: Mobile devices running Windows 10 are not supported.

Please refer to the Loftware Connector for SAP® Applications Product Guide for a complete list of supported operating systems.

• Java: Added support for Java 1.8 and simplified the install process by now packaging Java 1.8 with the CLI install.
• Troubleshooting: Enhanced logging by the lcfsap.jar so that it logs the moment it is invoked, before any other work is performed by the jar file.

Known Limitations

• The CLI that is packaged with LCfSAP 3.0.2 is not supported on HP-UX or AIX. Customers that choose to upgrade to LCfSAP 3.0.2 should not deploy the new CLI to their SAP server. They should continue using the 3.0.1 version of the CLI, which is compatible with LCfSAP 3.0.2.
• When device timeout errors occur between LPS and a printer during processing, the timeout period may extend beyond the SAP Connector default timeout of 2 minutes. In this event, the error condition will not be relayed from LPS to SAP Connector, and SAP Connector will post a generic timeout error, without information related the device condition.
  • Users can work around this condition through an LPS setting. Modifying the PendingTimeout value in the WDNT section of the LLMWDN32.ini configuration file, to a value less than 120 seconds, should return the expected error condition to SAP Connector, and get posted to the Connector logs.
  • Current LLMWDN32.ini default value:
    • [WDNT]
    • PendingTimeout=120
• On a cluster install with LPS 11.1 or later, LCfSAP 3.0 or later fails to add LCfSAP and LwEntUp cluster resources. To resolve this issue, execute the vcredist_x86.exe included in the installation package on all nodes prior to executing setup.exe.

Connector for SAP® Version 3.0.1

Release Notes: September 2016

What new features are available in this release?

Operating System report – Added support for Windows Server 2012 R2 Clusters. Please refer to the Loftware Label Manager and Loftware Print Server Installation Guide for a complete list of supported operating systems.

Business Rule Chains – Extends the existing business rule functionality providing the flexibility to customize the order business rules process labels, label groups, printer verification and label verification. Enables multiple business rules to be "chained" together to compound the logic needed to compose and print the correct label information. Rule chains allow you to apply a number of previously defined business rules that will execute in a predetermined order. For each label in a print request that belongs to a label type or label group associated with a rule chain, the rules are executed in the order they appear in the chain.

Import & Export of Business Rules and Rule Chains – Provides the facility for moving individual or all business rules and rule chains between installations of the software. This feature eliminates the need to manually enter and reenter a business rule or rule chains and the risk of errors when manually migrating a business rule or rule chains between environments. Provides easy migration between development, test, and production environments and shortens the time required to recreate business rules across installations.

Migration of 2.0.x Business Rules to 3.0* – This feature provides easy migration of version 2.0.x business rules and labels when upgrading to version 3.0. After upgrading from a 2.0.x version of LCfSAP to a 3.0 version, rather than redefining the rules and associated labels, label types and label groups, you can migrate them to the new 3.0 version. As part of the upgrade process, your 2.0.x database was automatically renamed and is prepared for export.

*Note: Loftware recommends you review the Loftware Connector for SAP Applications Version 3.0 Installation Guide before you begin the installation and migration of version 2.0.x data to version 3.0.

Controlled User Access – This security feature works in conjunction with the Microsoft Windows Server LDAP and Active Directory Services to control user access to Loftware Connector for SAP Applications (LCfSAP) Configuration Console pages and configurations using three user-defined roles; Administrator, General User and Diagnostic. This feature is set to off by default.

Sort Groups and Printer Pools - Sort Groups control the processing flow of your print requests and are intended to be used with Printer Pools as a means of grouping print requests and triggering the movement of jobs between printers in a pool. Printer Pools allow you to group printers together so print jobs can be split among the printers according to how the data is sorted. The advantages of using Printer Pools include:

• Grouping of print requests per the designated Sort Group Key value
• More efficient use of printer resources
• More timely execution of large and sorted print job requests

Loftware Print Server Support – Versions 10.2.2 or higher
Support for .NET 4.5.2 and IIS 8.5
Operating System Support** – Added support for Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 10

**Note: As of Version 3.0.0, Windows Server 2003 is no longer supported. Mobile devices running Windows 10 are not supported.

**Note: Mobile devices running Windows 10 are not supported.

Please refer to the Loftware Connector for SAP® Applications Product Guide for a complete list of supported operating systems.

What fixes are available in this release?

Fixes available in this release are:

• Resolved issue where labels submitted via RCF in a stacked job did not maintain the printing sequence.
• Resolved issue where labels submitted via BCXOM with FIFO set did not maintain the printing sequence.
• Resolved issue where two-phase functionality did not allow for multiple destination folders for phase 1 output.
• Loftware recommends you review the Loftware Connector for SAP Applications Product Guide before you begin
  the installation and migration of data from one version to another.
• The Loftware Label Printing.nlk meta has been updated, enabling the ability to have jobs not print based on the
  printer name. Rule Criteria and Results now includes the Rule Lookup Result Type “STOP”, allowing you to stop a
  print request based on a printer name. The update to the meta is a one line filter that simply removes any label
  requests containing the specified printer name at the time of building the label request for LPS.
• FIFO handling for BC-XOM (RDI from SAP spooler) jobs only, can now route to a separate “FIFO-enforced”
  queue. All requests on this queue will be sent to LPS, one label at a time in the order they are received, regardless
  of the Stacked FIFO setting or any existing Sorting Rules.
• Stacked RDI file print jobs will be sent to LPS in a LIFO manner when a separate LW_JOBNAME entry is used for
  each print request.
• The NLINK Configuration.XML file format has changed to include configurations for the newly added features and
  updates, please refer to the Loftware Connector for SAP Applications User Guide for information on configurations
  and modifying this file.
• The SAP console Callback page now supports configuring up to 10 callbacks.
• Business rules of the same type will now always run in the specified sequence.

Known Limitations

In some instances, during an upgrade from version 2.x to version 3.0.1, the process may time out when migrating a
large number of business rules. To prevent a timeout, the following web configuration changes are recommended to the
web.config file:

1. Add the httpRuntime tag to the <system.web> following section:

2. Change the debug=“true” back to debug=“false” on the “compilation” tag.
3. Restart the application

Connector for SAP® Version 2.0.4

Release Notes: December 2013

Note: The Loftware Connector for SAP Applications Version 2.0.4 requires the Loftware Print Server version 10.0.01 or higher.

What are the new features of this release?

• Support for IE versions, 9, 10, and 11.
• Support for Non-Clustered Windows Server 2012.
• Support for new and additional metadata settings. Descriptions of metadata settings are included in the installation guide.

What fixes are available in this release?

• Longer mixed case passwords are now supported.

What issues are known about this release?

• Loftware now uses an XSD schema, so any references to "label.dtd" should not be used in the configuration file.
• There have been changes with the installation process.
• Loftware recommends that you review the Loftware Connector for SAP Applications Version 2.0.4 Installation Guide before you begin the installation.

Important: If you had previously engaged with Loftware Professional Services to create custom filters (action series), an agreement with Loftware Professional Services is required to complete your upgrade.

Connector for SAP® 2.0.3

Release Notes July 2012

Note: The Loftware Connector for SAP Applications Version 2.0.3 requires the Loftware Print Server version 10.0.0.

What fixes are available in this release?

• Fixed an issue where the Loftware Print Server was not returning printer status to SAP
• Fixed an issue with an incorrect response from the RFC Listener when performing asynchronous print jobs

What issues are known about this release?

• The SAP Applications Command Line (CLI) has been upgraded, after installation you must move the LCfSAP.jar file from the installed loftware$\SAP Connector\CLI folder to your SAP Application Server.

    Refer to the “Deploy the CLI” section in the Loftware Connector for SAP Applications Installation Guide for more information.

• You must complete the following manual steps to complete the upgrade to version 2.0.3.
1. After installing, navigate to the LW_COMMON_APPDATA\Labeling\SAPConnector\Config\metadata folder.
2. Backup and rename the existing Loftware Label Printing.nlk.
3. Rename Loftware Label Printing.nlk.new to Loftware Label Printing.nlk.

Connector for SAP® 2.0.2

Release Notes: Nov 2011

Note: The Loftware Connector for SAP v2.0.2 requires Loftware Printer Server Premier Edition version 10.0.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed potential performance issue when editing ODBC settings
• Fixed field name change when concatenating strings
• Improved LWEntUp handling of ODBC errors which could cause performance problems with large quantities of labels

Connector for SAP® 2.0.1

Note: The Loftware Connector for SAP v2.0.1 requires Loftware Printer Server Premier Edition version 10.0.

Updated to support LPS 10.0 Premier Edition.

Connector for SAP® 2.0

Note: The Loftware Connector for SAP Applications requires the Loftware Print Server version 9.8.

New Features

• The Loftware Connector for SAP Applications Version 2.0 is now Certified for SAP NetWeaver™
• Added support for Microsoft Windows Server 2008, 2008 R2 (32-bit and 64-bit)
• Updated the style of the Configuration and Diagnostics User Interface and added new capabilities
• Added support for label fields with a pipe (‘|’) character
• Automated the installation process
• Added asynchronous status updates to the SAP spooler through BC-XOM

Bug Fixes

• Improved the performance and device handling of Loftware Enterprise Update
• Enhanced the synchronization process between Loftware Enterprise Update and the Provda database
• Fixed issues on systems with Microsoft .NET 2.0 SP1 installed
• Changed the Date/Time format in logs to be consistent with other Loftware Products
• Added support for label formats with script data sources
• Increased server performance when label formats change
• Improved the handling of printer errors during heavy-printing load
• Improved the handling of network issues between the Loftware Connector for SAP Applications and SAP

Connector for SAP® 1.5.2.15

Bug Fixes

Resolved incomplete device synchronization in Provda.mdb triggered by a device Add, Change or Delete. Loftware Connector for SAP now works with the Loftware Print Server version 9.6.

Connector for SAP® 1.5.2.13

Job Status Capability
‘Invalid Printer’ status message is now returned to SAP.