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Creating and Sharing Applications

With Applications, you share your label and Solution files stored in your Control Center Documents with your internal users or external users (for example, print operators).

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Important

For Label Management System on-premises, make sure you install NiceLabel Web Printing on your server before you share your Applications.Web Printing is a web application that allows you to centrally deploy your Applications to your print operators.

Creating New Applications

To create your new Application and configure general Settings:

  1. Go to the Control Center Applications tab, and click Add.

  2. Enter a Name for your Application. Give your new shared Application a meaningful name to make it easier to identify later.

  3. Enter your Description. Explain the purpose of your Application.

  4. Select your Application type. You can choose to open:

    • Single solution or label file

    • Folder with one or more solution or label files

      With this option selected, you don't need to create separate Applications for each file in your folder. You can add or remove label templates from your folder.

    Warning

    Applications don't work with dynamic values (Remember the last used value option). Use workarounds instead, for example, write and read variable values to your database.

  5. Under Path, click Browse and navigate to your label template, Solution, or folder stored in your Control Center Documents.

    You can also type the file path directly. Begin your relative file path with a slash: (/).

    /Labels/Test_label.nlbl

    If your label or solution file uses a file database connection (with Microsoft Excel or Access database), read Using File Database Connections in Applications to ensure the accessibility of your data.

Your next step is to define the Application's Authorised Users and Groups.

Defining Application's Authorised Users and Groups

Define your authorized users and groups to restrict access to your shared Applications and make your labeling environment more secure.

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Tip

You can skip this part and add your users later.

Defining LMS Authorised Users and Groups

Define your Authorized Users and Groups:

  1. In Applications > Applications click Add. Create New Web Applications page opens.

  2. In the Authorized Users and Groups section click Add. The Add Users to your Authorized List for the New Application dialog opens.

    21_applications1.png

    Share your Application with existing users or groups. Use the Search users field to type your selection.

    If your company uses the active directory, you can either select specific Windows users or Windows groups. To open your shared Application, all added users must authenticate themselves using Windows authentication.

  3. Click Create New Application User to add your new Control Center user. Enter the Username and set the Password. Click OK. You can now share your application with the new application user.

Your added users or groups are now listed among the Authorized Users and Groups and can start using your shared Application.

Note

Notify your Application Users manually about the new shared Application.

To restrict access to your shared Applications, you can later remove your added users or groups from the Authorized Users and Groups. Select them from the list and click Remove.

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Defining Authorised Users and Groups for multiple users

In certain cases, you want to assign your Application to a list of Windows users. To speed up the process of adding multiple users, list these users in a table and manually add them to your shared Application:

  1. In Applications > Applications click Add. Create New Web Applications page opens.

  2. In the Authorized Users and Groups section click Add. The Add Users to your Authorized List for the New Application dialog opens.

  3. Click the Add Users or Groups Manually link. A dialog opens.

  4. Under Type, select if you want add Windows users or groups. .

  5. Paste or enter your users, each in a separate line.

  6. Click OK.

  7. Click Add.

Your added users or groups are now listed among the Authorized Users and Groups and can start using your shared Application.

To restrict access to your shared Applications, you can later remove your added users or groups from the Authorized Users and Groups. Select them from the list and click Remove.

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Configuring Application's User Settings

Configure your user settings to:

  • Customize and track your printing activities.

  • Limit who can access your Applications and how many printers (printer licenses) they can use.

CCUG10-1_App_User_settings.png

Configure User Settings:

  1. In Applications > Applications click Add. Create New Web Applications page opens.

  2. Navigate to the User Settings section.

  3. Under Status toggle between Active or Suspended.

    Your applications are Active by default. This means that your users can start working with them immediately. If you want to prevent the usage of your Application, set the status to Suspended. This is useful during your testing phase or if you wish to postpone the use of your Application.

  4. Under Record printing activities to the history log toggle between On and Off.

    Record printing activities to history log keeps track of user printing actions within your shared Application. This option allows you to start or stop the recording of printing activities in Control Center.

    See the recorded activities on the Control Center History page.

    Note

    Recorded information items are: label name, label quantity, printer name, variable values, etc.

  5. Restrict your Application logins and printer usage:

    Web Printing gives you Application access control and allows you to limit the number of used printers for your shared Application.

    1. Allowed IP addresses enables you to give access to your Application's login only to computers with certain IP addresses. Your shared Application blocks computers with non-defined IP addresses. Enter each address in a separate row, or separate them with a semicolon (;). To specify your address range, use CIDR notation. You can convert subnet mask notation into CIDR notation using online calculators.

      Example 12. Defining a range of permitted IP addresses

      To allow login from any IP in range 192.168.0.1–192.168.0.254, define the range as 192.168.0.0/24.


    2. To Enable printer limitation toggle between On or Off. When On, define the Number of printers your Application users are allowed to print on.

      Warning

      Each printer used in your shared Application takes one printer license. This setting makes sure you don't accidentally run out of available printer licenses that come with your NiceLabel license.

      Number of printers is the maximum number of allowed printers per user for your Web Application. If users exceed this number, they can no longer print to additional printers.

  6. Under Variable values, you predefine values for custom variables for your shared label or solution file.

    Variable values are commonly used for pre-defining Application (Solution) languages or settings, or label template active layers.

    Example 13. Language as a variable

    For example, users from two different regions use the same Application simultaneously. Users from the first location need the Application in the French language, while users from the second location need their version in the German language.

    While each region must have the Application in its own language, all users need to experience the same look and feel of the Application.

    In this case, you define the same Application for users in both locations and define the starting value of your language variable. Use this variable as a filter in your database table, displaying strings in the right language. Usually, the criteria are simple relations, such as field_name = variable_value.

    To set variable language to starting value French, use the following syntax: "language" = "French"


    Note

    Check for typing errors in variable names and values. Also, make sure to test your Application before you allow your user to log in. Your Application doesn't display an error if you assign values to non-existing variables.

    If your variable name includes space, use double-quotes ("") to define your variable.

  7. Enable use of non-published files in Document Storage allows you to permit your Application users to work with versions of label templates and Solutions that are not published (approved). By default, Applications only share label templates and Solutions that complete all your workflow steps and are marked as approved. Sharing non-published files can be useful as part of various testing scenarios.

  8. Click Save.

Note

If you use LMS product, after you save changes on the Applications page, send a notification email to your users or groups manually.

Your new Application is now accessible in Control Center, under the Applications page, and ready for sharing.

Updating and Removing Applications

You can always go back and reconfigure your Applications:

  1. Go to Applications and click on the Application you want to update.

  2. Change your settings and configure your Application according to your needs.

    If you want to replace your label or Solution file, change the Path under Settings.

    CCUG10-1_Application_File_path.png

  3. Click Save.

To remove your Applications, select them from the Applications list and click Delete. Deleting your Applications won't delete your label or Solution files connected to your Application.