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Topic:   Label print button/function

By: ThomasPosted on: Oct 3 2022 at 04:31:55 AM
Hi all,
The last few days I've been working on some old stuff, which was not marked correctly.

Therefore I was missing a button or function, which could easily print the most essential
information on a part, directly on a labelprinter such as Brother or Dymo (or whichever brand used)
The information could/should be Partnumber, Description & Location.

I think this would be in keeping with the MiniMRP idea and tradition for simplicity.

@ Support: Is this on the list?
@ Fellow community: Is this something you see as a sensible addition to MiniMRP.

If this function already exists, please direct me to it, and excuse my ignorance :-)

Thanks,

Thomas

By: GuestPosted on: Oct 3 2022 at 06:29:47 AM
When you're looking at the "All Components" grid there's a green "X" excel button over to the right. You can export the list as an excel file.

In excel you can arrange the sheet and print labels?

By: GuestPosted on: Oct 9 2022 at 03:30:55 AM
We export our purchase order data part, description and GRN (on receipt) to an access database, that then sorts it and prints labels on a Zebra printer.

We also print labels in the same way for components etc.

I doubt anything like this will be added to MiniMrp.

By: ThomasPosted on: Oct 18 2022 at 12:53:15 AM
Many thanks for your input.

But both methods are not really in keeping with the MiniMRP way, as it adds complexity and several more steps in order to do a simple task.

Support?

By: GuestPosted on: Oct 18 2022 at 05:30:24 AM
I agree, it's very frustrating as all the information required is there - these type of things don't make the software more complex and do offer benefits -

By: GuestPosted on: Oct 18 2022 at 08:06:43 AM
I think it "is" in keeping with MiniMRP. MiniMRP doesn't want to do anything that is is not required by the majority of users. Label printing is not a 'hot' topic on the MiniMRP forum.

I'm no software developer but I imagine label printing is a little more complex than you think. Setting up the size of the label. The layout of the text. The size of the text/font on the label. Is it an A4 sheet or is it on a roll, and, and.

You'll notice that minimrp doesn't offer any formatting for printing of PO's or Customer Orders. Same with labels. It would need to offer formatting tools which, I guess, they don't want to to


By: ThomasPosted on: Oct 28 2022 at 09:31:52 AM
Again, great feedback!

I agree with the last input. Formatting and setting up printers etc. is not in keeping with MiniMRP concept.
Here's a thought: How about a button that copies the partnumber, description & location. The user can then just swap to whichever labelmanager they have, and paste it into their favorite label?

By: GuestPosted on: Oct 29 2022 at 11:31:28 AM
How about a button that copies the partnumber, description & location. The user can then just swap to whichever labelmanager they have, and paste it into their favorite label?

Go to "All Components". In the top right corner click the menu button and select "Row Select". We're not going to select whole rows but this also allows multiple cells to be selected.

You can drag columns so that your part number, description and BIN are side by side (column positions will be remembered).

Then highlight the cells you want. Press CTRL-C (to copy) then go to you your other program and paste (CTRL-V)

Those CTRL-C and V keyboard shortcuts are standard Microsoft shortcuts that work with most windows programs.

By: GuestPosted on: Nov 2 2022 at 02:58:50 AM
Thats exactly how we export the data to an access database, then print onto labels - we actually do this from the purchase order receipts as well. The plus of doing it through access is that you can grab all the data, but then sort as required.

For info - it really does not take long to setup and format a label.

By: ThomasPosted on: Nov 3 2022 at 07:03:17 AM
I completely disagree with Guest 1 & 2 above.

Guest 1: Your suggestion requires a number of steps to complete an otherwise very simple task, so you're simply accepting the system is it is, rather than helping out defining new functions. I know how to get the data in a complex way. My idea was to save time, rather than your over-complicated way.

Guest 2: We do not want to program Access databases, as we came from our own Access database, and switched to MiniMRP to avoid this. If you do not want to support this idea, please refrain from posting, rather than trying to estimate how long it takes to format a label. It was just an idea, and you are not helping.

By: SupportPosted on: Nov 3 2022 at 11:07:54 AM
Can I try to explain our thinking.

Ignoring labels for a moment. When we print a purchase order the printer tells us how big the paper is so we can automatically place the content into the standard A4 or US Letter frame.

Many years ago we did have a different program (Not MiniMRP) that could print labels. Back then the label company offered a device driver that the user could install. This added the label selection to the Windows printer selection dialog. We didn't need to do anything. We'd display the Windows Print Dialog and the user could select from dozens of different label layouts. The driver would tell us the label dimensions and we didn't need to worry about layout on the sheet.

But that meant we had a dependency on that 3rd party print driver. Of course our software would not print unless the user installed that printer driver. Of course, the user would come screaming at us when his software stopped working - because he'd unstalled his driver or moved to a new PC and hadn't installed the driver. So we spent time helping users install somebody else's product. We were basically supporting somebody else's product just because our software depended on it.

Now I don't know if label suppliers still supply printer drivers. But we will not allow MiniMRP to be dependent on somebody else's driver. MiniMRP is totally stand alone. This means we'd have to do all the page layout and design ourselves.

We'd need to offer a user interface that allows the user to design the layout. How many labels on the sheet. How big are the labels. Gaps between labels. etc etc (etc) Go to somebody like Avery. Look at their website (other label suppliers are available) There's dozens of different layouts from just that one company.

We'd need to write the code to support all those layouts. If we restricted it to one or two then some people wouldn't be happy.

But let's say we did it. Almost immediately somebody would want a barcode on the label. Windows, by default, can not print barcode without a barcode driver such as Code39. If that wasn't installed. We'd be supporting that too. If we did that then somebody would want to be able to read barcodes in to MiniMRP. Again, this would need more code. It just goes on and on.

MiniMRP is a SubSet of MRP-Like features. We have to exclude features otherwise it wouldn't be "MINI". Label printing is one of those features. I'm sorry. But we can't do it.


By: GuestPosted on: Nov 4 2022 at 06:57:30 AM
Thomas,

I think you have slightly missed the point here - MiniMrp is never going to offer this, so the suggestions were simply that, "Suggestions".

The point of a forum is to help users with issues - not to "Support" or "Not-Support" your idea!

The reason Access was suggested is that if buttons were programmed into the software, someone else would want something else - so if you take the data and put it into access you can automate what YOU want, but both this and the previous idea are suggestions - take it or leave it.

Thats not to say MiniMrp could not do with having better reports, or more data output functions, i wish it did, but i dont think it ever will.

I hope you find a solution that works for you.

By: GuestPosted on: Nov 4 2022 at 07:10:37 AM
In our last system labels for parts and deliveries were printed from the software - BUT we had to use the printer they told us to. I guess that worked becuase they made sure it was all formatted correctly.

I assume MiniMrp would not be intertested in doing that. (i would buy a label printer for the software if i could print directly)

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