Getting Started With SoftBars

SoftBars, Inc.
2808 N. Cole Road
Boise, Idaho 83704

www.softbars.com

(208) 376-7717

Introduction: A quick guide to using SoftBars

At SoftBars, we appreciate your interest in finding an easier way to print barcodes. The purpose of this document is to help you get started on the way to a better business solution. SoftBars was designed with your ease in mind, and shouldn't be difficult to obtain, install, and use. However, we understand that questions will arise in the course of your activities, and we hope to answer those questions here so your SoftBars experience will be a pleasant one.

Seeing the pain and hassle of the thousands of businesses trying to standardize barcoding, Joel Gyllenskog, the president of SoftBars, realized there had to be an easier way. In the summer of 2001 he began developing the patent pending technologies used in SoftBars. The fruit of this labor have resulted in a product that will transform the way you produce barcodes.

SoftBars is the easiest and fastest way to create bar codes for laser printing. It works in the Windows® 95, 98, ME, NT 4.0, 2000, XP and Unix®, Sun® Solaris®, and Linux® environments (with more to come). Utilizing the major symbologies, SoftBars can create bar codes in applications that allow the user to select fonts from the Windows font directory. This includes Word, Excel, Access, WordPerfect, WordPad and thousands of others. SoftBars works without cutting and pasting, or buying fonts, specialized printers, SIMMs, or DIMMs. SoftBars supports HP and other laser printers that use the PCL 5 printer language.

Once the software is installed, you should be able to go to your program of choice in the windows environment and produce barcodes. Simply type your data into the page, then select the barcode desired via the fonts menu. (At this time we support: Code 128, Code 93, Code 39 UCC/EAN-128, PDF 417, United States Postal Service Zip, Interleaved 2 of 5, UPC-A, and UPC-E, with more to come.)

Download and Installation

SoftBars is available for download from the World Wide Web at http://www.softbars.com. Select "Products" and then choose "Download Software". You can try SoftBars for free for as long as you like by selecting "Download Free Demo"; however, there will be a watermark and prompt line on any printed pages containing barcodes until a license has been purchased.

A license can be purchased from the website as well. Or, you may call 208-376-7717.

For security purposes, SoftBars uses one of two forms of validation when issuing SoftBars licenses. The technique used depends on the operating system and USB support on the computer.

Registration Code Method

For Windows 95, Windows NT, and computers without USB support, a registration code is used. This code uses the MAC Address for the installed NIC card (Network Interface Card) on your computer. If your machine does not have a NIC installed, we will send you one at no additional cost to you. This is how it works:

• Purchase a SoftBars license either online or by phone.
• Download the free SoftBars demo. When downloading, you may save the file (SBSetup.exe) anywhere on your hard drive.
• Run SBSetup.exe by double-clicking on it. This will install SoftBars onto your system. The default installation location for SoftBars is C:\Program Files\SoftBars. You may specify another location if desired. The SoftBars Manager window should open automatically. If not, go to the SoftBars installation directory and double-click SBMgr.exe.
• From the SoftBars Manager window, select Configure.
• In the lower right corner of the Configure window is the MAC address.
• Email us this number (joel@softbars.com), and we will email you the ID number to put opposite the MAC address.
• Your copy of SoftBars is now fully registered and the watermark and prompt line should not appear on printed pages with barcodes. If they do appear, call technical support at 866-376-7717.

USB Dongle Method

For Windows 98, ME, 2000, and XP (operating systems with adequate USB support) the USB dongle is used. The dongle plugs into a USB port on your computer, and SoftBars uses information contained on it to verify that a license has been purchased. These are the steps to follow in this case:

• Purchase a SoftBars license either online or by phone: 866-376-7717
• We will send you a USB dongle.
• Plug the dongle into an available USB slot on your computer.
• Download the free SoftBars demo. When downloading, you may save the file (SBSetup.exe) anywhere on your hard drive.
• Run SBSetup.exe by double-clicking on it. This will install SoftBars onto your system. The default installation location for SoftBars is C:\Program Files\SoftBars. You may specify another location if desired. The SoftBars Manager window should open automatically.
• Your copy of SoftBars is now fully registered and the watermark and prompt line should not appear on printed pages with barcodes. If they do appear, call technical support at 866-376-7717

Using the SoftBars Manager

When the installation is completed, the SoftBars Manager window should appear automatically. If not, run the program SBMgr.exe from the folder from which SoftBars was installed. The following window appears. Within it are two windows: Printers and Printer Drivers. Only your installed printers and drivers will appear in the SoftBars Manager windows.

Note: The colors in the Printer Drivers window have the following meanings:

Green: Known supported driver
Gray: Known unsupported driver
White: Not known if supported driver or not
Blue: SoftBars enabled driver

Enable Printers to use SoftBars:
1. Select the printer or printers on which you want to have SoftBars enabled by clicking on the printer or printer driver with the mouse. If the printer is selected, its associated driver(s) will also become selected automatically.

2. Click OK.

3. Reboot if necessary. Computers running Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows ME will need to be rebooted, and a prompt will appear saying so. Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, and Windows XP do not require rebooting.

The SoftBars Manager window also contains these menus: File, Configure, Fonts, Test Page, License, and About.

• File: allows you to exit the Manager
• Configure: brings up a window that has configuration options for PDF-417 barcodes, check digits, and MAC address registration (see "Registration Code Method", above).
• Fonts: allows you to install and uninstall the TrueType SoftBars barcode fonts. Instructions on when to use this function are discussed shortly.
• Test Page: brings up a window showing all SoftBars enabled printers. You may select one or more printers and click Print and a barcode test page will be sent to the specified printer.
• License: view SoftBars End-User License Agreement.
• About: view the SoftBars version in use.

Your printer(s) are now enabled and ready to print barcodes. First, however, some discussion on barcode fonts and drivers is necessary.

SoftBars Fonts

SoftBars TrueType Fonts

From the Fonts menu in the SoftBars Manager, you can choose to install the TrueType barcode fonts included with SoftBars. You will want to install the fonts or not install them depending upon your individual circumstances.

When to Install the Fonts

• When you are using a supported SoftBars driver (see Drivers, below)

  When Not to Install the Fonts

• When using an unsupported PCL driver or driver that is not working
• When using the SBD driver (see Drivers, below)

Drivers

A driver is a piece of computer software that controls input and output operations. For our purposes, it is software that controls output destined for a printing device. There are many printer drivers, and not all of them are able be used in barcode printing.

You will typically see printer drivers using one of three "printer languages": PCL, PCL XL (PCL 6), and PostScript (PS). Within PCL 5 are PCL 5, PCL 5e and PCL 5c. SoftBars supports PCL 5e drivers, and most PCL 5 and PCL 5c drivers. SoftBars does not support PCL 6 or PostScript drivers. However, with some operating systems, certain drivers that should work do not work using SoftBars. In these cases, and other cases when standard drivers do not work, we have a generic SBD driver that can be downloaded from http://www.softbars.com.

The following is a list of known drivers that do not work with different Windows operating systems (all drivers are PCL 5e):

• Windows 95/98/ME: LJ1100, LJ1200, LJ3300, LJ5L, LJ6Lpro
• Windows NT 4.0: LJ1100, LJ1200, LJ3300, LJ4/5/6, LJ4L, LJ4M, LJ4Mplus, LJ4P, LJ4Plus, LJ4si, LJ4simx, LJ5L, LJ5L-fs, LJ5mp, LJ6Lpro, LJ6P
• Widows 2000: LJ5Lxtra, LJ6Lpro
• Windows XP: LJ1100, LJ1200, LJ3300, LJ4/5/6

Testing SoftBars

Once SoftBars has been installed, a supported driver enabled, and fonts installed (if necessary), test SoftBars by printing a test page from SoftBars Manager. From the Manager window, select the Test Page menu, and then select the printer to send a test page to. Select Print.