Summary of Features Added with BarTender Version 8.0

Seagull Scientific's Biggest Software Upgrade in Years!

The brand new "Enterprise Print Server" edition includes many powerful capabilities for integration and centralized printing. BarTender's user interface has been extensively upgraded in all editions and new printer drivers released. For complete information, please download the What's New in BarTender 8.0 white paper.

Powerful New Centralized Printing Capabilities

Use a single copy of the Enterprise Print Server edition installed on one server to process and distribute label printing requests from numerous users and software programs in a large enterprise.

• Output to any printer on a LAN, WAN and even Internet printers.
• Licensed to support an unlimited number of users.
• Includes all features in Enterprise and RFID Enterprise.

Exciting Web Printing Capabilities from any Browser

With our brand new BarTender Web Print Server, you can use any web browser to scroll through preview images of your label formats. Simply "click" to print.

• Print to any network printer or properly setup internet printer.
• Print-time data prompts designed in BarTender are transmitted to your web client for proper display and data entry.

Support for PDA's and Pocket PCs for Better Mobility

BarTender Web Print Server allows for small screen display and works with any operating system or hardware platform that can run a web browser.

Significant XML Enhancements Accelerate Integrations

The Enterprise Print Server edition of BarTender and Commander deliver a variety of powerful new XML capabilities:

• BarTender XML Script is a new language optimized especially for easier, higher speed remote automation of BarTender.
• XML transforms using XSL style sheets simplify conversion of any external XML format into almost any data format, including BarTender XML Script.

TCP/IP Socket Connectivity Improves Remote Automation

The Enterprise Print Server edition of the Commander integration utility now supports TCP/IP-based triggers and label data transmission.

Major User-Interface Enhancements in All Editions

• Print-time prompt dialogs now support list boxes and drop down lists.
• The Toolbox now supports "auto-hide," more advanced docking functions, and more convenient tool pane switching.
• Most toolbar icons have been upgraded to a more colorful, more 3D look, providing greater attractiveness and quicker user recognition.
• An even greater level of menu customization is now provided.

Other New Features

• New graphics library supports 70 additional graphics formats and provides better CMYK color handling for JPEG graphics.
• Enterprise Print Server makes print job verification (rather than simply job submission verification) available to ActiveX integrators.

For more details, please see the What's New in BarTender 8.0 white paper.

Summary of Features Added with BarTender Version 7.75

Now Tested and Approved for Operation on Windows Vista

BarTender version 7.75, Service Release 2 (released January 18) is now certified by Seagull Scientific to run on Microsoft's new Windows Vista operating system. Users of earlier versions of BarTender 7.7x should click here for a free update.

Oracle XML Label Request Support

The Commander utility in the BarTender Enterprise package can now detect and parse XML generated by Oracle's "Oracle Warehouse Management" and "Oracle Mobile Supply Chain" applications. For more details, please see the white paper "XML Integration with Oracle's WMS and MSCA" at the web address below.

XML-based Label Printing Automation

Using the same integration support we developed for Oracle's ERP applications, any application can automate label jobs by passing an XML file to Commander. The XML file can specify a label format name, label data, the number of label copies, a printer and a print job name.

Modify Printer Code

The new Printer Code Modifier feature gives users the ability to make automated changes to the printer code generated by a printer driver. Printer code can be modified during normal printing, when exporting Printer Code Templates, and when downloading to data-entry keyboard terminals.

Enhanced Printer Code Template Support

• Improved support for SAPscript-ITF, including release 4.6C.
• Support added for data-entry keyboard terminals from TSC and TEC.
• Export directly to devices such as printers and keyboard terminals.

New Advanced Data Sources

• Label Object String supports sharing of an object's entire data string with another object.
• Printer Code Template Field is now a selectable data source. This makes it easier than ever to have certain data supplied by other software or hardware after the printer code has been output by BarTender.

For more details, please see the What's New in BarTender 7.75 white paper.

Summary of Features Added with BarTender Version 7.74

XML-Enabled Printer Support

Many printers can now directly accept XML data packets containing ready-to-print text strings and the name of a label format pre-stored in the printer. Print commands are not used and middleware is not needed, so SAP/R3, Oracle (WMS, MSCA, etc.), and other applications can directly output label jobs.

BarTender generates label templates for XML-ready printers from Datamax, Intermec, Printronix and Zebra, or you can customize the output to support other printers.

New Media Handling and Enhanced Cutter Functions

Provides greater control over page breaks, pausing and label cutting. These actions are triggerable by events (such as new print job or label copy), by sensors (such as Label Taken Sensor), or by changes in label data.

RFID Additions

• RFID stocks added for Intermec, SATO and others.
• RFID tag images added for Impinj, Rafsec and Avery Dennison.

Code 128 Enhancements

• The "code set" for Code 128 bar codes can now be set manually.
• The exporting of Code 128 and UCC/EAN-128 bar codes in printer code templates has been improved. (See new driver features on other side for more information.)

New Design Objects

Draw perfect circles and stretch ellipses to any height-to-width ratio.

Other User-Interface Enhancements

• Bar code components in Toolbox organized into folders for easier selection.
• Page Setup offers more advanced page orientation options and effects.

For more details, please see the What's New in BarTender 7.74 white paper.

Summary of Features Added with BarTender Version 7.72

BarTender's RFID Enterprise Edition Simplifies RFID Encoding

BarTender is now available in a fourth edition, "RFID Enterprise," in addition to the existing Enterprise, Professional and Basic editions. The RFID Enterprise Edition becomes the new highest-end offering in Seagull Scientific's line of label design and printing software.

• The RFID Enterprise Edition includes full-featured programming of RFID "smart tags" in addition to all the familiar features of Enterprise Edition.
• Supports all major RFID tag types.
• On-screen display of tag image prevents placement of label objects in undesirable locations.
• Support is provided for all EPC-standard RFID tag data formats as ready-to-use BarTender components. Your own custom RFID tag data formats can be quickly saved as RFID components for future use in other label designs.
• Data in RFID objects can easily be shared with text and bar code objects. This allows scanning using both RFID and bar code hardware, providing redundancy in the event of a non-functioning tag.
• RFID label stocks are provided as part of BarTender's built-in label stock database.

New Animated Tutorial

• New users can accelerate their learning curve with the new tutorial accessible through the BarTender help menu or on our web site.

Object Locking

• Prevent unwanted changes to your designs by instantly locking or unlocking any label object in position.

For more details, please see the What's New in BarTender 7.72 white paper.

Summary of Features Added with BarTender Version 7.7

Full-System Unicode Support Provides an Easier, More Powerful way to Read and Print International Characters.

• A single text object or data substring can contain text from multiple languages.
• Import data from databases in which the language varies from field to field and record to record.
• Print languages that are supported only by Unicode.
• Take advantage of printer-based Unicode fonts for high performance printing of labels with multiple languages.*
• Copy and paste text with multiple languages to and from other applications.
• Access files, printers and servers whose names, paths and network locations contain any international characters.*
• Read from databases that have international characters in the names of the server, database, user, password, tables and fields.*
• Improved support for Windows' Input Method Editors for typing international characters.
• Print subscript and superscript characters.
• All Seagull Scientific software applications now support instant switching of the user-interface between international languages (including some situations that previously required a reboot).

More Font Style Options

Font Style Emulation lets you choose bold and italic font styles even with fonts that do not natively support these styles.

Expanded Input and Output Data Encoding Options

Several character encoding standards have been added:

• Unicode (UTF-16)
• Unicode (Big Endian)
• Unicode (UTF-8)
• Many language encodings

This allows for more flexible database reading, BarTender job logging, E-mail messaging and printer code export.

Improved Reading Order Support

Benefit from greater control over the appearance of text that mixes right-to-left languages (such as Hebrew and Arabic) with left-to-right languages.

Support for Micro QR Code

This very dense 2D code is great for encoding more data and international characters in tight spaces.

* This feature not available when used on Windows 98.

For more details, please see the What's New in BarTender 7.7 white paper.

Summary of Features Added with BarTender Version 7.5

Easier User Interface

• New wizards speed beginners through label setup
  • Starting a new label design
  • Choosing the right label stock, label rows, columns, margins, etc.
  • Users can still choose manual label setup if preferred
• Wizards for power users too
  • A simpler way to combine bar code data from multiple data sources
  • Easy organizing and processing of EAN.UCC Application Identifiers.
  • Simpler data "substring" management.
• Quickly preview and print label designs without opening formats
  • More detailed thumbnail preview provided by BarTender
  • Detailed thumbnail views now also available in Windows Explorer
  • Quickly print a format by right-clicking its previewed image, and selecting "print."
  • "Auto-completion" for filenames typed into dialog boxes

Enhanced Database Connectivity

• OLE DB data sources now supported. (ODBC still supported.)
• New wizard simplifies connecting to a database

New Software Activation

• Online activation—provides an easy, secure way to authenticate software licenses.
• No more hardware keys for Enterprise Edition

User-definable Background Images

• Specify a background label image to appear "behind" your label design
• Also add a background color
• Automatically "bleed" backgrounds beyond label edges to ensure full coverage in case of label slippage or poor printer registration

Support for Printer Clocks

• Time and date stamps can now be read from the printer's real time clock
• Existing use of computer's clock still supported

For more details, please see the What's New in BarTender 7.5 white paper.

Summary of Features Added with BarTender Version 7.1

New Bar Codes Supported

Version 7.1 introduces two important new symbologies, RSS and EAN.UCC Composite, both of which support the AIM "Small Symbologies" initiative for improved product labeling. Support has also been added for the high density bar code Telepen and the two dimensional Aztec symbology.

Export BarTender Printer Code

When it is not possible to have BarTender be the print engine, you can use the Enterprise edition to design labels and produce Printer Code Templates (PCT) for later use by other systems. Uses include SAP, key pad devices, and custom programs running on any operating system.

Enhanced Text Features

Now you can easily size "rich text" (text consisting of different fonts and font sizes) as easily as you can simple text – just click and drag the sizing handles on the text box. You can also have BarTender "auto size" the text to the optimum point size required to fit it into a desired predefined area.

Improved Data Handling

• You can use the new Query Prompt Ordering dialog to control the order of print-time query prompts.
• Additional VB script functions and objects: The UCC Application Identifier function assists in formatting application identifier data strings. An "E-mail Object" is now available to create custom e-mail notifications of various data conditions and printing events.

For more details, please see the What's New in BarTender 7.1 white paper.

Summary of Features Added with BarTender 7.0

(Click here for details.)

Streamlined Label Design

• Custom Component Library for easy re-use of fully customized label components
• Drag and drop creation of all objects, including lines, boxes, and graphics
• Drag and drop bar codes from expanded library of bar code formats
• One-degree rotation of boxes, lines, text, and graphics
• Industry stock database for quick selection of more than 2,500 pre-configured page settings - or customize and save settings for future use
• Hundreds of industrial graphic symbols for electrical indications, hazardous materials, textile care, and more
• Bearer bar support for the Interleaved 2-of-5 bar code symbology

Advanced Text Features

• On-screen editing of text
• Rich Text formatting with option of sourcing data to different parts of a label object
• Auto-scale text to fit the width of the text box
• User-definable tab support in text objects
• First line indent and hanging indent for paragraph text objects
• Inter-paragraph spacing

Time-Saving Print Preview

• Print Preview with external data sourcing displaying full-page image(s) of complete print job

Fast Database Configuration

• Drag and drop data linking of label objects to databases, VB scripts, system date/time, or pre-defined static values

Powerful Integration Capabilities

• E-mail Triggers added to Commander
• POP3 e-mail support added to messaging for all applications
• Improved user interface and System Service Interface for Commander
• Setup and run BarTender processes under specified user account using Commander
• Enterprise message handling in Commander displays, logs, and sends e-mail messages

Enhanced Support Options

• Redesigned on-line help system using HTML Help for all applications
• 100% language-translated in 20 languages with addition of Hungarian
• Installer updated including new on-line product registration feature

Summary of Features Added with BarTender 6.2

Label Design

• Auto-sizes text to fit inside a rectangle
• Exports objects and labels using 16 million or 256 colors
• "Typefaces by Type" option displays fonts in groups by type (i.e., device, TrueType/OpenType)
• Script drop-down control allows text to be displayed using its proper character set
• Supports font aliasing

Bar Codes

• Supports MicroPDF417
• Supports custom selection of start and stop characters in Regular and Full ASCII Code 3 of 9 and Codabar
• Supports TCIF Labeling Standards

Database Options

• Reads text files generated in other languages
• Reads "fixed width" fields in a text file

System

• Automatically e-mails any BarTender or Seagull License Server message to a user
• Auto fixes page set-up settings as needed when switching out printers
• Enhanced network installation
• Installation CD provides access to user manuals (now available in 19 languages), white papers, driver information and more

Summary of Features Added with BarTender 6.1

(Click here for details.)

• New Enterprise and Basic Editions
• Direct Interface to SAP
• Password Protection
• Support Expanded to 20 More Languages
• Enterprise-Level Message Handling
• Maximum Windows Compatibility Using Microsoft's Latest
   "Installer" Technology
• Additional Ready-to-Print Compliance Labels
• Enterprise Edition's Commander Integration Utility:
   -Provides integration capabilities you trigger by simply creating
    a data file
   -Runs multiple instances of BarTender for faster printing
   -Monitors multiple data sources simultaneously
   -More powerful integration through execution of Java, Visual Basic
    scripts or batch files
   -Allows substitution of variables
   -Operates as an NT/2000 service

Summary of Features Added with BarTender 6.0

(Click here for details .)

At last, the kind of powerful, flexible data connectivity you'd expect to have to get from a dedicated reporting tool, such as "Crystal Reports," instead of your label printing software.

Among the more powerful new features is simultaneous access to multiple tables on different systems. So you can (for example) query an Oracle database on a Unix server, a dBase table on an NT server, and a straight text file on a local system – all at the same time.

There´s also a new Database Setup Wizard which brings a remarkable new simplicity to the task of specifying which database table(s) and fields you need to access. And our ActiveX Automation interface has been expanded too. The new features include...

Database Features:

• Database Setup Wizard
• New Record Picking Capabilities
• Multiple Table Support
• Read Multiple Databases
• On-Screen Browse of Databases, Tables and Fields
• Read Field Name Headers from Text Files
• Custom Delimitation of Text Files
• Define Queries with Data Entry and Validation at Print Time
• User-Definability of Entire SQL Statements

Enhancements to BarTender´s ActiveX Automation Capabilities:

• Single ActiveX Call for Writing Data to BarTender Label Objects
• Access to New Database Features
• Extraction of Graphic Images of Labels

New Bar Code Symbology:

• Support for the "KIX" Postal Code

Summary of Features Added with BarTender 5.4

(Click here for details.)

Version 5.40 marked the first release of our Professional Integrator edition, with new and more powerful capabilities for running BarTender with other software, including:

• ActiveX Automation
• Data Detector
• Automated Printer Selection
• Print Job Logging

The four features listed above are available in the Professional Integrator edition only. 5.4 also added support for circular and arc text to all editions of BarTender. (5.3 already supported circular text but had only been released internationally.)

Version 5.41, released in mid-January 1999, added support for the Maxicode 2D bar code symbology. (Click here for details.)

Version 5.42, released on May 25, 1999. Added support for QR Code and a number of international postal codes. A Character Entry Assistant simplifies the typing in and bar coding of control characters and other special characters. Improved metric system settings. Conversion from a view-only to a view and edit status bar. Additional sample compliance label formats for UPS shipping. Also adds the ability to save out label designs to a format readable by older versions of BarTender. (Click here for details.)

Summary of Features Added with BarTender 5.3

(Click here for details .)

5.3 was only released in "International" editions. Therefore circular and arc text were not released in the "domestic" (USA and Canada) editions until version 5.4 (see below).

• Circular and Arc-Shaped Text

Summary of Features Added with BarTender 5.2

(Click here for details.)

• Data Validation & Error Checking
• Easier, More Flexible Data Sourcing
• Min & Max String Length Functions
• Improved, Easier VB Scripting
• Data Trimming/Truncation Functions

Summary of Features Added with BarTender 5.1

(Click here for details.)

• User-Designable Data Entry Forms
• Data-Sourced Graphics
• Support for Visual Basic Script
• New Types of Serialization
• Prompting for all Data Source Types
• Print Wizard
• White on Black Printing
• Status Bar
• Improved Font WYSIWYG
• Non-Printing Label Objects
• Automatic Restart of Print Jobs
• Comments for Label Objects

Summary of Features Added with BarTender 5.0

(Click here for details.)

• True 32-bit Windows Application
• Real-time Onscreen Resizing
• Faster Design and Printing
• 32-Bit ODBC Database Support
• Unlimited Undo/Redo Command
• Object Oriented Data Field Setup
• More Powerful, Easier Page Setup
• Multiple Concurrent Design Sessions
• Right-Button Menus Simplify Tasks
• Easier Cut and Paste Between Labels
• Tool Bars Can Be Moved/Reshaped
• Thumbnail Previews of Saved Labels
• Tool "Tips" Provide Instant Hints
• Tracking of Laser Label Start Position
• Three Tool Bars Instead Of One
• Hundreds of New Help System Links