Rice Lake Ishida AstraLabel User Guide - Manual (Page 15)

11
FDP-5010
Differences Between Label Editor and Scales Data Formats
The Label Editor program stores label data differently to the scales. Consequently some data
is lost if you transmit a label to the scales and then read it back again.
See Some Background on Ishida Label Formats for details.
Scales Communications Link
Label Editor connects to the scales using a serial port on the PC. Use the Comms Setup
command in the Setup menu to select the serial port to use and to set the communication
parameters (baud rate, etc.).
Sending and Receiving Label Data to and from the Scales
You can load the existing labels stored on the scales. This not only has the advantage of
providing you with a set of example labels to work from, but also enables you to obtain the
address and other scale-specific parameters set in the Label Properties dialog.
The procedure for loading label data from the scales is as follows.
1. Select Communicate with Scales from the Tools menu. A dialog opens asking whether
you wish to save the currently open label file in IF21 format. You must save the file if you
wish to send it to the scales. If you click "Yes", a File Open dialog appears for you to
specify the file name.
You must save the file in the scales data directory selected in step 2 below and the file
name must be a valid name expected by the scales - typically FOMT.001, where "001"
specifies the IF21 file number and can be any three-digit numeric value.
2. A dialog appears for you to specify the directory containing the scales data. The Data
Save (IF21) communications function on the scales was initially intended for use with a
dedicated floppy disk backup unit (called an IF21FD). When communicating with a PC,
this directory fills the role of the floppy disk on the IF21FD.
3. A Comms Progress dialog box appears to display the status of the data transfer. Wait for
the dialog box to appear, then initiate data transfer from the scales.
4. When you have finished the data transfer, click the Close button in the progress dialog to
end the communications session.
5. If the received data contained label formats, a dialog opens asking whether you wish to
open the received data in a label data file. Click Yes if you wish to open the file. This
opens a new Label List window containing the label formats received from the scales.
Note that, even if you do not open the file at this time, you can import the received data
file at a later time using the Import Labels command.