Standalone/Downtime Applications - AMT Datasouth Fastmark M10XPd/Gen-2 User Manual

Standalone/Downtime Applications

TM
PAL Print and Program capable printers may be programmed to operate independent
of a PC/host connection. This standalone ability may be used in cases where no
PC/host connection is needed or as a fail-safe backup when the PC/host or network is
unavailable. The Standalone Application program is stored in the printer memory and
can accept input from a keyboard, bar code scanner, or other serial device such as an
electronic scale. These programs may use the printer's LCD to prompt for user input
and may also include databases. Unlike other bar code printers that allow basic static
forms to be loaded in the printer, PAL™ Print and Program capable printers provide
advanced capabilities.
Examples of these advanced capabilities are:
❖ Ability to operate on line from host or off line in stand-alone mode
❖ Ability to range check user input
❖ Ability to combine data from multiple fields into a single bar code
❖ Ability to access database stored in printer
❖ Ability to perform math calculations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, etc.)
❖ Ability to perform logical calculations (equal to, less than, greater than, etc.)
Shown below is an example where a stand-alone PAL
stored in the printer. Operator input combined with internal database information is
used to create a label. For example, this application could request a part number and
physical dimensions of a particular part by prompting for this information on the printer
LCD. After the operator inputs the requested information on the keyboard, the printer
could calculate the volume, and then based on the part number, lookup the part
description in a database to produce a label.
Operator
Input
PAL Printer
Keyboard
Local
Database
PAL Standalone
Keyboard Data
PAL
Interpreter
Flash Memory
Printed
Document
TM
Application
Printer
- 36 -
application and database is