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Welcome to the FormSprint Newsletter
Power - the ability to produce - to get things done - its why we're loyal to the iSeries, its what we want from our business critical applications, its what you have with FormSprint! We'll talk about what's new with FormSprint in this newsletter and offer some thoughts on making your installation even more powerful!
As we enter the second quarter of the year the 200901 release of FormSprint is available for download and there are some exciting additions and enhancements to the software. We understand the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" approach to software upgrades, but it's a good idea to stay current with your FormSprint software even if you don't need the new features. The update only takes 10 or 15 minutes to download and install and it sure makes it easier for us in support when you call! When you're ready, please give us a call for your user ID and password.
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The PDF417 Barcode
This release introduces an additional 2D barcode - the PDF417. The 2D barcodes are designed to contain more information than the traditional linear barcodes. By using both the horizontal and vertical dimensions, it is possible to encode a great deal of information. The PDF in the name of this barcode doesn't have anything to do with PDF files - it stands for "Packed Data Format". The 4 and 17 refer to the structure of the bars and spaces.
This barcode is primarily used for transport, airline boarding passes,
identification cards and inventory control, you've probably already seen it being used somewhere. The barcode could be used for most any application where you need to encode multiple variable items. For instance, it could easily populate an entire data entry screen to save time keying information and to reduce errors.
What else is new?
For our customers who are producing PDF files, some enhancements have been made for error logging and notification.
We have also added the ability to invert Zebra label data to eliminate the need for rotating each entry and to provide consistent dimensional input.
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Introducing Power Email and Power PDF
As the names imply, one provides automatic emailing of FormSprint output and the other converts FormSprint output to PDF files.
FormSprint Power Email
FormSprint Power Email runs on the Power i (System i, iSeries, iWishthey'dstoprenamingit, AS/400) just as FormSprint does, and emails directly from the Power i using its SMTP server. And because the email system uses the internal SMTP server, your email goes directly to the recipient without going thru your ISP's email system. This means that you are not subject to any of the constraints that the ISP may impose on your email. No PC or additional server is involved. The FormSprint output is sent as a PDF attachment to the email. For instance, instead of printing the vendor copy of a purchase order, it could be emailed to the vendor, speeding up the ordering process and saving postage. FormSprint Power Email provides excellent production emailing of FormSprint invoices, statements, purchase orders and other forms. You could also process reports to cut down on printed copies.
FormSprint Power Email is available now for beta testing. If you are
interested in being a beta site and testing it yourself, please contact
your ICS sales representative.
FormSprint Power PDF
You may be wondering why ICS is offering our own PDF conversion tool when we support other options for doing this. Having our own solution allows us to provide software that specifically meets the requirements of FormSprint output. FormSprint Power PDF automatically creates PDF files when processing invoices,
purchase orders and other forms. Multi-page forms can combine printing with PDF file creation so some form pages print while other pages are converted to PDF or the same pages can be printed and saved as PDF. Files can be placed in a shared folder or any IFS directory. PDF Naming can be fixed or dynamic as can the path location.
Reports can be converted to PDF and placed where users can access them. Users can choose to print an entire report, only certain pages or simply retain files for future reference.
Have you ever worked from a remote location where you didn't have a laser printer available to print FormSprint documents? By emailing the documents to yourself or even just producing PDF files, the documents become available to you no matter where you are (as long as you can get your email!) - and, you don't need a laser
printer to print them - you can even print on an inkjet.
Power PDF also works with the FormSprint archive data base system. Retrieved records can be converted to PDF with the press of a key. Power PDF is included in FormSprint Power Email or it can be purchased separately. Contact your ICS sales representative if you want to learn more about Power PDF. |
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What's in a name?
OK, so IBM is using "Power" this and that now - like they invented it, but
when you see my name Betsy P. Andrews or my user id "EPA" in some of the screens in the instruction book, know that the P stands for Power! And our newest young software developer is Joe Power, my nephew, and that's a lot of Power! More Power to you, our users, and a Happy Spring too! |
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