Labels

Before being able to print a label, it is necessary to set up the content of the label on the Labels page. The content of the labels comes from the tables in Dynamics 365 Business Central. The image below shows an example of what the structure of a label content could look like. By defining levels of a hierarchy and setting relationships between tables, it is possible to display the correct values on the label.

For a number of standard labels, a package is already created. The package “APTFB 26 LBL Labels” can be imported on the Configuration Packages page in Dynamics 365 Business Central. Some of the labels in the package make use of tables from Aptean extensions. If these extensions are not installed, a warning will be displayed during import. This message can be ignored and the labels can be created without these tables.

The steps below show an example of an imported label.

1. Select the Search icon , enter Labels and then choose the related link.
   The Labels list page opens. It consists of an overview of all labels. In this example, all labels from the package “APTFB 26 LBL Labels” are shown.

   

2. Click the required Label Code. Alternatively, on the action bar, click New to create a new one.

   The Label card page opens.

Label header

The Label Header on the Label card page has the following fields:

1. Label Code specifies the code of the label.

2. Description specifies the description of the label.

   

3. Label Type specifies for which type of document the label is used. (See the table below to understand which documents belong to which label type).

   If the label print function is outside the standard pages in Dynamics 365 Business central, the label type Custom must be selected. Information for printing the label(s) is then stored in a temporary table via an API or the Interface Management extension. This table must be entered as the highest in the hierarchy in the Label Setup Lines (Level 0). An example of a Custom label is a SSCC label that must be print from the SSCC extension.

   Label Category specifies a label category. For more information about creating a label category, see Label categories.

4. The Label Subtype field is available if you have selected the Custom value in the Label Type field. In the Label Subtype field, you can specify for which type of custom document the label can be used. Ensure the subtype value you enter matches the subtype sent from the related API (external system) or the Aptean Interface Management extension.

   • The following are the available custom APIs related to the Aptean Mobile Warehouse Registration extension.
     • License plate header: 70241434
     • Lot number information: 6505
     • Warehouse receipt line: 7317
   • The following is the available custom API related to the Aptean Shop Floor Production extension.
     • Production registration entry: 70234053

   

5. When the Show Dialog toggle is turned on, a printing dialog will be displayed when printing the labels in which it is possible to adjust the number of labels to print.

   

6. Layout Code specifies the code of the layout. The layout code is used so that the external label printing program knows which layout should be printed. If the labels are printed from different labels but with the same content, these labels can get the same layout code.

7. When the Use Customer Language toggle is turned on, the customer language will be used for the values on the label. This toggle can only be turned on if the Label Type is equal to Shipment or Production Output. When no customer is available in the source document that the label is printed for, the default company language will be used on the label.

8. The Status of the label is shown. The status can be changed by executing the Change Status function. This function is described in the next topic. When changing the status to Certified, a number of checks take place, to check if the label lines are entered correctly. Only labels with the status “Certified” are printed.

Label setup line

In the label setup line under the Line FastTab on the Label card page, it is possible to enter the tables and fields that are necessary to capture the content for the label.

1. Level specifies the level of the line in order to create a hierarchy. The system can only use the label codes where the table, from where the print function is executed, is used as a “start” table (table with level 0) in the label code.

   

2. Source Type specifies the type of the label setup line, such as Table, Field or Text.

3. Source No. specifies the number of the source table or source field. The source name is automatically filled in when entering a source number. It is also possible to enter the source name first, then the source number is automatically filled.

4. Destination specifies the destination of the label setup line of the type Field. When you want to show the value on the label, choose “Value”. Choose “Add to Caption”, if the value of the field must be added to the caption. If a label has to be printed in different languages, it is possible to add the language code to the caption.

5. Select the Mandatory checkbox if the setup line with source type “Field” must be mandatory. If the field is mandatory, and there is no value present when printing the label an error will be shown in the label output files.

6. The New Label checkbox points out from which table the actual label content starts. Furthermore, it specifies from which setup line the printing function will re-run for each source line in the source document when the document contains multiple lines.

7. Table Relation shows whether there is a relationship and with which table.

8. Filters shows whether there is a filter on the setup line.

9. Format Number specifies how a numeric value must be formatted. This field is only applicable when the source type of the setup line is Field and the value is numeric. “Reverse sign” will turn a positive number into a negative number and vice versa. “Absolute” will always turn the value to a positive value.

10. In the Data Format field, select the format of the data using the standard format for your language setting. Different regions can use different separators between the days, months, and years. For example, some regions use dashes (mm-dd-yyyy), and others use forward slashes (mm/dd/yyyy). For more information, see Standard Date and Time Format Strings and Standard numeric format strings.

11. In the Language Id field, select the language Id that is used for the data format. The formatting will be done accordingly to the selected language id. For example, if you select en-US, the data type is Number (Only supported for all numeric types), and the comma is used as the 1,000 separators, according to the US format.

Note that the Aptean Mobile Warehouse Registration and Aptean Shop Floor Production extensions use UTC as the data format for printing labels, while the standard Business Central uses the region setting for label printing.

If you need a consistent data format for label printing through the Aptean Mobile Warehouse Registration application and Aptean Shop Floor Production Power App and their corresponding Business Central extensions, you can specify either “U” or “u” in the Data Format field. This will ensure that the output data format remains the same in all situations. To know more, see Combination of data format and language settings for accurate representation of date and time.

9. The system creates a Caption for the setup line with source type Field or Text. The caption is composed of a table name, field name and is necessary a suffix. If the caption is not the same as the field name, it can be adjusted manually. This must be the same as the caption used in the external label program. As an example, this can be used for translations of field names

Functions

Change status

Each label has a status. Only labels with the status Certified can be printed. When creating a new label, the default status is Open. When changing the status to Certified, the system performs a number of checks.

1. On the Label card page, on the action bar, click Actions > Change Status. The Choose a new status dialog box opens.

   

2. Select the required option and click OK.

The label status is now changed.

Set relation

To retrieve the correct data from a table, relationships are needed between the “start” tables and the underlying tables. When creating a relationship, the fields with the same data in both tables must be linked to each other.

1. On the Label card page, select a label setup line with the source type Table.

   

2. On the action bar, click Manage > Set Relation. The Table Link Setup page opens.

3. Click the lookup button in the Parent Field No. field.

4. Click the required No. to select the field number in the parent table that is related to the field in the table that the link is created from.

5. Click OK.

6. Click the lookup button in the Field No. field.

7. Click the required No. to select the field number in the table that the link is created from and which is related to the parent field in the parent table.

   

   A relationship is now set up. In this example a relation between tables 336 “Tracking Specification” (the table in the selected setup line) and table 36 “Sales Header” (the table one level up) is set up with the fields “Source Subtype” (11) from table Tracking Specification and the field “Document Type” (1) from the table Sales Header.

8. Click Close.

   

In the label setup line is shown which table the line has a relationship with.

Set filter

A filter can be placed within a table to filter a specific value. An example of using a filter is the activity table in the warehouse. This table is used for both the incoming and outgoing warehouse activity lines. If labels are printed from a warehouse activity line with source “purchase order”, then a filter must be placed on the source “Purchase order”.

1. On the Label card page, select a label setup line with the source type Table.

2. On the action bar, click Manage > Set Filter. The Table Filters Setup page opens.

3. Click the lookup button in the Field No. field.

4. Select the field number that the selected table should be filtered on.

5. Click OK to close the Fields Lookup page.

6. Click Field Filter and enter the filter. It is possible to use numbers, letters and special symbols or operators, such as ”>“(greater than) or ”*“(unknown character(s)).

   

7. Click Close on the Table Filters Setup page.

   

On the Label card page, the label setup line shows that a filter is set.

Use language filter

It is possible to filter on the customer language so that the label can be printed in the language of the customer. This filter only works when in the header the “Use Customer Language” is on. Every time the label is printed the system will search for the customer language (of the customer linked to the source document that the label is printed from) and use this language as a filter within the table. When no customer language can be found, the default company language will be used.

1. On the Label card page, select a label setup line with source type Table and where the table includes a field Language Code.

2. On the action bar, click Manage > Set Filter. The Table Filters Setup page opens.

3. Click the lookup button in the Field No. field.

4. On the Fields Lookup page, select the row with the field name value Language Code.

5. Click button OK to close the Fields Lookup page.

   

6. Select the Use Language Filter checkbox.

   

The label setup line shows that a filter is set.

Copy lines

It is possible to copy the lines of a label to a new label to quickly create a similar label.

1. Select the Search icon , enter Labels and then choose the related link.
   The Labels list page opens.
2. On the action bar, click New to create a new label.
   The Label card page opens.
3. Enter Label Code.
4. On the Line FastTab, on the action bar, click Manage > Copy Label Lines.
   The Labels list page opens.
5. Select a Label Code from which all the label setup lines must be copied.

The lines are now copied to the new label and is shown on the Line FastTab on the Label card page.

Combination of data format and language settings for accurate representation of date and time

When you are working with different time zones or utilizing additional Aptean extensions, it is important to use an appropriate data format to ensure a consistent and accurate representation of data. The following table provides an overview of recommended data format combinations, along with the corresponding language settings and the resulting date and time format for each combination:

The data formats ‘T’ and ‘t’ are not supported and will result in an error message if specified.