LabelVision Classic: Technical Notes

Options in the LDESIGN.INI file
This note explains the setup file LDESIGN.INI for the Windows-based LabelVision Designer. This file contains a variety of options which can be modified to change the default operation of the Designer.

Note that options in the LDESIGN.INI file affect the Windows-based Designer only. You should not confuse it with the DEFAULT.INI file, which controls the LabelVision DOS modules.

LDESIGN.INI can be found in your Windows directory (usually C:\WINDOWS). You can edit the file with the Windows Notepad or any other text editor. Like other Windows .INI files, this file contains a number of options, each on a separate line. The option name is on the left, followed by an equals sign, followed by the current value.

To help you sort out the many options available, they are divided into the following categories:

  • Functional options affect the label files that you can create with the Designer. These options exist to help compensate for various printer versions, unusual applications and other situations where the default operation does not let you design the label you want. These are the options you are most likely to change.

  • Automatic options are automatically updated by the Designer based on your selections in the Designer menu. For example, your current printer, text font and bar code settings fall in this category. Although you can change these current settings by editing the LDESIGN.INI file, it is much easier to simply change them in the Designer. If you have set the Save Settings on Exit option to be Always in the Options | Preferences menu action, then LabelVision will save your current settings to the LDESIGN.INI file each time you exit the Designer.

  • Cosmetic options simply affect the display and operation of the LabelVision system. You should never have to change these options to create a particular label. These options are most useful for Value Added Resellers, Consultants or other people who want to change the way LabelVision appears and works in their environment.

The options are described in the following tables.

LDESIGN.INI Functional Options

Option

Type

Default

Description

MaxLabelSizeMils Integer Printer-dependent If specified, this value overrides the default maximum width of the label. Useful if you are using an unsupported printer which is similar to one supported by LabelVision but allows a wider label width.
ClipCloseObjects Yes, No Yes If Yes, LabelVision never writes negative coordinates to the label file. Change to No if objects which you move close to one edge of the label are "shifted" away from that edge.
FieldMeasurementString Character String MC0m Characters used to "measure" LabelVision fields. Usually, only the first character is important. If the first character cannot be printed by the selected font or bar code, then the next character is used. By default, when you say that a field is 10 characters, LabelVision assumes that it will be as wide as 10 M's. If M cannot be printed by the selected font or bar code, C is used, then 0 (zero), then m.
RJSTextICSPercent Integer 10 The RJS printer lets you specify the inter-character space (space between characters) separately from the width of the character. LabelVision will send the character width times this value. By default, if the character width is 20, then LabelVision will send an ICS of 2
ZPLExpansionReverse Yes, No Printer Dependent The Z-90 and Z-105 printers from Zebra have a bug in certain versions of firmware which reverse the X and Y expansion for certain rotated, bitmapped fonts. By default, LabelVision compensates for this problem only for these printers. If you set this option to Yes, then LabelVision will compensate for all Zebra printers. If you set this option to No, then LabelVision will never compensate for this bug, even for the Z-90 and Z-105.

LDESIGN.INI Automatic Options

These options are set automatically by the Designer menus, and need not be modified in LDESIGN.INI.

DefaultBarcode
BarcodeUnits
AutoShrinkRectangles
AutoExpandFieldRect
ShowRectangles
ShowSelectedSize
SaveSettingsOnExit
StartupMaximized
AskBeforeDelete
TextInDraftMode
ShowTextMargins
GridVisible
SnapToGrid
GridXSize
GridYSize
Directory
LabelSizeX
LabelSizeY
XMargin
YMargin
XSpace
YSpace
LabelOrientation
LabelsAcross
LabelsDown
FormLength
UserSizeX
UserSizeY
XUserMargin
YUserMargin
XUserSpace
YUserSpace
PrinterName
Resolution
Escape
PrintSpeedIndex
Units
RulerDivisions
ShowRuler
DefaultFont
RibbonDisplayed
RibbonLabels
RibbonMoveable
RibbonDirection
Magnification
CoordinateWindow

LDESIGN.INI Cosmetic Options

Option Type Default Description
* BitmapWinFont
* MagnumWinFont
* SmoothWinFont
* ScalableSansWinFont
* ScalableSerifWinFont
* OCRAWinFont
* OCRBWinFont
* CourierWinFont
Each option can be any number of Windows fonts, separated by commas LabelVision uses only fonts that come with Windows by default If specified, these options let you choose different fonts to be used for the WYSIWYG display of various kinds of printer fonts. Note that LabelVision always changes the space between characters to correspond to what is output by the printer. If you have Windows 3.1, you should use the names of TrueType fonts for best results.
* DefaultAllowableData A bitmapped integer mask 31 Add together the following numbers to determine the default value for the allowable data of fields 1 - Uppercase; 2 - Lowercase; 4 - Numbers; 8 - Punctuation; 16 - International Characters; 32 - All characters.
LineTrimPercent Integer Percent 15 If a line edge overhangs an intersection by this amount or less, it is trimmed when you select the Edit | Trim Line menu action.
OverlayBarCodeText Yes, No Yes If Yes, then bar code field and constant expressions are written on top of the bar code when displayed in the Designer.
ExtraPrinter<n> A printer file name SWE196.PRF If you have the UBI 196 printer, then you can add additional printer font file(s) which have been read by the 196 font reader program. One file is included by default (the default UBI 196 fonts). If you want additional option, use the options ExtraPrinter2, ExtraPrinter3, etc.
Field-<n> Name,Length none Lets you create "predefined" fields in the LabelVision Designer, which will appear each time the user starts a new label. The first field should be named Field-1, the second Field-2, etc.
FreezeFields Yes, No No If Yes, does not allow the user to change the definitions of fields in the Designer.
LookInPath Yes, No No If Yes, causes the Designer to search your path for the DOS programs. Normally, the Designer searches its own directory, where the DOS modules are usually located.
KeyboardMap A sequence of key pairs, with no separators none Causes automatic translation of keys that you press when you type expressions into the Designer. The first key of each pair is automatically translated into the second. For example, KeyboardMap=[{]} would cause the brackets ([]) to be translated to braces ({}).
WarnAutoIncrement Yes, No Yes If Yes, the Designer will warn you when you try to use an auto-incrementing feature that is not supported on the destination printer. You are warned when you edit the expression, and each time you save the label.


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