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What is LabelA

LabelA (pronounced LaBella) is a native OS/2 & eCS WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) label editor, capable of color text and graphics design, and print.

Originally I was against creating a "C-Side" for square labels, because I saw it as competing with another OS/2 program (SMACK), and in the OS/2 / eCS environment we are missing so many programs, I see no reason to compete !

But I got contacted with the request, and an explanation, telling me SMACK was discontinued, and there was an interest in this product.

So, here it is ;o)

LaBela is build on the methods from my C-Side program, but with some modifications and enhancements (these will be implemented in C-Side soon !).

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Description of LabelA functionality

LabelA has a lot of functionality packed in a fairly small package, most functions are easy to understand and use. In the following I will give you a rough introduction to a few functions, to let you get a feeling for the idea behind the program.

This is the main window of LabelA, it is here you create your designs.

At the top (justr under the title bar), you have the main menu, here you can find all functuions in the program.

In the window below, you have the design area, where the rectangle represents your label.

Size of the label and the pagelayout can be configured from the menu.

In Labela you can have multiple label designs at the same time. You can jump from layout to layout via the tabs at the bottom.

By using the 'Edit' menu, you can define a background color and default fonts. 

This is the tool bar, here you select what tools you want to use, it can be represented as text or icons, and be docked to the main window (this is the default) or float as here. 

From the top down the tools are :

Images

Text (one line)

Text area (multiple lines)

Arched text

Shapes

Print

This is the settings dialog, with it's new user interface, with visualization of the parameters.

Here you define the pagelayout for printing.

New open image dialog, with the capability of searching several image types at the same time, and with image preview.

In LabelA I'm using the GBM (Generalised Bitmap Module) by Andy Key, this releases me from the task of programming the decoding algorithms, and also from some copyright problems.

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Requirements

This one is easy, LabelA does not require much :

  • OS/2 Warp (may be able to run on older systems, has not been tested !) or eCS. 
  • About 16 MB memory (may be able to run on less). 
  • About 1 MB hard disk space. 
  • A printer (color would be preferred). 
  • Andy Key's GBM Dll (not included, see more under Links)
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Limitations and known problems

The following limitations and problems are known :

  • For some reason (probably M$ W****** compatibility in Sibyl) the '&' character will now and then be converted to '~' (always when recalling the text settings)
  • There may be problems using dbcs, as I do not have any way to test these. If you find any, please tell me !
For more see read.me.

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Coming features

I have a long list of ideas, some of them are :

  • Print preview. 
  • Merge from databases, dde, csv, XML, etc.
  • Any ideas you might have, please tell me !
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Version 2.00ß

Version 2.0 of LabelA has been released as beta, this means that this is a test version of the program, which may not be compleately finished !

The following changes / additions has been made since version 1.01 :

  • Geometric shapes. Filled shapes was not functioning as expected : The fill was very slow, the color could leak outside the figure in the settings window & the fill color was not printed. The fill function now has been highly optimized, and is now nearly instantanius, dosn't leak, and last but not least, the fill color now is printed !
  • GBM interface. Sibyl expects all dll calls to be system call's, that is parameters on stack, called routine doing the clean up. Unfortunatly, most dll's uses c calls, that is parameters in registers, caller does the clean up. Andy has been kind enough to include both interfaces, but some compilations of GBM does not, this caused Labela to crash while trying to open an image. I have now (with the help of some heavy debuging, and some assembler) changed all calls to GBM to follow the c standard.
  • Print, If current layout are using merge fields, you will not be able to select how many labels you want to print. When merging, 1 label will be printed for each record in the merge file !
  • Print, layouts using merge will not be shown in the selection box. Labels using merge fields can only be printed as current layout !
  • Object Merge field has been dropped, as merge has been integrated into the text object.
  • Checkbox 'Use merge field' has been added to text-settings, when checked a field for merging can be selected. The checkbox are only enabled when a merge has been defined. This addition changes the layout file, see more under font problems.
  • In label settings, two new checkbox'es has been added, 'Is template' and 'Uses template'. If 'Is template' are checked, this label layout will be used as template (or backbround) for any labels with the 'Use template' checkbox checked ! You can only have one template in a layout-set, if you declare another label for being a template the first one will stop being one ! The template can only be changed on the template label, on all other labels, the template will be passive background ! This addition changes the layout file, see more under font problems.
  • When using outline fonts, they became 'fuzzy' when moving (other) objects in layout.
  • Dropdown list in font dialog, has been changed to read only.
  • Very early help file started, this is a pre-pre-alpha version ! This should be considered experimental.
  • The default font dialog was not using the new font dialog.
  • When using more than one text based object, the fonts could be scrambled. This could cause the program to hang/crash at wierd places.
  • The problems with the fonts, mentioned abowe, has made a very fundamental problem in the font administration visible. To solve these problems I have totally rebuild the font administration, this has changed the format of saved layouts. Labella should be able to load layouts saved with an earlyer version, but pre. 2.00 versions will not be able to read the new layouts.
  • Merge page in page settings (ok, it's not quite the right place, I know, it may be moved some day !) has been completed, allowing you to merge comma delimited files into your designs.
  • New object has been added : Merge field. You must have defined a file to merge and fieldnames in page settings / merge.
You can download version 2.00ß here.

Please send me any ideas, problems or comments you might have on these changes !

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How to get it

You can download the latest shareware version (1.00 of 21-DEC-2003) here, this is the unregistered version, with some limitations, if you already have a registered version of LabelA then this is the upgrade !

If you have downloaded the shareware version, and would like to register for the full version, you can register online at :
 

BMT-micro They will send you an temporary registration key, and within a couble of  weeks you will receive the final key from me. 

Buyers of C-Side please observe : As buyer of C-side you'll get $5 off when buying LabelA, please contact me and I'll mail you a discount code, you can enter when paying.

Mensys They will mail you the final registration code at once. To enter the registration, please follow the description below.
Moneybookers You can send me $25 via Moneybrookers.com (you'll have to have an account there), and I'll mail you the registration-code (please let me have about one week to reply), please send to kim@foder.dk.

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How to enter the registration

To register go to the about menu and click on 'Register', here you can enter name and registration number. For the temporary registration code, your name is not required, but when you receive your full registration, you will find a registration- name and code to enter exactly as written in your registration mail.

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Links
OS/2 Warp This one you ought to know
OS/2 World
The great guys who is the sponsor of this page
Andy Key The developer of the generalized bitmap module (GBM) neded for using any other image format than OS/2 BMP.
BMT-Micro BMT micro has been supporting OS/2 for a long time, and was the first to sell one of my products.
Mensys Mensys is selling a lot of interresting software for many 'alternative' operating systems, if you are in need of anything for your computer, be shure to check them out !
Moneybookers Moneybookers is a tool that allows you to safely send and receive money via email - instantly. 

You can send money from your credit card, transfer money to and from your bank account. Use Moneybookers whenever you need to send money to someone (settle a debt with a friend, pay for online purchase/auctions...) or when someone needs to send money to you. 

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