Intermec InterDriver^™ is the name of the Windows drivers for the complete line of Intermec IPL and Direct Protocol printer lines.

What is ActiveX^© Controls ?

Intermec ActiveX© Controls are unique software Controls that enables barcodes or serialise controls to be embedded in 32-bit Windows Applications for printing on Intermec EasyCoder printer using the InterDriver™.

The two components combined provide a very powerful tool that shows Intermec powerful software solutions.

Key Advantages

Intermec ActiveX© Controls are powerful, embeddable objects whose structure and behaviour conform to Microsoft’s ActiveX© standard. The bar codes and text can be inserted into many Windows applications as easily as bitmapped bar codes or TrueType text. However, ActiveX© Controls have their own "intelligence" that delivers a variety of far more powerful capabilities, including:

• Outstanding ease of use. User friendly dialogues that assist the novel barcode user to enter the necessary information. Extensive On-line Help to assist further.
• Use of the high-speed barcodes built into the EasyCoder printers, instead of much slower bitmap and/or TrueType technology.
• Barcodes and text that can be automatically serialised.
• The ability, when used with some Windows programs, to link with a non-constant data source in that program. (This allows Windows programs that know how to read data from databases, e.g. MS Access to print using the high-speed capabilities of your thermal printer.)
• Intelligent barcodes that can compute check digit values and process advanced application identifiers "on-the-fly." Ideal for UCC/EAN 128 barcodes.
• Barcodes that can be easily and independently resized in both height and width using conventional mouse motions.
• Barcodes whose wide-to-narrow and bars-to-spaces ratios are always "in spec," regardless of how the height and width of the overall bar code has been set.
• Control of the "human readable characters" as an intelligently-linked part of the bar code, instead of as a separate text component that has to be painstakingly positioned and formatted to look like its belongs with the bar code.

Supported Printers

Following IPL and Direct Protocol printer are supported:

• Intermec InterDriver™ is supported for Windows v.3.1x, W95, W98 and NT v.4.0.
• ActiveX© Controls requires Windows 95/98 or Windows NT v.4.0.

Target Markets

InterDriver™ with ActiveX© Controls addresses two primary market segments:

• New barcode users
• System Integrators and Developers

New barcodes users will appreciate the ease of use and to get barcode and serialize control support in MS Office applications like Word. When the demands get more sophisticated, the customer can upgrade to separate label design software.

System Integrators will appreciate the power of ActiveX© Controls and the seamless interface to his applications. No separate barcode fonts or label print engine will be required to print on an Intermec EasyCoder printer.

Supported Barcode Symbologies

Intermec ActiveX© Controls supports an extensive range of 1-D and 2-D barcode symbologies:

Development and testing has been geared toward maximum compatibility with Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft Access, although the Intermec ActiveX© Controls can be used with a variety of other applications. This table summarises compatibility and operation with selected software packages.

The Supported Applications Include:

Applications not listed above have not been verified, and may work, but are not guaranteed. Several database applications will support static ActiveX© Controls with static data, but no link to variables.

Applications that do not support the ActiveX© Controls (as well as any 16-bit application) can use the built-in barcode font support. This is available for the UPC, EAN, Code 39, 2/5 Interleaved and Code128 symbologies.

• The Intermec ActiveX© Controls is supported in Microsoft Visual Basic v.5 and v.6.
• A sample application is available.
• Compatibility in MS C++ is under verification.

Competitive Comparison

There are no competitors on the market that supplies the extensive support for barcodes in their drivers. Most of them only provide the simplified barcode font support for a few barcode symbologies.

The Intermec ActiveX© Controls can be compared to the functionality of separate products like B-Coder, Add-a-Barcode, and WASP ActiveX©, which sells for-US$100 - US$400. These packages have the disadvantage to send the barcode to the printer as graphical images, which add overhead and will not assure the quality of the barcode. The other major difference between these packages and the ActiveX© Controls is that other products they support barcode printout on any Windows printer, while the Intermec ActiveX© Controls prints only on Intermec printers.

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