Data Wizard

Data Wizard is designed to give users and integrators a simple tool for adapting the output data from our scanners to legacy systems no matter what symbology or scanner is in use. For example, some legacy systems require the Asterisk, or *, character to be present on both sides of any input barcode data. When users using these systems upgrade their equipment and change barcode symbologies, they may find that their system starts rejecting this data because it no longer has those Asterisk characters. Using Data Wizard, we can add those characters.

Data Wizard Support

Although many of our devices do support Data Wizard, certain Opticon devices do not support it. Here is an incomplete list indicating whether or not there is Data Wizard support for a particular device. We will add more devices to this list as we move forward.

• C37: Supports multiple configurations.
• LGP6125: No support.
• NFT2100: No support.
• OPL6845: Supports multiple configurations.
• OPR2001: Supports multiple configurations.
• OPR3201: Supports multiple configurations.

Using Data Wizard

Opticonfigure can be used to generate Data Wizard barcode sheets. Simply go to Opticonfigure, and choose Data Wizard from the tabs at the top left. Make sure that Enable data wizard config is selected, then click Add.

Next, click Advanced to proceed. The Start Wizard option may also be useful. However this online guide has been written using the Advanced version of Data Wizard.

Matching Conditions

Here, multiple matching conditions can be selected. Each additional condition will narrow down the matching even further, and matching conditions don't change the barcode data.

• Match bar code ID: If you want to alter all barcodes of a specific symbology like UPC-A or Code-39, choose this option.
• Match barcode length: If you want to alter barcodes of a specific length, from 1 character to 99 characters, choose this option.
• Match barcode characters: Choose this option to only alter barcodes with up to three matching consecutive characters in them. For example, if you chose BCD, then Data Wizard would match barcodes containing BCD, ABCD, or BCDA, but not BACD or BACAD.
  • Match fixed position causes Data Wizard to look for the given character string, starting at the given position. Choosing position 0, for example, only matches barcodes that start with your pattern. Choosing position 1 matches barcodes with a single character followed by your pattern, choosing 2 matches two characters followed by your pattern, and so on.

When you are finished deciding what barcodes you want to match, choose Next to continue.

Build output

On this next screen you choose how you would like your output to be altered. You can chop characters off the beginning and end of the barcode, start or end at a particular character(keeping it or dropping it), and also simply add an extra character to the start of the code. These options are clustered into two groups so that you can take multiple pieces from the same barcode.

Add Character: Add character allows you to add an extra character to the start of a barcode.

Start from...

• Start from position: This allows you to clip off characters from the beginning of a barcode, with position 0 being the first character. So, with the barcode 0123456, choosing start from position 0 would give you 0123456, position 1 would give you 123456, position 2 would give you 23456, and so on.
• Start from relative position: This also allows you to remove characters from the beginning of the barcode, only this time position 0 is the last character. With this option, and the same barcode, position 1 would give you 6, position 2 would give you 56, position 3, would give you 456, and so on.
• Start from character, include/exclude: These two options both start the output at a given character. So if you choose E, and your original barcode is ABCEDF, then with start from/include you will get EDF, and with start from/exclude you will get DF.

End at...

• Part length: This option is a count of how many characters long the output data should be, starting from your start from... position above. So if you choose 0, you will get no barcode data, 1 will give you the first character after your starting position, 2 will give you two characters after, and so on.
• Relative end position: Choose this option if you want to also remove characters from the end of your barcode. Choosing 0 gives you the entire rest of the barcode, 1 gives you all but the last character, 2 gives you all but the last two characters, and so on.
• End at character, include/exclude: These two options both end the output at the given character as before.

When you are finished, choose Add configuration to add that selection to the list. You can add multiple start/end conditions, which allows you to remove multiple portions of a matching barcode. This is useful if you want to remove two parts of a barcode while leaving another part between them intact. To add each portion, construct each as above and select Add configuration.

Choose next to move on to the next step in building a configuration, post processing.

Post processing

• Replace matching characters: This will replace each instance of the matching character with a character of your choice.
• Change output length:
  • Forward Fill - Backward Cut: If the barcode is longer than the chosen length, cut characters off the end until it matches the proper length. If the barcode is shorter than the chosen length, add the selected character to the end until it matches the proper length.
  • Backward Fill - Forward Cut: If the barcode is longer than the chosen length, cut characters off the front. If the barcode is shorter than the chosen length, add the selected character to the back until the barcode has the proper length.
  • Forward Fill - Forward Cut: If the barcode is longer than the chosen length, cut characters off the front. If the barcode is shorter than the chosen length, add the selected character to the front until the barcode has the chosen length.
  • Backward Fill - Backward Cut: If the barcode is longer than the chosen length, cut characters off the back. If the barcode is shorter than the chosen length add the selected character to the back until the barcode has the chosen length.

Common Configurations

Character Substitutions

1. Navigate to Opticonfigure in your web browser.
2. If the Barcode sheet is not already blank then select "Clear Barcode List" from the top right hand corner.
3. Select Data Wizard.
4. Select the appropriate Edit Configuration option from the drop down in the top left hand corner. In most cases this will be configuration 1, however some users may need to use multiple configurations.
5. Select Enable data wizard config, then click Add.
6. Next, select --Advanced--. This next section allows us to create the configuration.
7. Select Match Barcode Characters. This will add 3 drop-down menus to the wizard. In the first menu, choose the character you want to find. Choose Next when you are ready to proceed.
8. This section of the configurator allows us to specify what data is excluded and what data is included when the scanner transmits the data. Our character replacement is done in Post-process, the next section, so we want to pass the entire barcode through this part. To do that, simply choose Start from position, and Relative End Position. Leave the dropdowns underneath these items unchanged. Choose Add configuration at the bottom of the screen, then choose Next when you are ready to proceed.
9. Now, in Post-processing we can match and replace characters. To do that, simply choose Replace matching characters. Two dropdowns will appear. In the match char dropdown, choose the character you want to replace. In the Replace with dropdown, choose the character you want to be there instead. Choose Next when you are ready to proceed.
10. In this section you can review your configuration, and make sure there aren't any errors. Choose Finish to add this configuration to the Opticonfigure sheet.