Compatibility with NiceWatch Products

Loftware Automation allows you to load trigger configurations that were built using legacy NiceWatch products. In the majority of cases, you can run NiceWatch configuration using Loftware Automation without any modifications.

Loftware Automation products are using a new .NET based print engine optimized for performance and low memory footprint. The new print engine does not support each label design option that is available in the label designer. Each new release of Loftware Automation is closing the gap, but you might still come across certain unavailable features.

Resolving Incompatibility Issues

Loftware Automation warns you if you try to print existing label templates that contain design features which are not supported with the new print engine.

If there are incompatibilities with NiceWatch configuration file or label templates, Automation notifies you about:

  • Compatibility with trigger configuration: While opening the NiceWatch configuration (.MIS file), Loftware Automation checks it against the supported features. Not all features from NiceWatch are available in Loftware Automation. While some are not available at all, some of them are configured differently. If the MIS file contains unsupported features, you will see them listed. Automation removes these features from the configuration.

    If you come across such a case, open the .MIS file in Automation Builder and resolve the incompatibility issues. You will have to use the available Loftware Automation features to re-create the removed configuration items.

  • Compatibility with label templates: If your existing label templates contain unsupported print engine features as provided by Loftware Automation, you will see error messages in the Log pane. This information is visible in the Automation Builder (when designing triggers) or in Automation Manager (when running the triggers).

    In this case, you have to open the label file in label designer and remove unsupported features from the label.

[Note] Note

For more information about incompatibility issues with NiceWatch and label designers, see Loftware Automation Compatibility with NiceLabel Designers V6 and NiceWatch V5.

Opening NiceWatch Configuration for Editing

Open the existing NiceWatch configuration (.MIS file) in Automation Builder and edit it in Automation Builder. You can save the configuration as a .MISX file only.

To edit the NiceWatch configuration, do the following:

  1. Start Automation Builder.

  2. Go to File > Open NiceWatch File.

  3. In the Open dialog box, browse for the NiceWatch configuration file (.MIS file).

  4. Click OK.

  5. If the configuration contains unsupported features, they are displayed in a list. Automation removes them from the configuration.

Opening NiceWatch Configuration for Execution

You can open NiceWatch configuration (.MIS file) in Automation Manager without conversion to the Loftware Automation file format (.MISX file). If the triggers from NiceWatch are compatible with Loftware Automation, you can start using them right away.

To open and deploy NiceWatch configuration, do the following:

  1. Start Automation Manager.

  2. Click +Add button.

  3. In Open dialog box, change the file type into NiceWatch Configuration.

  4. Browse for the NiceWatch configuration file (.MIS file).

  5. Click OK.

  6. Automation Manager will display the trigger from the selected configuration. To start the trigger, select it and click Start.

[Note] Note

If there are compatibility issues with NiceWatch configuration, open it in Automation Builder and reconfigure it.