Creating and Sharing Applications

With Applications, you share your label and Solution files stored in your Control Center Documents with your internal users or external users (for example, print operators).

Creating New Applications

To create your new Application and configure general Settings:

  1. Go to the Control Center Applications tab, and click Add.

  2. Enter a Name for your Application. Give your new shared Application a meaningful name to make it easier to identify later.

  3. Enter your Description. Explain the purpose of your Application.

  4. Select your Application type. You can choose to open:

    • Single solution or label file

    • Folder with one or more solution or label files

      With this option selected, you don't need to create separate Applications for each file in your folder. You can add or remove label templates from your folder.

    Warning

    Applications don't work with dynamic values (Remember the last used value option). Use workarounds instead, for example, write and read variable values to your database.

  5. Under Path, click Browse and navigate to your label template, Solution, or folder stored in your Control Center Documents.

    You can also type the file path directly. Begin your relative file path with a slash: (/).

    /Labels/Test_label.nlbl

    If your label or solution file uses a file database connection (with Microsoft Excel or Access database), read Using File Databases in Applications to ensure the accessibility of your data.

Your next step is to define the Application's Authorized Users and Groups.

Defining Application's Authorised Users and Groups

Define your authorized users and groups to restrict access to your shared Applications and make your labeling environment more secure.

Tip

You can skip this part and add your users later.

Defining Loftware Cloud Authorized Users and Groups

Define your Authorized Users and Groups:

  • Existing users:

    1. In Applications > Applications click Add. Create New Web Applications page opens.

    2. In the Authorized Users and groups section click Add. The Add Users to your Authorized List for the New Application dialog opens.

      Use the Search users field to type your selection. You can also narrow your search by Type using the drop-down list, or invite new Guest users.

      If your company uses the Azure Active Directory, you can either select specific Organizational users or Organizational groups. To open your shared Application, all included users must authenticate themselves using their work-account credentials.

    3. Click Add.

  • Invite new guest users

    1. In Applications > Applications click Add. Create New Web Applications page opens.

    2. In the Authorized Users and groups section click Add. The Add Users to your Authorized List for the New Application dialog opens.

    3. Click Invite New Guest User to share your Application with individual users or with users that are not listed under your company's Organizational users or groups.

      Enter an Invitation email address, a Personal message to your user, the user's Name, and a Description of your user for internal use.

    4. Click OK. Your new Guest user receives the invitation email for your shared Application.

    5. Click Add.

    Note

    Your invited Guest users must click the link in the received invitation email. The link takes the invited users to the Loftware Cloud sign-up page. After they complete the sign-up procedure, they can start using your shared Application.

Your added users or groups are now listed among the Authorized Users and Groups and can start using your shared Application.

To restrict access to your shared Applications, you can later remove your added users or groups from the Authorized Users and Groups. Select them from the list and click Remove.

Defining Authorized Users and Groups for multiple users

In certain cases, you want to assign your Application to a list of Windows users. To speed up the process of adding multiple users, list these users in a table and manually add them to your shared Application:

  1. In Applications > Applications click Add. Create New Web Applications page opens.

  2. In the Authorized Users and Groups section click Add. The Add Users to your Authorized List for the New Application dialog opens.

  3. Click the Add Users or Groups Manually link. A dialog opens.

  4. Under Type, select if you want add Windows users or groups. .

  5. Paste or enter your users, each in a separate line.

  6. Click OK.

  7. Click Add.

Your added users or groups are now listed among the Authorized Users and Groups and can start using your shared Application.

To restrict access to your shared Applications, you can later remove your added users or groups from the Authorized Users and Groups. Select them from the list and click Remove.

Configuring Application's User Settings

Configure your user settings to:

  • Customize and track your printing activities.

  • Limit who can access your Applications and how many printers (Licensed printers) they can use.

Configure User Settings:

  1. In Applications > Applications click Add. Create New Web Applications page opens.

  2. Navigate to the User Settings section.

  3. Under Status toggle between Active or Suspended.

    Your applications are Active by default. This means that your users can start working with them immediately. If you want to prevent the usage of your Application, set the status to Suspended. This is useful during your testing phase or if you wish to postpone the use of your Application.

  4. Under Record printing activities to the history log toggle between On and Off.

    Record printing activities to history log keeps track of user printing actions within your shared Application. This option allows you to start or stop the recording of printing activities in Control Center.

    See the recorded activities on the Control Center History page.

    Note

    Recorded information items are: label name, label quantity, printer name, variable values, etc.

  5. Restrict your Application logins and printer usage:

    Web Printing gives you Application access control and allows you to limit the number of used printers for your shared Application.

    1. Allowed IP addresses enables you to give access to your Application's login only to computers with certain IP addresses. Your shared Application blocks computers with non-defined IP addresses. Enter each address in a separate row, or separate them with a semicolon (;). To specify your address range, use CIDR notation. You can convert subnet mask notation into CIDR notation using online calculators.

      Example
      Defining a range of permitted IP addresses

      To allow login from any IP in range 192.168.0.1–192.168.0.254, define the range as 192.168.0.0/24.

    2. To Enable printer limitation toggle between On or Off. When On, define the Number of printers your Application users are allowed to print on.

      Warning

      Each printer used in your shared Application takes one Licensed printers. This setting makes sure you don't accidentally run out of available printer licenses that come with your Loftware license.

      Number of printers is the maximum number of allowed printers per user for your Web Application. If users exceed this number, they can no longer print to additional printers.

  6. Under Variable values, you predefine values for custom variables for your shared label or solution file.

    Variable values are commonly used for predefining Application (Solution) languages or settings, or label template active layers.

    Example: Language as a variable

    For example, users from two different regions use the same Application simultaneously. Users from the first location need the Application in the French language, while users from the second location need their version in the German language.

    While each region must have the Application in its own language, all users need to experience the same look and feel of the Application.

    In this case, you define the same Application for users in both locations and define the starting value of your language variable. Use this variable as a filter in your database table, displaying strings in the right language. Usually, the criteria are simple relations, such as field_name = variable_value.

    To set variable language to starting value French, use the following syntax: "language" = "French"

    Note

    Check for typing errors in variable names and values. Also, make sure to test your Application before you allow your user to log in. Your Application doesn't display an error if you assign values to non-existing variables.

    If your variable name includes space, use double-quotes ("") to define your variable.

    Note

    You can set initial variable values for your Application Users via your authentication provider. When your Application Users log in with their Microsoft, Google, AzureAD, or any custom OpenIDConnect provider account, Loftware Cloud sets personalized variable values to Web Client. Contact Loftware to enter claim mappings into your Loftware Cloud database.

    To enable setting variable values, use the following syntax in Variable values:

    ApplicationVariable=$(Claim.ProvidedVariable)

    For example, the provider returns the claims Store and Country. Your application uses variables StoreID and CountryID:

    StoreID=$(Claim.Store)
CountryID=$(Claim.Country)

  7. Enable use of non-published files in Document Storage allows you to permit your Application users to work with versions of label templates and Solutions that are not published (approved). By default, Applications only share label templates and Solutions that complete all your workflow steps and are marked as approved. Sharing non-published files can be useful as part of various testing scenarios.

  8. Click Save.

Note

If you use Loftware Cloud product, after you save changes on the Applications page, your added users or groups receive an email with a link to your shared Application.

Using Applications in Control Center, under the Applications page, and ready for sharing.

Updating and Removing Applications

You can always go back and reconfigure your Applications:

  1. Go to Applications and click on the Application you want to update.

  2. Change your settings and configure your Application according to your needs. If you want to replace your label or Solution file, change the Path under Settings.

  3. Click Save.

To remove your Applications, select them from the Applications list and click Delete. Deleting your Applications won't delete your label or Solution files connected to your Application.