Manual

Laser Marking Software

Magic Mark
for Laser Marking Devices

DPLMagic Marker
DPLGenesis Marker
DPLNexus Marker
Copyright and Protection Rights

Manufacturer: ACI Laser GmbH

Österholzstraße 9
D-99428 Nohra

Fon: +49 3643 4152-0

Fax: +49 3643 4152-77

Internet: www.ACI-Laser.de
E-Mail: [email protected]

This publication, or the software described therein, respectively, may not be reproduced either par-
tially or in its entirety in any form, nor translated or saved to a retrieving system without the express
written permission of the manufacturer.
The manufacturer does not assume any guarantee regarding the content of this publication or for
the software described therein in particular and denies any suggestion of a guarantee for the mar-
ketability or the suitability of the publication contents nor for the software for any particular purpose.
The manufacturer assumes no liability for any indirect damages, resulting damages or certain other
damage, other than that caused by malice or gross negligence, which has arisen because of or in
connection with the content of these instructions or the software described therein, be it on the basis
of impermissible action, contract-related or another matter.
We are constantly working on the further development.
Please understand that we must reserve the right to make changes to the scope of delivery in form,
equipment and technology at all times.
The manufacturer expressly reserves all copyright rights in accordance with the law.
 Contents

1 Delivery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.1 Scope of delivery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.2 Software manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.3 Manufacturer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.4 Warranty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2 Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.1 System requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.2 Installation requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Windows XP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Windows 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.3 Installation sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.4 Software installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.5 Dongle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.6 Laser connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.7 Program start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.8 Specific parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.9 Exit program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.10 Uninstalling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.11 Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.12 Release . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.13 Language settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3 Program description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.1 Program start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Command line parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Offline state . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Connect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.2 Software user interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.3 Entry elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Text box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Multi line text box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Numerical input box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
List box. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Check box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.4 Access rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Enter password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Change passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.5 File management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
New file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Open file. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Save File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Print file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Laser marking software: V1.5 Build: 343 1

Contents

3.6 Laser control. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Switching the laser on and off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Lock shutter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Switching the pilot laser on and off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Showing the bounding box. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Start marking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Stop marking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Enable external start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
I/O control. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Message window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.7 Graphic area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Element window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Status line graphic window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Parameter area - graphic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.7.1 Element window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Coordinate systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Elements and objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Enable element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
PopUp menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Drag & Drop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
3.7.2 Graphic toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
New element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Rectangle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Ellipse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Barcode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Datamatrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
PDF417 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Move . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Rotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Mirror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Polar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Fill. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Wobble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Pfad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.7.3 Zoom toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Zoom to marking area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Zoom to bounding box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Zoom plus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Zoom minus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Zoom window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.7.4 Graphic window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Moving the view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3.7.5 Graphic parameter area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

2 Laser marking software: V1.5 Build: 343

 Contents

3.7.5.1 Graphic parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Laser parameter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Move . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Rotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Mirror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Script file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
External axis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3.7.5.2 Element parameter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Laser parameter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
External axis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Move . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Passes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3.7.5.3 Line parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.7.5.4 Rectangle parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
BaseRef . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Dimension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Corner radius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.7.5.5 Ellipse parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
BaseRef . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Radius X, Y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Angle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
3.7.5.6 Text parameter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
BaseRef . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Font . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Additional settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.7.5.7 Barcode parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
BaseRef . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Barcode height. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Module parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.7.5.8 Datamatrix parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
BaseRef . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Module parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.7.5.9 PDF417 parameter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
BaseRef . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Code parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Module parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.7.5.10 Import parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
BaseRef . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Import file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
File types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Load/Reload. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Vectors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

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Contents

Import options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Apply options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3.7.5.11 Move parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3.7.5.12 Size parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3.7.5.13 Rotation parameter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.7.5.14 Mirror parameter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.7.5.15 Polar parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.7.5.16 Fill parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3.7.5.17 Wobble parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3.7.5.18 Path parameter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3.8 Script area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
3.8.1 Script samples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
3.8.1.1 Serial numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Graphic part . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Script part. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Main program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
CallBack function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
3.8.1.2 Excel content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Graphic part . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Script part. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Main program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
CallBack function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
3.9 Parameter area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Laser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Auto start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Measurement unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
I/O control. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Default and test values. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Marking field. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
3.10 Service area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Laser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Jump delays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Corner delay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
First pulse suppression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
4 Programming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4.1 Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
General information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Program documentation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4.2 The script programming window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4.2.1 File handling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
New . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Open . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Save . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Save All . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
4.2.2 Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

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Copy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Paste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Undo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Redo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
4.2.3 Object Catalogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Display object. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
4.2.4 Start/Stop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Start/Continue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Pause. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
End. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
4.2.5 Program Testing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Breakpoint On/Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Evaluate Expression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Edit Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Jumping in (individual step) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Skip (procedure step). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Jump out (Finish procedure) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
4.2.6 User Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Edit user dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
4.3 Programming language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
4.3.1 Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
General information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Naming Variables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Byte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Boolean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Integer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Long . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Single . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Double . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Currency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
String . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Variant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
4.3.2 Constants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
4.3.3 Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
4.3.4 Loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
For Next . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
While . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Do . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
4.3.5 Branching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
If Then Else . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Select Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
4.3.6 Procedures and Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Procedures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
4.3.7 Editing Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Len . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

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Left . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Mid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Right. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Str. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
StrReverse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
UCase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
4.3.8 Mathematical Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Sin, Cos, Tan, Atn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Exp, Log, Sqr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Abs, Fix, Int, Round, Sgn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
4.3.9 Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
4.3.10 Type Conversion Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
4.3.11 Working with Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
File names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
4.3.12 Sequential Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Open . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Close . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Write. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Line Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
4.3.13 Files with Direct Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Put . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Get . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
4.3.14 Creating User Dialog Windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Edit user dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Menu bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Editing properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
View of elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Select . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Add group box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Add text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Add text box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Add check box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Add options button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Add list box. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Add droplist box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Add combo box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Add picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Add buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Dialog function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
4.3.15 Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Input box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Message Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
PopUp menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
4.3.16 Handling of Errors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
On Error Goto. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
On Error Resume Next. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

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4.4 Laser specific script extensions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

4.4.1 Callback procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
LC_CleanUp() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
LC_OnError() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
LC_LifeTick() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
LC_AckMessage(...) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
LC_RecMessage(...) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
LC_GrafikEntry() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
LC_GrafikExit() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
LC_ElementEntry(...) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
LC_ElementExit(...) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
LC_ElementBeforeLaser(...) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
LC_MarkIdle(...) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
LC_Formatter(...) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
LC_ExternAxis(...) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
4.4.2 Internal extensions (LC.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
GetLaserConfiguration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
GetAppPathName . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
GetAppPath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
GetAppName . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Hide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
ApplicationExit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
LifeTickInterval. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
TimerStart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
TimerStop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
StartRecMessage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
StopRecMessage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
SendMessage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
LoadFile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
SaveFile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
GetFileName . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
StatusText . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
StopMark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
SetMoveOffset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
SetPowerOffset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
GetBooleanValue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
GetNumericValue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
GetNumericValue_mm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
GetNumericValue_mil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
GetNumericValue_inch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
GetStringValue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
SetBooleanValue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
SetNumericValue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
SetNumericValue_mm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
SetNumericValue_mil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
SetNumericValue_inch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
SetStringValue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

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Refresh. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
SetCheck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
GetCheck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
BoundingBox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
ShowBoundingBox. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
GetBBMinX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
GetBBMaxX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
GetBBMinY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
GetBBMaxY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
ZoomBoundingBox. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
ZoomAll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
4.4.3 External Extensions (EX.). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Formatter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
ReadIniFormat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
WriteIniFormat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
ReadXmlFormat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
WriteXmlFormat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
SerOpen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
SerClose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
SerCloseAll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
SerChangeBaudRate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
SerWrite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
SerWriteByte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
SerWritePending . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
SerWritePendingWait . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
SerRead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
SerReadByte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
SerReadWait . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
SerReadUntil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
SerReadUntilWait. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
SerReadPending . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
4.4.4 ScannerControl extensions (SC.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
A_GetStatusDigital. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
A_GetStatusAnalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
A_SetLaserState . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
A_SetShutterState . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
A_LockShutter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
A_SetPilotState . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
A_GetBufferEmptyState. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
A_ReadyForNextSyncCmd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
A_Stop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
A_GetGeneralInputDigital . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
A_SetGeneralOutputDigital . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
A_ResGeneralOutputDigital. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
A_ClrGeneralOutputDigital. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
A_GetGeneralOutputDigital . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
A_GetPower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
S_Power. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
S_Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

8 Laser marking software: V1.5 Build: 343

 Contents

S_QSF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
S_QSF_PW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
S_SetStartStopDelay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
S_Pos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
P_SetRotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
P_SetSize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
P_SetMove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
P_SetClip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
P_SetMirror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
4.4.5 HighlevelGraphics extensions (HG.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
InitVectorArray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
FreeVectorArray. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
SendToSC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
GetBoundingBox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
GetBoundingBoxLast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Vector. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Ellipse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Rectangle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
TextInfo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Barcode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Datamatrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
PDF417 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
HPGL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Draw. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Fill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Move . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Rotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Mirror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Polar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Clip. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
4.5 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
4.5.1 BaseRef . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
4.5.2 Format specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
4.5.3 Special format specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
4.5.4 Barcode specification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
5 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Laser marking software: V1.5 Build: 343 9

Contents

10 Laser marking software: V1.5 Build: 343

 Delivery

1 Delivery

1.1 Scope of delivery

The software is supplied on CD.
Please make a backup copy before you work with this software. In-
structions on how to do this are located in your Windows manual or
in the Windows Online Help file.

1.2 Software manual

This software manual is part of the software. Please keep it in a safe
place. It contains useful information regarding the program creation
and the optimum operation of the connected laser.
Please submit this documentation together with the software if the
software should be sold.
The vendor reserves the right to update this software manual at any
time and without prior notification, in keeping with technical
progress.
This manual was created in accordance with the currently valid tech-
nical status.
Please study the manual thoroughly.

1.3 Manufacturer
See the back of the cover sheet.

1.4 Warranty
The vendor, programmers and author have applied the greatest
possible care in the creation of the software and the manual. Never-
theless, the vendor, programmers and author do not assume any
guarantee for the software and the manual. In particular, the vendor,
programmers and author offer no guarantee that this software cor-
responds to the demands of the customers, or that the software is
entirely without errors. In no case can the vendor, programmers or
author be made liable for any errors, destruction or resulting dam-
age that can be derived from the use of the software.

Laser marking software: V1.5 Build: 343 11

Installation

2 Installation

2.1 System requirements

The following configuration is recommended for the successful ap-
plication of this software:
• IBM-compatible Pentium 4 PC > 2 GHz,
• Windows 2000/XP operating system,
• 512 MB main memory,
• 100 MB free hard disk capacity,
• CD ROM drive,
• 2 free USB 2.0 interfaces (for the device and for the dongle),
• monitor (recommendation: 17 inch),
• keyboard, mouse.

2.2 Installation requirements

Windows XP No particular requirements.

However, the latest Service Pack is recommended.

Windows 2000 The latest Service Pack is recommended.

2.3 Installation sequence

NOTE!
Consider absolutely the installation sequence de-
scribed in the following!

1. Inserting the installation CD into the CD drive assembly.

2. Installation of the laser marking software from CD.
3. First putting of the delivereded dongle into an available USB
port and installing the associated software component.
4. First connecting of the laser device with the computer and
Installing the associated software component.

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 Installation

2.4 Software installation

NOTE!
Administrator rights are required to install this soft-
ware!

To install the software, use the following procedure:

1. Start the computer and your operating system.
2. Insert the installation CD.
3. Should the installation not start automatically, initialise the file
setup_343.exe in the main folder on the CD.
4. This software requires Microsoft .NET Framework. If this is not
installed on your PC, then .NET Framework must be installed
before the actual installation.
An installation of the Microsoft Installer takes place automatical-
ly.
In this case, follow the instructions displayed on the monitor.

Fig. 1 Setup .NETFramework

5. This software also requires Microsoft Direct(X) runtime compo-

nents. If this is not installed on your PC, then it must be installed
before the actual installation.
In this case, follow the instructions displayed on the monitor.

Laser marking software: V1.5 Build: 343 13

Installation

Fig. 2 Setup Direct(X) runtime components

6. Now the actual installation procedure for the software can take
place.

Fig. 3 Setup Window

7. Click on the Next button.

14 Laser marking software: V1.5 Build: 343

 Installation

Fig. 4 Selection of the installation folder

8. Select the desired program folder with the help of the Browse
button or use the default setting.
9. Click on Next.
10. Follow further instructions.
The installation can be terminated at any time by pressing the
Esc key or with the Cancel button.
11. Once the installation is complete, the message Installation
Complete will appear.
12. Finish by clicking on the Close button.
The software will run now in Demo mode.

2.5 Dongle
1. Plug the delivered dongle into an available USB port.
The software will only run in Demo mode without the dongle.
2. Because of the new hardware component an assistent to
install the required software is started.
Follow the installation instructions.

Laser marking software: V1.5 Build: 343 15

Installation

Fig. 5 Assistent to install the dongle software

2.6 Laser connection

1. Plug the connection cable of the laser device into an available
USB port, connect the laser with the current supply and switch
it on.
The software will only run in Demo mode without the dongle.
2. Because of the new hardware component an assistent to
install the required software is started.
Follow the installation instructions.

Fig. 6 Assistent to install the laser software

The installation is complete now.

16 Laser marking software: V1.5 Build: 343

 Installation

2.7 Program start

The setup generates an entry under: Start → Programs…, use this
entry to call up the program.

2.8 Specific parameters

NOTE!
The laser-specific parameters, which are enclosed with
the laser, are imported via Service → Import Parameter.

Fig. 7 Service menu

Using the Import Parameter option, the laser-specific parameters,

which are enclosed with the laser, import these.
If you have changed the parameters, these can be saved with Ex-
port Parameter.

2.9 Exit program

Fig. 8 File menu/Taskbar menu

End the program via: File → Exit.

You can also end the program using the X or by using the taskbar
menu in the lower right.
If you merely want the program to run without a visible window, then
select Hide, then you can only see the program as a task bar icon.
In order to display the program window again, use the context menu
(right mouse button) of the task bar icon and select Open Program.

Laser marking software: V1.5 Build: 343 17

Installation

2.10 Uninstalling
If necessary, uninstall the software via the operating system:
Start → Settings → Control Panel → Software...

2.11 Help

Fig. 9 Help menu

If the software manual is not at hand, the same information can be

found by clicking on Help. You can also call up Help by pressing the
F1 key. In this case Help is dependent on content, so that you, when
it is possible, can be automatically guided to the right place.

2.12 Release

Fig. 10 Help menu

Information about the installed program version can be obtained by

clicking on Help → Info after the program has been started.
The information window shows the version and build number of the
program.

2.13 Language settings

The program adapts to the language that is set in the Control Panel.
If no corresponding language version is on hand, the English version
will be used.

18 Laser marking software: V1.5 Build: 343

 Program description

3 Program description
This software is designed for the creation of marking programs as
well as for the monitoring and control of a laser or a manufacturing
cell, respectively.
The program was developed to make the integration of one or more
lasers with a manufacturing cell possible.
The most important functions of the software are:
• The control of several lasers with only one PC:
• The program is executed independently for each laser.
• Each laser can exchange messages with other lasers.
• The number of lasers is solely dependent on the power of the
PC.
• A license is required for each laser!
• Integration with the manufacturing cell:
• High performance scripting language for controlling machine
processes (handling systems)
• Can be operated as a task bar symbol without a visible win-
dow.
• Among other things, can communicate with other programs
via a socket interface or file support.
• Communication with external instruments via various interfac-
es.
• Accesses databases.
• Integration with host computer.
• Administration of all laser parameters:
• Power output.
• Speed.
• Frequency.
• Delays.
• Interfaces.
• Graphic objects:
• Precise input of parameters.
• Fonts with single lines and all TrueType fonts.
• Polar and multi line texts.
• Various formats for numbers, date, time, etc.
• 1D (normal) and 2D (data matrix) barcodes.
• Basic objects (line, circle, rectangle).
• Import of graphic images in various formats (DWG, DXF,
HPGL, BMP, JPG and GIF).
• Filling of all polygon-based objects.
• Rotation of all objects.
• Changes the size of all objects.
• Moves all objects.

Laser marking software: V1.5 Build: 343 19

Program description

3.1 Program start

1. Start up the PC and the operating system.
2. Switch on the line voltage on the laser
3. Start the marking software via Start → Programs →...
4. The visual software interface is displayed.
The software generally starts with the standard default configura-
tion. See also Current configuration on page 21.

Command line parameter If you want to use a different configuration, then you must pass a
command line parameter (/L:) followed by the name of the configu-
ration to the software.
This usually takes place by using a shortcut.
So to use a configuration with the name Laser1, give: /L:Laser1 as
the parameter.

NOTE!
If two or more lasers are to be operated simultaneously,
each laser (configuration) requires its own license!

Offline state If the software cannot establish a connection to the laser or an ex-
isting connection is interrupted, the software shows this with the of-
fline mode.

Fig. 11 Laser Status in the Offline mode

In this case the operating elements for controlling the laser are de-
activated.
Should this have happened unintentionally, check or correct the in-
terface settings in the parameter area, see Parameter area on
page 55.

Connect

Fig. 12 Service menu

With the Connect command, the software establishes a connection

to the laser.

20 Laser marking software: V1.5 Build: 343

 Program description

3.2 Software user interface

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
1 Title bar 13 Button to clear messages
2 Menu bar 14 Message window
3 File toolbar 15 I/O control display
4 Password group 16 Graphic toolbar
5 Laser toolbar 17 Zoom toolbar
6 Laser status group 18 Parameter area graphic
7 Element window 19 Designation of the laser/number of the device
8 Graphic area 20 Current configuration
9 Script area 21 Run time timer
10 Parameter area 22 User timer
11 Service area 23 Version/build number of the software
12 Graphic window 24 Status line graphic window

Laser marking software: V1.5 Build: 343 21

Program description

3.3 Entry elements

Text box

Fig. 13 Text box

The text box is primarily for entering texts, such as the font type, as
is shown here.

Multi line text box

Fig. 14 Multi line text box

The multi line text box can accept several lines of text.
It has two scroll bars that are automatically activated when the lines
cannot be directly shown.

Numerical input box

Fig. 15 Numerical input box

Normally numerical values are entered here.

The numerical values can be changed with the + and - keys.
If you activate the Shift key in addition, then the change takes place
in larger increments (coarser).
On the other hand, if the Ctrl key is activated, then the changes are
smaller (more precise).
If the mouse pointer is located within the entry field, then the numer-
ical values can be changed with the arrow keys up and down as well
as with the Page up and Page down keys.
The Shift and Ctrl keys also work the same way in this case.
If you are using a wheel mouse, then this can also be used to
change the values.
The Shift and Ctrl keys also work in this case.

List box

Fig. 16 List box

No values or texts are entered in this field, but a list with possible val-
ues from which you make a selection is displayed after clicking on
the arrow key.

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 Program description

Check box

Fig. 17 Activation field

If the check mark is visible, then the relevant function is activated.

A click of the mouse changes the status (deactivated).

3.4 Access rights

Enter password

Fig. 18 Password group

The access rights are awarded in 4 levels via password entry.

Service: Access to all functions including the service ar-
ea.
Level 1: Access to all functions.
Default setting: L1.
Level 2: Only the execution of laser marking.
Default setting: L2.
No password: Only cancelling of marking.
1. Write the corresponding password into the left entry window.
2. The correct entry is confirmed by display of the corresponding
level in the right window.
3. The allocated functions are enabled.

Change passwords

Fig. 19 Service menu

Click on Edit Passwords.

The authorised passwords for the respective level are displayed for
editing.

Laser marking software: V1.5 Build: 343 23

Program description

Fig. 20 Dialog window for changing the password for levels 1 and 2, with the
passwords following the first installation

Enter the desired new passwords and the names to be displayed

and confirm with OK.

3.5 File management

Fig. 21 File toolbar

Fig. 22 File menu

New file

Click on the New icon or on New in the file menu.

A new file is created in the element window (tree structure). See also
Graphic parameter on page 39.

Open file

Click on the Open icon or on Open in the file menu.

The dialog box Open File is displayed.

24 Laser marking software: V1.5 Build: 343

 Program description

Fig. 23 Open file dialog

Here the file to be opened is selected.

Save File

Click on the Save icon or on Save in the file menu.

If the file has never been saved, then the Save File dialog box
opens.

Fig. 24 Save file dialog

Here the file is given the desired name.

If the file has been saved at least once before, then it will be saved
under its own name without the Save file dialog being shown.
If the file should be saved under a different name, then select Save
As … in the file menu.

Laser marking software: V1.5 Build: 343 25

Program description

Print file
To print a file, select the menu option Print… in the file menu.
The Print dialog is displayed

Fig. 25 Print file dialog

Here you select the printer to be used and start the print output.
What is just being displayed in the graphic window is output on the
printer.
At this time the selection is adjusted to the print medium, whereby
the output from the printer depicts a somewhat larger selection.

3.6 Laser control

Fig. 26 Laser toolbar

Switching the laser on and off

1. Click on the icon Laser ON or OFF in order to switch the laser

on or off, respectively.
Activating the laser ON button is only possible with a level 2
password or higher!

NOTE!
For security purposes, the password many only be
known to authorised persons. By no means should it be
written down on the monitor, PC, keyboard, laser, etc.

The laser is activated.

It is possible that a warm-up period is required, depending on
the ambient temperature, before the full operating readiness of
the system is reached. When the operating readiness is
attained, the laser status display switches from Off to On and
the colour changes from red to green. The laser is operative. OK
is displayed in green in System.

26 Laser marking software: V1.5 Build: 343

 Program description

Fig. 27 Laser status display

2. To switch the laser off click on the laser OFF icon.

The laser is deactivated.

NOTE!
In this case it means an electronic switch off. The sys-
tem is not disconnected from the line voltage.

Further points in the Laser Status Display:

Power: Shows laser power output in %.
Shutter: Shows shutter is open or closed.
Pilot laser: Shows pilot laser is on or off.
Interlock: Shows if the interlock is open or closed.
Diode: Shows the temperature state of the diode.
OOR Temperature out of range.
OK Temperature within the limit.
Crystal: Shows the temperature state of the crystal.
OOR Temperature out of range.
OK Temperature within the limit.
System: Shows the system state.

Lock shutter

Click on the ShutterLock icon to close and lock the shutter.

Switching the pilot laser on

and off
Click on the Pilot laser icon to switch the pilot laser on or off, respec-
tively.

Showing the bounding box

Click on the Bounding box icon to switch the output of the bounding
box by the laser (pilot laser) on or off.

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Program description

Start marking

Click on the icon Run to start the marking process.

NOTE!
If a script is accessible, then this will start.
Otherwise the graphic image will be output directly.

Stop marking

Click on the Stop icon to stop the marking process.

Enable external start

If the icon ExternStart is activated, the laser/the marking program

can be started by means of an external signal.

I/O control

Fig. 28 I/O control

The state of the output and input signals (ExternStart) is displayed

in the I/O control window.

Message window

Fig. 29 Messages

All of the software messages are displayed in the message window.

These can be messages regarding the condition of the laser or also
problems when opening the configuration files, etc.
Clicking on the Clear Messages button clears the displayed mes-
sages.

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 Program description

3.7 Graphic area

Fig. 30 Graphic area

The graphic area is for creating graphic elements.

The image is displayed in the graphic window and is continuously
updated.

Element window

Fig. 31 Element window

The elements, objects and modifiers are clearly arranged as shown

in the element window.

Status line graphic window

Fig. 32 Status line graphic window

There is a status line below the graphic window.

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Program description

Fig. 33 Display result of measurement

Here is where the result of a completed measurement is shown:

L: length of the measured segment.
X,Y: length along the X or Y axis, respectively.

Fig. 34 Current pointer position

This area shows the current pointer position when the pointer is over
the graphic window.

Fig. 35 Area bounding box

The area bounding box shows the measurements of the bounding

box surrounding the graphic:
B: width of the box.
H: height of the box.
X,Y: midpoint coordinates of the box.

Parameter area - graphic

Fig. 36 Parameter area - graphic

Different parameter input masks are displayed, depending on the

selected branch in the element window, in the parameter area.

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 Program description

3.7.1 Element window

Fig. 37 Element window

The element window is for the clear, structured management of the

graphic Elements, Objects and Modifiers.
Object designates: Rectangle, Barcode, Text, ...
Modifiers are: Rotation, Filling, Mirroring, ...
Elements combine Objects and Modifiers in one unit.

NOTE!
Elements provide their own local coordinate system for
the objects and modifiers contained in them. These are
displayed by means of a small crosshair in the graphic
window.

NOTE!
Element branches can contain either other element
branches or objects and modifiers, but not both at the
same time!

Coordinate systems

Fig. 38 Display coordinate system

With these symbols the coordinate system 0-point of the graphic el-
ement or the normal elements is shown in the graphic window.
The higher order graphic element is constantly displayed, the 0-
point of the other elements are only shown if an element or an ob-
ject contained therein is selected.
The higher order graphic element with its coordinate system repre-
sents the reference point for all lower order elements.
An element that contains objects represents the reference system
of just these objects.

Elements and objects Use elements to combine objects or objects and modifiers that
form a unit, respectively
Example:
In order to generate a filled text, first create an element followed by
a text object and fill modifier.
The element now represents the complete text.
Now the element can be moved to any position in the marking field.

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Program description

Enable element

By adding or removing this check mark, the corresponding branch

of the tree structure is activated or deactivated, respectively.
A deactivated branch is not shown and also not output.
It is only possible to output a deactivated branch using script control.

PopUp menu

Fig. 39 Element window PopUp menu

A popup menu opens by right-clicking on the mouse in the element

window.
The top menu item is Collapse or Extend, depending on whether or
not the branch of the tree structure is extended or collapsed.
By activating this menu item, the depiction of the tree structure can
be influenced.
Cut, Copy and Paste enables you to remove a branch of the tree
structure or to paste it in a new place.
Delete deletes the selected branch permanently.
Export saves a branch to a file for later use.
Import imports a branch or an entire program to the selected posi-
tion.
If you want to give a branch a new name, then use Rename.

Drag & Drop The so-called Drag and Drop function is also supported.
You can drag branches to new positions or copy them in.
Procedure:
1. Keep the left mouse key pressed above the branch that you
want to move or copy.
2. Keeping the left mouse key pressed, drag the branch to the de-
sired position.
3. To move it, release the left mouse key.
To copy activate the Ctrl key before releasing the left mouse
key. You will then see a small + sign at the mouse pointer.
Target positions that are not possible or not permitted are shown as
a prohibiting sign instead of the mouse pointer. If the left mouse key
is released on these occasions, the process is terminated.

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 Program description

3.7.2 Graphic toolbar

Fig. 40 Graphic toolbar (shown here in a horizontal position)

New element

Click on this icon to create a new element in the tree structure of the
element window. See also Element parameter on page 40.

Line

Click on this icon to insert the object line into the tree structure of the
element window. See also Line parameter on page 41.

Rectangle

Click on this icon to insert the object rectangle into the tree structure
of the element window. See also Rectangle parameter on page 41.

Ellipse

Click on this icon to insert the object ellipse into the tree structure of
the element window. See also Ellipse parameter on page 42.

Text

Click on this icon to insert the object text into the tree structure of
the element window. See also Text parameter on page 42.

Barcode

Click on this icon to insert the object barcode in the tree structure of
the element window. See also Barcode parameter on page 43.

Datamatrix

Click on this icon to insert the object datamatrix in the tree structure
of the element window. See also Datamatrix parameter on page 44.

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Program description

PDF417

Click on this icon to insert the object PDF417 in the tree structure of
the element window. See also PDF417 parameter on page 45.

NOTE!
You need a special license to use the PDF417 code!

Import

Click on this icon to insert the object import in the tree structure of
the element window.
Import enables you to import image files that have been created by
external programs. See also Import parameter on page 46.

Move

Click on this icon to insert the Move modifier in the tree structure of
the element window.
All objects that are located in the same element in front of this mod-
ifier can be moved by the indicated value. See also Move parameter
on page 47.

Size

Click on this icon to insert the Size modifier in the tree structure of
the element window.
All objects that are located in the same element in front of this mod-
ifier can be changed in size. See also Size parameter on page 47.

Rotation

Click on this icon to insert the Rotation modifier in the tree structure
of the element window.
All objects that are located in the same element in front of this mod-
ifier can be rotated around a defined point. See also Rotation param-
eter on page 48.

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 Program description

Mirror

Click on this icon to insert the Mirror modifier in the tree structure of
the element window.
All objects that are located in the same element in front of this mod-
ifier can be mirrored on the X- and/or Y-axis of a virtual coordinate
system. See also Mirror parameter on page 48.

Polar

Click on this icon to insert the polar marking in the tree structure of
the element window.
All objects that are located in the same element in front of this mod-
ifier can be aligned to a virtual circle. See also Polar parameter on
page 48.

Fill

Click on this icon to insert the Fill modifier in the tree structure of the
element window.
All objects that are located in the same element in front of this mod-
ifier can be filled. See also Fill parameter on page 49.

NOTE!
Fillings can only be applied to closed polygons (contin-
uous lines).
If fillings are applied to other structures, there may be
unexpected results.

Wobble

Click on this icon to insert the Wobble modifier in the tree structure
of the element window.
For all objects that are located in the same element in front of this
modifier the lines can be changed in his width and structure.
See also Wobble parameter on page 49.

Pfad

Click on this icon to insert the Path modifier in the tree structure of
the element window.
All objects that are located in the same element in front of this mod-
ifier the lines can be aligned at a wavy path.
See also Path parameter on page 49.

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Program description

3.7.3 Zoom toolbar

Fig. 41 Zoom toolbar

Zoom to marking area

A click on this icon results in the graphic window showing the entire
marking area.

Zoom to bounding box

A click on this icon results in the graphic window showing the con-
tent of the bounding box in a frame-filling way.

Zoom plus

A click on this icon increases the zoom factor.

Zoom minus

A click on this icon decreases the zoom factor.

Zoom window

After activating this icon a rectangle can be drawn with the mouse
that depicts the new zoom area.
The icon remains active until you complete the action or you click on
it again.
The first click with the left mouse button defines the first corner of the
zoom rectangle, the second click defines the concluding second cor-
ner.

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 Program description

NOTE!
If you are using a wheel mouse, you can also zoom us-
ing the wheel.
The values in the entry fields can also be changed in
this manner.
Also use the Shift and Ctrl keys with the entry fields to
influence the changes.

Measurement

After activating this symbol you can draw a line in the graphic win-
dow with the mouse.
The icon remains active until you complete the action or click on the
icon again.
The first click with the left mouse button defines the beginning of the
line, the second click defines the end of the line.
The length of the line, as well as the lengths along the X- and Y-axes
are shown in the status line of the graphic window.

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Program description

3.7.4 Graphic window

Fig. 42 Graphic window

Apart from the graphic elements in the Graphic window, you can
also see the following:
1. A pale blue rectangle with rounded corners, which contains a
crosshair.
This is the recommended marking area.
If you go outside of this area with your marking, then you will
have to expect reductions in quality, such as diminished output,
etc.
2. A pale blue rectangle that surrounds the first one.
This the maximum possible physical marking area, that the de-
flecting/scanning mirror can reach. Marking beyond this bound-
ary is not possible!
3. A dotted red square.
This is exactly big enough to just encompass the graphic ele-
ments, therefore the designation "bounding box".

Moving the view You can move the view in the graphic window by left-clicking the
mouse anywhere in the window and then moving the mouse, still
holding down the button. The view should follow the mouse move-
ment until you release the mouse button.

NOTE!
When the same procedure is applied with the right
mouse button, the element or object currently selected
in the element window can be moved.

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3.7.5 Graphic parameter area

3.7.5.1 Graphic parameter

Fig. 43 Graphic parameter

This parameter group is part of the root branch of the tree structure
in the element window and is therefore contained in every graphic.
All parameters apply universally, i.e. to the entire image.

Laser parameter If this group is active, it determines the settings for the laser. If it is
inactive, then the default and test values from the parameter area
are applied.
See Default and test values on page 57.

Move With this the entire graphic can be moved in the X- or Y-directions.

Size This group permits a minor size adjustment.

Rotation The graphic can be rotated around a point.

Mirror The graphic can be mirrored on the axes of a virtual coordinate sys-
tem.

Script file By specifying a script file and setting the activating check mark, the
graphic can be linked with a script file (*.bas).

Clicking on the button opens a file dialog for easy selection of

the file.
With Take from Script Editor the currently active script program
can be adopted.
If the graphic file (*las) is loaded and no other script is loaded, then
the script indicated here will be loaded into the script editor.

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Program description

External axis The setting values here are passed to a script program for process-
ing by means of a Call-Back function.
See LC_ExternAxis(...) on page 109.

3.7.5.2 Element parameter

Fig. 44 Element parameters

The parameter area of the element branch is available at the begin-

ning of each group of graphic objects and their modifiers.

Laser parameter Here, too, you have the possibility of assigning the laser new param-
eters.
The individual activation boxes permit you to determine exactly,
which parameters you want to change.

External axis Here you can specify the position of up to four external axes as well.
These values are sent to a script program for processing.
See LC_ExternAxis(...) on page 109.

Move The graphic that belongs to this element can be moved in X- and Y-
directions.

NOTE!
The move can also be executed by clicking and drag-
ging it in the graphic window with the right mouse but-
ton!

Passes This value determines the number of marking passes.

Normally 1, however if you wish to engrave the material more deep-
ly, then the value can be increased.

Array With this you can define an array of your marking.

You can define the distance (Offset) and count independently for the
X and Y direction.

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 Program description

3.7.5.3 Line parameter

Fig. 45 Line parameter

Because a line has a beginning and an end, these values can be en-
tered separately.

NOTE!
By clicking and dragging in the graphic window with the
right mouse button, you can change both values simul-
taneously and in doing so move the line.

3.7.5.4 Rectangle parameter

Fig. 46 Rectangle parameter

BaseRef The BaseRef group enables you to establish which point of the ob-
ject is to be fixed to which coordinates. See BaseRef on page 131.

NOTE!
The BaseRef can be changed by clicking and dragging
in the graphic window the right mouse button.

Dimension Here is where you enter the width and height of your rectangle.

Corner radius To create a rectangle with rounded corners, enter the desired radii
here.

NOTE!
Both text fields must contain a radius > 0 to generate an
acceptable rectangle.
Both values are usually the same.

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Program description

3.7.5.5 Ellipse parameter

Fig. 47 Ellipse parameter

BaseRef The BaseRef group enables you to establish which point of the ob-
ject is to be fixed to which coordinates. See BaseRef on page 131.

NOTE!
The BaseRef can be changed by clicking and dragging
the right mouse button in the graphic window.

Radius X, Y Stating the two radii results in the ellipse.

A circle results from equal radii.

Angle If you want an ellipse/circle segment, then you determine the seg-
ment with the beginning or end angle.

3.7.5.6 Text parameter

Fig. 48 Text parameter

BaseRef The BaseRef group enables you to establish which point of the ob-
ject is to be fixed to which coordinates. See BaseRef on page 131.

NOTE!
The BaseRef can be changed by clicking and dragging
the right mouse button in the graphic window.

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 Program description

Text The text to be output is entered in this entry field.

A multi line text is also possible.
For special data, such as date or time, see Format specifications on
page 132.

Font In the Font group the font to be used is determined.

Press the key to open the font selection dialog.

Additional settings Line space: Determines the line spacing in multi line texts.
Spacing: Is a factor with which the character spacing can be
changed.
Codepage: Permits the specification of a codepage for special
cases, e.g. Asian characters.

3.7.5.7 Barcode parameter

Fig. 49 Barcode parameter

BaseRef The BaseRef group enables you to establish which point of the ob-
ject is to be fixed to which coordinates. See BaseRef on page 131.

NOTE!
The BaseRef can be changed by clicking and dragging
the right mouse button in the graphic window.

Type Selection of the barcode type to be applied.

Data The barcode content is entered in these entry fields.

The text box AddOn is only used for barcodes with additional data.
For special data, such as date or time, see Format specifications on
page 132.
For information on the abilities of the individual barcodes, see Bar-
code specification on page 134.

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Program description

Barcode height For the definition of the barcode heights see Barcode specification
on page 134.

Module parameter By Module Width, the width of the narrowest barcode bar is meant.
With Fill Distance you determine the distance at which the laser
draws the lines necessary for filling.

CAUTION!
The fill spacing might also be slightly changed by the
program in order to comply with the required module
width.
If this is not desired on critical materials, it can be pre-
vented by setting the module width to a whole number
multiple of the fill distance.

Inverse is selected if the laser generates light instead of dark lines.

In this case the spaces in the barcode are then lasered.

3.7.5.8 Datamatrix
parameter

Fig. 50 Datamatrix parameter

BaseRef The BaseRef group enables you to establish which point of the ob-
ject is to be fixed to which coordinates. See BaseRef on page 131.

NOTE!
The BaseRef can be changed by clicking and dragging
the right mouse button in the graphic window.

Data The barcode content is entered in this text box.

For special data, like date or time, see Format specifications on
page 132.

Module parameter Choose the required version of the datamatrix barcode under Type.
Size fixes the size of an individual point of the datamatrix code.
The total size results from the number of points that comprises the
datamatrix code, multiplied by the stated Size.
With Fill Distance you determine the distance at which the laser
draws the lines necessary for filling.

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 Program description

CAUTION!
The fill spacing might also be slightly changed by the
program in order to comply with the required module
width.
If this is not desired on critical materials, it can be pre-
vented by setting the module width to a whole number
multiple of the fill distance.

3.7.5.9 PDF417 parameter

Fig. 51 PDF417 parameter

CAUTION!
A special license is required to use the PDF417 code!

BaseRef The BaseRef group enables you to establish which point of the ob-
ject is to be fixed to which coordinates. See BaseRef on page 131.

NOTE!
The BaseRef can be changed by clicking and dragging
the right mouse button in the graphic window.

Data The barcode content is entered in this text field.

For special data, like date or time see Format specifications on
page 132.

Code parameter By specifying Rows and/or Columns, the number of rows or col-
umns, respectively, can be predetermined.
ECC determines the degree of error tolerance.

Module parameter A few different versions of PDF417 barcodes are available under
Type.
By Module Width, the width of the narrowest barcode bar.
With Fill Distance you determine the distance at which the laser
draws the lines necessary for filling.

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Program description

CAUTION!
The fill spacing might also be slightly changed by the
program in order to comply with the required module
width.
If this is not desired on critical materials, it can be pre-
vented by setting the module width to a whole number
multiple of the fill distance.

Inverse is selected if the laser generates light instead of dark lines.

In this case the spaces in the barcode are then lasered.

3.7.5.10 Import parameter

Fig. 52 Import parameter

BaseRef The BaseRef group enables you to establish which point of the ob-
ject is to be fixed to which coordinates. See BaseRef on page 131.

NOTE!
The BaseRef can be changed by clicking and dragging
the right mouse button in the graphic window.

Import file In this text field the files to be imported are entered.

Activating the key opens an import dialog.

Fig. 53 Import dialog

Select the file to be imported and click on Open.

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 Program description

File types DWG: AutoCAD Format.

DXF: AutoCAD Format.
HPGL: HPGL Format.
BMP: Bitmap Format.
JPG: JPG-Bitmap Format.
GIF: CompuServe Bitmap.

Load/Reload Clicking this button reloads the graphic image once more, in case it
has been altered in the meantime.

Vectors For inforrmation about the file to import the number of existing vec-
tors is shown here.

Import options Here you can defin, if vector files should be optimised for the laser
output and how to do this.
Sort. vectors: Reducing the number of vectors.
You can set the parameters min. length of a
vector and max. angle of vectors border on
each other.
Combine vectors: Combining of vectors to realise compact areas.
You can set the parameter max. distance bet-
ween two vector points.

Apply options Clicking this button the choosed import parameters are applied.

3.7.5.11 Move parameter

Fig. 54 Move parameter

Specifying the X- and Y-values moves the graphic by the indicated

distance.

3.7.5.12 Size parameter

Fig. 55 Size parameter

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Program description

It is possible to change the size of a graphic (X-size, Y-size) around

a fixed point (X-centre Y-centre) with the Size modifier.
It is possible to give an relative factor or an absolute size value.

3.7.5.13 Rotation parameter

Fig. 56 Rotation parameter

You can rotate a graphic around a fixed point X-centre Y-centre by

a certain angle.

3.7.5.14 Mirror parameter

Fig. 57 Mirror parameter

By specifying a centre point (X-centre, Y-centre) of a virtual coordi-

nate system, you can mirror the graphic at the axes of this coordi-
nate system.

3.7.5.15 Polar parameter

Fig. 58 Polar parameter

The graphic is aligned to the circumference of a virtual circle, which

you have specified with (X-centre, Y-centre and radius).
Max Length defines the maximum length of a straight-running line
section.
1 mm is normally a good value.
In special cases it may be necessary to change this value.

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3.7.5.16 Fill parameter

Fig. 59 Polar parameter

A graphic can be filled using the Fill modifier.

To execute this, the software looks for closed polygon figures (con-
tinuous lines) and then draws parallel lines in them at the specified
distance and angles.
There are two sets of line distances and angles at your disposal.
If you activate the box Delete Graphic, then only the fill lines re-
main, the original graphic is deleted.
By activating Bi-directional, then every second line is marked in re-
versed direction.

NOTE!
Fillings can only be applied on closed polygons (contin-
uous lines).
If fillings are applied to other structures, the results can
be unexpected.

3.7.5.17 Wobble parameter

Fig. 60 Wobble parameter

With the modifier Wobble a line can shown with lined up polygones.
You can set the width and the distance of the polygones and the
number of polygon points. So the width and the structure of the line
are defined.

3.7.5.18 Path parameter

Fig. 61 Path parameter

A graphic or text element can lined up on a wavy path using the Path
modifier.
For the wave style you can set the values X-Center, Y-Center, Max.
Length, Period and Amplitude.

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Program description

3.8 Script area

Fig. 62 Script area

In the script area you can do all the things that go beyond the simple
output of graphic objects.
Beginning with the creation of a simple process over the recurring
output of a drawing as a reaction to a control entry, up to the control
of a complete system with conveyor belt, various interfaces and pos-
sibly several lasers.
Information that applies to the script program window can be found
under Programming on page 62.
Details regarding the programming language used is in Program-
ming on page 62
And the special language extensions of this software are under La-
ser specific script extensions on page 107.

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 Program description

3.8.1 Script samples

3.8.1.1 Serial numbers You can find this example in the installation directory inside the fold-
er Samples\SerialNumber.

Graphic part

Fig. 63 Graphic example serial numbers

The text in the multi line text field (SerialNumber:#SerNo1=9999#)

is comprised of two parts:
1. A fixed text (SerialNumber:) and
2. a format specification (#SerNo1=9999#).
For further information about format commands see also Format
specifications on page 132 and Special format specifications on
page 133.
The part in front of the = (SerNo1) is for identification purposes and
the part behind the = (9999) is the default value.
As the script isn't running, or doesn't even yet exist at the time the
graphic view is being calculated, the default value is displayed.
The script program now has the task of pulling a serial number from
a file and to make it available on demand at runtime.
Finally the serial number is increased by one and written back into
the file.

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Program description

Script part
'Version 1.0
Option Explicit

Dim SerNo1 As Long

Sub Main
SerNo1 = CLng(EX.ReadXmlFormat("SerNo1", "1", "C:\SerNumber.xml"))
LC.Mark("", True)
SerNo1 = SerNo1 + 1
EX.WriteXmlFormat("SerNo1", CStr(SerNo1), "C:\SerNumber.xml")
End Sub

Public Function LC_Formatter(sFormat As String, sString As String,

sDefault As String) As String
If(sString = "SerNo1") Then LC_Formatter = Format(SerNo1, "000000")
End Function

Sample 1 Serial numbers

Main program The first line is a comment and gives information about the version
of this script program.
The second line, if at hand, forces the programmer to also declare
all variables used in the program (Dim...), this procedure can only be
recommended!
In the next line a variable (SerNo1) is declared, because it will take
up the actual serial number later.
The actual program consists of two parts:
1. The main program Main and
2. the CallBack function LC_Formatter... See also
LC_Formatter(...) on page 109.
Main is called up (started) when the program is started and carries
out the following actions:
1. Reading out the serial number from an XML file.
2. Starts the actual marking (LCMark("", True)).
3. After the marking is completed the serial number is increased by
one and finally,
4. written back into the XML file.

CallBack function The CallBack function (LC_Formatter...) is called up automatically

during the marking and works as follows:
In the header (LC_Formatter(sFormat As String, sString As String, sDe-
fault As String) As String) three values are passed:

1. In sFormat is the entire format string (#SerNo1=9999#).

2. In sString is the identification (SerNo1).
3. and in sDefault is the default value (9999).
The CallBack function now checks whether or not the identification
is the one that is determined for that serial number (If(sString =
"SerNo1") Then).
If yes, then the CallBack function passes the formatted serial num-
ber as a string (LC_Formatter = Format(SerNo1, "0000")).

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 Program description

In addition, further test outputs (Debug.Print...) were added to the

example program that is on your computer, to enable you to get an
overview more easily.

3.8.1.2 Excel content You will find this example in the Samples\Excel folder in the instal-
lation directory.

NOTE!
Microsoft Excel must be installed on your computer in
order to execute this example program!

Graphic part

Fig. 64 Graphic Excel example

The text in the multi line text box (Cell A1:#A1#) or (Cell A2:#A2#)
does not have a default value in this example, that is why none is
shown in the graphic window.
However, this has no effect on the function.
In this case the text of each line contains the following components:
1. A fixed text (Cell A1:) and
2. a format specification (#A1#)
For further information on format commands see also Format spec-
ifications on page 132 and Special format specifications on
page 133.
In this case the script program has the task of reading out the cell
that was specified by the format specification, from an Excel table;
in this case the A1 and A2 cells.

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Program description

Script part
'Version 1.0
Option Explicit

Dim objExcel As Object

Sub Main
Set objExcel = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
objExcel.Workbooks.Open("C:\Test.xls")
LC.Mark("", True)
objExcel.Quit
End Sub

Public Function LC_Formatter(sFormat As String, sString As String,

sDefault As String) As String
LC_Formatter = CStr(objExcel.Range(sString & ":" & sString).Value)
End Function

Sample 2 Excel dates

Main program The first line is a comment and gives information about the version
of this script program.
The second line, if at hand, forces the programmer to also declare
all variables used in the program (Dim ...), this procedure can only
be recommended!
An object (objExcel) is declared in the next line, this will be used later
to access Excel.
The actual program consists of two parts:
1. The main program Main and
2. The CallBack function LC_Formatter. See also
LC_Formatter(...) on page 109.
Main is called up (started) when the program is started and carries
out the following actions:
1. Initialising the Excel object.
2. Opening the Excel file.
3. Starting the actual marking (LC.Mark("",True)).
4. Closing Excel.

CallBack function The CallBack function (LC_Formatter...) is called up automatically

during the marking and works as follows:
In the header (LC_Formatter(sFormat As String, sString As String, sDe-
fault As String) As String) three values are passed:

1. In sFormat is the entire format string (#A1#) or (#A2#), respec-

tively.
2. In sString is the identification (A1) or (A2), respectively.
3. And in sDefault is the default value () or (), respectively.
In this case empty character strings.
In the CallBack function the required Excel cell is read out (objEx-
cel.Range(sString & ":" & sString).Value) and then passed
(LC_Formatter = CStr(objExcel.Range(sString & ":" & sString).Value))
to the CallBack function as a character string (CStr(...).

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 Program description

In addition, further test outputs (Debug.Print...) were added to the

example program that is on your computer, to enable you to get an
overview more easily.
Furthermore, the program on your computer also writes the date and
time in the Excel cells A1 and A2.

3.9 Parameter area

Fig. 65 Parameter area

The Parameter Area can be fully accessed with a Level 1 password

and permits making settings for various laser parameters.

Laser

Fig. 66 Laser parameter

The type of the laser used and the connection ports, with which the
software establishes the connection to the laser, are determined in
the laser parameter:
COM-Port: If activated, then the COM port to be used can
be set here.
LPT-Port: Selection of an optional LPT port to accelerate
the marking.
Annotation:The respective connections are only active if the corre-
sponding box is marked with a check mark.

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Program description

Auto start

Fig. 67 Auto start

These settings influence the starting behavior of the software.

File: The file specified here is loaded after the soft-
ware has been started.
This file can be either a script (*.bas) or a
graphic file (*.las).
To browse for the file, use the button.
Auto start: If Auto Start is selected, then the file specified
under File will start once it has been loaded.
Hidden on
Startup: If the program is to start without a visible win-
dow, activate Hidden on StartUp.

Measurement unit

Fig. 68 Measurement unit

Here you can select the measurement unit with which you want to
work.
In detail, the following can be set:
µm: µm (1/1000 mm) is used as the measurement
unit.
mm: mm is used as the measurement unit.
mil: mil (1/1000 inch) is used as the measurement
unit.
inch: inch (25.4 mm) is used as the measurement
unit.

I/O control

Fig. 69 I/O control

If you want the software to convey information on various states to

the outside world, then you can configure the corresponding ports
here accordingly.

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Program state: State of the program. If the software is running,

the selected outlet is set to 1.
Laser state: If the following conditions are fulfilled:
The laser must be switched on!
The chamber and interlock must be closed!
There may be no current errors!
Then the outlet is set to 1.
Working: This outlet is set to 1 for the duration of the
marking process.
Extern start: The marking process is started when there is a
logical change from 0 to 1 at this inlet.
The prerequisite is that ExternStart has been
activated.

NOTE!
In DEMO MODE the program outlet is fixed at 0!

Default and test values

Fig. 70 Default and test values

On the one hand, the values specified here are default values for
new graphic objects parameters and, on the other hand, serve as la-
ser parameters for the text output of the Marking field group.
In detail the following settings can be set:
Power: Laser output in %.
Speed: The speed at which the laser beam is guided
over the surface.
QSF: The frequency in Hz, which determines the
pulse repetition frequency of the laser.
This parameter is only available with YAG la-
sers.
Pulse width: Specifies the laser pulse width.
This parameter is only available with YAG la-
sers.
Start delay: The delay from the beginning of the mirror mo-
tion until the activation of the laser.
Stop delay: Time extension, at which the laser remains
switched on, beginning with the braking of the
mirror motion.

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Program description

Marking field

Fig. 71 Marking field

The laser type and the parameters for the marking field are deter-
mined in the Marking field group:
Pincushion
Adjustment: With ()->|| and )(->|| the pillow- or barrel-
shaped distortions can be compensated.
Offset X and Y serve to align unequally shaped
distortions.
To check the settings you can laser a large
rectangle with Draw a Test Rectangle.
Field
Adjustment: With the help of Draw a Test Figure, which la-
sers a test image, the Mirror X- and -Y as well
as Rotation can be set in such a way, that the
test figure is output according to your wishes.
If your laser is equipped with a pilot laser, then
this can be set with Pilot-X and -Y in such a
way that it precisely hits the small circle in the
centre of the test figure.
The Field size is set in the following manner:
1. Output test figure.
2. Measure X and Y and
3. enter at Measured X and Y.
4. Activate Compute and set new field size.
To check you can now laser the test figure
again, the X and Y lengths should now be ex-
actly 50 mm or 2".

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3.10 Service area

Fig. 72 Service area

The Service area is only accessible with password level Service

and permits the setting of various laser-specific parameters.

Laser

Fig. 73 Laser

The Laser area permits the setting of various laser-specific param-

eters:
ON Hours: The laser's runtime hours. By pressing Clr. the
display can be set to 0.
Power min.: Lowest power value, which should be set at the
desired power output of 0 %.
Power max.: Maximum power output value, which should be
applied at the desired power output of 100 %.

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Program description

Power setting
time: The time that should elapse when the power
setting of the laser changes.
The time entered here is the time for a power
jump from 0 % to 100 %.
Corresponding less time elapses with smaller
power jumps.
Shutter: The shutter can be activated for testing purpos-
es.
Cooler: When the laser is switched off, the cooling sys-
tem can be switched on for testing purposes.
RF-Generator: The RF generator can be switched on or off, re-
spectively, for testing purposes.

Jump delays

Fig. 74 Jump delays

In the group Jump delays all jump relevant parameters of the scan-
ning control are defined.
Speed: If a new position is to be run to by means of a
vector, then the speed set here is applied.
> 1/xxxx: Delays in µs, which are inserted after a jump or
a vector used for positioning.
> 1/2: is shown for a positioning that is larger
than half of the marking field. The further values
stand for correspondingly smaller jumps.
Vector: If Vector is selected, then a positioning (the la-
ser is deactivated at this time) by means of a
vector (line) takes place with the speed stated
in Speed.
If the relevant delay is set to 0, then there will
also be a positioning by means of a vector, but
the "normal" marking speed then applies.
Otherwise, the laser is positioned at the new
position with a jump.

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Corner delay

Fig. 75 Corner delay

The Corner delay group is for setting the delays that can be set if
the angle between to vectors is too acute.
Break angle: The delay becomes applicable for angles that
are smaller (more acute) than are entered here.
Break delay: The delay to be inserted.

First pulse suppression

Fig. 76 First pulse suppression

The First pulse suppression group permits influencing the first 16

pulses of a YAG laser.
Activate: Time in µs that the laser must be off, in order for
the influence to be activated.
Pulse x: Separate setting possibilities for the pulse sup-
pression of the first 16 pulses of a vector in %.
The last value should normally be 0 %, as all
following pulses are oriented toward the last
one in this list.

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4 Programming

4.1 Basics

General information The script programming language is compatible with Visual Basic
Version 6.
Using this language, complex program sequences can be created
with little effort.
The following description will explain the most important commands
used in the context of laser marking.

Program documentation Each program should be documented adequately. This makes trou-
bleshooting, later changes or adaptations by other persons easier.
Specifically, tasks and characteristics of variables should be de-
scribed adequately.
Comments are introduced with the " ' " symbol.
Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
LC.TimerStart() 'Start the user timer
Wait 3 'Wait some Time
LC.TimerStop() 'Stop the user timer
End Sub

Sample 3 Comments

4.2 The script programming window

4.2.1 File handling

Fig. 77 Script toolbar

New

Fig. 78 New macro menu

This manual focuses mainly on creating a new executable program

(new macro).
The code, object and class modules are object-oriented program

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 Programming

modules which do not represent programs that are executable on

their own.

Open

Click on the Open icon.

Select the intended file from the program folder. An existing project
will be opened.

Save

Click on the Save icon.

If the project has not yet been assigned a name, a name must be
entered before saving. If the project already has a name, it can be
saved without any acknowledgement.

Save All

Click on the Save All icon for saving all open programs.
If a project has not been assigned a name yet, a name must be en-
tered before saving. If a project already has a name, it can be saved
without any acknowledgement.

Print

Click on the Print icon.

The current project will be output to the standard printer connected
under Windows.

4.2.2 Edit

Cut

Click on the Cut icon.

High-lighted parts of the program are deleted and transferred to the
clipboard.

Copy

Click on the Copy icon.

High-lighted parts of the program are transferred to the clipboard.

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Programming

Paste

Click on the Paste icon.

The content of the clipboard is inserted at the cursor position.

Undo

Click on the Undo icon.

The last action is undone. The command can be repeated until the
status of the last Save has been reached.

Redo

Click on the Redo icon.

The action cancelled last is performed again. If you have cancelled
too many changes, they can be restored by using the Redo com-
mand.

4.2.3 Object Catalogue

Display object

Click on the Show Object icon.

The object catalogue is opened with its object libraries, class librar-
ies, classes, methods, characteristics, events and constants which
can be used in the code. In addition, the modules and procedures
are shown which have been defined for the project.

Fig. 79 Object catalogue

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4.2.4 Start/Stop

Start/Continue

Click on the Start/Continue icon.

The current project is started under the development environment or
continued to be executed after a stop.

Pause

Click on Pause icon.

If a program was started under the development environment, the
activation of this command interrupts the program in the current lo-
cation.

End

Click on the End icon.

The current program is closed and a change to the design mode is
made.

4.2.5 Program Testing

In order to be able to test every single instruction during the execu-
tion of the program, there is an auxiliary test mode (debugger).
Among others, it checks the content of variables and the correctness
of the program sequence, and serves for locating programming er-
rors.

Breakpoint On/Off

Click on the Breakpoint On/Off icon.

A breakpoint is inserted or deleted at the cursor position.

Evaluate Expression

Click on the Evaluate Expression icon.

In the break mode, the current value is shown.

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Programming

Edit Point

Click on the Show next statement icon.

If the program is processed in the testing mode, this icon signals the
current edit point.

Jumping in (individual step)

Click on the Jump In icon or on F8.

The program can be processed step by step. If the program contains
procedures, it branches into them. These procedures or functions
are processed step by step.

Skip (procedure step)

Click on the Skip icon.

The program can be processed step by step. Any procedures and
functions contained will be executed.

Jump out (Finish procedure)

In break mode, click on the Jump Out icon.

The current procedure is executed and stopped again at the next
program line to be executed.

4.2.6 User Dialog

Edit user dialog

Click on the Edit user dialog icon.

The User Dialog Editor box opens.

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Fig. 80 User Dialog Editor

This mode is an important tool for creating user-specific programs.

By using it, proprietary user interfaces in the Windows format can be
created.
A detailed description is found at Edit user dialog on page 89.

4.3 Programming language

4.3.1 Variables

General information Variables are values marked with a name whose content is change-
able.
They are required for saving and/or further processing of results of
calculations or entries from the program user.
Each variable should be declared; i.e., assigned a variable type
(string, integer etc.)
In order to force the declaration of all variables and thus exclude
sources of error, the Option Explicit command is used.

Naming Variables The name of a variable should be explicit so that the function of the
variable can be deduced from its name alone.

Byte Integer according to ASCII character set.

Value range:
0 to 255

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Programming

Size:
1 byte

Boolean Status True/False

Value range:
True/False

Size:
2 bytes

Integer Integer without decimals.

Value range:
-32768 to +32767

Size:
2 bytes

Long Integer without decimals with greater value range as integer.

Value range:
-2 147 438 648 to +2 147 483 647

Size:
4 bytes

Single Floating point for calculations with decimals.

Value range:
-3.402823*1038 to -1.401298*10-45
1.401298*10-45 to 3.402823*1038

Size:
4 bytes

Double Floating point for calculations with decimals.

Value range:
-1.79769313486232*10308 to -4.94065645841247*10-324
4.94065645841247*10-324 to 1.79769313486232*10308

Size:
8 bytes

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 Programming

Currency Mix of integers and floating point for calculations up to the fourth
decimal after the point.

Value range:
-922 337 203 685 477.5808 to 922 337 203 685 477.5807

Size:
8 bytes

Date Utilisation for date and time.

Date value range:

01.01.100 to 31.12. 9999

Time value range:

00:00:00 to 23:59:59 (8 bytes)

String String format, any length.

Size:
10 byte + 2 byte/character

Variant Standard type which can assume any other type. In the process, the
variables are converted automatically. This declaration is used
when the type may change during the execution of the program.

Numerical value size:

16 bytes

String size:
22 byte + 2 byte/character

Declaration description
Dim Number As Integer Declares number as an integer
Dim Symbol As String Declares symbol as a string
Dim Value Declares value as a variable of the variant type

Sample 4 Variable declaration

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Programming

Variables can also be declared through icons:

Symbol Variable type
% Integer
& Long
! Single
# Double
@ Currency
$ String

Declaration Description
Dim number% Declares number as integer
Dim symbol$ Declares symbol as a string

Sample 5 Declaration of variables with icons

Examples for the importance of declaring variables:

Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Dim Number!
Dim Result!
Number! = 2.5
Result! = Number! * Number!
Debug.Print "Result = " & Result!
End Sub

Result = 6.25

Sample 6 Program with variable declaration

Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Dim Number%
Dim Result!
Number% = 2.5
Result! = Number% * Number%
Debug.Print "Result = " & Result!
End Sub

Result = 4

Sample 7 Program with variable declaration

The two programs lead to different results due to the different dec-
laration of variables. In Sample 6 floating points are multiplied with
each other, while in integers are Sample 7 multiplied with each oth-
er. When doing so, values up to x.50 are rounded down.

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4.3.2 Constants
Constants are named values whose content cannot be changed.
They may assume any type.

Const Pi! = 3.14: The constant Pi is assigned the value 3.14.

Const Pi% = 3.14: The constant Pi is assigned the fixed value 3.
Sample 8 Definition of constants

4.3.3 Fields
Fields are lists of variables.
Fields can be one- or multi-dimensional.
If the value of a field is constant during object time, it is called a static
field.

Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Dim Text(5) As String

Text(0) = "Part A"

Text(1) = "Part B"
Text(2) = "Part C"
Text(3) = "Part D"
Text(4) = "Part E"
Debug.Print Text(0)
Debug.Print Text(1)
Debug.Print Text(2)
Debug.Print Text(3)
Debug.Print Text(4)
End Sub

Part A
Part B
Part C
Part D
Part E

Sample 9 Using a one-dimensional field

In Sample 9 the one-dimensional Text field has been assigned five

elements of the String type.

x 0 1 2 3 4
Value Text(x) Part A Part B Part C Part D Part E

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Programming

Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Dim x, y As Integer
Dim Product(3,4) As Integer

for x = 0 to 2
for y = 0 to 3
Product(x,y) = x * y
Debug.Print Product(x,y)
next y
next x
End Sub

0
0
0
0
0
1
2
3
0
2
4
6

Sample 10 Multiplication

In Sample 10 the two-dimensional Product field has been assigned

3 times 4 elements of the type Integer.

x
0 1 2
0 0 0 0
1 0 1 2
y

2 0 2 4
3 0 3 6

Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Dim Field(2) As Variant

Field(0) = "This is a text"

Field(1) = 100

Field(0) = Field(0) & " and not a number"

Field(1) = Field(1) * 5

Debug.Print Field(0)
Debug.Print Field(1)
End Sub

This is a text and not a number

500

Sample 11 Using the Variant variable type

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4.3.4 Loops

For Next The For-next loop is a counting loop.

It is defined by a start value, end value, and optionally, by the step
size.
The step size may be positive or negative; i.e., it is counted up or
down. If no step size is stipulated, it will be set to the value of 1.
By using the Exit command, the loop can be exited prematurely
when a certain criterion occurs.

Syntax:
For Variable = Start To End [Step Step size]
...
[Exit]
...
Next Variable

Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Dim x!
Dim Result!

For x! = 0 To 1 Step 0.2

Result! = x! * x!
Debug.Print Result!
Next x!
End Sub

0
0.04
0.16
0.36
0.64
1

Sample 12 For Next loop

While The While loop is a Boolean loop.

The loop is repeated as long as the statement is true.
It may occur that the loop is never left.
A practical application example is waiting for a Laser Start signal
which initiates the marking procedure.

Syntax:
While condition
...
Wend

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Programming

Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Dim i%

i% = 5
While i% > 2
i% = i% - 1
Debug.Print i%
Wend
End Sub

4
3
2

Sample 13 While loop

Do The Do loop is a Boolean loop.

The loop is repeated as long as the statement is true. I.e, it will be
executed at least once.
It may occur that the loop is never left.

Syntax:
Do
...
[Exit]
Loop Until Condition

Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Dim i%

i% = 5
Do
i% = i% - 1
Debug.Print i%
Loop Until i%<2
End Sub

4
3
2
1

Sample 14 Do loop

A special form of the Do loop is the endless loop.

Syntax:
Do
...
Loop

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This loop should be avoided since it makes a controlled

program exit impossible.

4.3.5 Branching
Branches serve to distinguish cases during object time.

If Then Else The If-Then-Else branch is a Yes/No decision.

Syntax 1:
If condition Then instruction
...
End If

Syntax 2:
If condition Then instruction Else instruction
...
End If

Syntax 3:
If condition Then
...
Else if Condition Then
...
Else
...
End If

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Programming

Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Dim i!
i! = 5

While i! > -2
If i! > 2 Then
Debug.Print "i is " & i! & "; thus greater than 2!"
Else
Debug.Print "i is " & i! & "; thus smaller than 2!"
End If
i! = i! - 1.5
Wend
End Sub

i is 5; thus greater than 2!

i is 3.5; thus greater than 2!
i is 2; thus smaller than 2!
i is 0.5; thus smaller than 2!
i is -1; thus smaller than 2!

Sample 15 Branching with If Then Else

Select Case The Select-Case decision is a decision between several options.

Syntax:
Select Case expression
Case 1
...
case 2
...
Case 3
...
Case Else
...
End Select

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Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Dim Workpiece As Integer

Workpiece = 1 'selection no. 1

Select Case Workpiece
Case 1
Marking1 'Marking1 function call
Case 2
Marking2 'Marking2 function call
Case 3
Marking3 'Marking3 function call
End Select
End Sub

Sub Marking1
'Branch to marking1
End Sub

Sub Marking2
'Branch to marking2
End Sub

Sub Marking3
'Branch to marking3
End Sub

Sample 16 Labelling depends on the Workpiece variable

4.3.6 Procedures and Functions

In order to make the program code clearer, grouping self-contained
program parts into functions or procedures is recommended. The in-
dividual functions should be kept clear and short.
A function or procedure can often be divided into small functions or
procedures.

Advantages:
• Programmers can find their way around in the code fast.
• Errors can be delimited fast.
• Program extensions can be realised easily.
• Functions and procedures can be used multiple times.

Procedures Variables can be transferred to the procedures.

Syntax:
Sub Procedure name (Param1 As ... - ParamN As...)
...
End Sub

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Programming

In Sample 16 several procedures were used:

In the main program, the Marking1 procedure is invoked. This is
where the program branches into the Marking1 procedure and exe-
cutes it.

Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Dim Radius%
Radius%=15

Marking1(Radius%) 'Marking1 function call

End Sub

Sub Marking1(Radius%)
Debug.Print Radius%
End Sub

15

Sample 17 Transfer of the Radius variable to the Marking1 procedure

Functions Functions are procedures which return a value.

Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Dim i%
Dim Result As Double

i% = 10
Result = Sqr (Sum(i%)) 'root of the function Sum
Debug.Print "Result = " & Result
End Sub

Function Sum(i%)
Sum = i% + i%
Debug.Print i%
End Function

10
Result = 4.47213595499958

Sample 18 Function

In our example, the square root of the returned value of the sum
function is calculated. In this function then the sum of the variable i
with itself is calculated.

4.3.7 Editing Texts

The functions described are important for editing and manipulating
text. They represent only a portion of the full functional scope.

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Len Calculates the length of a string.

Syntax:
Len (String)

Type:
String

Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Dim Value As Integer
Debug.Print Len("Laser")
Value = Len("Laser")* 2
Debug.Print Value
End Sub

5
10

Sample 19 Calculating the length of a string

Left Creates a string of the length Len, starting on the left.

Syntax:
Left (String, Len)

Type:
String

Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Debug.Print Left("Laser",2)
End Sub

La

Sample 20 Creation of a string starting on the left

Mid Creates a string of the length Len, starting at the Index position.

Syntax:
Mid (String,Index,[Len])

Type:
String

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Programming

Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Debug.Print Mid("Laser",3,2)
End Sub

se

Sample 21 Creation of a string starting from any location

Right Creates a string of the length Len, starting on the right.

Syntax:
Right (String,Len)

Type:
String

Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Debug.Print Right("Laser",2)
End Sub

er

Sample 22 Creation of a string starting on the right

Str Creates a string from a numerical variable.

Syntax:
Str (Num)

Type:
String

Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Debug.Print Str(-5*8)
End Sub

-40

Sample 23 Creation of a string from a numerical variable

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StrReverse Creates a string inverse to the start string.

Syntax:
StrReverse (String)

Type:
String

Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Debug.Print StrReverse("Laser")
End Sub

resaL

Sample 24 Creation of an inverse string

UCase Converts all lower case letters of a string into upper case.

Syntax:
UCase (string)

Type:
String

Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Debug.Print UCase("Laser")
End Sub

LASER

Sample 25 Conversion of lower case letters into upper case

4.3.8 Mathematical Operations

Sin, Cos, Tan, Atn These functions return the trigonometric functions of numerical val-
ues.

Syntax:
Sin (Num)
Cos (Num)
Tan (Num)
Atn (Num)

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Programming

Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Debug.Print Sin(1)
Debug.Print Cos(1)
Debug.Print Tan(1)
Debug.Print Atn(1)
End Sub

0.841470984807897
0.54030230586814
1.5574077246549
0.785398163397448

Sample 26 Calculation of trigonometric functions

Exp, Log, Sqr Calculation of the following functions:

• Exponential function,
• Logarithmic function,
• Square root.

Syntax:
Exp (Num)
Log (Num)
Sqr (Num)

Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Debug.Print Exp(1)
Debug.Print Log(1)
Debug.Print Sqr(81)
End Sub

2.71828182845905
0
9

Sample 27 Calculation of exponent, logarithm and square root

Abs, Fix, Int, Round, Sgn Abs: Forms the absolute value.
Fix: Forms an integer variable by removing all decimals.
Int: Forms an integer variable by rounding.
Round: Rounds a numerical value to the number of decimals
required.
Sgn: Returns an Algebraic sign value.

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Syntax:
Abs (Num)
Fix (Num)
Int (Num)
Round (Num,[Digits])
Sgn (Num)

Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Debug.Print Abs(-100)
Debug.Print Fix(-100.2)
Debug.Print Int(-100.8)
Debug.Print Round(-100.88,1)
End Sub

100
-100
-101
-100.9

Sample 28 Calculation of Abs, Fix, Int, Round

4.3.9 Operators
n: Numeric value
s: String
- n1 Change of algebraic sign from n1.
n1 ^ n2 Takes n1 to the power of 2.
n1 * n2 Multiplies n1 and n2.
n1 / n2 Divides n1 by n2.
n1 \ n2 Divides the integer value of n1 by the integer value of
n2.
n1 + n2 Adds n1 and n2.
s1 + s2 Connects s1 with s2.
n1 - n2 Subtracts n2 from n1.
n1 & n2 Connects n1 to n2.
n1 < n2 Returns True if n1 less than n2.
n1 <= n2 Returns True if n1 less than or equal n2.
n1 > n2 Returns True if n1 greater than n2.
n1 >= n2 Returns True if n1 greater than or equal n2.
n1 = n2 Returns True if n1 equal n2.
n1 <> n2 Returns True if n1 unequal n2.
s1 = s2 Returns True if s1 equal s2.
s1 <> s2 Returns True if s1 unequal s2.
n1 And n2 Bitwise AND conjunction of n1 with n2.
n1 Or n2 Bitwise OR conjunction of n1 with n2.

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Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Dim N1,N2 As Integer
Dim S1$,S2$
N1 = 10
N2 = 3
S1$ = "asdfg"
S2$ = "hjkl"
Debug.Print -N1 '-10
Debug.Print N1 ^ N2 '1000
Debug.Print N1 * N2 '30
Debug.Print N1 / N2 '3.3333333333333
Debug.Print N1 \ N2 '3
Debug.Print N1 + N2 '13
Debug.Print S1$ + S2$ '"asdfghjkl"
Debug.Print N1 - N2 '7
Debug.Print N1 & N2 '"103"
Debug.Print N1 < N2 'False
Debug.Print N1 <= N2 'False
Debug.Print N1 > N2 'True
Debug.Print N1 >= N2 'True
Debug.Print N1 = N2 'False
Debug.Print N1 <> N2 'True
Debug.Print S1$ = S2$ 'False
Debug.Print S1$ <> S2$ 'True
Debug.Print N1 And N2 '2
Debug.Print N1 Or N2 '11
End Sub

Sample 29 Working with Operators

4.3.10 Type Conversion Functions

These functions convert expressions into certain data types.
If the value of an expression lies outside the range of the data type
into which it is to be converted, an error will occur.

Syntax:
Conversion function (expression)
Function Return Type Range of the Expression argument
CBool Boolean A valid string or a valid numerical expression.
CByte byte 0 to 255.
CCur Currency -922 337 203 685 477.5808 to
922 337 203 685 477.5807.
CDate Date Any valid date expression.
CDbl Double -1.79769313486231E308 to
-4.94065645841247E-324 for negative values;
4.94065645841247E-324 to
1.79769313486232E308 for positive values.

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Function Return Type Range of the Expression argument

CDec Decimal +/-79 228 162 514 264 337 593 543 950 335 for
scaled integers; i.e., numbers without decimals.
For numbers with 28 decimals the range... is
valid
+/-7.9228162514264337593543950335.
The smallest possible number unequal Zero is
0.0000000000000000000000000001.
CInt Integer -32 768 to 32 767;
Decimals are rounded.
CLng Long -2 147 483 648 to 2 147 483 647;
Decimals are rounded.
CSng Single -3.402823E38 to -1.401298E-45 for negative
values;
1.401298E-45 to 3.402823E38 for positive val-
ues.
Cvar Variant Numerical values in the range of the Double
type.
Non-numerical values in the range of the String
type.
CStr String Return for CStr depends on Expression argu-
ment.

4.3.11 Working with Files

A file is a structured amount of data which, e.g., can be stored on the
hard drive of a computer.
In order to be able to access the records of a file for input and/or out-
put, it must be opened.
Access to files allows, e.g., logging marking processes in files or us-
ing data from files for laser marking.

File names The Script language executes input and output operations by
means of file numbers. This number is assigned to a file or unit when
it is opened using the Open command.
The physical file is described by a string.

Syntax:
[Unit:] [Path] File name

Parameter:
Unit: Input/Output unit
Path: Path, directory in which the file is located.
File name: File name

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4.3.12 Sequential Files

Sequential files can be easily created.
The data is stored in the order it is transferred.
When reading from such a file, the file must be processed from the
beginning. This is an essential disadvantage of sequential files.

Open Opens or creates a File

Syntax:
Open File For Mode As # File Number [record length]

Parameter:
Mode: Output File is opened for writing or
created,
content is deleted.
Append File is opened for adding.
Input File is opened for reading,
error if file does not exist.
Random Access to entire records,
length of sentence must be stated.

Close Closes a file

Syntax:
Close # File number

Print Writes records to an opened file.

Syntax:
Print # File number Expression list
The values of the list of expressions are written to the file consecu-
tively without separators, as one record.

Write Writes records to an opened file.

Syntax:
Write # File number Expression list
The values of the list of expressions are written to the file, consecu-
tively with commas as separators, as one record.

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Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Dim A As Integer
A=5
Open "c:\temp\Mark.txt" For Output As #1
Print #1,"A=";",";A
Close #1
End Sub

Sample 30 Open a file, write a record and close the file

Fig. 81 Result file for Sample 30

Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Dim B As Integer
B=10
Open "c:\temp\Mark.txt" For Append As #1
Print #1,"B=";",";B
Close #1
End Sub

Sample 31 Open a file, add a record and close the file

Fig. 82 Result file for Sample 31

Input Reads a line in an opened file.

Syntax:
Input # File number List of variables
The parts of the line divided by commas are transferred to the vari-
ables of the list of variables.

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Line Input Reads a line in an opened file.

Syntax:
Line Input # File number Variable
The content of the line is transferred to the variable.

Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Dim Text$
Dim Value%
Dim Lines$
Open "c:\temp\Mark.txt" For Input As #1
While Not EOF(1)
Input #1,Text$,Value%
Line Input #1,Lines$
Debug.Print Text$;Value%
Debug.Print Lines$
Wend
Close #1
End Sub

A= 5
B=, 10

Sample 32 Reading of the lines of the file created in Sample 31

4.3.13 Files with Direct Access

Files with direct access allow access to selected records via a
record number.

Put Writes the content of a variable into a record of a file.

Syntax:
Put File Number, [Record Number], Variable

Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Dim V As Variant
V="Text;"
Open "C:\temp\sample.txt" For Random As #1 Len=15
Put #1,1,V
Put #1,2,V
Put #1,3,V
Close #1
End Sub

Sample 33 Generating a file with direct access.

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Fig. 83 Result file for Sample 33

Get Reads the record content in a variable

Syntax
Get File number, [Record number], Variable

Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Dim V As Variant
Open "c:\temp\Beispiel.txt" For Random As #1 Len=15
Get #1,1, V
Debug.Print V
Close #1
End Sub

Text;

Sample 34 Read out the 1st record form the file of Sample 33

4.3.14 Creating User Dialog Windows

Edit user dialog

Click on the Edit user dialog icon.

The User Dialog Editor box will open.

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Fig. 84 User dialog editor

Example for creation of a simple user dialog box:

1. Create a new Basic project.
1. Click on the Edit user dialog icon.
2. The User Dialog Editor box will open.
3. On the left hand side, there is a number of controls. Click on the
Add Ok button icon.
4. The mouse cursor will change into a cross hair. Move the mouse
into the position of the window in which the button is to be insert-
ed. Left-click on the mouse and define any size for the button.
Release the mouse when the size appears correct.
5. If you would like to keep the window defined, click the Accept
button.
6. The Editor will close, and you are back in program code. A few
lines were inserted automatically for defining the window.

Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Begin Dialog UserDialog 400,203 '%GRID:10,7,1,1
OKButton 110,98,180,49
End Dialog
Dim dlg As UserDialog
Dialog dlg
End Sub

Sample 35 Program code for a simple user dialog window

When the program is executed, the defined dialog window will open
and will wait for an acknowledgement via a mouse click on the OK
button.

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Menu bar

Fig. 85 Menu bar of the user dialog editor

Editing properties

Highlight a control or the entire options box (happens automatically

if no control is highlighted).
Click on the Edit Properties icon.
The Edit Properties dialog box opens.
The window can also be opened by double-clicking on an element.

Fig. 86 Edit Properties dialog box for the user dialog

Centred: If the check box is activated, the dialog box will

be centred.
Left/Top: Dialog box position (with centring turned off.)
Width/Height: Window size.
Caption: Name of window.
Quoted: If the check box is activated, the text entered
under Caption will appear as a string. Other-
wise, the text entered under Caption will repre-
sent a variable.
Dialog function: Supports execution of complex functions.
Comment: Any comment may be entered.

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View of elements

Fig. 87 Toolbar view of elements

If several elements are used in a dialog box, the functions of the El-
ement view provide a clearer representation. If several elements
overlap, the element which comes first in the program will be the top
element during processing.

Select

The Select function allows choosing or highlighting controls.

Add group box

This element serves to organise controls. The box can be assigned

a name consisting of fixed text or a variable.

Add text

This element serves to the output of text in the user dialog window.
Fixed or variable text content can be given.

Fig. 88 Edit Text Properties dialog box

The text can be formatted (left justified, right justified, centred).

Graphically, the Laser script is represented as a string. If the Quot-
ed check box is deactivated, Laser will become a variable. Then the
content of this variable will be depicted.

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Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Dim Laser As String
Laser = "5345"
Begin Dialog UserDialog 400,203
OKButton 110,133,160,49
Text 140,28,100,35,"Laser",.Text1,2
Text 140,77,100,35,Laser,.Text2,2
End Dialog
Dim dlg As UserDialog
Dialog dlg
End Sub

Sample 36 Declaration of the marking as string or variable

Fig. 89 Result of Sample 36

Add text box

This element allows entering data during run time.

Fig. 90 Edit Text Box Properties dialog box

The content entered will be written into a variable with the name as-
signed under Field. In the further processing of the program, this
variable can be accessed.

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Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Dim Radius As String
Begin Dialog UserDialog 380,175,"Circle"
OKButton 130,112,130,49
TextBox 230,56,60,21,.Variable
Text 70,56,160,21,"Radius:",.Text1
End Dialog
Dim dlg As UserDialog
Dialog dlg
MsgBox (dlg.Variable)
End Sub

Sample 37 Output and Input of text

Fig. 91 User dialog box for Sample 37

Add check box

The check box allows the user to activate or deactivate various op-
tions during program processing.
A check box can assume exactly two states, true or false. If the
check box is activated, the status will change to True; otherwise, the
False status will remain.

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Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Selection
End Sub

Function Selection
Begin Dialog UserDialog 400,203,"CheckBox"
CheckBox 240,70,90,14,"Circle",.CheckBox1
CheckBox 240,105,90,14,"Rectangle",.CheckBox2
OKButton 120,140,180,35
End Dialog
Dim dlg As UserDialog
Dialog dlg
If dlg.checkbox1 = 0 and dlg.checkbox2 = 0
Then MsgBox ("nothing")
If dlg.checkbox1 = 1 and dlg.checkbox2 = 0 Then MsgBox ("Circle")
If dlg.checkbox1 = 0 and dlg.checkbox2 = 1 Then MsgBox ("Rectangle")
If dlg.checkbox1 = 1 and dlg.checkbox2 = 1
Then MsgBox ("both")
End Function

Sample 38 Selecting Markings Using Check Boxes

Fig. 92 User dialog box to Sample 38

A circle, rectangle, nothing or both may be selected. The query of

the variables should occur correspondingly.

Add options button

The Options button is a switch which can assume only the states of
True or False. In this context, however, all elements of a group are
interdependent since they are linked by an OR-function. I.e., only
one Option button out of a group may assume the status True; the
other elements will remain on False.
Any number of Option buttons may be organized into a group.

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Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Selection
End Sub

Function Selection
Begin Dialog UserDialog 400,203,"Option Button"
OKButton 120,140,180,35
OptionGroup .Group1
OptionButton 160,70,80,14,"Circle",.OptionButton1
OptionButton 160,91,100,14,"Rectange",.OptionButton2
End Dialog
Dim dlg As UserDialog
Dialog dlg
If dlg.Group1 = 0 Then MsgBox ("Circle")
If dlg.Group1 = 1 Then MsgBox ("Rectangle")
End Function

Sample 39 Selecting Markings Using Option Buttons

Fig. 93 User dialog box to Sample 39

Either a circle or a rectangle may be selected.

Add list box

Using the List box, lists may be shown. If the list contains more ele-
ments than can be shown, scroll bars will be added.
A list element can be selected, but there is no option for adding ele-
ments.
The List box is defined by a field.
Access to the user’s selection is obtained by evaluating the vari-
ables assigned under Field; it contains the field number selected.

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Fig. 94 Edit ListBox Properties dialog box

Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Dim Mark(2) As String
Mark(0)= "Circle"
Mark(1)= "Rectangle"
Begin Dialog UserDialog 400,203,"Listbox"
OKButton 120,126,140,49
ListBox 150,56,90,49,Mark(),.ListBox1
End Dialog
Dim dlg As UserDialog
Dialog dlg
If dlg.ListBox1 = 0 Then MsgBox ("Circle")
If dlg.ListBox1 = 1 Then MsgBox ("Rectangle")
End Sub

Sample 40 Selecting Markings Using a List Box

Fig. 95 User dialog box for Sample 40

Either a circle or a rectangle may be selected.

Add droplist box

Lists may be shown using the Droplist box. A line with scroll bars will
be appear.
A list element may be selected or a value may be entered.
The List box is defined by a field.

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Access to the user’ selection is obtained by evaluating the variables

assigned under Box; it contains the value entered or selected.

Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Dim Mark(2) As String
Mark(0)= "Circle"
Mark(1)= "Rectangle"
Begin Dialog UserDialog 400,203,"DropListBox"
OKButton 130,119,130,56
DropListBox 150,56,90,49,Mark(),.DropListBox1,1
End Dialog
Dim dlg As UserDialog
Dialog dlg
MsgBox (dlg.DropListBox1)
End Sub

Sample 41 Selecting Markings Using a Droplist Box

Fig. 96 User dialog box for Sample 41

A circle or a rectangle may be selected, or different text may be en-

tered.

Add combo box

The Combo box corresponds to the Droplist box in its role; they differ
in their representations.
With the Combo box, the select box is permanently open; if neces-
sary, you can scroll through this box.
With the DropList box, the select box is not opened until activated.

Add picture

Using the Add Picture function, bitmap files may be linked to the
user dialog box.

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Fig. 97 Edit Picture Properties dialog box

Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Begin Dialog UserDialog 400,203,"Picture"
Picture 0,0,400,203,"c:\windows\blue lace 16.bmp",0,.Picture1
OKButton 120,112,160,56
End Dialog
Dim dlg As UserDialog
Dialog dlg
End Sub

Sample 42 Linking a Bitmap File as Background for a User Dialog Box

Fig. 98 User dialog box for Sample 42

Add buttons

Buttons are required for acknowledging entries or starting process-

es. Three different types are available:
• OK button,
• Cancel button,
• Push button.

NOTE!
For an executable dialog window, at least one of these
buttons must be supplied!

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Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Begin Dialog UserDialog 260,126,"Button"
Text 60,28,140,28,"Please push a button"
OKButton 10,91,60,21
PushButton 90,91,60,21,"&Run"
CancelButton 170,91,80,21
End Dialog
Dim dlg As UserDialog
Debug.Print Dialog(dlg)
End Sub

Sample 43 User dialog box with three buttons

Fig. 99 User dialog box for Sample 43

Depending on the key pressed, Variable Dialog (dlg) will return the
following results, which may be accessed when processing the pro-
gram:
OK OK-Button -1,
Run Push-Button 1,
Cancel Cancel-Button 0.

Dialog function The Dialog function in the User Dialog menu may be used, among
other things, for keeping a dialog box open permanently during pro-
gram processing.

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Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Begin Dialog UserDialog 370,140,"Dialog",.DialogFuncStatus
OKButton 220,42,90,42
PushButton 70,28,110,35,"TestStart",.TestStart
PushButton 70,63,110,35,"TestStop",.TestStop
End Dialog
Dim dlg As UserDialog
Dialog dlg
End Sub

Function DialogFuncStatus%(DlgItem$, Action%, SuppValue%)

Static TestRun As Boolean
Select Case Action%
Case 1
Case 2
If DlgItem$ = "TestStart" Then
TestRun = True
DialogFuncStatus% = True
End If
If DlgItem$ = "TestStop" Then
TestRun = False
DialogFuncStatus% = True
End If
Case 3
Case 4
Case 5
If TestRun = True Then
DOIT (TestRun)
End If
DialogFuncStatus% = True
End Select
End Function

Sub DOIT (TestRun)

MsgBox("This is where the marking can be done!")
TestRun = False
End Sub

Sample 44 Dialog function

Fig. 100 User dialog box for Sample 44

By calling up User Dialog, the DialogFuncStatus dialog function is

processed. In this context, a Select-Case branching will evaluate the
user’s actions.

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4.3.15 Dialog Box

Input box Options for the user entering data.

Syntax:
Return Value = InputBox("Message"[, "Title"][, "Default"][, XPos,
YPos])

Parameter:
Return Value:The String type variable is used to store text en-
tered by the user.
Message: Text which appears in the input box and prompts
the user to act.
Title: Input Box Designation
Default: This is where an instruction for the user may be
placed.
XPos: X-position for the upper left corner of the Input
box.
YPos: Y-position for the upper left corner of the Input
box.

Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Dim L$
L$ = InputBox("Enter your name:", "Input box", "Ingmar Grote")
Debug.Print L$
End Sub

Sample 45 Input box for entering a name which is then output

Fig. 101 User dialog box for Sample 45

Message Box The Message box shows a pre-defined output dialog. The button
can be evaluated through the return value.

Syntax:
Return Value = MsgBox("Message"[, Buttons][, "Title"])
or
MsgBox"Message"[, Buttons][, "Title"]

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Parameter:
Return Value: The user input is returned in a variable of the In-
teger type.
Return value Constant selected button
1 vbOk OK
2 vbCancel Cancel
3 vbAbort Abort
4 vbRetry Repeat
5 vbIgnore Ignore
6 vbYes Yes
7 vbNo No

Message: Text which appears in the input box and

prompts the user to act.
Buttons: Constants or values for buttons and icons to be
represented.
Constant Value Appearance
vbOkOnly 0 OK
vbOkCancel 1 OK, Cancel
vbAbortRetryIgnore 2 Abort, Retry, Ignore
vbYesNoCancel 3 Yes, No, Cancel
vbYesNo 4 Yes, No
vbRetryCancel 5 Retry, Cancel
0 No icon
vbCritical 16 Stop icon
vbQuestion 32 Question symbol
vbExclamation 48 Caution symbol
vbInformation 64 Information symbol

Title: Message Box designation.

Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
'Buttons
MsgBox("Program example",0,"Test")
MsgBox("Program example",1,"Test")
MsgBox("Program example",2,"Test")
MsgBox("Program example",3,"Test")
MsgBox("Program example",4,"Test")
MsgBox("Program example",5,"Test")
'Icons
MsgBox("Program example",16,"Test")
MsgBox("Program example",32,"Test")
MsgBox("Program example",48,"Test")
MsgBox("Program example",64,"Test")
End Sub

Sample 46 Appearance of different Message boxes

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The selection made can be queried:

Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
If MsgBox("Program example",4,"Query")= vbYes Then
MsgBox("Yes pressed!",16,"Information")
Else
MsgBox("No pressed!",32,"Information")
End If
End Sub

Sample 47 Querying the reaction to a Message box

Fig. 102 User dialog boxes for Sample 47

PopUp menu Various actions may be initiated using a PopUp menu.

Syntax:
Return Value = ShowPopupMenu (Field( ) [, Alignment][, XPos,
YPos])

Parameter:
Return Value:The list number selected is returned as a variable
of the Integer type.
Field: In a one-dimensional field, all selection options are
determined.

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Alignment: Aligning the menu with the X- and Y-coordinates.

PopupStyle Value Effect
vbPopupLeftTopAlign 0 Basic Alignment
position
vbPopupUseLeftButton 1 Selection can be
made only with the
left mouse button.
vbPopupUseRightButton 2 Selection can be
made with the left or
right mouse button
vbPopupRightAlign 4 Menu is located on
the right corner of
the X-position.
vbPopupCenterAlign 8 Menu is centred
around the X-posi-
tion.
vbPopupVCenterAlign 16 Menu is centred
around the Y-posi-
tion.
vbPopupBottomAlign 32 Menu button is in
the Y-position

Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Dim Selection As Integer
Dim Items(0 To 2) As String
Items(0) = "&Circle"
Items(1) = "&Rectangle"
Items(2) = "&Vector"
Selection = ShowPopupMenu (Items)
If selection = 0 Then circle 'Popup menu with selection circle
If selection = 1 Then rectangle 'Popup menu with selection rectangle
If selection = 2 Then vector 'Popup menu with selection vector
End Sub

Function circle
MsgBox ("Circle")
End Function

Function rectangle
MsgBox ("Rectangle")
End Function

Function vector
MsgBox ("Vector")
End Function

Sample 48 Popup menu for selecting a shape for output

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4.3.16 Handling of Errors

Errors may occur regularly during program processing. Therefore,
during program development, care should be taken that the pro-
grams are able to tolerate potential errors.
For this purpose, the On Error command is available which allows
the program to be informed how it should respond when errors oc-
cur. In the context of this command, the commands Goto and Re-
sume Next are used.

On Error Goto If after entering the On Error Goto Target Mark command an error
occurs, the program will jump to the target mark. This is where the
user can be informed about the error that occurred.

Syntax:
On Error Goto Target Mark
...
Target
...

Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Calculation
End Sub

Function Calculation
Dim a!,t!
Dim Result As Single
On Error GoTo Errors
a!=InputBox ("Input number")
t!=InputBox ("Input divisor")
Result = a!/t!
Debug.Print Result
Exit Function
Errors:
MsgBox("An error occurred.", 48, "Error")
End Function

Sample 49 Error Detection and Information

In the program example, input errors committed by the user are de-
tected and reported. These may include:
• Division by Zero,
• Entering strings,
• No entry.

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On Error Resume Next This command causes the program line containing the error to be
skipped. While this results in errors being avoided, it may also lead
to false calculations.

Syntax:
On Error Resume Next
...

Option Explicit 'so all variables must be declared

Sub Main
Calculation
End Sub

Function Calculation
Dim a!,t!
Dim Result As Single
On Error Resume Next
a!=InputBox ("Input number")
t!=InputBox ("Input divisor")
Result = a!/t!
Debug.Print a!;t!;Result
Exit Function
End Function

Sample 50 Skipping calculation when entry is faulty

4.4 Laser specific script extensions

4.4.1 Callback procedures

Callback procedures are automatically dealt with by the program to
keep you informed about asynchronous events.
To get access to templates of such procedures select LC in the Ob-
ject: drop down list, and see all the available templates in the Proc:
drop down list.

Fig. 103 Script-Object-Proc

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LC_CleanUp() Public Sub LC_CleanUp()

Is applied every time the program is stopped by the user, so the
program is not allowed to reach its normal end.
In LC_CleanUp used resources should be freed.

LC_OnError() Public Sub LC_OnError()

Is called if the program detects an error initiated by the laser.

LC_LifeTick() Public Sub LC_LifeTick()

Is periodically activated every one second. The time can be
adjusted using LiveTickIntervall(Intervall_ms As Integer).

LC_AckMessage(...) Public Sub LC_AckMessage(Host As String, Laser As String,

bError As Boolean)
Is called if your Message is processed by the recipient.

LC_RecMessage(...) Public Sub LC_RecMessage(Host As String, Laser As String,

Message As String)
Is called right after a message arrived for this program.

LC_GrafikEntry() Public Sub LC_GrafikEntry()

In the path of processing the graphic (output the graphic to the
laser) this is called first.

LC_GrafikExit() Public Sub LC_GrafikExit()

This call concludes the processing of the graphical objects.

LC_ElementEntry(...) Public Sub LC_ElementEntry(Label As String, ArrayX As Long,

ArrayY As Long)
Every time the processing of a new element starts,
LC_ElementEntry is called.

LC_ElementExit(...) Public Sub LC_ElementExit(Label As String)

After all vectors of an element are send to the laser this callback
is called.
In Label you find the corresponding label assigned to the
element.

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LC_ElementBeforeLaser(...) Public Sub LC_ElementBeforeLaser(Label As String, ArrayX

As Long, ArrayY As Long)
Is called after all of the vectors are calculated, right before they
are send to the laser.

LC_MarkIdle(...) Public Sub LC_MarkIdle(Label As String)

Every time the laser buffer is full, so the laser is not capable of
accept additional vectors LC_MarkIdle is called.

LC_Formatter(...) Public Function LC_Formatter(Format As String, Text As

String, Default As String, Laser As Boolean) As String
If you have used a user defined format string (#Test=123#)
which can not be resolved by the system, LC_Formatter is
called, so you can provide the necessary information.
See also Format specifications on page 132.
In Text you find the format text Test in this example.
The default value (123) is stored in Default.
If the variable Laser is true, than the callback is called during the
laser process. If it is false than we are in preview.
Use LC_Formatter = ... to define your answer, the result.
For your Information: The complete format string (#Test=123#),
as entered, is inside the Format variable.

LC_ExternAxis(...) Public Sub LC_ExternAxis(AxisX As Long, AxisY As Long, Ax-

isZ As Long, Axis4 As Long)
Is called if one or more axis values has changed.
Use the values provided in AxisX and AxisY to move your axis
system to the desired positions.

4.4.2 Internal extensions (LC.)

GetLaserConfiguration LC.GetLaserConfiguration() As String

Parameter: ---.
Return: The name of the current Laser configuration.

GetAppPathName LC.GetAppPathName() As String

Parameter: ---.
Return: Program path inclusive program name.

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GetAppPath LC.GetAppPath() As String

Parameter: ---.
Return: Program path wo. name.

GetAppName LC.GetAppName() As String

Parameter: ---.
Return: Program name wo. path.

Hide LC.Hide()
Parameter: ---.
Return: ---.
Function: Hide the program.

Show LC.Show(Tab As Integer)

Tab: No. of the area to activate (1=Graphic,
2=Script, 3=Parameter, 4=Service).
Return: ---.
Function: Shows the Program and switches to the de-
sired area.

ApplicationExit LC.ApplicationExit()
Parameter: ---.
Return: ---.
Function: Exit the program.

LifeTickInterval LC.LifeTickInterval(Interval_ms As Integer)

Interval_ms: Defined the time interval used to call Public
Sub LC_LifeTick() in ms.
Return: ---.

TimerStart LC.TimerStart()
Parameter: ---.
Return: ---.
Function: Activates the user timer, see also User timer
on page 21 point 23.

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TimerStop LC.TimerStop()
Parameter: ---.
Return: ---.
Function: After call the user timer is stopped.
See also User timer on page 21 point 23.

StartRecMessage LC.StartRecMessage()
Parameter: ---.
Return: ---.
Function: After call the program is ready to receive mes-
sages.
Attention: After receiving a message, a callback proce-
dure is called.
See also Callback procedures on page 107
This function uses socket ports from 10000 to
19999.

StopRecMessage LC.StopRecMessage()
Parameter: ---.
Return: ---.
Function: The message reception is canceled after the
call of this command.

SendMessage LC.SendMessage(Host As String, Laser As String, Message As

String)
Host: The recipients computer name.
Alternative the IP-Address.
Laser: The recipients laser configurations name.
Return: ---.
Attention: After the reception of the message a callback is
initiated.
See also Callback procedures on page 107
This function uses socket ports from 10000 to
19999.

LoadFile LC.LoadFile(FileName As String)

FileName: The file name of the graphic file that should be
loaded.
Return: True, if successful.
Attention: Is used to load a graphic file (*.LAS) at runtime.

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SaveFile LC.SaveFile(FileName As String)

FileName: The file name to which the graphic file will be
saved (Save As). If the Filename is empty ("")
the file will be saved using its own name
(Save).
Return: none.
Attention: Is used to save a graphic file (*.LAS) at runtime.

GetFileName LC.GetFileName() As String

Return: The name and path of the current graphic file.

StatusText LC.StatusText(Text As String)

Text: The text to show in the status line.
Return: ---.

Mark LC.Mark(Label As String, Shutter As Boolean) As Boolean

Label: The graphic or element name to start the output
with.
To output the complete graphic, set Label to an
empty string ("").
Shutter: If True, the shutter will be controlled automati-
cally.
Return: True, if successful.

StopMark LC.StopMark()
Function: Used to stop the graphic output asynchronous-
ly. Normally executed within a callback proce-
dure.
Return: ---.

SetMoveOffset LC.SetMoveOffset(OffsetX As Long, OffsetY As Long)

OffsetX, Y: Used to move the complete graphic by the giv-
en values in µm.
Return: ---.
Attention: This is a global command.

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SetPowerOffset LC.SetPowerOffset(Offset As Double)

Offset: The given value in % is added to the laser pow-
er.
Return: ---.
Attention: This is a global command.

GetBooleanValue LC.GetBooleanValue(Label As String, ParameterNo As Integer)

As Boolean
Label: The name of the element, object or modifier.
ParameterNo: The number of the parameter to read.
Return: The value of the parameter.

GetNumericValue LC.GetNumericValue(Label As String, ParameterNo As Integer)

As Double
Label: The name of the element, object or modifier.
ParameterNo: The number of the parameter to read.
Return: The value of the parameter.
Attention: Size and position values are all in µm!

GetNumericValue_mm LC.GetNumericValue_mm(Label As String, ParameterNo As In-

teger) As Double
Label: The name of the element, object or modifier.
ParameterNo: The number of the parameter to read.
Return: The value of the parameter in mm.

GetNumericValue_mil LC.GetNumericValue_mil(Label As String, ParameterNo As In-

teger) As Double
Label: The name of the element, object or modifier.
ParameterNo: The number of the parameter to read.
Return: The value of the parameter in mil.

GetNumericValue_inch LC.GetNumericValue_inch(Label As String, ParameterNo As

Integer) As Double
Label: The name of the element, object or modifier.
ParameterNo: The number of the parameter to read.
Return: The value of the parameter in inch.

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GetStringValue LC.GetStringValue(Label As String, ParameterNo As Integer)

As String
Label: The name of the element, object or modifier.
ParameterNo: The number of the parameter to read.
Return: The value of the parameter as string.
Attention: Size and position values are all in µm!

SetBooleanValue LC.SetBooleanValue(Label As String, ParameterNo As Integer,

Value As Boolean)
Label: The name of the element, object or modifier.
ParameterNo: The number of the parameter to modify.
Value: The new state.
Return: ---.

SetNumericValue LC.SetNumericValue(Label As String, ParameterNo As Integer,

Value As Double)
Label: The name of the element, object or modifier.
ParameterNo: The number of the parameter to modify.
Value: The new value.
Attention: Size and position values must be supplied in
µm!
Return: ---.

SetNumericValue_mm LC.SetNumericValue_mm(Label As String, ParameterNo As In-

teger, Value As Double)
Label: The name of the element, object or modifier.
ParameterNo: The number of the parameter to modify.
Value: The new value in mm.
Return: ---.

SetNumericValue_mil LC.SetNumericValue_mil(Label As String, ParameterNo As In-

teger, Value As Double)
Label: The name of the element, object or modifier.
ParameterNo: The number of the parameter to modify.
Value: The new value in mil.
Return: ---.

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SetNumericValue_inch LC.SetNumericValue_inch(Label As String, ParameterNo As In-

teger, Value As Double)
Label: The name of the element, object or modifier.
ParameterNo: The number of the parameter to modify.
Value: The new value in inch.
Return: ---.

SetStringValue LC.SetStringValue(Label As String, ParameterNo As Integer,

Value As String)
Label: The name of the element, object or modifier.
ParameterNo: The number of the parameter to modify.
Value: The new value as string.
Return: ---.

Refresh LC.Refresh()
Return: ---.
Function: Redraw’s the graphic screen.

SetCheck LC.SetCheck(Label As String, State As Boolean)

Label: The name of the element, object or modifier.
State: The new checkbox state.
Return: ---.
Function: Used to enable or disable the element, object
or modifier.

GetCheck LC.GetCheck(Label As String) As Boolean

Label: The name of the element, object or modifier.
Return: The current checkbox value.

BoundingBox LC.BoundingBox(Label As String) As Boolean

Label: The name of the element.
Function: Determined the bounding box around the ob-
jects inside the element.
Return: True if successful.

ShowBoundingBox LC.ShowBoundingBox(State As Boolean)

State: Activate (true)/Deactivate (false) the output of
the bounding box using the pilot laser.
Return: ---.

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GetBBMinX LC.GetBBMinX() As Long

Return: The minimum X value of the bounding box.

GetBBMaxX LC.GetBBMaxX() As Long

Return: The maximum X value of the bounding box.

GetBBMinY LC.GetBBMinY() As Long

Return: The minimum Y value of the bounding box.

GetBBMaxY LC.GetBBMaxY() As Long

Return: The maximum Y value of the bounding box.

ZoomBoundingBox LC.ZoomBoundingBox()
Function: Zoom the graphic view to show the content of
the bounding box.

ZoomAll LC.ZoomAll()
Function: Zoom the graphic view to show the content in-
side the marking area.

4.4.3 External Extensions (EX.)

Formatter EX.Formatter(Format As String) As String

Format: The Format string to use, see also Format
specifications on page 132.
Return: The processed string.

ReadIniFormat EX.ReadIniFormat(SectionName As String, KeyName As

String, DefaultString As String, FileName As String) As String
SectionName: The INI-File section to read.
KeyName: The key inside the section to read.
DefaultString: If it is not possible to read the INI-Value then
the DefaultString is returned.
FileName: The file to read.
Return: The content of the key requested or the De-
faultString.

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WriteIniFormat EX.WriteIniFormat(SectionName As String, KeyName As

String, ValueString As String, FileName As String)
SectionName: The section to write.
KeyName: The key to write.
ValueString: The content to write.
FileName: The file name to write to.
Return: ---.

ReadXmlFormat EX.ReadXmlFormat(NodeName As String, DefaultString As

String, FileName As String) As String
NodeName: The XML-Node to read.
DefaultString: If the node doesn’t exist DefaultString is re-
turned.
FileName: The file to read.
Return: The content of the node or the DefaultString.

WriteXmlFormat EX.WriteXmlFormat(NodeName As String, ValueString As

String, FileName As String)
SectionName: The XML-Node to write to.
ValueString: The content to write.
FileName: The file to write to.
Return: ---.

SerOpen EX.SerOpen(PortNo As Integer, Param As String) As Boolean

PortNo: The port number to open (1...64).
Param: COM port parameter in the following format:
Baud Rate, Parity, DataBits, StopBits (exam-
ple: "38400, n, 8, 2").
Return: True if successful.
Attention: Reading from, and writing to the COM ports is
done in background.
The size of the send and receive buffer is
10 KBytes.

SerClose EX.SerClose(PortNo As Integer)

PortNo: The port to close.
Return: ---.

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SerCloseAll EX.SerCloseAll()
Parameter: ---.
Return: ---.
Function: All COM ports will be closed.

SerChangeBaudRate EX.SerChangeBaudRate(PortNo As Integer, BaudRate As Inte-

ger) As Boolean
PortNo: The port number to change.
BaudRate: The new Baud rate (e.g.:19200).
Return: True, if successful.

SerWrite EX.SerWrite(PortNo As Integer, Data As String) As Integer

PortNo: The port to write to.
Data: The data to transmit.
Return: The byte count actually send.

SerWriteByte EX.SerWriteByte(PortNo As Integer, Data As Byte) As Integer

PortNo: The port to write to.
Data: The byte to send.
Return: The byte count actually send.

SerWritePending EX.SerWritePending(PortNo As Integer) As Boolean

PortNo: The port number.
Return: True if the write process is still pending.

SerWritePendingWait EX.SerWritePendingWait(PortNo As Integer, TimeOut As Inte-

ger) As Boolean
PortNo: The port number.
TimeOut: Time in ms to wait to complete the writing.
Return: True if the write process is still pending.

SerRead EX.SerRead(PortNo As Integer, Count As Integer) As String

PortNo: The port number.
Count: The byte count to read.
Return: The already read Byte count.

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SerReadByte EX.SerReadByte(PortNo As Integer, TimeOut As Integer) As In-

teger
PortNo: The port number.
TimeOut: Time in ms to wait to complete the reading.
Return: The read Byte or -1 if time out.

SerReadWait EX.SerReadWait(PortNo As Integer, Count As Integer, TimeOut

As Integer) As String
PortNo: The port number.
Count: The byte count to read.
TimeOut: Time in ms to wait to complete the reading.
Return: The read bytes.

SerReadUntil EX.SerReadUntil(PortNo As Integer, Char As Byte) As String

PortNo: The port number.
Char: Byte to wait for.
Return: The read bytes.

SerReadUntilWait EX.SerReadUntilWait(PortNo As Integer, Char As Byte, Time-

Out As Integer) As String
PortNo: The port number.
Char: The byte to wait for.
TimeOut: Time in ms to wait to complete the reading.
Return: The read bytes.

SerReadPending EX.SerReadPending(PortNo As Integer) As Boolean

PortNo: The port number.
Return: True if the reading is still pending.

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4.4.4 ScannerControl extensions (SC.)

All the SC. commands have a leading character with the following
meaning:
A_: Asynchronous command.
It is possible to use this command while output
to the laser is in progress.
S_: Synchronous command.
This command is inserted in the buffer list of the
laser.
Before execution of such a command you
should check if there is enough space in the
buffer, use the A_ReadyForNextSyncCmd()
to do so.
P_: This is a parameter command.
Use this command prior to all others.

A_GetStatusDigital SC.A_GetStatusDigital(StatusBlock As Long) As Long

StatusBlock: The block number you like to receive.
Return: Bits 0...15 of the addressed block.
Attention: Please ask your supplier for information about
the block numbers and there meanings.

A_GetStatusAnalog SC.A_GetStatusAnalog(StatusBlock As Long) As Long

StatusBlock: The block number you like to get.
Return: Value of the addressed block.
Attention: Please ask your supplier for information about
the block numbers and there meanings.

A_SetLaserState SC.A_SetLaserState(State As Boolean)

State: True means ON, False OFF.
Return: ---.
Function: Switches the Laser on or off.
Attention: Using this command, it is possible to enable the
laser without asking for a password.
This is not allowed!!!
This command must be used in conjunction
with a password input box or an equivalent
authorization scheme!!!

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A_SetShutterState SC.A_SetShutterState(State As Boolean)

State: True means open, False close.
Return: ---.
Function: Controls the state of the shutter.
Attention: If the shutter is locked, the command has no ef-
fect!

A_LockShutter SC.A_LockShutter(State As Boolean)

State: True means locked, False unlocked.
Return: ---.
Function: After execution the shutter is closed and
locked.

A_SetPilotState SC.A_SetPilotState(State As Boolean)

State: True means ON, False OFF.
Return: ---.
Function: Controls the pilot laser, if installed in the laser.

A_GetBufferEmptyState SC.A_GetBufferEmptyState() As Boolean

Parameter: ---.
Return: The state of the internal buffer.
True means buffer is empty.
Function: Use this command to check if the marking is
complete.

A_ReadyForNextSyncCmd SC.A_ReadyForNextSyncCmd() As Boolean

Parameter: ---.
Return: The command returns True, if there is space
for at least one additional sync command.

A_Stop SC.A_Stop() As Boolean

Parameter: ---.
Return: True, if successful.
Function: This command stops the running marking
asynchronously.

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A_GetGeneralInputDigital SC.A_GetGeneralInputDigital(BitNo As long) As Boolean

BitNo: Number of the bit to read.
Return: State of the bit.
Function: Reads the state of the digital inputs.
Attention: This command depends on hardware which
must be installed in your system in order to use
this command.

A_SetGeneralOutputDigital SC.A_SetGeneralOutputDigital(BitNo As long)

BitNo: Number of the bit to modify.
Return: ---.
Function: After execution of this command the addressed
bit is set to true.
Attention: This command depends on hardware which
must be installed in your system in order to use
this command.

A_ResGeneralOutputDigital SC.A_ResGeneralOutputDigital(BitNo As long)

BitNo: Number of the bit to modify.
Return: ---.
Function: After execution of this command the addressed
bit is set to false.
Attention: This command depends on hardware which
must be installed in your system in order to use
this command.

A_ClrGeneralOutputDigital SC.A_ClrGeneralOutputDigital()
Parameter: ---.
Return: ---.
Function: After execution of this command all of the digi-
tal output bits are set to false.
Attention: This command depends on hardware which
must be installed in your system in order to use
this command.

A_GetGeneralOutputDigital SC.A_GetGeneralOutputDigital(BitNo As Long) As Boolean

BitNo: Number of the bit to read.
Return: The state of the addressed bit.
Function: Reads the state of the digital outputs.
Attention: This command depends on hardware which
must be installed in your system in order to use
this command.

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A_GetPower SC.A_GetPower() As Double

Parameter: ---.
Return: The current laser power in use
(0,0 %...100,0 %).

S_Power SC.S_Power(Power As Double, Wait As Long)

Power: Laser power in % (0,0...100,0).
Wait: Time used to settle the new power.
The given time is for a 100 % jump, so normally
the real used time will be shorter.
Return: ---.
Function: Change the marking power.

S_Speed SC.S_Speed(Speed As Double)

Speed: Marking speed in mm/s.
Return: ---.
Function: Change the marking speed.

S_QSF SC.S_QSF(QSF As Long)

QSF: The laser pulse frequency.
Return: ---.
Function: Change the pulse frequency.

S_QSF_PW SC.S_QSF_PW(QSF_PW As Long)

QSF_PW: The pulse frequency pulse width in µs.
Return: ---.
Function: Change the pulse width.

S_SetStartStopDelay SC.S_SetStartStopDelay(StartDelay As Long, StopDelay As

Long)
StartDelay: The time in µs between the start of the mirror
movement and the first laser pulse.
StopDelay: The time in µs after the mirror movement has
stopped to the last laser pulse.
Return: ---.
Function: Changes the start and stop delay values.

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S_Pos SC.S_Pos(X As Long, Y As Long)

X, Y: Position in µm, to move the laser.
Return: ---.
Function: The laser (pilot laser) is positioned to the given
coordinate.

P_SetRotation SC.P_SetRotation(X As Long, Y As Long, Angle As Double)

X, Y: The rotation 0 point in µm.
Angle: The rotation angle, positive values results in
CCW rotation.
Return: ---.
Attention: This is a global command.

P_SetSize SC.P_SetSize(X As Long, Y As Long, SizeX As Double, SizeY

As Double)
X, Y: The size 0 point in µm.
SizeX/Y: Size factor. (normal = 1.0).
Return: ---.
Attention: This is a global function.

P_SetMove SC.P_SetMove(XOffset As Long, YOffset As Long)

X, Y: Move offset in µm.
Return: ---.
Attention: This is a global function.

P_SetClip SC.P_SetClip(Xmin As Long, Xmax As Long, Ymin As Long,

Ymax As Long)
Xmin: Minimum X position (left).
Xmax: Maximum X position (right).
Ymin: Minimum Y position (bottom).
Ymax: Maximum Y position (top).
Return: ---.
Function: Use this command to define a clipping rectan-
gle.
Only vectors inside the clip rectangle are output
by the laser.
To release the clipping function set all values to
0.
Attention: This is a global function.

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P_SetMirror SC.P_SetMirror(X As Long, Y As Long, MirrorX As Boolean,

MirrorY As Boolean)
X, Y: Defined the 0 point of the virtual coordinate sys-
tem in µm used to mirror the vectors.
MirrorX: If true, the X axis of the virtual coordinate sys-
tem is used to mirror the vectors.
MirrorY: If true, the Y axis of the virtual coordinate sys-
tem is used to mirror the vectors.
Return: ---.
Attention: This is a global function.

4.4.5 HighlevelGraphics extensions (HG.)

InitVectorArray HG.InitVectorArray(InitCount As Long, IncCount As Long) As

Boolean
InitCount: The possible count of vectors right after com-
mand execution (10000).
IncCount: If the capacity in the array is too low to hold all
the vectors the array size is increased by In-
cCount (10000).
Return: True, if the array is initialised successfully.
Attention: You must use FreeVectorArray after you are
finished with the vector array!

FreeVectorArray HG.FreeVectorArray()
Parameter: ---.
Return: ---.
Function: Releases the vector array.
To every InitVectorArray you must use an
FreeVectorArray!

SendToSC HG.SendToSC()
Parameter: ---.
Return: ---.
Function: The vector array is sent to the laser for process-
ing.
After this command you normally use FreeVec-
torArray to release the used memory.

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GetBoundingBox HG.GetBoundingBox(ByRef Xmin As Long, ByRef Ymin As

Long, ByRef Xmax As Long, ByRef Ymax As Long)
Xmin: After execution Xmin contains the bounding
box minimum X value in µm.
Ymin: After execution Ymin contains the bounding
box minimum Y value in µm.
Xmax: After execution Xmax contains the bounding
box maximum X value in µm.
Ymax: After execution Ymax contains the bounding
box maximum Y value in µm.
Return: ---.
Function: Returns the current graphic bounding box.

GetBoundingBoxLast HG.GetBoundingBoxLast(ByRef Xmin As Long, ByRef Ymin As

Long, ByRef Xmax As Long, ByRef Ymax As Long)
Xmin: After execution Xmin contains the bounding
box minimum X value in µm.
Ymin: After execution Ymin contains the bounding
box minimum Y value in µm.
Xmax: After execution Xmax contains the bounding
box maximum X value in µm.
Ymax: After execution Ymax contains the bounding
box maximum Y value in µm.
Return: ---.
Function: Returns the bounding box of the last added
graphic.

Vector HG.Vector(X1 As Long, Y1 As Long, X2 As Long, Y2 As Long)

X1, Y1: Start point in µm of the vector.
Y1, Y2: End point in µm of the vector.
Return: ---.
Function: Adds a vector to the vector array.

Ellipse HG.Ellipse(BaseRef As Integer, X As Long, Y As Long, RadiusX

As Long, RadiusY As Long, AlphaStart As Double, AlphaEnd
As Double)
BaseRef, X, Y: BaseRef in µm, see also BaseRef on page 131.
RadiusX, Y: Radius in µm along the X and Y axis.
AlphaStart: Start angle of the ellipse/circle.
AlphaEnd: End angle.
Return: ---.
Function: Adds an ellipse/circle to the vector array.

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Rectangle HG.Rectangle(BaseRef As Integer, X As Long, Y As Long,

Width As Long, Height As Long, RadiusX As Long, RadiusY As
Long)
BaseRef, X, Y: BaseRef in µm, see also BaseRef on page 131.
Width: The width of the rectangle in µm.
Height: The height of the rectangle in µm.
RadiusX, Y: Radius in µm along the X and Y axis of the cor-
ner radius.
Return: ---.
Function: Adds a rectangle to the vector array.

Text HG.Text(BaseRef As Integer, X As Long, Y As Long, Text As

String, FontName As String, Height As Long, FontWeight As
Long, Italic As Boolean, LineDistance As Long, SpaceAdjust
As Double, Quality As Integer, CodePage As Long)
BaseRef, X, Y: BaseRef in µm, see also BaseRef on page 131.
Text: The text to mark.
FontName: The name of the font.
Height: The height of the text in µm.
FontWeight: 100 = small, 400 = normal, 800 = bold.
Italic: If True, than the text is output in italic shape.
LineDistance: Distance from one line to the next in µm.
SpaceAdjust: Factor to modify the inter char distance, nor-
mally 1.0.
Quality: 0 = bad, 1 = good, 2 = very good.
CodePage: The used code page to get access to special
characters, normally 0.
Return: ---.
Function: Added text to the vector array.

TextInfo HG.TextInfo(ByRef NextPosX As Long, ByRef NextPosY As

Long)
NextPosX, Y: This variable returns the next start point for ad-
ditional text output.
Return: ---.

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Barcode HG.Barcode(BaseRef As Integer, X As Long, Y As Long, Barco-

deType As Long, Data As String, AddOn As String, HeightMain
As Long, HeightAddOn As Long, HeightLong As Long, Module-
Width As Long, FillDistance As Long, Inverse As Boolean)
BaseRef, X, Y: BaseRef in µm, see also BaseRef on page 131.
BarcodeType: Type number of the barcode see Barcode
specification on page 134.
ModuleWidth: Width of the smallest bar in µm.
Data: The content of the barcode. See also Barcode
specification on page 134.
AddOn: The contents of the add on area if available.
HeightMain: The height of the barcode, see Barcode speci-
fication on page 134.
HeightAddOn: The height of the add on area, see Barcode
specification on page 134.
HeightLong: The height of the long bars, see Barcode spec-
ification on page 134.
FillDistance: The fill line distance in µm.
Inverse: If True, then the output is inversed (light on
dark).
Return: ---.
Function: Adds a barcode to the vector array.

Datamatrix HG.Datamatrix(BaseRef As Integer, X As Long, Y As Long, Data

As String, Rows As Long, Cols As Long, ECCType As Long,
Style As Long, Format As Long, Border As Long, ModuleWidth
As Long, FillDistance As Long)
BaseRef, X, Y: BaseRef in µm, see also BaseRef on page 131.
Data: The content of the barcode.
Rows: Specifies the row count, 0 for automatic.
Cols: Specifies the column count, 0 for automatic.
ECCType: For ECC200 = 26.
Style: 0 = normal, 1 = mirror mode.
Format: Normally 6.
Border: Normally 1.
ModuleWidth: Width of the smallest dot in µm.
FillDistance: The fill line distance in µm.
Return: ---.
Function: Adds a datamatrix barcode to the vector array.

128 Laser marking software: V1.5 Build: 343

 Programming

PDF417 HG.PDF417(BaseRef As Integer, X As Long, Y As Long, Data As

String, Rows As Long, Cols As Long, ECCLevel As Long, Style
As Long, ModuleWidth As Long, FillDistance As Long, Inverse
As Boolean)
BaseRef, X, Y: BaseRef in µm, see also BaseRef on page 131.
Data: The content of the barcode.
Rows: Specifies the row count, 0 for automatic.
Cols: Specifies the column count, 0 for automatic.
ECCLevel: 0...8.
Style: 0 = normal, 1 = truncated,
0x0004...0x2004 = MicroPDF.
ModuleWidth: Width of the smallest dot in µm.
FillDistance: The fill line distance in µm.
Inverse: If True, then the output is inversed (light on
dark).
Return: ---.
Function: Adds a PDF417 barcode to the vector array.
Attention: An additional DLL is required to use this bar-
code.

HPGL HG.HPGL(BaseRef As Integer, X As Long, Y As Long, FileName

As String, PenFlag As Long, HPGL_Inc As Double)
BaseRef, X, Y: BaseRef in µm, see also BaseRef on page 131.
FileName: The HPGL file name.
PenFlag: This is a bit field, every bit can be used to pre-
vent the output of the corresponding pen.
0 = all pens are output.
HPGL_Inc: The value that represents one HPGL unit in µm.
Normally 25.0 sometimes 25.4.
Function: Adds a HPGL drawing to the vector array.

Draw HG.Draw(BaseRef As Integer, X As Long, Y As Long, ByRef

VectorArray)
BaseRef, X, Y: BaseRef in µm, see also BaseRef on page 131.
VectorArray: Pointer to the vector array to output.
Function: Adds a vector array to the vector array.

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Programming

Fill HG.Fill(Mode As Long, ParameterArray As HG_FillParameter)

Mode: Bit field:
Bit 0 = false: Left original vectors in vector ar-
ray.
Bit 0 = true: Delete original vectors, so only the
fill is left in the vector array.
Bit 1 = false: Normal fill.
Bit 1 = true: Bidirectional filling.
ParameterArray: Array of fill parameter.
The array consist of:
FillDistance As Long
Reserve As Long
FillAngle As Double.
Function: Fills all closed polygons inside the vector array.

Move HG.Move(X As Long, Y As Long)

X, Y: Moved the current vectors by the given value.
Function: Moved all the vectors currently in the vector ar-
ray.

Size HG.Size(X As Long, Y As Long, SizeX As Double, SizeY As dou-

ble)
X, Y: Defines the 0 point in µm.
SizeX, Y: Size factor, 1.0 results in no change.
Function: Changes the size of the current drawing inside
the vector array.

Rotation HG.Rotation(X As Long, Y As Long, Angle As Double)

X, Y: Defines the 0 point in µm.
Angle: The rotation angle.
A positive value result in a CCW rotation.
Function: Rotates the current drawing inside the vector
array around the given point.

Mirror HG.Mirror(X As Long, Y As Long, MirrorX As Boolean, MirrorY

As Boolean)
X, Y: Defines the 0 point of the virtual coordinate sys-
tem in µm used to mirror the vectors.
MirrorX: If true, the X axis of the virtual coordinate sys-
tem is used to mirror the vectors.
MirrorY: If true, the Y axis of the virtual coordinate sys-
tem is used to mirror the vectors.

130 Laser marking software: V1.5 Build: 343

 Programming

Polar HG.Polar(X As Long, Y As Long, Radius As Long, MaxLength

As Long)
X, Y: Defines the 0 point of the virtual circle in µm.
Radius: Defines the radius of the virtual circle in µm.
MaxLength: Defines the maximum vector length allowed to
left unbend. Useful value: 1000 µm.
Function: All the vectors are bent using the defined virtual
circle.
The X axis of the normal coordinate system is
bent to the given circle and than moved to the
given 0 point.
Example: You have a text along the X axis centred at the
Y axis.
Using polar you can generate a circle shape
text, so you can laser the text onto a round
piece of work.

Clip HG.Clip(Xmin As Long, Xmax As Long, Ymin As Long, Ymax As

Long) As Long
Xmin: Minimum X position (left).
Xmax: Maximum X position (right).
Ymin: Minimum Y position (bottom).
Ymax: Maximum Y position (top).
Return: Count of the vectors left.
Function: Use this command to define a clipping rectan-
gle.
Only vectors inside the clip rectangle are output
by the laser.
To release the clipping function set all values to
0.
Attention: This command is normally used inside the
LC_ElementBeforeLaser call back procedure.
See also LC_ElementBeforeLaser(...) on
page 109.

4.5 References

4.5.1 BaseRef
BaseRef defined the position used for the basis point of each graph-
ical object:

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Programming

Fig. 104 BaseRef

Example:
If you have the mid point coordinate of a circle, than you set
BaseRef to 9.
Using left justified text than you like to use the 1.
Use 8 if you like to have the text centred, etc.

4.5.2 Format specifications

Format strings and the results:
Writing Result Comment

Time format

#Time# 18:40:55 PC internal format

#Time:# 18:40:55

#Hour# 18

#Minute# 40

#Second# 55

Date format

#Date# 12/24/04 PC internal format

#DateL# 24.12.2004

#DateS# 24.12.04

#YearL# 2004

#YearS# 04

#YearD# 358

#Month# 12

#Week# 51

#Day# 24

Serial number First output Sequence

#SN=12# 12 12, 13, 14, 15, ...

#SN=12,2# 12 12, 14, 16, 18, ...

#SN=12,2,16,12# 12 12, 14, 16, 12, 14, ...

#SN=0,1,10,0,2# 0 0, 0, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, ...

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 Programming

Writing Result Comment

#SND4=12# 0012 0012, 0013, 0014, ...

#SND2=2,-1# 02 02, 01, 00, -01, ...

#SNX4=9# 0009 0009, 000A, 000B, ...

#SNx3=8,2# 008 008, 00a, 00c, ...

All the time and date formats use the time/date at mark time.
Using the serial numbers the characters after the #SN have the fol-
lowing meaning:
D or d the number is shown in decimal notation.
X the number is shown in hexadecimal notation
(0,1,..,9,A,B,C,D,E,F,10,...).
x as X but using lower case letters (9,a,b,...).
If the letter is followed by a number, than the resulting serial number
is preceded by 0, building a number with the giving character count.
The numbers behind the = have the following meaning:
1st number: Current serial number.
2nd number: Step width (optional).
3rd number: Max count (optional).
4th number: Value after the maximum value has used.
5th number: How many identical number should be generated (op-
tional).
Example using format strings:
Writing Result

Date: #DateL# Date: 24.12.2004

Week #Week# in the year #YearS# Week 51 in the year 04

Time: #Time:# Time: 18:40:55

Hour: #Hour# Minute: #Minute# Hour: 18 Minute: 55

4.5.3 Special format specifications

Side by side with the normal (time and date) format strings you can
use special format strings.
These special format string are send to your program to get the re-
sult. See LC_Formatter(...) on page 109.
You write special format strings like the following:
#Value1=123,456#
As the normal format strings the special begin and ends also with
the # char.
In front of the = you define the name of the format (Value1).
after the = you can write an optional default value (123,456) used ev-
ery time your program is not running, or there is no
LC_Formmatter(...) call-back defined.

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Programming

4.5.4 Barcode specification

Definition of the barcode heights:

Height
AddOnHeight
LongHeight

Characteristics:
No. Barcode type Numeric Character Length

1 2 of 5 Yes No Variable

2 Interleaved 2 of 5 Yes No Variable

3 Code 39 Yes Uppercase Variable

4 Code 93 Yes Uppercase Variable

5 Codabar Yes No Variable

6 EAN-8 Yes No 7

7 EAN-13 Yes No 12

8 UPC-A Yes No 11

9 UPC-E Yes No 10

10 EAN-128 A Yes Uppercase Variable

11 EAN-128 B Yes Yes Variable

12 EAN-128 C Yes No Equal

count

13 POSTNET(1.20) Yes No Variable

14 Code-128 A Yes Uppercase Variable

15 Code-128 B Yes Yes Variable

16 Code-128 C Yes No Equal

count

21 EAN-8+2 Yes/Yes No/No 7/2

22 EAN-8+5 Yes/Yes No/No 7/5

23 EAN-13+2 Yes/Yes No/No 12/2

24 EAN-13+5 Yes/Yes No/No 12/5

25 UPC-A+2 Yes/Yes No/No 11/2

26 UPC-A+5 Yes/Yes No/No 10/5

27 UPC-E+2 Yes/Yes No/No 11/2

28 UPC-E+5 Yes/Yes No/No 10/5

134 Laser marking software: V1.5 Build: 343

 Index

5 Index
Symbols
µm ................................................................................................................ 56
A
A_ ............................................................................................................... 120
A_ClrGeneralOutputDigital ........................................................................ 122
A_GetBufferEmptyState ............................................................................. 121
A_GetGeneralInputDigital .......................................................................... 122
A_GetGeneralOutputDigital ....................................................................... 122
A_GetPower ............................................................................................... 123
A_GetStatusAnalog ................................................................................... 120
A_GetStatusDigital ..................................................................................... 120
A_LockShutter ........................................................................................... 121
A_ReadyForNextSyncCmd ........................................................................ 121
A_ResGeneralOutputDigital ....................................................................... 122
A_SetGeneralOutputDigital ........................................................................ 122
A_SetLaserState ........................................................................................ 120
A_SetPilotState .......................................................................................... 121
A_SetShutterState ..................................................................................... 121
A_Stop ....................................................................................................... 121
Abs ............................................................................................................... 82
Access rights ................................................................................................ 23
Activate ........................................................................................................ 61
ApplicationExit ........................................................................................... 110
Atn ................................................................................................................ 81
Auto start ...................................................................................................... 56
B
Barcode ................................................................................................ 33, 128
Barcode parameter ...................................................................................... 43
Barcode specification ................................................................................. 134
BaseRef ..................................................................................................... 131
Boolean ........................................................................................................ 68
Bounding box ............................................................................................... 27
BoundingBox .............................................................................................. 115
Branching ..................................................................................................... 75
Break angle .................................................................................................. 61
Break delay .................................................................................................. 61
Breakpoint On/Off ........................................................................................ 65
Byte .............................................................................................................. 67
C
Callback procedures .................................................................................. 107
Cancel-Button ............................................................................................ 100
CBool ........................................................................................................... 84
CByte ........................................................................................................... 84
CCur ............................................................................................................. 84
CDate ........................................................................................................... 84

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Index

CDbl ............................................................................................................. 84
CDec ............................................................................................................ 85
Check box .................................................................................................... 23
CInt ............................................................................................................... 85
Clear messages ........................................................................................... 28
Clip ............................................................................................................. 131
CLng ............................................................................................................. 85
Close ............................................................................................................ 86
Command line parameter ............................................................................. 20
Comments .................................................................................................... 62
COM-Port ..................................................................................................... 55
Constants ..................................................................................................... 71
Continue ....................................................................................................... 65
Cooler ........................................................................................................... 60
Coordinate systems ..................................................................................... 31
Copy ............................................................................................................. 63
Corner delay ................................................................................................. 61
Cos ............................................................................................................... 81
Creating User Dialog Windows .................................................................... 89
CSng ............................................................................................................ 85
CStr .............................................................................................................. 85
Currency ....................................................................................................... 69
Cut ................................................................................................................ 63
Cvar .............................................................................................................. 85
D
Datamatrix ............................................................................................ 33, 128
Datamatrix parameter .................................................................................. 44
Date .............................................................................................................. 69
Default and test values ................................................................................. 57
Display object ............................................................................................... 64
Do ................................................................................................................. 74
Dongle .......................................................................................................... 15
Double .......................................................................................................... 68
Drag / Drop ................................................................................................... 32
Draw ........................................................................................................... 129
E
Edit Point ...................................................................................................... 66
Edit user dialog ............................................................................................ 66
Editing Texts ................................................................................................ 78
Element parameter ....................................................................................... 40
Element window ........................................................................................... 31
Elements and objects... ................................................................................ 31
Ellipse ................................................................................................... 33, 126
Ellipse parameter ......................................................................................... 42
Enable element ............................................................................................ 32
Enable external start .................................................................................... 28
End ............................................................................................................... 65
Enter password ............................................................................................ 23

136 Laser marking software: V1.5 Build: 343

 Index

Evaluate Expression .................................................................................... 65

Excel content ............................................................................................... 53
Exit program ................................................................................................. 17
Exp ............................................................................................................... 82
Extern start ................................................................................................... 57
F
Field adjustment ........................................................................................... 58
Fields ........................................................................................................... 71
File ............................................................................................................... 56
File management ......................................................................................... 24
File names ................................................................................................... 85
Files with Direct Access ............................................................................... 88
Fill ........................................................................................................ 35, 130
Fill parameter ............................................................................................... 49
First pulse suppression ................................................................................ 61
Fix ................................................................................................................ 82
For Next ....................................................................................................... 73
Format specifications ................................................................................. 132
FreeVectorArray ......................................................................................... 125
Functions ..................................................................................................... 78
G
General information ..................................................................................... 67
Get ............................................................................................................... 89
GetAppName ............................................................................................. 110
GetAppPath ............................................................................................... 110
GetAppPathName ...................................................................................... 109
GetBBMaxX ............................................................................................... 116
GetBBMaxY ............................................................................................... 116
GetBBMinX ................................................................................................ 116
GetBBMinY ................................................................................................ 116
GetBooleanValue ....................................................................................... 113
GetBoundingBox ........................................................................................ 126
GetBoundingBoxLast ................................................................................. 126
GetCheck ................................................................................................... 115
GetFileName .............................................................................................. 112
GetLaserConfiguration ............................................................................... 109
GetNumericValue ....................................................................................... 113
GetNumericValue_inch .............................................................................. 113
GetNumericValue_mil ................................................................................ 113
GetNumericValue_mm ............................................................................... 113
GetStringValue ........................................................................................... 114
Graphic area ................................................................................................ 29
Graphic parameter ....................................................................................... 39
Graphic parameter area ............................................................................... 39
Graphic toolbar ............................................................................................ 33
Graphic window ........................................................................................... 38

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Index

H
Help .............................................................................................................. 18
Hidden on startup ......................................................................................... 56
Hide ............................................................................................................ 110
HPGL ......................................................................................................... 129
I
I/O control ............................................................................................... 28, 56
If Then Else .................................................................................................. 75
Import ........................................................................................................... 34
Import parameter .......................................................................................... 46
inch ............................................................................................................... 56
InitVectorArray ........................................................................................... 125
Input ............................................................................................................. 87
Installation .................................................................................................... 12
Installation requirements .............................................................................. 12
Installation sequence ................................................................................... 12
Int ................................................................................................................. 82
Integer .......................................................................................................... 68
J
Jump delays ................................................................................................. 60
Jump In ........................................................................................................ 66
Jump Out ...................................................................................................... 66
Jump out (Finish procedure) ........................................................................ 66
Jumping in (individual step) .......................................................................... 66
L
Language setting .......................................................................................... 18
Laser ...................................................................................................... 55, 59
Laser connection .......................................................................................... 16
Laser control ................................................................................................ 26
Laser specific script extensions ................................................................. 107
Laser state ................................................................................................... 57
Laser status display ..................................................................................... 27
LC_AckMessage ........................................................................................ 108
LC_Formatter ............................................................................................. 109
LC_LifeTick ................................................................................................ 108
LC_MarkIdle ............................................................................................... 109
LC_OnError ................................................................................................ 108
Left ............................................................................................................... 79
Len ............................................................................................................... 79
LifeTickInterval ........................................................................................... 110
Line .............................................................................................................. 33
Line Input ..................................................................................................... 88
Line parameter ............................................................................................. 41
List box ......................................................................................................... 22
LoadFile ..................................................................................................... 111
Lock shutter .................................................................................................. 27

138 Laser marking software: V1.5 Build: 343

 Index

Log ............................................................................................................... 82
Long ............................................................................................................. 68
Loops ........................................................................................................... 73
LPT-Port ....................................................................................................... 55
M
Manufacturer ................................................................................................ 11
Mark ........................................................................................................... 112
Marking field ................................................................................................. 58
Measurement ............................................................................................... 37
Measurement unit ........................................................................................ 56
Message Box ............................................................................................. 102
Message window ......................................................................................... 28
Mid ............................................................................................................... 79
mil ................................................................................................................ 56
Mirror .................................................................................................... 35, 130
Mirror parameter .......................................................................................... 48
mm ............................................................................................................... 56
Move .................................................................................................... 34, 130
Moving the view ........................................................................................... 38
Multi line text box ......................................................................................... 22
N
Naming Variables ......................................................................................... 67
New .............................................................................................................. 62
New element ................................................................................................ 33
New file ........................................................................................................ 24
Numerical input box ..................................................................................... 22
O
OK-Button .................................................................................................. 100
ON Hours ..................................................................................................... 59
Open ...................................................................................................... 63, 86
Open file ....................................................................................................... 24
Operators ..................................................................................................... 83
P
P_SetClip ................................................................................................... 124
P_SetMirror ................................................................................................ 125
P_SetMove ................................................................................................ 124
P_SetRotation ............................................................................................ 124
P_SetSize .................................................................................................. 124
Parameter area ...................................................................................... 30, 55
Paste ............................................................................................................ 64
Path .............................................................................................................. 35
Path parameter ............................................................................................ 49
Pause ........................................................................................................... 65
PDF417 ................................................................................................ 34, 129
Pilotlaser ...................................................................................................... 27
Pincushion adjustment ................................................................................. 58

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Index

Polar ..................................................................................................... 35, 131

Polar parameter ........................................................................................... 48
PopUp menu ................................................................................................ 32
Power ........................................................................................................... 57
Power max ................................................................................................... 59
Power min .................................................................................................... 59
Power settling time ....................................................................................... 60
Print ........................................................................................................ 63, 86
Print file ........................................................................................................ 26
Procedures ................................................................................................... 77
Program documentation ............................................................................... 62
Program start ............................................................................................... 17
Program state ............................................................................................... 57
Program Testing ........................................................................................... 65
Programming language ................................................................................ 67
Puls width ..................................................................................................... 57
Puls x ........................................................................................................... 61
Push-Button ............................................................................................... 100
Put ................................................................................................................ 88
Q
QSF .............................................................................................................. 57
R
ReadIniFormat ........................................................................................... 116
ReadXmlFormat ......................................................................................... 117
Rectangle ............................................................................................. 33, 127
Rectangle parameter .................................................................................... 41
Redo ............................................................................................................. 64
Refresh ....................................................................................................... 115
Release ........................................................................................................ 18
RF-Generator ............................................................................................... 60
Right ............................................................................................................. 80
Rotation ................................................................................................ 34, 130
Rotation parameter ...................................................................................... 48
Round ........................................................................................................... 82
Run ............................................................................................................... 28
S
S_ ............................................................................................................... 120
S_Pos ......................................................................................................... 124
S_Power ..................................................................................................... 123
S_QSF ....................................................................................................... 123
S_QSF_PW ................................................................................................ 123
S_SetStartStopDelay ................................................................................. 123
S_Speed .................................................................................................... 123
Save ............................................................................................................. 63
Save All ........................................................................................................ 63
Save File ...................................................................................................... 25
SaveFile ..................................................................................................... 112

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 Index

Scope of delivery ......................................................................................... 11

Script area .................................................................................................... 50
Script programming window ......................................................................... 62
Script samples ............................................................................................. 51
Select Case .................................................................................................. 76
SendMessage ............................................................................................ 111
SendToSC ................................................................................................. 125
Sequential Files ........................................................................................... 86
SerChangeBaudRate ................................................................................. 118
SerClose .................................................................................................... 117
Serial numbers ............................................................................................. 51
SerOpen ..................................................................................................... 117
SerRead ..................................................................................................... 118
SerReadByte .............................................................................................. 119
SerReadPending ........................................................................................ 119
SerReadUntil .............................................................................................. 119
SerReadUntilWait ...................................................................................... 119
SerReadWait .............................................................................................. 119
Service area ................................................................................................. 59
SerWrite ..................................................................................................... 118
SerWriteByte .............................................................................................. 118
SerWritePending ........................................................................................ 118
SerWritePendingWait ................................................................................. 118
SetBooleanValue ....................................................................................... 114
SetCheck ................................................................................................... 115
SetMoveOffset ........................................................................................... 112
SetNumericValue ....................................................................................... 114
SetNumericValue_inch .............................................................................. 115
SetNumericValue_mil ................................................................................ 114
SetNumericValue_mm ............................................................................... 114
SetPowerOffset .......................................................................................... 113
SetStringValue ........................................................................................... 115
Sgn ............................................................................................................... 82
Show .......................................................................................................... 110
Show next statement ................................................................................... 66
Show Object ................................................................................................. 64
ShowBoundingBox ..................................................................................... 115
Showing the bounding box ........................................................................... 27
Shutter ......................................................................................................... 60
ShutterLock .................................................................................................. 27
Sin ................................................................................................................ 81
Single ........................................................................................................... 68
Size ...................................................................................................... 34, 130
Size parameter ............................................................................................. 47
Skip .............................................................................................................. 66
Skip (procedure step) ................................................................................... 66
Software installation ..................................................................................... 13
Software user interface ................................................................................ 21
Special format specifications ..................................................................... 133

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Index

Specific parameters ..................................................................................... 17

Speed ..................................................................................................... 57, 60
Sqr ................................................................................................................ 82
Start .............................................................................................................. 65
Start delay .................................................................................................... 57
Start marking ................................................................................................ 28
Start/Continue .............................................................................................. 65
StartRecMessage ....................................................................................... 111
Status line graphic window ........................................................................... 29
StatusText .................................................................................................. 112
Stop .............................................................................................................. 28
Stop delay .................................................................................................... 57
Stop marking ................................................................................................ 28
StopMark .................................................................................................... 112
StopRecMessage ....................................................................................... 111
Str ................................................................................................................. 80
String ............................................................................................................ 69
StrReverse ................................................................................................... 81
Switching the laser on and off ...................................................................... 26
Switching the pilot laser on and off .............................................................. 27
System requirements ................................................................................... 12
T
Tan ............................................................................................................... 81
Text ...................................................................................................... 33, 127
Text box ....................................................................................................... 22
Text parameter ............................................................................................. 42
TextInfo ...................................................................................................... 127
TimerStart .................................................................................................. 110
TimerStop ................................................................................................... 111
Type Conversion Functions ......................................................................... 84
U
UCase .......................................................................................................... 81
Undo ............................................................................................................. 64
Uninstalling ................................................................................................... 18
User Dialog Editor ........................................................................................ 66
V
Variables ...................................................................................................... 67
Variant .......................................................................................................... 69
Vector ................................................................................................... 60, 126
W
Warranty ....................................................................................................... 11
While ............................................................................................................ 73
Windows 2000 .............................................................................................. 12
Windows XP ................................................................................................. 12
Wobble ......................................................................................................... 35
Wobble parameter ........................................................................................ 49

142 Laser marking software: V1.5 Build: 343

 Index

Working ........................................................................................................ 57
Write ............................................................................................................. 86
WriteIniFormat ........................................................................................... 117
WriteXmlFormat ......................................................................................... 117
Z
Zoom minus ................................................................................................. 36
Zoom plus .................................................................................................... 36
Zoom to bounding box ................................................................................. 36
Zoom to marking area .................................................................................. 36
Zoom toolbar ................................................................................................ 36
Zoom window ............................................................................................... 36
ZoomAll ...................................................................................................... 116
ZoomBoundingBox .................................................................................... 116

Laser marking software: V1.5 Build: 343 143

Index

144 Laser marking software: V1.5 Build: 343

 Manual Laser Marking Software: V1.5 Build: 343

ACI Laser GmbH

Österholzstraße 9
D-99428 Nohra
Fon: +49 3643 4152-0 e-mail: [email protected]
Fax: +49 3643 4152-77 Internet: www.ACI-Laser.de