The World's Leading Software for

Label, Barcode, RFID & Card Printing

White Paper

Integration with Oracles

WMS and MSCA

How to Automatically Print Labels, Barcodes

and More from Oracle Applications

Contents
Overview ............................................................................................ 3

Seagull Scientifics Commander Utility ......................................................3

Differences in Commander Editions ...........................................................4
Enhanced Capabilities with the Enterprise Automation Edition ................4
Included Files ................................................................................................4
Label Formats ..........................................................................................4
Commander Task List ..............................................................................4

Configuring Commander for Integration with Oracle

WMS/MSCA ........................................................................................ 5

Integration Steps ..........................................................................................5

Testing the Commander Configuration ......................................................5
Finishing the Integration ..............................................................................5
Further Reading: The Two Tasks of OracleXML.tl .....................................5
For More Information ....................................................................................6

Page 2

White Paper: Integration with Oracles WMS and MSCA

Overview
This white paper explains how Oracles WMS and MSCA can be integrated with the
Enterprise Automation edition of BarTender to automatically print labels.
Oracle Warehouse Management (WMS) and Oracle Mobile Supply Chain
Architecture (MSCA) are logistics management software products within the Oracle
E-Business Suite. Both WMS and MSCA offer integration capabilities that allow for
automatic label printing when used with the right external software products, such as
the Enterprise Automation edition of BarTender from Seagull Scientific.
There are two primary tasks that must be completed in order to implement this label
printing integration:

Configuring Oracles WMS and MSCA Applications: Label printing

integration with Oracles WMS and MSCA is based on the generation of an
XML file (called an XML label request) containing all of the information
needed to describe a label job. These applications must be configured to
create the desired XML file and place it in the proper folder or send it to a
TCP/IP socket. The steps to do this are not documented here but can be
found in the WMS Implementation Guide, available online to Oracle partners
and customers from http://metalink.oracle.com. Oracle is responsible for
helping users get to the point where they are properly generating these XML
files. For additional information on Oracle WMS/MSCA and label integration,
please see For More Information, below.
Configuring Commander: To handle Oracle XML print requests,
Commander must be configured to monitor the folder in which the XML files
will be created or the TCP/IP Socket over which the XML will be received.
Then, it must be configured to respond by executing the desired print job.
This white paper documents the steps necessary to accomplish that.

Seagull Scientifics Commander Utility

Commander is a utility provided with both BarTender Automation editions that allows
BarTender to automatically print label jobs in response to certain triggering events
from other software. One of these events can be the generation of a trigger file
(such as an XML label request) in a particular file folder. When a file of a given
name or type is detected, Commander reads commands and/or data from that file
and passes them on to BarTender, which executes the print job. Commander can
also be triggered by and process data sent over a TCP/IP socket.
For more extensive information about using the Commander utility, please see the
Commander whitepapers at:
http://www.seagullscientific.com/aspx/whitepapers.aspx

Page 3

White Paper: Integration with Oracles WMS and MSCA

Differences in Commander Editions

Oracle XML print requests can only be processed by the Enterprise Automation
edition of Commander. This is because the Enterprise Automation edition of
Commander provides some functionality that is not available with the base
Automation edition.
Enhanced Capabilities with the Enterprise Automation Edition
In addition to detecting file and e-mail triggers, such as that for Oracle XML print
requests, the Enterprise Automation edition of Commander can also trigger based
on TCP/IP socket communications.
Also, the Enterprise Automation edition supports transformation of incoming XML
data into other formats using XSL. The XSL-based conversion process built into the
Commander is a fast and direct way to convert XML. For the special case of
converting Oracle XML Print Requests into BarTender XML Script, Commander
includes a built-in XSL style sheet designed for this purpose.
Performance in heavy utilization environments is facilitated with the Enterprise
Automation edition of Commander, as it can launch and communicate with multiple
instances of BarTender.

Included Files

Several files are installed with BarTender to make integration with Oracle
applications easier. They are installed into the BarTender\Formats\Oracle sub folder
of your Documents folder.
Label Formats
A set of sample label formats that implement Oracles 10 Seeded Label Formats
are provided. The format names and a brief description are listed below:
1. LPN (License plate information)
2. LPN Content (LPN plus details about contents)
3. LPN Summary (LPN plus nested contents summarized)
4. Material (Item, quantity, lot, and revision details)
5. Serial (Material plus serial details)
6. Location (Organization, subinventory, and locator)
7. Shipping (Customer and address)
8. Shipping Contents (Shipping plus content information)
9. WIP Contents (Discrete manufacturing details)
10. Flow Contents (Flow manufacturing plus customer information)
Commander Task List
A sample Commander Task List called OracleXML.tl is provided that implements
reception of an Oracle XML Print Request through either a TCP/IP socket or a file.

Page 4

White Paper: Integration with Oracles WMS and MSCA

Configuring Commander for Integration with Oracle

WMS/MSCA
Integration Steps

1. Install and Activate the Enterprise Automation edition of BarTender. When

BarTender installation is complete, use the Windows Explorer to browse to the
Oracle samples folder, which should be located on your PC in the following
subfolder of your Documents folder:
BarTender\Formats\Oracle

2. Open the OracleXML.tl task list.

3. Start detection in Commander. This should cause a folder named Scan to
appear in the Oracle folder.

Testing the Commander Configuration

In order to confirm that you have Commander properly configured, perform the
following test:
1. Select one of the sample XML files in the Oracle sample directory and copy
this file into the Scan folder which appeared when you started detection in
Commander.
2. BarTender should respond to the appearance of this XML file by automatically
printing a label using data from the XML file.

Finishing the Integration

Once you have used this procedure to verify that Commander and BarTender are
properly responding to the creation of XML files, all that remains is to configure the
Oracle application to create the XML file in the Scan folder or send the data through
a TCP/IP socket. You may also wish to use BarTender to load and edit some of the
included Oracle Seeded Label Formats to better meet your specific requirements.

Further Reading: The Two Tasks of OracleXML.tl

This is an optional section you may want to read to aid your understanding of how
the integration works, but it is not required reading in order to set up the integration.
There are two tasks in the task list: One that detects file triggers and one that is
triggered by TCP/IP socket communications. Either method can be used.
Both tasks use an XSL style sheet to convert any Oracle XML Print Requests found
in the trigger into BarTender XML Script. This script contains all of the BarTender
commands and label data needed by BarTender to handle a print request. After
generation by Commander, it is passed to BarTenders Automation interface and
executed.

Page 5

White Paper: Integration with Oracles WMS and MSCA

Both tasks contained in the task list share a single Command Handler that is
configured to use one BarTender processes. You can increase the number of
processes if you have multiple simultaneous print requests and find that it improves
performance. For more guidance on setting the number of BarTender processes,
see the Commander whitepaper.

For More Information

More information on Oracle WMS and MSCA is available at Oracles website:

http://www.oracle.com
http://www.oracle.com/applications/order_mgmt/Warehouse.html
http://www.oracle.com/applications/order_mgmt/MSCA.html
More information on the Commander utility is available in the Commander white
papers:
http://www.seagullscientific.com/aspx/whitepapers.aspx

Page 6

Available Seagull White Papers

General White Papers

The Advantage of Drivers by Seagull

Companion Applications

Printer Maestro: True Enterprise Print Management for Windows

Librarian

BarTender Security Center

BarTender Web Print Server

Recent Upgrades

Whats New in the Latest BarTender

Integration White Papers

Integration Overview

Commander

Commander Examples

BarTender's .NET SDKs

BarTender's ActiveX Automation Interface

Exporting Printer Code Templates

Using BarTender with Remote Desktop Services and Citrix XenApp

Integration with Oracle's WMS and MSCA

Integration with IBM WebSphere Sensor Events

Integration with SAP

Miscellaneous White Papers

Weighing Scales

Dynamically Changing Objects at Print Time using VB Script

GHS Compliance Labeling

Licensing for BarTender's Automation Editions

Printing International Characters Using BarTender

BarTender Software Activation

Using BarTender's Application Identifier Wizard

Optimizing Output Performance

Status Monitor Overview

Silent Install

For downloadable versions, visit:

www.seagullscientific.com/aspx/white-papers.aspx

Version: 2012-09-12 14:03 Copyright 2012 Seagull Scientific, Inc.