Lasernet Capabilities

This page explains some of the capabilities and concepts of Lasernet. It is by no means exhaustive; Lasernet is a flexible and highly-configurable tool that Formpipe regularly adds features and enhancements to.

For more information, see the Lasernet guides and articles in this knowledgebase or contact a Formpipe representative.

Lasernet Capabilities and Concepts

Barcodes

Documents can be designed with built-in linear and 2D barcodes and printed via laser printers / thermo printers or inserted into TIFF / PDF documents.

Calculations

Perform any calculations on the data stream, including adding numbers, running totals, calculate transport lines, discount columns etc. New calculated fields can be linked back to the main application.

Charts

Incorporate graphs into reports & financial statements in 2D or 3D.

Criteria Master Form

The Lasernet Developer is built with a powerful tool for handling criteria used to recognize form processing. Once criteria has been added to a form, it can then be used as a master for other forms. This way all criteria will be inherited by children of that master form. This makes it very easy to create and maintain form criteria both simple and complex.

Deployment

Manage and deploy any revision of any configuration from the Lasernet Developer or the Lasernet Configuration web site. View history, revision number, date, commit messages, author and active running revision.

Distribution

The Lasernet Server can automate document distribution internally as well as externally. All of your documents can be delivered to the desired location and printer, without incurring the time and cost of manual intervention.

Drivers

Lasernet can output to any printer or printing device working with Windows printer drivers. Once the driver information is loaded into Lasernet,  all of the functions contained within the driver can be used for your documents. This means full control of output trays, duplex, paper size etc, as well as support for special printers like label, check and thermo printers.

Encryption and Signing

Enables you to encrypt, sign, decrypt and verify internal and externally generated PDF documents. These features ensure that your company can comply with the latest demands for secure communication and archiving of business documents on a worldwide level.

Filter

The software contains several input filters which standardize incoming data formats to optimize the data streams and form creation. Lasernet can convert to and from any codepage format supported by Windows.

Graphics

Incorporate illustrations based on product codes. Retrieve binary or base64 encoded images via web services or sites, file locations, databases, Microsoft Azure, SharePoint and FTP to name but a few. Add symbols onto labels and company logos into letter heads and much more. Draw lines, rectangles, calculated tables etc using information or triggers from the input stream.

JavaScript

The JavaScript function in Lasernet allows advanced users to create specialized applications or functions to complement Lasernet’s existing abilities and improve integration into more complex workflows and systems. Any script can be called from Lasernet, when processing data or it can pass information between modules.

Overlay

Any overlay or drawing created in Windows applications like Microsoft Word or Microsoft Publisher can be inserted into the output document. This allows you to maintain the look and feel of your documents separately from the data they contain. This is incredibly useful for maintaining consistent corporate branding across divisions or alternatively, uniquely branding documents between different arms of an umbrella company whilst retaining the same underlying data structure. You can also draw and insert graphics directly onto a form using the design tool.

JobInfo

Lasernet Server has a powerful and flexible function for adding metadata to the data stream. Interesting information concerning the handling of a job (e.g. username, originating printer or mail headers) will get attached to the job and identified by a unique name. For example, the JobInfo "DocName" contains the original document name as shown in the Windows spooler subsystem, such as "Microsoft Word - Lasernet.doc". Lasernet uses the JobInfo system for setting up information like e-mail addresses, archive indexes, fax numbers, or printer specific information. The additional data inserted into JobInfos are commonly used for setting up conditions for validating the data stream. For example, when mail is received on a mail input port, a "MailFrom" JobInfo is set. As the data reaches the form recognition part of Lasernet, a filter might be set on the "MailFrom" JobInfo, so that erp@formpipe.com and b2b@formpipe.com e-mail addresses are assigned different forms and data flows throughout Lasernet.

JobInfo Master Store

Allows you to set environment JobInfos at server level. JobInfo substitution syntax is supported for many object settings in the configuration to replace JobInfos/values listed in the master store. JobInfos added to the JobInfo master store are exclusively assigned to jobs received and processed by that server instance.

Patch Server

This feature helps to validate a configuration, without being forced to commit changes and synchronize a local configuration stored on another computer (multi developer mode). All the configuration objects, as well as non-committed objects, are transferred to the Lasernet Server whilst the service runs in patch mode and the configuration maintains same revision number. Patch mode is recommended for development/test servers only and is not intended to be used for production servers.

Phrases

Create and inherit multiple inline or global phrases across forms. Phrases can be created in the Rich Text editor using DOCX/PDF as the output format.

Rearrange Master

The Lasernet Developer has a powerful forms design tool, which uses master and child pages. Documents, once created, can be used as masters for other documents, so that all corrections, fonts, calculations and settings will flow down into new forms, emails, faxes, files, etc. This provides you with a simple method for setting up and maintaining your forms.

Scheduler

Initiates actions in Lasernet at predefined times for incoming or outgoing tasks.

Subform

Provides a function similar to that of the Rearrange Master, but instead contains lists of Rearranges, Shapes, Images, Barcodes etc, which can be saved as a local or global object. It is then possible to inherit global Subforms multiple times in multiple sheets/forms, both in a static position, similar to Overlays, or in a user-defined position similar to Rearranges. Subforms work in forms created with enhanced metafiles as the output format.

Unicode

Lasernet has native support for Unicode formats, such as UTF-8 and UFT-16 for the design and printing of documents in Chinese, Russian, Korean, etc. This means it is possible to transfer a single byte character set like ASCII into a double byte character set without any change in the application system.

Users and Groups

Administer local Lasernet users and groups from the Lasernet Configuration web site. Assign users and groups to Security Profiles to manage access control to products and services provided by Lasernet.