ICS Delivers More Output Options with FormSprint Update

March 9, 2010 Alex Woodie

Customers of Integrated Custom Software are encouraged to download a new release of FormSprint, the i/OS electronic forms design and management tool. Released in January, FormSprint release 201001 introduces a number of new features pertaining to PDF creation, barcode generation, and printer and fax control.

FormSprint is an i/OS document management offering that handles a range of document-related needs for System i shops, including merging form overlays with spool file data, generating MICR and barcodes, and distribution of documents (through the FormSprint Power E-mail add-on, or via hooks into e-mail and fax software from Computer Keyes, Quadrant Software, and others).

The new release gains a couple of new label capabilities. For starters, the product now supports inverted labels on Zebra barcode printers, eliminating the need for the user to manually rotate a label 180 degrees.

Also, FormSprint can now generate PDF417 barcode labels. This PDF (Packed Data Format) symbol can store up to 1,700 characters across two dimensions, which enables users to pack multiple lines of information into a single barcode. PDF417 can be used to generate postage accepted by the USPS. It’s also the symbology used by airlines for boarding passes, and by the Department of Homeland Security for RealID-compliant driver licenses and ID cards.

FormSprint 201001 also gains other PDF (as in Portable Document Format) features. Namely, the software now has the capability to notify the QSYSOPR (or other user profile) when large FormSprint PDF batch jobs end in error. ICS sells an optional add-on, called Power PDF, that converts FormSprint output into the PDF format.

This release also gets a new data file extract function in the spool file mapper. This new function will enable users to retrieve data from DB2/400 files and use that data to fill in gaps in the incoming spool file, explains ICS’ Betsy Andrews in the company’s January 2010 newsletter.

“The retrieved data can be printed directly to the output or loaded to a buffer for reformatting and merging with data from the spool file,” Andrews writes. “In many cases, it eliminates the reprogramming required when additional data is required for a form.”

FormSprint 201001 also gives users more control over the output spool file name, and supports the passing of comment fields to Quadrant’s FastFax. For more info, see the company’s Web site at www.formsprint.com.