How to Work with Processes > Working with the Print/Aux Processes Group

Process Purpose

The "Send Data" process is used to define the structure of the data that is going to be sent through a port to an auxiliary device.

When you add a process, you are required to define its settings. This occurs in the process's properties window which is displayed automatically after having added the "Send Data" process.

If any subsequent edition is required, double-click the process to open its properties window and enter the necessary modifications.

Fill in the following options:

Printer / Aux Port
Aux Name	Select the auxiliary device profile that will send data from the drop-down. If some editing is required, click to add another Aux profile or select the one you want to edit. See To Create an Aux Profile and/or To Edit an Aux Profile. Remember NOT to select a Serial Port Aux profile if your target device is an Android device. Serial Port type profiles are not supported if used in Android devices.
Flush Buffer Before “Send Data”	Check this option to empty the buffer before preparing and sending the data package.
Header
Select the “Header” to send by checking “None”, “STX” or “Other” (in this case, enter the intended header in the box that activates when "Other" is checked). See Abbreviations.
Data to Send
Data to Send	Enter the data to send OR click and select a variable with that value. It is possible to send up to 80 strings of data at once.
Footer
Select the “Footer” to send by checking “None”, “ETX”, “CR+LF” or “Other” (in this case, enter the intended footer in the box that activates when "Other" is checked). See Abbreviations.
If Communication Error
Go to	Select a target location from the drop-down or list, in case there is a communications error. See Detail of a window below. When defining a screen as a target destination (ex: via a “Go to” process), you CANNOT use variables to specify the name of that target screen. You must select the intended screen from the available drop-down/list.

Use the editing icons to the right of the table to move the rows up and down and to delete or add more rows.

Detail of a window:

"S:Menu" is a screen included in the same program as the process.

"R:Routine_1" is a routine included in the same program as the process.

Use the following recurring icons (located on the upper right corner of the properties window) to execute specific operations:

•Click to define a time out. See To Define a Time Out for a Print/Aux Process.

•Click to attach any relevant notes to this process. Click it and enter your notes in the resulting text box. These notes will be displayed in the corresponding "Actions" tab or "Process" window (in the "Notes" field) and in the "Developer Report".

After filling in the required options, click to conclude or to abort the operation.

The added process is displayed in the corresponding "Actions" tab or "Process" window.

Abbreviations

This process uses the following abbreviations:

Abbreviation	Meaning (hexadecimal)
STX	Start of Text (02 hex)
ETX	End of Text (03 hex)
CR	Carriage Return (0D hex)
LF	Line Feed (0A hex)

If you want to use a label as a target destination, you can use the "Auto-Label" mechanism. This alternative to the "Set Label" process allows you to create a label in the properties window of a process - specifically, in the fields used to define target destinations (ex: the "If Error..." type fields). See To Automatically Create a Label.

Use the right-click in MCL-Designer's input boxes to access some related options as well as the general "Cut", "Copy"; "Paste"; "Search" actions (active/inactive according to the current context).

Ex: If you right-click the "Variable" input box (included in a "Conversion's" properties window), you are provided with general editing/search actions and other more specific options such as "Variable Select" (see "Variable Select"); "Variable Insert" (see "Variable Insert"); "Insert Special Character" (see To Insert Special Characters into a Control's Text Input Field) and "Localization Select" (see Localization List).

If you right-click another input box, it may provide other possibilities.