Cloud Print is a cloud-based solution for Shipment Server that lets you print in multiple ways:
- Documents are generated from Shipment Server to the default printers.
- Documents are generated from Shipment Server and are routed to specific Drop Zone
installations and specific printers using the document printer mapping. - Documents are generated from an ERP plugin where the printer is selected by the user.
- Drop Zone Direct Print and Import using document printer mapping.
The documents are stored in a queue in the cloud and Drop Zone installations are downloading
the documents that belong to them.
Setting up Cloud Print
- The Computer Name field specifies a user-friendly name for the active Drop Zone installation. This is used to specify which Drop Zone installation should receive the documents.
- The Check Interval field specifies the frequency in which Drop Zone checks the document queue. This is a backup mechanism, it should not be set to low values unless it is really needed. The main communication to the server side is almost instantaneous and is using push notifications.
The list at the bottom of the Cloud Print tab shows the document printer mapping rules. They are
defined on each actor. The user needs to select an actor from the Actor drop-down list to get the
list of mapping rules.
To create new rules, click on the New button. Select user name, computer name, and
printer from the drop-down lists.
- Filters on carrier, subcarrier, and/or product can be added by selecting the next 3 drop-down lists. If there is no selection, then the rule applies to all carriers / subcarriers / products.
- Select one or more documents on the list if you want to apply a filter to specific documents. If documents are selected, a new rule will be added for each of them. If no document is selected, then one rule is created that applies to all documents.
- Rules are edited by clicking the Edit button. Clicking on the Delete button will delete the selected rule.
- The rules are checked from top to bottom, so the order in which they appear is very important. A selected rule can be moved up or down one position by clicking on the Move Up or the Move Down buttons.
- Click Apply to save your rule. When clicking the Reset button, the current mapping rules are discarded and reloaded from the server.
Note: Drop Zone communicates with the cloud at every selection, some operations might take a
few seconds, especially if the network is slow.
Including Cloud Print information in Shipment Server requests
If you want to print a label from Shipment Server using Cloud Print, you must include information for Cloud print in the request to Shipment Server.
Cloud Print works with the SubmitShipment method. You must include the Options object with the following parameters:
Name | Field type | Description |
Labels | string |
|
TicketUserName | string | The Username as typed in Drop Zone under the Ticket Connection tab. |
WorkstationID | string | The Drop Zone installation ID found by clicking About in the Drop Zone menu. Example: 4C8A993X-D6D0-4350-AC4X-13485F5CXXXX |
DropZoneLabelPrinterKey | string | The printer key specified in Drop Zone for a label printer |
DropZoneDocPrinterKey | string | The printer key specified in Drop Zone for a document printer |
The Options object is a separate JSON string submitted together with the SubmitShipment request.
Example:
{ "Labels": "ZPLGK", "TicketUserName": "ConsignorEditor", "WorkstationID": "4C8A993X-D6D0-4350-AC4X-13485F5CXXX", "DropZoneLabelPrinterKey": "GK" }
If you have specified a default printer in Drop Zone, this can be used without including the printer key.
See our other articles about Consignor Drop Zone.