Preferences
The Preferences menu allows modifications of most of the initial parameters of P/PAL.

General
Station ID: allows the current station's identity to be changed. The station ID will print at the bottom of the PPAL Patient log allowing easier tracking of the origination of accession numbers and labels.

Show Splash Screen allows the option of showing or not showing the splash screen when the program first loads. Default is checked.

Location sets the default patient location. All new patients will have this location by default until changed.

Sex sets the default sex. Select male or female.

Illegal Characters allows you to set any illegal characters as identified by the LIS. Any character listed here will not be allowed in the database. If you are planning on exporting this data to your LIS, make sure all illegal characters are listed here.

Print wait interval sets the time between lines to the printer. Generally 1000 is a good number, but if you think your printer can handle it, reduce this number so the label prints quicker.

Accn Range
Enter the beginning and ending range of accession numbers to use for this station. Different LIS' have different procedures for obtaining these numbers so they are not overwritten when the LIS is up. Consult your friendly neighborhood LIS representative on how to do this.

When you are finished making changes to this section, click OK to save your changes, or CANCEL to quit without saving.

Printer Template
The Printer Template section allows you to modify the format of the barcode label that prints. This section will demonstrate how to use your current label formats to customize the PPAL labels.

File
The file menu, and associated tool buttons, allow manipulation of the current template file.

New erases current template to allow creation of a new template from scratc
Open allows templates stored on disk to be used as the current template
Save allows the current template to be stored on disk
Test Print will print the current template using a standard set of data
Import allows a template to be imported from the LIS. See IMPORT below for details.

Edit
The Edit menu, and associated tool buttons, allow customization of the current template file.

Copy will copy highlighted text to the clipboard
Cut will copy highlighted text to the clipboard and remove it from the editing pad
Paste will paste text from the clipboard into the editing pad
Select All will select all text in the editing pad
Colorize will turn the context colorizer on or off. Default is on

Fields
The Fields menu, and associated tool buttons, contain the pre-defined fields that you can use to customize your barcode label.
Database contains all the fields relating to data stored from the data entry screen to the database.
Character contains any special characters you may need to create your label, such as a CR/LF combination or < or > characters.

Reset Accns will reset the accession numbers to the begin number and remove any data from the database. Be sure to do this only after the data has been imported to the LIS and the accession range defined has not previously been used.

IMPORT
When opened, a dialog will open:

The IP Address listed is the address of the program is listening on. Again you will need help from your friendly neighborhood LIS representative to set up a barcode printer to print to the IP Address and PORT listed. When completed print a label to that printer. The dialog box should change to something like this:

Connected... and then:

Receiving data... and finally:

Finished
When finished click OK and the raw template will appear in the edit window:

code from a blaster printer
Using the order information or a previously printed label for the same accession number as a guide and referencing the programming instructions for your printer, find and replace the text of the bar code with the respective fields from the Database or Character fields as explained above, until you have all the fields replaced:

code from a blaster printer with field codes inserted
You can check it periodically by hitting doing a test print from the File menu or hitting the icon.

When finished, click OK to save and begin using your new label template.

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