4th Edition

HITACHI CODING SOFTWARE SUITE

Version 2.0.1

User Manual

Thank you for choosing the HITACHI CODING SOFTWARE SUITE (HCSS).

This manual describes the basic operating procedures, maintenance procedures and other
detailed handling procedures of HCSS.

HCSS allows interaction with HITACHI printers, improper usage can lead to the undesired
results in the printing process. It is therefore essential that users should read this manual
together with printer manual to gain a complete understanding and use it correctly.

After throughly reading this manual, please properly store it for future reference.
Copyright © 2020 Hitachi. All rights reserved. No part of this document can be reproduced
without written permission from the author.
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Contents

1. General .......................................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Typographical Conventions ................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1
2. Installation/Uninstallation/Activation .......................................................................................... 2
3. Message Designer ....................................................................................................................... 3
3.2 Open Existing Message........................................................................................................... 5
3.4 Design Message ....................................................................................................................... 9
3.5 Save Message ........................................................................................................................ 15
4. Printer Management .................................................................................................................. 17
4.1 Add printer ............................................................................................................................... 17
4.2 Edit printer................................................................................................................................. 18
4.3 Remove printer ....................................................................................................................... 19
4.4 Monitor the added printers .................................................................................................... 19
4.5 Monitor the printer’s details ................................................................................................... 20
4.6 Remote Operations ................................................................................................................. 22
5. Device Group Management ...................................................................................................... 24
5.1 Add Group ........................................................................................................................... 24
5.2 Remove Group ................................................................................................................... 25
6. Print Automation ......................................................................................................................... 26
6.1 Profile Management .............................................................................................................. 26
6.2 Create Print Automation Profile ........................................................................................... 27
6.3 Edit Profile .............................................................................................................................. 30
6.4 Delete Profile......................................................................................................................... 31
6.5 Print Job Management ......................................................................................................... 32
6.6 Create Job .............................................................................................................................. 33
6.7 Edit Job ................................................................................................................................... 35
6.8 Delete Job............................................................................................................................... 37
6.9 Run Job ................................................................................................................................... 37
6.10 Job States.............................................................................................................................. 37
6.11 Dynamic Jobs Management ............................................................................................... 39
6.12 Add new dynamic job........................................................................................................... 39
6.13 Execute dynamic jobs .......................................................................................................... 40
6.14 Job Details, Data Persistence, Reporting and Exports .................................................. 41
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6.15 Data Filtering and Export .................................................................................................... 45

6.16 RS232C Limitation ............................................................................................................... 46
6.17 Configuring Wait Period for HCSS Print Automation (Modbus) .................................... 47
7. Dashboard ................................................................................................................................... 49
7.1 Select printer to view the data .......................................................................................... 49
7.2 Search printer in Dashboard Device List ........................................................................ 49
7.3 Printer Connection Status ................................................................................................. 50
7.4 Default Dashboard ............................................................................................................. 50
7.5 Printer Details Dashboard ................................................................................................. 50
7.6 Part Usage Time Dashboard ............................................................................................ 51
7.7 Master Dashboard .............................................................................................................. 52
7.8 User-Defined Dashboard .................................................................................................. 52
7.9 Change Default Dashboard .............................................................................................. 53
7.10 Change User-Defined Dashboard ................................................................................... 54
7.11 Filter Dashboard Data ....................................................................................................... 54
7.12 Live Data vs Historical Data.............................................................................................. 54
8. Users Management .................................................................................................................... 56
9. Landing Page .............................................................................................................................. 61
10. Warnings.................................................................................................................................. 62
11. Contact US .............................................................................................................................. 63
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1. General
1.1 Typographical Conventions
Text that appears in bold refers to menu names and buttons.

Text enclosed in <Less-Than and Greater-Than signs> refers to keys from the desktop PC or
On-Screen Keyboard such as <Enter>.

1.2 Introduction
HCSS comprises the modules designed to support the management of the printing process
for HITACHI RX-SD, RX2-SD, UX-D(besides UX-D8), UX-E, UX-H, UX-P, GT-D models IJ
Printers.
The current modules are:
- Message Designer
- Printer Management
- Print Automation
- Dashboard
- Users Management

Modules availability is based on the type of License purchased. For Trial installation, users
can use all modules with all functionalities for 30 days. Once 30 days trial period is over, all
functions will be blocked.

On installation of HCSS, user account “admin” is automatically created as default. An “admin”

roles is also created for the admin account. This account/role have the full rights for all installed
modules and functionalities.

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2. Installation/Uninstallation/Activation

Please refer to the guide Installation and Activation procedure for more details about how
to install, activate and uninstall HCSS.

Note that HCSS installer automatically setup postgres database engine and create
application specific database and tables. If target computer already have postgres
database engine installed, the installation may not succeed.

It is recommended to take backup of any existing databases and data (postgres) on the
target computer, uninstall any existing postgres installations and then start with HCSS
installation process.

HCSS is available in different display languages and more languages will be added in
future:

1. English
2. Chinese(Simplify)
3. Chinese(Traditional)
4. French
5. Japanese
6. German
7. Spanish
8. Portuguese
9. Vietnames
10. Arabic
11. Korean

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3. Message Designer
Message Designer module can be accessed by clicking on the link from the Main Menu bar
as shown below.

Message Designer allows users to:

- Create New Message
- Open Existing Message
- Edit Message
- Save Message
- Delete Message

The main elements of the Message Designer module are as shown below:
1. Function Menu Bar①
2. Design Area②
3. Properties Panel③
4. Information Panel④

①
②

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5. On Screen Keyboard (Area ⑤ in the following screenshot)

Icons on editing message page shown as following:

1. New Message ①
2. Open Message ②
3. Save Message ③
4. Undo ④
5. Redo ⑤
6. Zoom in ⑥ (only for individual style)
7. Zoom out⑦ (only for individual style)

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① ②③

④ ⑤
⑦ ⑥

3.1 Create New Message

To Create a new message, click the New Message icon. The following dialog box will be
displayed. After entering the Message Name (up to 12 alphanumeric characters) and clicking
check button, users will be presented with a new message template to work on. Note that at
this point message only exists on the designer area (temporary) unless you explicitly save it
to file or printer (please refer to save message section).

Check button
3.2 Open Existing Message
Users can open the existing message from File System of the PC or from the Printer.

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Once a message is loaded then it can be worked on in isolation. Changes made to message
are not automatically pushed to storage. User can use the Save functionality to confirm the
changes.
When open from file system, users can switch between the list view and the tile view by
clicking the icon as shown below:

List view:

Please select list view when opening message in message designer.

Tile view:

When select Open From Printer users have to select the target printer from drop-down list.

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After select the target printer, users have to confirm the selection by clicking the connect
button as shown above. The list view will show all the messages from the target printer.

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To preview the messages from the target printer, users need to click the update button as
shown below:

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3.3 Delete Message

Users can delete the existing message from File System or from the Printer. Users can switch
to “delete mode” with pressing the “Delete” button as shown below, the “Delete” button will
turn to orange from white. In this mode, users can select the message to be deleted by clicking
the message and the background colour of the selected message turns to grey. Users can
click on “Check” button to confirm delete or “Cancel” button to cancel the deletion.

Once the message is deleted, user will be redirected back to designer surface and user can
continue working on the currently displayed message or create a new message.

Delete button

Check button

Cancel button

3.4 Design Message

HCSS provides a WYSIWYG Message Designer for Hitachi IJ Printers; users can define the
message structure by setting up the following items from Message Designer main page:
- Message Style
- Print Format
- Edit Message
- Print Specification
- Calendar/Count condition

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(1) Message Style

Users can set message style by selecting from the two available options:
- Individual
- Free layout

For detail definition of “Individual” and “Free layout” styles, please refer to Instruction Manual
for Hitachi IJ Printer Model.
(2) Print Format
Users can:
- Set number of lines
- Add/remove columns
- Set various settings of the message including Bold, Dot matrix, Inter character space,
and Line spacing, etc.
By clicking Print Format from the menu bar, users will be presented with print format features
in the Properties panel on the right side of Message Designer to design the structure of the
message. Available print format features depend on the message type selected.

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(3) Edit Message

User can create the content of the message by pressing on Edit Message for inputting
Alphanumeric item, Calendar item, Count item, Time count item, Shift code item, Bar code
item, Logo item and User pattern item, etc. Users can refer Instruction Manual for Hitachi IJ
Printer model for details.

By clicking Edit Message from menu bar, or double-clicking message items, On Screen
Keyboard (OSK) opens within design area. User can re-position the keyboard within design
area by clicking and dragging it on screen. Message data can then be entered via either OSK
or the PC keyboard. In case of PC keyboard, <Enter> key press is required after typing the
message. The OSK is shown as follow:

OSK can be dragged and moved inside message editing page.Howver, please take care that
while dragging the whole OSK outside of the editing area, it will be invisible and not be able
to move back. Please make sure drag the OSK within the editing area. Once you drag out the
whole OSK outside of editing area, you can call OSK back by refreshing the page. However,
please note that as page refreshes, your unsaved message will be deleted.

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The following table shows the various input item types on keyboard, relevant items can be
inserted into the message by selecting appropriate item type:

Alphanumeric

Calendar

Counter

Time count

Shift Code

Barcode

Logo

Previously used Logo

Numeric

(4) Print Specification

By clicking Print Specification of the menu bar. Users can set up the item:

 Character height
 Ink drop use
 Character Width
 Character Orientation
 Print start delay
 Product speed matching
 Pulse rate division factor
 Speed compensation
 Speed compensation fine control
 Line speed
 Distance between print head and work
 Print target width
 Actual print width
 Repeat count
 Repeat intervals
 Target sensor timer
 Target sensor filter
 Setup value
 Ink drop charge rule

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More detail information about Print Specification can be referred to Instruction Manual for
corresponding Hitachi IJ Printer model.

(5) Calendar/ Count condition

If there is Calendar/ Count / Time count character, the corresponding Condition setup will be
available as shown below:

Users can then go to the corresponding condition detail setup menu.

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(6) Date-Time Separator(s)

Message Designer supports following Date-Time separators and formats.

Notes:

 Message Designer currently support only certain Date-Time format(s) (some examples
as shown in picture above) and not all formats are supported.
 The total character length limit for calender block is 20 characters including separators.

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3.5 Save Message

Users can save the message to File System of the PC or to the Printer.
With Save To File option users have to enter the name of the message. Same naming
restrictions apply as mentioned in Section 3.1. “Create New Message”. Message will be saved
to: C:\Program Files\HitachiSoftwareSuite\App_Data\Message. Kindly note that if user choose
already existing message name then the existing message will be updated otherwise a new
message will be created.

With Save To Printer option users need to select the target printer from the registered printer
list as shown below. The saved message will be set as the current message in the target
printer.

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With Save To Group option users need to select the target group from the defined group list
as shown below. The saved message will be set as the current message in all printers within
the selected group.

With Save To Database option user will be able to save the messages to the database and
use it in other services such as OPC-UA.

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4. Printer Management
Printer Management allows users to:
- Add Printer to HCSS
- Remove Printer from HCSS
- Monitor the added Printers
Printer Management can be accessed by clicking Printer Management from the main menu
bar and all the added printers will be shown as below.

4.1 Add printer

Users can add the networked printer by clicking +Add Printer button as bellow:

By clicking the + Add Printer button, a form will show up for users to enter/select the required
data as below:
- Printer Type: Select the printer model (Select HitachiUX when not sure).
- Printer Name: Define the displaying name of target printer (must be unique).
- IP Address: Input the IP address of target printer (must be unique).
- Port Number: Input the Port Number of target printer.
- Communication Protocol: Select communication Protocol (Modbus or RS232 Tunneling)

Information : the default protocol is Modbus and all HCSS module work in Modbus
protocol. In RS232 Tunneling only Print Automation module will works. For example, if you
want to work with message designer or dashboard, you should set printer’s protocol to
Modbus.

Data can be saved by clicking Save or operation can be cancelled by Clicking Cancel.

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Data provided by users will be stored in the database of HCSS and can be used for all other
printer related modules and operations.

4.2 Edit printer

Users can edit the printer information from HCSS by clicking Edit button shown below:

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You can only edit the printer’s model type, port and the communication protocol.

4.3 Remove printer

Users can remove the printer from HCSS by clicking Remove button shown below:

If the printer is removed, all printer related data is also removed from the database of HCSS.
This includes printer’s dashboard data. Therefore, after deleting a printer, it also will be deleted
from dashboard printer list.

4.4 Monitor the added printers

All printers added to the system can be monitored from the printer display area. For each
printer, users can see:
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 Printer Name
 IP Address
 Port Number
 Communication Protocol
 Status

4.5 Monitor the printer’s details

Printer detail data can be viewed by clicking the Details button as below.

The following Printer Details page will be displayed for users to monitor:
 Ink Operating Time
 Cumulative Operating Time
 Ink (Remaining) Level
 Makeup (Remaining) Level
 Print Count
 Ink Pressure

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Users can also see the further information by selecting from drop-down list of Maintenance
or Environment Setup, the detail information about Unit information, Software version, and
Communication Environment setup, etc. Example of accessing detailed Unit Information:

Clicking the Unit Information as above, the Unit information of the target printer will be
displayed. Click Close to close the dialog.

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Information: when you change the printer’s protocol to other than Modbus, you will not be
able to see the printer’s detail page. In other words, you can only see the printer detail page if
you set communication protocol in printer manager to Modbus protocol.

4.6 Remote Operations

HCSS provide an easy way to allow users to perform IJP Specific Remote Operations and Online/Offline
setting setup to help end user manage corresponding via a web interface. This will help user reduce physical
presence and save time.

The following table provides basic information about remote operations (information/model is
same as RS232-C protocol, please refer to IJP technical manual):

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4.6.1 Online/Offline:
It shows and changes the online/offline switch on the printer.

4.6.2 Start :

by clicking Start button the printer will started.

4.6.3 Stop:

by clicking Start button the printer will stopped.

4.6.4 Ready:

by clicking Start button the printer will go to ready to print state..

4.6.5 Standby:

by clicking Start button the printer will go to standby state.

4.6.6 Fault Clear:

by clicking Fault Clear button the printer will clear all printer’s faults.

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5. Device Group Management

Groups allow users to:
- Manage multiple devices(printers) easier
- Add a group to HCSS
- Remove a group from HCSS
- Add printers to a group
- Remove a printer from a group
Group can be accessed by clicking Printer Management from the main menu bar and all the
added groups will be shown as below.

5.1 Add Group

Users can add a new group by clicking + Add Group button as follow:

By clicking the + Add Group button, a form will show up for users to enter/select the required
data as below:
 Group Name
 Note
 Select and Move printers to the group

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You can add devices to the group. Select a device (Printer) and click > to add this device
(Printer) to the current group. Use < button to remove the deivce from group.

Data can be saved by clicking the Save button.

5.2 Remove Group

Users can remove a printer group by clicking Remove Button as follow:

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6. Print Automation
Print Automation assist end users to automate the print-message generation process. Print
content will be generated from the external data source. For instance, a customer wants
to send printing content based on the data generated from their ERP. They can provide
this data as a CSV or .txt file or by using PostgreSQL, SQL Server or MySql databse to
HCSS software to be used in Print Automation module.

Print Automation module provides three sub-modules to facilities this task:

 Print Automation Profile

 Print Automation Job
 Print Automation Dynamic Jobs

You can access these modules from the navigation bar as shown below:

6.1 Profile Management

This module allows users to manage various print automation profiles as per their
requirements. Automation Profiles are a way to setup a data and settings context.
A profile contains information about the data source, its data field, mapping of data fields
(columns) to print items on messages. Data range selection, Repeat Quantity, the template
to be used, Data preview and target printer(s)/group(s). Some other settings may be
introduced later to extend this base functionality.
User can access this area by clicking on the Profile Management item in the navigation
bar as shown above and then he will be navigated to the page below. User can create a
new profile as well as edit or delete an existing profile from this page.

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6.2 Create Print Automation Profile

For create a new profile, click the Create Profile button and it will show a dialog to fill in
necessary information:

The profile information is arranged in following Tabs (sections):

 General
 Data Source
 Mapping
 Target printer(s)

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Here is some information about various sections and their purpose.

In General section, you will provide a unique name for the Profile. It helps you to identify
the profile easily later.

Data Source section in General tab, collects information about data source type and
based on type some other information as well.Currently two types of data source are
available: 1. File 2. Database.
- File: It needs information about the path to the file (please make sure that path is
accessible from the HCSS application) and you can also provide a separator for the data
e.g. a comma separator. If “Has Header” check-box is checked, the first row in the file will
be consider as header.

- Data base: It need information about the database and connection. Three database
providers are being supported in this version: 1. SQL Server 2. PostgreSQL 3. MySQL.
Foreach of them following information should be provided:
Server: ip address or dns name of the database server.
Port: port of the database server to connect to. Leave it empty to use the default port.
Database Name: the name of the database to connect to.
Login: the username that should be used in the connection.
Password: the password that should be used in the connection.
Additional Parameters: any additional parameters needed to be add to the
connection string.
SQL Query: an statement to query the database.

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You can also provide a Quantity Source (print repeat) value as a fixed value or if this
information is available in the data source then you can tell which column can be used to
retrieve this information from the file. This setting controls how many times a single row of
data is processed.

Mapping section as its name implies dictates which data column values from the data-
source (file) shall be mapped on a particular print-item on the message.
You can also preview data by clicking Data Preview button.

Select row input field allow you select a data-range on the data source. Typically, file is
processed from top to bottom including all data rows. By utilizing this option, user can
control which selected range of rows (currently a single range is supported) will be
processed or ignored. The value for this setting is provided in pair as well e.g. 10:20 this
tells the print-automation services to select only data rows 10 to 20 and ignore the rest.

Templates are the messages made in MessageDesigner module and are saved to file
system. User is able to choose a template for each profile and map the items to the
columns in the used datasource. By pressing the preview button, user is able to see the
template preview.

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Target printers section holds the information about the IJPs to which the print-item
commands shall be sent. User can select a single printer, multiple printers or select a
group of printers.

6.3 Edit Profile

The edit functionality opens a dialog box like create profile dialog shown earlier with all the
fields’ values populated for editing. User can make necessary changes and can save the
profile.
User can select a profile to open in edit mode by clicking on the Edit icon as shown below:

This will open up the edit dialog. User can update different fields, preview data and once
done save the changes by clicking Save button:

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6.4 Delete Profile

Delete icon can be clicked to delete a profile. However, if profile is already being used in
a Job (see Jobs section) then deleting a profile is not possible and a related notification
will be shown. User first need to un-link the profile from job and then delete it.

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6.5 Print Job Management

This module provides the possibility to manage various print automation jobs. The module
can be accessed by clicking the Job management in the main Print Automation
Navigation.
Using this module, end user can create new Jobs and control its execution.

Main page displays information into table format. User can select which column to show/hide
by selecting the check-boxes on the UI.

Column Name Description

Job Name Displays Job Name
Job-Run How many time, a job has been executed.
Batch-Number Display Batch number.
Last Run At Date Time Stamp of last job run.
Printers Target printer(s) separated by a comma.
States Job state, see job state table
Action UI controls for various job options.

Each job is represented by a separate row in the User Interface. User can perform
operations by UI controls in the Action column:

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Here is the description of each action:

Action Description
Edit Opens Edit-Job dialog.
Start Start the Job (will change to pause button once job started).
Pause Pause a running job (will change to resume button once job is puased).
Resume Resume a paused job (will change to pause button after resume).
Delete Delete the Job (also deletes all reporting data).
End Job Mark the Job as completed (if it is not completed).

6.6 Create Job

User can create a new Job by clicking Create Job button. It will open a form as shown
below:

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Below are descriptions about these fields. You can also find more information about each
field by clicking ? icon next to field label:

Job Name: This field is used to give a user-friendly name to a Job to remember it easily.
Type: This drop-down provides different type of jobs. Currently only two types of jobs is
available: RS232 Automation and Modbus Messaging.
Profile: This drop-down allows user to allocate a profile to the job which was created
earlier.
Repeat: This field allows user to provide a value for the repeat number of each job.
Select row(s): Disabled. This field is deprecated as this behavior can be achieved by
Batching mechanism
The following fields are helpful from error recovery scenarios:
Remaining Repeat: In case of error, this field will be updated by HCSS with remaining
repeat quantity. User can overwrite it to adjust the remaining repeat count.
Resume from: In case of error, HCSS will update this field with value of last data row
(data-line) processing from the data source. When the job is executed again, it will start
from the data row indicated by this value. User can change this value if needed.
Buffer Full Timeout: A time interval in minutes. HCSS will retry to recover from buffer full
error situation for this duration.
Batch Size: The amount of data to be sent to the IJP in one run.
Batch Number: Auto-increment number with each batch completion. User can override.
Include Buffer Clear: This field enables users to choose if they want to clear buffer before
the job starts.

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6.7 Edit Job

User can edit a Job by clicking the Edit button and it opens an edit form as shown below:

After making necessary changes, user can click the Save button to persist the changes or
Cancel button to discard those changes. User can click Data Preview button to preview
the data as shown below:

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6.8 Delete Job

By clicking Delete button, user can delete a Job. When delete button is clicked, it will show
a confirmation dialog for the action. If user confirms the action, the job will be deleted.

6.9 Run Job

User can Run a job by clicking the Play button for any Job in the list as shown below. Note
that multiple jobs can be run simultaneously if there are no target printers in common
among them, otherwise the jobs will conflict and go to error status.

6.10 Job States

A print Automation Job can be in one of the following states:

Job State Description

Not Started Default state for job when created
Started Start button clicked, job is started.
Ready To Print Data is sent to IJP Buffer.
Finalizing Sending data to IJP buffer is finished or stopped. Calculating and
finalizing related parameters/status.
Paused Sending data to IJP buffer stopped.
Completed Job is completed successfully with e.g., 50,000 batch size
Failed Job is failed (status column can be clicked for more info)
When job cannot finish e.g., 50,000 batch size, it will show failed as well.

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When a Job is failed, user can click the status icon to see more detailed information about
the failure:

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6.11 Dynamic Jobs Management

This module provides a dynamically manageable job form to the users which have the
following specifications in addition to the standards normal job management:

 Search
 Filter
 Print preview
 Define different print repeat for each row
 Print single/multiple selected rows
 Cancel printing
In the following, you can read more about dynamic jobs’ from.

6.12 Add new dynamic job

After navigating to the dynamic jobs from, you will see the form below:

In the profile dropdown, you can select a profile from the available ones made in profile
management module. The table will be populated automatically with the data in profile
datasource. The default value of communication protocol, buffer full timeout and print
repeat for each row are “RS232Automation”, “1 minute” and “1” in order. User is able to
change all these values as well as “include clear buffer” value.
All print operations are logged and reports can be viewed from Job page by clicking the
Dynamic-Jobs entry. This job will be automatically created by the system and will contain
logs related to operations on Dynamic jobs UI.

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Print preview button demonstrates the templated filled in with chosen mapping for that
specific row.
Status column shows the current status.

6.13 Execute dynamic jobs

By clicking on “print all rows”, all the rows will be printed. If user wants to print specific
rows, he can select them and click on “Print selected roes.” For printing only one row,
user can easily print on printer icon at the end of that row.
f the job related to each row.
Filtering icons can be used to limit the search criteria (only available in database data
source).
Notification text area shows the status of job execution and any results/error related to
it.
Cancel Printing button can be clicked to cancel the current executing job.

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6.14 Job Details, Data Persistence, Reporting and Exports

HCSS stores all the data sent to IJP via print-automation in the database for each Job
run.
Various reports are generated based on the stored information. These reports can be
viewed in the HCSS (in data-table forms) as well as can be exported to CSV for further
processing with external tools such as MS Excel and reporting purposes.
User can see Job Reports/details by clicking the Job-Name from the print-automation UI
as shown below:

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The following details will show up with summary information:

Following is the information about individual Tabs for various reports. Following are the Tabs
description:

Tab Name Description

Details Display Job Summary
Run Logs Data table view for all the job execution along with data and the
job status.
Duplicate Logs Data table view of duplicated records.
Lost Items Date table view of lost items (items, which were sent to IJP-buffer
but can not be assumed printed due to process
interruption/issues.

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Details Tab: Reports Job summary information.

Details Tab shows basic information about Job itself and Total for the following items as shown
below:

Item Description
Total Run Display how many time a job is executed.
Total Batch Total number of batches.
Total Print Records Total number of records across all batches.
Total duplicates Total number of duplicated records across all batches.

Run-logs Tab: Reports details of individual Job run, along with timestamp and status.

Status Description
Printed Item was printed (assumed printed)
NotPrinted Item was not printed (assumed not printed)

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Duplicate-logs Tab: Reports duplicate data along with Job Run, batch number and TimeStamp (if
any)

Lost-Items Tab: Reports print-item sent to IJP buffer but lost due to production line issues (if any)

Date table view of lost items (print items, which were sent to IJP-buffer but can not be assumed
printed due to process interruption/issues.

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6.15 Data Filtering and Export

Report Data Filtering

User can add/remove filters by clicking the filter icon on the table:

CSV Exports

User can export data in CSV format by clicking the export button on the UI. These files can
then be processed in other software for reporting purposes, as needed.

(Note: user can use filters to limit the export of data, if needed).

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6.16 RS232C Limitation

When using RS232C protocols, Print-Count value is currently not available from IJP thus HCSS print-
automation service cannot precisely calculate the printed/not-printed items.

In this case, all the acknowledged items will be considered as printed (lost-item tab will be always
empty).

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6.17 Configuring Wait Period for HCSS Print Automation (Modbus)

Print-Automation Job flow (modbus) has a wait period stage (default 10-seconds) which allow IJP to
print any remaining buffer content after all the data has been sent to IJP buffer.

Depending on IJP printing speed, this wait period can be adjusted (via configuration).

Following is simplified print-automation job execution flow. Kindly not that this flow is only
applicable to Modbus protocol.

In case of RS232C (tunnel communication), PrintCount is not available and also wait-period stage is
skipped.

Following screenshot shows the config file location and configuration key (GetPrintCountDelay)

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Example – Calcuclate Wait Period

Given,

IJP printing interval = 300ms,

IJP Buffer size + number of items on screen(ex. 1 item) = 100 items + 1 item

GetPrintCountDelay should be >= 30.3 seconds (300(ms) x 101(items) = 30300ms)

If GetPrintCountDelay value is set to less than this value, then it will be not enough time for print
completion by IJP and print automation job will result in Failed.

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7. Dashboard
The dashboard is a powerful tool to provide a more convenient approach to see and
analyze the printer’s data and parameter by visualising data into charts and graphs. By
using this visualization graphs and charts you or printer support technician can analyze
printers data to find any issues in an early stage.

7.1 Select printer to view the data

By clicking Dashboard in the menu bar you will see the list of all printers which send and
logging data. By selecting a printer and clicking on the card you will see the dashboard for
the selected printer. To view the dashboards of a printer simply click on each printer card.
In the image below you can see the Dashboard Device List.

7.2 Search printer in Dashboard Device List

In the Dashboard Device List page, you can search for a printer by name. This will be
helpful when you see a long list of the printers. You can write the part of the printer name
or whole name to filter and select the printer.

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7.3 Printer Connection Status

The icon in the top right corner of each printer card shows the latest connection status of
the printer. If it shows a green icon , It means the system can acquire the parameters
of the printer. The printer connection status will be green (connected) if the printer sends
data in the past 5 minutes. The red icon means printer is not connected to the software
to acquire the parameters
7.4 Default Dashboard
Default dashboards are pre-defined dashboard which shows you the standard way of
visualizing printer’s data. You cannot change or delete these dashboards but you can
create a new dashboard base these default dashboard which called User Defined
Dashboard. The “Default” word at the end of the dashboard’s name indicates this is a
predefined dashboard.

7.5 Printer Details Dashboard

Printer Details Dashboard is the default dashboard that you will see after selecting any
printer in Dashboard Device List page. This dashboard shows a general overview of
printer data.

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7.6 Part Usage Time Dashboard

Part Usage Time Dashboard is a very useful dashboard which shows the printer’s parts
usage time. You can see the usage and the remaining lifetime of the printer’s parts. By
knowing this, you can replace the printer’s parts in advance to avoid any overuse and
problem.

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To Understand Part Usage Time Widget you should know that there are three different
colours to indicate the status of a Part lifetime:
Green (Normal): The part has not been reached the replace time.
Orange (Warning): The part has been reached to the near of its replace time and you
should consider and planning to replace it according to the printer’s manual and
instructions.
Red (Overuse): the part has been reached to the replace time and you should replace it
according to the printer’s manuals and instructions as soon as possible.

The small indicator shows the maximum recommended part usage time.

7.7 Master Dashboard

Master Dashboard includes all data of the printer in various type of graphs and charts.
Therefore you can easily change this dashboard to create your favourite dashboard.

7.8 User-Defined Dashboard

The User-Defined Dashboard is a feature to let the user, create a new customized
dashboard based on the customer requirements. By having this option, you can change
the layout and the position of widgets, and delete unwanted data widgets.

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7.9 Change Default Dashboard

For change default dashboard in the same dashboard click the Edit button. By Clicking the
button Edit bar will be shown similar to the following image.

You can delete any unwanted data widget by clicking the widget delete button. Also, you
can move the widget by drag & drop. For resize the widget you should put mouse courser
on the border of the widget. Then you will be noticed that the shape of the cursor is
changed. At this situation by keep pressing the left mouse button will be able to resize the
widget size.

After changing the dashboard you must choose a unique name for the dashboard.
Then you should click the Save As button to save this modified dashboard as a new
User Defined Dashboard.

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7.10 Change User-Defined Dashboard

For User-Defined Dashboard in addition to the ability to copy and modified a new
dashboard base on the previous dashboard, you can modify the dashboard and save the
changes. To change a User-Defined Dashboard select it and click the Edit button. Then,
you can see the Save button in the Edit Bar of the User Dashboard as well as the Save
As button. The difference is that by clicking Save As button a new copy of modified
dashboard will be created, but by clicking the Save button the selected dashboard will be
modified and saved.

7.11 Filter Dashboard Data

You can filter the source data for displaying in the dashboard. For instance, you can filter
the data between two date. In any dashboard page, you see the Command Bar.

The Date filter let you change the date range of the source data to see the exact data.
Moreover, you can change the device directly in a dashboard. By selecting a device from
device list the dashboard data will be updated accordingly.

7.12 Live Data vs Historical Data

Live Data: HCSS Dashboard can show live data which let the user monitor the latest
printers parameters. When you select Live Data, all charts, graphs and widget data will be
updated continuously based on the latest device data. This mode let the user monitor the
current status of the device.

Historical Data: Historical Data let the user monitor the printer parameters between two
date. When you select Historical Data, all charts will be filtered to show the parameters(last
20 values) of the select device in the specified date range.

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When you select Historical Mode, the Date Range input control will be added to Command
Bar to filter the data. User can set up the Time Range that he want to see, and HCSS will
show the last 20 status of the selected range. (Currently, only the items that shown as
chart can show historical data).

This mode let the user monitor the current status of the device.

Information: When you change printer’s communication protocol to RS232 Tunneling

HCSS service can not communicate with the printer and will not collect dashboard data.
In other words, the dashboard module only works in Modbus protocol.

Information: HCSS Dashboard use ElasticSearch as a data store. Data will not save if
ElasticSearch has an issue. A common problem is low disk problem. When the installation
drive run out of the space (less than 10% free space) data will not saved. As a result you
can not see new data and will not update properly.

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8. Users Management

Users Management module provide an easy way to manage different Users, Roles and
Permissions for HCSS application.
Customers can manage users and control the access to the different modules of HCSS, such
as Dashboard, Message Designer, Printer Management, Group Management and Users
Managemen. Permissions are fine grained controls and are associated with Roles. A User can
belong to one or more Roles.
Following are the functionalities offered by User Management module:

 Manage Users.
 Manage Roles.
 Associate Users to Roles.
 Manage Permissions for Roles.

A built-in user account, Admin with a default Admin role is created automatically by the
system on installation. Customers can use this account to create more users, roles and setup
their permissions.
User can log into the system with a valid username and password:

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User’s first name and last name is being displayed in the nav bar. User can access the “change
password” page through the navbar:

User can change his/her password by providing the old password, new password and
confirmation of new password:

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Users can access the Users Management page if they have proper permission setup by
Admin.
Users Management module is organized is two tabs i.e. Users and Roles.
In the User tab, users can be managed. New User can be created. The password of each user
can be reset. Users can be removed, enabled or disabled. Moreover, roles can be assigned
to the users.

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The password of a user can be reset through the “reset password” dialog:

Roles can be assigned to a user:

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In the Roles tab, roles can be created, removed or assigned to users:

Roles can be assigned to the users:

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Permissions can be managed for every roles except the default one (admin):

In this scenario access of the “Message Designer”, “(Print Management) Printers” and “(Print
Management) Group” modules are assigned to the “operation” role. Also, “ChangePassword”
module is by default enabled for this role. It means, every user that has the “operation” role
will have the access to the mentioned modules.

9. Landing Page
HCSS version info can be seen by clicking on the following page (Page will show version info
depending on the HCSS version installed):

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10. Warnings

Please note that there are some function limitations of current Hitachi Software Suite
V2.0.0 as shown below:

1. Depending on the capability of different Ink jet printer model, some message
designed on HCSS may not be received by Ink jet printer. At this situation, HCSS
will pop up an error message. (For example, send a six lines message to UX-
D140W).
2. The Ink/Makeup remaining level monitoring function are not available for UX-P and
RX-SD Ink jet models.
3. The line space can only be set up to the value of 2.
4. The Calendar/ Count/Shift Code/ Time Count character cannot exist with any other kind of
character together in one message item. If a message contains any items with more than
one kind of character, it cannot be shown properly on HCSS.
5. Preview messages from printer will select messages one by one as print message and
take time.
6. HCSS cannot support to send a free layout message contains any items with X
coordination greater than 256 to Printer.
7. The dedicated characters cannot be displayed properly in HCSS. The print
message contains dedicated characters may not be able displayed properly on
HCSS.
8. If the Char.Size menu 1 of Ink Jet print is set as 5x7, Dot-Matrix 5x8 or 9x8 sent
from HCSS will turn to be 5x7 or 9x7 automatically.
9. The leading 0 of Serial number (on Unit Information page) cannot be displayed.
10. Items on Comm. Environment Setup page only support monitor printer status,
remote control is not functioned.
11. HCSS cannot be used together with SOP-05.
12. Certain Antivirus software and/or security policies on host system can prevent
HCSS functioning properly.
13. Print Auomation module can be used together with Dashboard, Message Designer
and Printer Management modules when IJP communication is set to Modbus.
14. Print Automation module only supports ASCII encoded data.
15. Note that multiple jobs can be run simultaneously if there are no target printers in
common among them, otherwise the jobs will conflict and go to error status.

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11. Contact US
If any further information is needed, please contact with local delivery office.

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