TFORMer Version History

New Features

• ZIP64 Support
  The SDK can now open layout files compressed in ZIP64 format, making it compatible with DotNetZip and many other libraries. Previously, only the initial ZIP format (32-bit, 4 GB limit) was supported.

Bug Fixes

• SDK will now trigger an exception if output folder does not exist (TFO-12055).
• Fixed a bug with the report footers that caused a deadlock when printing at the bottom (TFO-12093).
• Fixed a crash when adding a new template based form to a repository (TFO-12104).
• Removed XMD file extension from System data field FORM (TFO-12096).
• Fixed empty exception message when PrintToStream is called without specifying the printer type (TFO-12095).
• The TFPrint parameter prefix "base64:" is now case-insensitive.
• Resolved a compatibility issue in the new print engine, ensuring that resizing of bands is only triggered by printed elements.
• Improved accuracy of floating-point serial data fields (string to double conversion).
• Removed unnecessary line feeds from tfprint command-line output.
• Fixed an access violation that occurred with invalid base64 encoded repositories and data files.
• Resolved UTF-8 encoding issues on Linux platforms that occurred with Find, FindReverse, KeepAny, RemoveAny and Mid functions (TFO-12106).

New Features

• New Functions
  
  • AnsiToHex(): Converts text to ANSI and encodes it as a hexadecimal string.
  • DecToHex(): Converts a decimal number to a hexadecimal string.
  • TextToHex(): Converts text to a specific encoding and encodes it as a hexadecimal string.
  • Min(): Returns the minimum of two given values (TFO-11914).
  • Max(): Returns the maximum of two given values (TFO-11914).
  • Ceil(): Computes the smallest integer that is greater than or equal to a given number (TFO-11914).
  • Floor(): Computes the greatest integer less than or equal to a given number (TFO-11914).
  • Clamp(): Clamps a given value between the given minimum and maximum values (TFO-11914).
  • Clamp01(): Clamps a given value between 0 and 1 (TFO-11914).
  • Lerp(): Linearly interpolates between 2 given values by a third value which is between 0 and 1 (TFO-11914).
  • LerpUnclamped(): Linearly interpolates between 2 given values by a third unclamped value (TFO-11914).
• ZPL Output
  
  • Reduce job size by image cropping. Cropping is enabled by default, but can be turned off by using SDK option zpl-image-crop.
  • Added Zip compression, which is now the default compression of the embedded image.
  • Horizontal and vertical lines are no longer anti-aliased.
  • Anti-alias for image scaling has been disabled.
  • New SDK option zpl-comments to enable ZPL comments (default: off). If this option is enabled, TFORMer adds comments to the job, specifying document name, resolution, etc.
• New Experimental Features
  
  • Option to specify default application printer.
    Supported options are: System default printer, last used printer and user defined printer.
  • Option to store last used directory for file output, images, form files and ZUGFeRD files.
  • Option to show user confirmation dialogs for deleting elements in the repository tree and deleting data fields, data sources and data source parameters in the design tree.
• Added the ability to lock layers and components to ignore them during mouse or selection operations. Pressing the Ctrl-Key will temporarily ignore the locked state of layers and elements.
• Added Chinese punctuation characters to internal line break function (TFO-11785)
• Improved internal font metric caching (affects speed and memory footprint)
• Added common date expression to expression dialog (yyMMdd)
• New print engine will now defer starting the print job until the first to be printed page is detected.
  Also the media and tray settings of the first to be printed page will be used for initializing the print job.
  This fixes problems with Windows printer drivers that do not allow changing media formats or trays during a print job.
• Improved internal error handling.
• Improved fine-positioning of elements. Use tenth of grid size as small move value (metric system only).
• SDK Option Print-To-File
  Added new SDK option for Windows printers to redirect output to a file.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed wrong column break in dynamic width detail bands (TFO-11843).
• Fixed: In justified type, soft line breaks are no longer treated as the end of a paragraph.
• Fixed invisible filter box in design tree after closing layout file (TFO-11949).
• Fixed a rare problem with the scroll position in the property list that occurred after a selection change.
• Fixed a bug with the positioning of report footers that should be printed at the bottom and use a page break before or after.

Visual Studio Runtime

• TFORMer now uses the runtime of Visual Studio 2019.
• The SDK dependencies have been updated (see developer manual redistribution and deployment).

Templates

• General Motors 1724-C (Revision 2018)
  Added ShipmentID, suppress empty data fields (Part Number) in 2D code.
• Nutrition Labels
  Added frame and minor layout fixes (TFO-11797, TFO-11544)
• Swiss QR-Bill
  
  • Upgraded to version 2.2
  • Removed trailing line feeds, improved field validation (Info_Message) and notifications, support spaces in the reference field (TFO-11691)
• Autoliv AS244
  
  • Fixed 2D Code for empty production or dispatch date
  • Minor layout fixes (truncated caption, line width)
• VDA 4902
  Minor layout fixes (unified line width)
• SEPA
  2D codes now suppress line feeds at the end (TFO-11886).

Improvements

• Adjustments to the ZPL output
  
  • The resolution command (^JM) is now set within a label format (^XA, ^XZ block) (TFO-11725).
  • The documentation command (^FX) containing the form name is no longer generated (TFO-11725).
  • The ZPL header value in the default configuration file was changed to an empty value instead of "^MMT". If the original value (^MMT) is used, it is replaced by "^XA^MMT^XZ" to match the ZPL reference (TFO-11725).
  • Some ZPL commands like (^LS, ^LT etc.) are now generated only once before the first label and no longer on every label.

New Features

• SDK Option MediaType
  Added new SDK option to allow setting the media type (e.g. transparent) for GDI printers.
• Random number generation has been updated.

Bug Fixes

• File output (PDF, Image, Postscript) now uses the form name if no file name or only an output path is specified by the printer, the DocumentName expression or the tfDocumentName system variable (TFS-11686).
• Fixed an error in splitting text elements that could result in the output of blank pages (new print kernel).

New Features

• Filter Support
  For finding design elements quickly, this version adds filter support to the layout tree, repository tree and various dialogs (e. g. expression editor, data field selection dialog, template selection dialog).
• Added Open Containing Folder command to repositories, projects and forms (TFO-11274).

Bug Fixes

• Field mappings of data sources are now case-insensitive (TFO-10924).
• The design view now updates errors when the CSV path changes (TFO-10589).

Templates

• LTO
  
  • Added LTO Avery L4775, L7162 and Herma/Avery DIN A4 templates.
  • Updated LTO Avery, NetC and WorldLabel templates to 'US Letter' format.
• Swiss QR-Bill
  The validation rules and validation messages for the Creditor_IBAN, Reference_Type and Reference_Data fields have been updated.

Bug Fixes

• Security Hotfix: zlib 1.2.12
  The updated zlib version 1.2.12 fixes security issue CVE-2018-25032.

New Features

• Unit of high-resolution barcode properties like Module Width has been changed on US systems from inch to "mils" (TFO-11287).
• Repository forms now support new property SDK Options.
• Updated images in TFORMer QuickPrint.

Bug Fixes

• The incorrect fine positioning of elements (ALT + cursor) on US systems has been corrected (TFO-11312).
• When pasting forms to a repository project, the user can now choose between replacing or reusing already existing layout / data files (TFO-11276).
• Form Comment property is now copied too.
• Added error description for "Access denied" exception when file output is generated (e.g. File is read only) (TFO-10605).
• Improved output speed of PDF and PostScript barcodes (especially 2D barcodes encoding large amounts of data).

Templates

• BOSCH GTL - VDA 4994 (Automotive)
  New templates for BOSCH GTL - VDA 4994 (Revision 2021 and 2022) were added.
• BOSCH MAT (Automotive)
  New templates for BOSCH MAT (V16) were added.
• BOSCH Neutral Labels (Automotive)
  New templates for BOSCH Neutral labels were added.
• Swiss QR-Bill
  - The layout of the creditor field has been modified to avoid clipping of lowercase letters (g,p,y,q,j).
  - Validation rule of the field Creditor_IBAN has been updated.

New Features

• Repository and Form Locking
  Parallel access to the repository in TFORMer Designer is now possible via repository and form locking (get lock/release lock/open read-only).
• ZPL^® Control
  The new ZPL control allows embedding of Zebra^® Printer commands (ZPL II^®) directly into the layout.
• Barcode SDK
  Now using the barcode kernel TBarCode V11.13.0 (TFM-10876).
• New Functions
  
  • PadLeft(): Pads a string left with another string (multiple times if necessary) until the resulting string reaches the specified length.
  • PadRight(): Pads a string right with another string (multiple times if necessary) until the resulting string reaches the specified length.
  • BinToHex(): Converts a binary string to a hexadecimal string.
  • DecToBin(): Converts a decimal number to a binary string.
  • HexToBin(): Converts a hexadecimal string to a binary string.
  • AnsiToBin(): Converts text to ANSI and encodes it as a binary string.
  • TextToBin(): Converts text to a specific encoding and encodes it as a binary string.
  • FormatToBin(): Converts a format string to a binary string.

Bug Fixes

• The undo of the deletion of a repository form now restores all form properties.
• The undo of repository project deletion now restores all project properties, form and data field entries (TFM-10618).
• Print data of new unsaved forms is no longer reset when printing or opening the preview (TFM-10669).
• When copying a repository form, the lock file is no longer copied (TFM-10696).
• The input and display of position and size properties for rotated elements in the design view has been improved.
• Fixed an issue in the new print kernel that ignored the "Suppress error message" property of barcode components (TFM-11164).
• The new print kernel now evaluates the form property "DocumentName" correctly (TFM-11208).
• Fixed an issue in the new print kernel that caused text printers to not work properly when band splitting was allowed.
• Fixed a rare crash in the expression editor.
• Fixed automatic font resizing for characters that require a font change (TFM-11240).
• Fixed an issue in the FormatEx() function (shifted decimal places for values < 1).

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused TFORMer SDK not to delete temporary files when printing to ZPL^® printers (TFM-11141).
  Beside installing this update, users should delete TF*.tmp files in their temp folder or run the Windows Disk Clean Up Wizard.
• Fixed a problem in the Base-64 encoder used when generating ZPL output (TFM-11128).

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue in the new print kernel that could cause extra label (or page) breaks when using bands without height (TFM-11102, TFM-10918).
• Fixed an issue in the new print kernel that caused bands with column property set to not work properly (TFM-11082).
• Fixed a possible access violation when using text comparison operators (TFM-5659).

Bug Fixes

• A problem with the creation of the color palette for the GIF export of high resolution images has been fixed (TFM-10973).
• Fixed a possible access violation when exporting images from layouts that did not match the selected page size (TFM-10970).
• The new print kernel now evaluates the report document properties like author or subject correctly (TFM-10908).

Templates

• GM Automotive
  New templates for GM 1724 (Revision 2020-11) were added.
• DHL Templates (Transportation)
  DHL label templates were removed from TFORMer.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an offset problem with GDI printers when using the new print kernel.
• Shrinking text elements inside shrinkable printing bands no longer cause additional page breaks in the new print kernel (TFM-10830).
• Leading and trailing spaces are now ignored when searching for the correct GDI printer tray.
• Fixed orientation and rotation problems on ZPL printers in the new print kernel.
• When double-clicked, layout container files (*.TFZ) will now be opened by an already running TFORMer instance (TFM-10734).
• To improve the replacement of missing fonts under Linux, the integration of fontconfig has been adjusted.

New Features

• User Fonts
  Support for fonts installed for a specific user (rather than system-wide) has been added (TFM-10094).
  
• TFORMer SDK .NET Wrapper
  TFORMer SDK .NET Wrapper now uses .NET Framework 4.5 (instead of 2.0).
  
• ZUGFeRD / Factur-X
  Basic support for Factur-X and XRechnung files (ZUGFeRD 2.1.1) was added (TFM-10563).
  
• Fonts
  Added support for OTF fonts in CFF format (TFM-10358).
  
• Recent Documents
  The number of items in the list of recent documents has been increased from 4 to 10 (TFM-10780).
  

Bug Fixes

• Added support for && as valid logical AND and || as valid logical OR expression operators (TFM-9948).
• Fixed a crash when importing or creating a new form into a repository project (TFM-10212).
• Fixed a symbol font problem caused by fonts that provide no Unicode mapping (TFM-10233).
• Fixed custom landscape paper support for label printers like Zebra, CAB, etc., when using GDI drivers (TFM-10315).
• Fixed a bug that could cause a crash during initialization of the COM wrapper.
• Bands that have no height can now be changed in size using the mouse (TFM-10521).
• Fixed a possible crash when creating new forms, while actual data in design is active.
• Fixed horizontal positions of group footers following columnar detail bands (TFM-10668).
• Layer error display is now correctly reset (TFM-10678).
• The real data view was not correctly redrawn after element errors were fixed (TFM-10697).
• Fixed a problem in PDF generation caused by missing fonts, resulting in misaligned text (TFM-10676).
• Fixed a crash when only a report footer with the "Print below" property should be printed (TFM-10735).
• The new print kernel now takes into account the options "clear data fields" (TFPrint) and "ReuseValues" (SDK) (TFM-10742).
• The new print kernel now takes into account the SDK options "offsetX" and "offsetY" (TFM-10744).

Templates

• VDA 4992 (Automotive)
  New templates for VDA 4992 were added.
• VDA 4902 Version 4 (Spanish)
  Barcode data expression has been updated (TFM-10556).
• SEPA Template
  Amount field does now support comma and dot as a decimal separator.
• Ford GTL Master Templates
  
  • Fixed wrong DI for serial number.
  • Fixed empty date in PDF417 bar code.

General Improvements

• New Print Kernel
  The print kernel has been rewritten (preparation for future enhancements).
• Barcode Generator Kernel
  The barcode kernel is now linked statically. TFTBarcode.dll is not required anymore (TFM-5512).
• GDI Custom Paper Sizes
  Added support for custom paper sizes when using GDI printers (TFM-9030).
• New Function SafeDiv
  To allow better handling of division by zero cases in IIf statements, a new function SafeDiv has been added. SafeDiv(«Numerator», «Denominator», «DivByZeroValue»), returns «DivByZeroValue» if «Denominator» is 0, otherwise the result of the division of «Numerator» by «Denominator» is returned.

TFORMer Designer

• Quick-Format
  Added new functionality to simplify the formatting of numeric and text fields. Quickly select predefined or provide custom formats.
• Label Design with Actual Data ("Real Data")
  Added new functionality to use real label data during the label design process. Label design is done using the data of the first record of the data source (used for label texts, barcode data and image expressions). The option can be turned on or off with a checkbox in the menu ribbon.
• Show Element Boundaries
  Added a checkbox to hide or show element boundaries in the label design.
• Show Grid
  Added a checkbox to hide or show the grid in the label design.
• Design Settings
  Design settings like data view column widths and current zoom are now stored and get reapplied on loading (TFM-5474, TFM-6057).
• ZIP-File Support
  ZIP files that include one label design (TFF file) can now be opened directly with TFORMer Designer using the file open dialog. Embedded images are supported.
• TFZ File Extension for Save As... and Open...
  TFZ files are compressed containers that include one label design (TFF file), the default print data and images used by the layout. The TFZ file extension allows the user to start editing the file by double-clicking it. In addition, TFZ files can be directly uploaded to the online label generator (https://label.tec-it.com).
• Other Improvements
  - Improved tooltip text for data fields with errors in expressions (TFM-8459).
  - The edit dialog for text uses the last screen-position and size within the same TFORMer Designer session.
  - Added a message bar to the design view so TFORMer Designer can provide hints and warnings to the user.

TFORMer SDK

• New API for Printing Results
  Added new functions to retrieve detailed information and data field values after a print job was finished. See Job.GetPrintResult and Job.SetPrintResultType in the TFORMer SDK documentation for more information.
• New API for Data Field Details
  Added a new function to retrieve data field related properties. See Datafield.GetDetails in the TFORMer SDK documentation for more information.
• TFORMer SDK Java Wrapper
  - Made the print method nonblocking (TFM-8329).
  - Renamed the method setParameterValues to setParameterValue (TFM-5694).
  - Fixed some problems that caused the wrapper not working properly with Open JDK (TFM-9323).
• TFORMer SDK .NET Wrapper
  • TFORMerException Changes (TFM-5519)
    - Message property will now provide a formatted error message (including Description, Information, and Reference values).
    - New property Description that stores the text previously provided in the Message property.
    - New property Reference that stores the error source provided by TFORMer SDK. Source property of the base class Exception will not be modified.
    - Removed property setters for ErrorCode and Information.
• Other Improvements
  - Moved RecordCopyDataField from Job to JobDataCSV, JobDataXML and JobDataODBC (TFM-5478).
  - Added RecordCopyDataFieldIsXMLAttribute to JobDataXML.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue caused by splitting print areas containing resizable elements across multiple pages (TFM-9980).
• Fixed the processing of barcode data in hexadecimal format (TFM-8540, TFM-8543).
• Improved support of custom paper sizes on GDI printers (TFM-10050).
• Improved support for symbol fonts (TFM-10136).
• Fixed rendering of rotated labels with text margins (TFM-9109).
• Corrected the label height when created by dropping a data field onto the label design (TFM-9058).
• Fixed a crash in TFORMer Designer when pasting data fields, print settings or data sources into the design tree without a valid selection.
• Fixed a problem that caused computed fields of type float being truncated to two decimal digits (TFM-9067).
• Fixed a performance problem with the edit text dialog on systems with many installed fonts.

Templates

• VDA 4994 (Automotive)
  New templates for VDA 4994 and VDA 4494 KLT were added.
• GM 1724 Revision 2018 (Automotive)
  New templates for GM 1724 (Revision 2018) were added.

Bug-Fixes

Merged from 8.1.2

• A problem with the creation of the color palette for the GIF export of high resolution images has been fixed (TFM-10973).
• Fixed a possible access violation when exporting images from layouts that did not match the selected page size (TFM-10970).

Templates

• DHL Templates (Merged from 8.1.2)
  DHL label templates were removed from TFORMer (TFM-11015).

Bug Fixes

• COM Wrapper (Merged from 8.0)
  Fixed a bug that could cause a crash during initialization of the COM wrapper (occurs e.g. in Excel).

Bug Fixes

• Hex Format (Merged from 8.0)
  Fixed the processing of barcode data in hexadecimal format (TFM-8540, TFM-8543)

Bug Fixes

• Print Area (Merged from 8.0)
  Fixed an issue caused by splitting print areas containing resizable elements across multiple pages (TFM-9980)

New Features and Bug Fixes

• TFORMer SDK Java Wrapper (Merged from 8.0)
  
  • Made the print method nonblocking (TFM-8329)
  • Fixed an issue that prevented usage with Open JDK (TFM-9323)

New Features

• New Barcode SDK
  Now using the barcode kernel TBarCode V11.9.0.

New Features and Bug Fixes

• Designer
  
  • Selecting an element by clicking will not auto align it anymore (TFM-9032).
• GDI Printers
  
  • Disabled font linking for fonts handled by the GDI printer driver (e.g. device fonts) (TFM-9186).
  • Fixed a deadlock that occurred when GDI printer drivers were asking for a file name (e.g. "Save File As" Microsoft XPS Printer or PDF File Printer) (TFM-8666).
• New Barcode SDK V11.8.2
  
  • A memory leak on non-windows systems has been fixed.

Bug Fixes

• TFQuickPrint
  Addressed an issue which caused an access violation when the application was closed (TFM-8904).
• Font Substitution
  Addressed an issue which could lead to an access violation when TFORMer tried to substitute a missing font (TFM-8906).
• ZPL-II Output (Zebra Printers)
  The label top ^LT and the label shift ^LS commands are now customizable (TFM-8927).
  • Added settings for lt and ls command to the TFORMer.XML configuration file.
  • Added new SDK options zpl-lt and zpl-ls

New Features

• Highlighting Option in TFORMer Designer
  Added an option to disable mouse over highlighting of design elements (TFM-8730).
• SDK Options
  • Locale allows the user to specify the locale when generating output (TFM-8750).
  • CupsOptions is used to hand-over CUPS printing options on Linux/UNIX systems (TFM-8771).
• Nutrition Label Templates
  Added new label templates for nutrition labels (based on US FDA requirements).
• Barcode SDK
  Now using the barcode kernel TBarCode V11.7.2

Bug Fixes

• Number Format on Linux/UNIX
  Addressed an issue which caused wrong number formatting if no thousands group separator character was specified (TFM-8683, TFM-8682).
• Non-Breaking Spaces in Expressions on Linux/UNIX
  Non-breaking spaces (&nbsp;) in expressions are now treated as spaces (TFM-8679).
• Embedding JPEG Images in PDF and PostScript Output
  Addressed an issue with invalid meta data and output size: Meta data and thumbnails are now removed from JPEGs when embedded in PostScript and PDF output (TFM-8665).
• Duplex Option for PostScript Output
  Addressed an issue with duplex printing (TFM-8717).
• Custom Paper Format on Windows Printers
  Forms that use a custom paper format will now use the default paper format on Windows printers (TFM-8748).

New Features

• Temporary File Usage
  
  • TFORMer SDK
    Base64 decoding is now done in memory (TFM-8578).
  • PDF Output
    TrueType subset-fonts are now created in memory (TFM-8579).
• Barcode SDK

  Now using the barcode kernel TBarCode V11.7.0.

  New Bar Codes

  • PPN Code
    Pharmacy Product Number - a Data Matrix based code used in the pharmaceutical industry.
  • NTIN Code
    National Trade Item Number - a Data Matrix based code used in the pharmaceutical industry.
  • Swiss QR Code
    A QR code variant used for Swiss banking and payment services.

Bug Fixes

• TFORMer Designer: Edit Text Dialog
  Icons are now correctly displayed on systems using a screen scaling of 125% or higher.
• ZPL RLE Compression
  Increased speed of ZPL RLE compression on Linux and Unix systems (TFM-8587).
• Paper Format Selection
  If the required paper format is not provided by the Windows printer driver (e.g. "A4" is named "A4 (210 x 290)"), TFORMer tries to find the paper format by using the corresponding paper id (TFM-8577).
• Text-Printer Output
  Better support of escape sequences on text printers (TFM-8614).

New Features

• Functions for Conditional Headers/Footers
  To ensure consistent output behavior when using page headers and page footers with printing conditions, the functions IsInReportHeader( ) and IsInReportFooter( ) were added. The following label templates now use these functions instead of IsLastPage( ):
  • Automotive:
    Automotive VDA 4906, VDA 4939 Sendungsbeleg, VDA 4939 Transportbeleg, VW VDA 4939 Sendungsbeleg, VW VDA 4939 Transportbeleg.
  • Customs Forms:
    movement certificate, certificate of origin, forwarders export declaration, country of departure export declaration
• New SDK Options
  Added new SDK options for improved image output: colormode, color-mode, jpeg-quality, dither-mode, dont-dither-text.
• Barcode SDK
  Now using the barcode kernel TBarCode V11.6.0.
  • Data Matrix Rectangular Extensions (DRME)
    Added support for new Data Matrix rectangular sizes according to ISO/IEC AWI 21471 (8x80, 8x96, 8x120, 8x144, 12x88, 20x36, 20x44, 20x64, 22x40, 22x48, 26x40, 26x48, 26x64).

Bug Fixes

• Number Format on Linux/UNIX
  The current locale now determines the number format on Linux/UNIX (TFM-8182).
• SDK XML Import: Number of Copies
  When importing XML files using the internal XML file format, the number of copies will be recognized correctly again (TFM-8362).
• Font Manager
  Fixed a memory leak in the internal font manager.

Known Bug

• Data Matrix
  On some Linux builds (e.g. RHEL 6, 7) the Data Matrix Base 256 mode encodes wrong data if Byte values >= 0x80 are encoded. This may occur with special characters in the Latin-1 or UTF-8 character set, but also with binary data. The problem does not occur with the standard ASCII character set. See TBC-8526 for more information.

New Features

• New SDK Option for ZPL Compression Mode
  Added the support for a new ZPL-compression option, which allows to override the ZPL compression programmatically.
  Allowed values are none, rle or png.
• Barcode SDK
  Now using the barcode kernel TBarCode V11.5.0.

Bug Fixes

• CSV Import on Linux/UNIX
  Fixed UTF-8 character import and line ending detection.
• UTF-8 support for human readable barcode text on Linux/UNIX
  Fixed a problem that caused UTF-8 HRT to be converted to ANSI on Linux/UNIX systems.

New Features

• Error Indicator in Tree View
  Parent nodes now show error information for child nodes (TFM-8068, TFM-8073).
• Warning Indicator in Tree View
  Added support to indicate warnings in the design tree view.
  
• Barcode SDK
  Now using the barcode kernel TBarCode V11.5.0.
  
  • New Barcode: Royal Mail Mailmark 4 State
    The Mailmark barcode is used on Royal Mail mail pieces and should be used instead of Royal Mail 4 State.
• TFORMer SDK
  
  • COM API: New Function AppendToDataField
    Added a new function AppendToDataField to JobDataRecordSet objects (TFM-7966).
  • CUPS Support on Linux/UNIX
    Fixed a problem caused by an deprecated API function.
• Quickprint
  - Added the Ford Global Transport Label templates (Revision 2017) (TFM-7813).
  - Added the MAT Data Matrix MASTER label (TFM-7935).

Bug Fixes

• Truncated Output
  Output will now be generated for all data records regardless of the precalculated number of output pages (TFM-8021). Previously, truncated output may be caused by the usage of NumPages, NumLogPages or IsLastPage in printing conditions. Therefore the following enhancements have been added:
  - Warning message will be displayed if NumPages, NumLogPages or IsLastPage is used by a printing condition.
  - Warning indicator in the tree view if NumPages, NumLogPages or IsLastPage is used by a printing condition.
  - Warning message if preview reaches last page and NumPages or NumLogPages does not match precalculated values.
• Font Combobox
  Fixed a problem that caused some special font-names missing in font comboboxes (TFM-8105).

New Features

• Barcode SDK
  Now using the barcode kernel TBarCode V11.4.0.

Bug Fixes

• Page Footers
  Fixed wrong output position for page footers with different heights and printing conditions (TFM-7884).
• Barcode
  Postscript: Fixed wrong text position for centered or right aligned text that included characters like (, ) and \ (TFM-7805).
  PDF: Fixed wrong barcode position of free rotating barcodes using center, right or bottom alignment (TFM-7806).
• Preview
  Preview is now clipped to page sizes (TFM-5539).
  Preview flickering is now reduced.
• Unix
  Fixed a problem that could cause a crash when the font provided for printing unicode-font-errors did not support ANSI characters (TFM-7859).

Templates

• MAT-Label Templates (Automotive)
  New: Added the MAT Datamatrix MASTER label.

New Features

• Font Linking
  Adds font fallback for missing characters in fonts.
  If a font does not support a character, TFORMer tries to switch to a hard-coded "linked" font supporting this character.
  This behavior can be turned off by using SDK option font-linking=no.
• Font Substitution
  Adds font fallback for missing fonts.
  If a font required by a label layout is missing on a system, a hard-coded alternative font will be used (e.g. Liberation Sans Narrow will be used instead of Arial Narrow).
  This behavior can be turned off by using SDK option font-substitution=no.
• Text Serials
  Added support for serial text fields.
• Pasting RTF or Plain Text
  Pasting RTF (rich text format, e.g. by Microsoft Word) or plain text will place the text including format information into the selected text element.
• SDK Option String
  Added the support for a new layout option, which allows to override the page layout specifications of a label design programmatically.
  Examples:
  
  layout={rows=6 columns=2 row-height=3cm column-width=7cm row-spacing=2mm columns-spacing=2mm margins={left=1cm top=1cm right=1cm bottom=1cm}}
  layout={rows=auto columns=auto row-height=auto column-width=auto row-spacing=auto columns-spacing=auto margins=1cm}
• Dialog "Select Label Template"
  Dialog "Select Label Template" is now resizable.
• Repository Forms
  Added support to open multiple forms at once. The Open Forms command now supports multiselect.
• New Setup Application
  A new setup application is used, it now contains both 32 bit and 64 bit components. The setup downloads the C++ redistributable for Visual Studio 2015 on demand.

Barcode SDK

Now using the barcode kernel TBarCode V11.3.2.

• New Barcode Type: UPU S10
  UPU S10 is used for identifying postal items. This generic barcode type was implemented by several post authorities.
• Support of Data Matrix Rectangular Extension (DMRE)
  The symbol sizes defined by the DMRE are now supported (8x48, 8x64, 12x64, 16x64, 24x32, 24x36, 24x48, 24x64 and 26x32).

Bug Fixes

• Temporary Files
  Fixed a bug which caused TFORMer Designer to not delete temporary files (TFM-6940).
• Formatted Text Editor: Pasting RTF Text from Microsoft Word
  Pasting RTF text that uses automatic text color works properly now.
• ZPL-II Output (Zebra Printers)
  The print width is now always sent to the printer using the ^PW command (TFM-6063).
• System Fields
  Fixed wrong values in Record, NumRecords, PrintedItems and NumPrintItems for record sets containing records that have a RecordCopy value of 0 (TFM-6723).
• ODBC 64 Bit API
  Retrieving data values from 64 Bit ODBC drivers was fixed.
• TFORMer Data View
  - Fixed a memory leak when pasting XML data.
  - Fixed a crash in the data view when adding new fields to virtual/imported data (TFM-6941).
• Images
  - Fixed a crash caused by rotated 4-bit images.
  - Fixed an image clipping bug on Microsoft Windows for PostScript output (TFM-7744).
• SDK
  - Fixed TFormer_IsDesignerAvailable and TFormer_OpenDesigner to work properly when TFORMer SDK and TFORMer Designer are installed side-by-side (TFM-6711).
  - TFormer_AddNewForm will now create an empty form if required (TFM-6764).
  - Fixed some problems that caused the .NET wrapper not working properly when used within Visual Studio 2015 UWP projects.

Visual Studio Runtime

• TFORMer now uses the runtime of Visual Studio 2015 (Update 3 RC).

Templates

• Ford Global Transport Labels
  Added the new Ford Global Transport Label Templates as of revision 2017.
• MAT Label Templates (Automotive)
  - New: The unit can now be specified in the Quantity field.
  - Fixed: Quantity needs the 12ISO3 (e.g. 1234567890123mmm999) format in the 2D Code as documented in the MAT specification (TFM-5759).
  - Fixed: In some cases a PDF417 symbol does not fit into bounding box (TFM-7728).
  - Fixed: Purchase Order Number was missing in the KLT Label Data Matrix Code (TFM-7722).

New Features

• System fields tfProductName and tfProductVersion
  
• Extended CheckDigits method to support field-specific check digits for GS1 codes (TFM-6479).
• Added Suppress Error Message property for picture element.
  
• Added Meta Information properties to allow customization of document creator, producer, title, subject, author and keywords. These information is used when generating PDF, PostScript and HTML output. The current values can be accessed by using the system fields tfDocumentCreator, tfDocumentProducer, tfDocumentTitle, tfDocumentSubject, tfDocumentAuthor and tfDocumentKeywords.
• The Expression Editor shows calltips based on the current word.
• Tooltips in the Expression Editor are now word wrapped.
• Added copy and paste support to layer elements (TFM-5002).
• Saving a repository form will now save the repository too (TFM-1780).
• Saving a repository will save all corresponding open forms too.

Bug Fixes

• The output engine now avoids rendering of invisible lines, rectangles and ellipses (either with line-width 0 or with no color and transparent background).
• Deadlock in the output engine when growable text fields used flush bottom attribute (TFM-6548). TFORMer hangs (Linux) or creates more than 4000 pages (Windows).
• Output engine occasionally crashed when preparing internal structures for win32 print drivers.
• The Print Dialog now correctly remembers the Postscript file output option.
• The SDK options in the Print Dialog will not influence other TFORMer settings anymore.
• The type of the ZUGFeRD-XML property (data field, file or expression) is now considered correctly.
• The Document Name property can now be specified as fixed text, expression or as data field.
• Several text properties now provide a Browse button to open a multiline edit box. Fixed a problem when texts with line breaks where pasted (in this case the property value became uneditable).
• Added the missing "GT" in the PDF417 barcode of the GM 1724 A label.

TFORMer Quickprint

• The preview is now based on current data field values.
• Added tooltip indicators for errors caused by data field values.
• Added tooltip indicators for data field information.
• A layout is reloaded automatically on changes (TFM-5825).
• Fix: Corrected a problem with document copies.

Hotfix

• Windows XP
  Fixed a compatibility issue with Windows XP, removed dependency on the system function GetTickCount64() from TFORMer Designer.

New Features and Hotfixes

• PDF/A Support
  PDF/A is an ISO-standardized version of the Portable Document Format (PDF) specialized for the digital preservation of electronic documents.
• ZUGFeRD PDF/A-3 Support
  The new output format generates PDF/A-3 files and attaches the given ZUGFeRD-invoice XML file to them.
  The ZUGFeRD-invoice XML file can be specified by:
  
  • A new report property named ZUGFeRD-XML
    This property specifies the file to be embedded (based on expression, data field or file name).
    
  • A new SDK option named zugferd-xml
    The SDK option overrides the report property ZUGFeRD-XML.
  • TFORMer print dialog
    TFORMer will ask the user to select a ZUGFeRD-XML file if the report ZUGFeRD-XML property is empty.
    
• PDF Output Improvements
  PDF generation was improved (ToUnicode Map, Char Width Array, Operand Order).
  
• Improvements for Importing XML Print Data into the TFORMer SDK
  - Importing empty records is now possible without an error.
  - The capitalization of several node names is ignored again.
  - Invalid XML files will return correct error messages.
  
• TFORMer Print Dialog
  User settings are not reset after printing.
  
• Embedded Expressions
  Increased the maximum length of expression strings from 8 KB to 64 KB (TFM-6410).
• ODBC Datasource Edit
  Fixed a deadlock when retrieving table names (TFM-6409).
  
• Directory Connector (TFORMer Server Repository)
  Added basic support for relative path names (TFS-4090).
• Printer (TFORMer Server Repository)
  - Added a new ZPL footer property (TFS-6402)
  - Changed the default values for ZPL-header and ZPL-compression properties (TFS-3702)
  - Changed the type of the ZPL-Scaling property to an enumeration (TFS-3702)
  
• Linux^® and UNIX^® Systems
  
  • TFORMer SDK 7.5 is now available for Linux^® and UNIX^®.
    
  • TFORMer.ini can now be used for licensing.
    
• TFORMer SDK Java Wrapper
  Fixed a problem (NULL Exception) in FormLayout.getDataFieldUsage.
  

Hotfixes

• Layout View
  Fixed a problem that prevented the expansion of collapsed bands.
• CSV Files
- Improved performance of reading CSV files.
- Escaped text qualifiers are now supported (Eg. "Abc""abc""" will be read as [Abc"abc"]).
- TFPrint will now correctly read CSV records with multiline values (TFM-6062).
• XML Datasource
  Fixed a problem that caused some correct XML files to report an end of file error.
• Preview
  Persistent serials will not cause a deadlock when refreshing a cancelled preview.
• Samples
  Printing tool for Microsoft Excel now uses correct field names when providing data to TFORMer (TFM-6233).
• SDK Custom Media Format
  Custom media format can be specified as 'media=custom.10cmx12cm' or 'media=10cmx12cm' (TFM-6108).
• New Templates
  KLT (small load carrier) and GLT (large load carrier) labels for ZF.
• New SDK Options for Printing Barcodes and Images
  The SDK options tbarcode-drawing-mode and transparent-image-drawing-mode can now be used to control certain aspects when printing barcodes or transparent images on Windows printers.
• TFORMer SDK (for Microsoft Windows)
  The TFORMer SDK is now correctly unloaded from memory. This fixes a problem where TFPrint.exe was not able to set the ERRORCODE correctly (TFM-6348).
• Barcode
  Using new barcode kernel TBarCode V11.2.2.

Hot-Fixes

• Datasources
  - ODBC Datasource: Added the option local copy to cache data locally (using forward only cursor) (TFM-6058).
  - XML Datasource: New option reuse values will not clear data field values between records; reduced memory consumption.
  - Edit Datasource Dialog: Automatic data field mapping now supports names longer than 32 characters; Preview is now limited to 100 records.
• Barcode
  - Using new barcode kernel TBarCode V11.2.1.
  - Optimize barcode did not work properly (TFM-6075).
  - Property list: Added mouse wheel support to barcode type combobox.
• PDF Font Subset Embedding
  Embedding composite glyphs like ä, ö and ü did not work properly for some fonts.

Enhancements

• Data View Improved
  Improved loading, saving, selecting, copying and pasting in data view.
• TFQuickPrint
  Command line now supports loading custom layouts (.tff).

Hot-Fixes

• New SDK-Option for Rotation
  Specifies the additional counter-clockwise output rotation in steps of 90 degrees (will be added to the rotation of the form) (TFM-6063).
• Random Values
  Random values calculated in pre-evaluations are now working as intended in text and barcode elements (TFM-6060).
• Band Selection
  Shift-clicking on a band header does not clear the selected elements (TFM-6061).
• New Elements
  Elements created by clicking into the design view are now fully visible (TFM-6103).

Hot-Fixes

• TFORMer QuickPrint
  
  • System printers are now visible in the printer settings dialog.
  • TFORMer SDK error messages (e.g. validation messages) are now displayed to the user.
• TFPrint
  Fixed a possible crash caused by validation messages containing a percent character (%).

Hot-Fixes

• New Barcode-Kernel TBarCode V11.2.0
  Added the Royal Mail CMDM Mailmark barcode.
• Band Paste
  The selected band is used as insert position when pasting or inserting bands (TFM-5957).
• New Templates
  
  • VW GTL labels version 4.1.2
  • MAT KLT label

Hot-Fixes

• 'Page Break Before' Handling
  Fixed a problem that caused Page Break Before to work only on the first label of a page.
• Text Splitting
  Splitting of shifted and/or flushed text across multiple pages did not work properly.
• Clipped Descenders
  If possible, the font output routines do not clip descenders (as in the letters g, j, p, ...).
• New SDK Option to Ignore Unknown Data Fields
  The new SDK option ignore-undefined-fields suppresses errors in the COM, .NET and Java API, when a JobDataRecordSet uses an undefined data field.
• SDK COM Documentation
  Fixed a bug in the SDK COM help which caused several hyper-links to fail.
• ZPL and Image Output
  
  • Fixed image positioning on rotated output (TFM-5932).
  • Improved scaling for freely rotated images.
  • Fixed a possible access violation in character clipping.
    

Hotfixes

• Datasources
  
  • Added copy & paste for datasources and datasource parameters.
  • More user-friendly display of properties with expressions.
  • Properties for filenames are now changed via an edit-dialog.
• Setup
  Subsequent setups (updates) now use the correct installation path (TFM-5850).
• DDE
  Fixed the DDE problem "There was a problem sending the command to the program." when the user opened a file.

Hotfixes

• Ribbon Combo-Boxes
  
  • On some systems using Windows Basic desktop settings the drop-down combo boxes (e.g. for font names) could not be opened.
  • Fixed a problem which required multiple undo-operations when changing combo-box entries.
  • Added the auto-complete feature to the font selection combo-box.
  • Corrected the value (e.g. font-name, font-size) shown in combo-boxes in floating mini-toolbars.
• ZPL-II Output (Zebra Printers)
  
  • Added setting for job-footer in the TFORMer.XML configuration file.
  • Added new SDK options (header, footer) for setting header and footer ZPL-II code.
  • Cutting mode is supported now (the label length is now always sent to the printer using the ^LL command).
• Multiline Default Values
  Better support for multi line default values (TFM-3754).
• Multiline Edit-Control in Quickprint
  Quickprint now shows multiline edit controls if the default value of a data field (see TFORMer layout) is entered with multiple lines (TFM-5829).
• Editor for Formatted Text
  When saving the TFORMer layout file characters after a tab were sometimes truncated.
• Tray Settings
  Tray settings now support custom values for page sizes (e.g. Custom.200mmx180mm). Useful for image output or Zebra printers with cutter.
• Undo and Redo
  Undo and redo are still possible after saving a document (TFM-5845).
• HTML Expressions
  < characters are now printed if followed by a digit or if no closing > character is found (TFM-5846).
• Barcode: Human Readable Text
  PDF, PS, Image and ZPL-II printers now ignore line breaks when printing the barcode text (TFM-5847).

Hotfixes

• Access Violation in Image and Zebra Printers
  Fixed an access violation that could occur when output got clipped.
• Parsing of Barcode-Options
  Barcode options are now correctly parsed.
• New Barcode-Kernel TBarCode V11.1.3
  New barcode options for Macro PDF417.
• Excel Sample
  Implemented a faster way to retrieve data from Excel.
• Rotation on GDI Printers
  Some printer drivers rotated output only on the first page.
• Positioning Element Properties
  
  • Left and right will not change width or height anymore.
  • Right and bottom were removed.

Hotfixes

• EXIF Resolution Information in JPEG is used (TFM-5706)
  
• Multipage TIFF Bugfix
  Multipage TIFF output was corrected.
• Fixed a Problem With Incorrectly Stored License Data
  On some locales TFORMer did not accept a valid license.
• Preview Speed Improved
  Bug-fix when previewing a document with multiple expressions and images.
• Avoid Multiple TFORMer Windows
  When double-clicked, layout files (*.TFF) will be opened by an already running TFORMer instance (TFM-5755).
• Improve Output Speed in Case of XML Data Sources
  Big XML data sources are now processed significantly faster (TFM-5767).

Hotfixes

• New SDK Option MediaSource
  This option is used to specify the printer tray by tray name or tray id.

Hot-Fixes

• New SDK Option MediaSource (Merged from 7.5.6)
  This option is used to specify the printer tray by tray name or tray id.

Hotfixes

• Printing Conditions
  Printing conditions are now re-evaluated when a band caused a page or label break (TFM-5660).
• Functions
  AddDays(): Subtracting days could lead to an invalid date (TFM-5652).
• Command Line
  Command line parameter handling was corrected when using the SingleInstance parameter (TFM-5633).
• Layout View
  
  • Fixed some minor bugs in ruler and grid rendering.
  • Clicking the horizontal scrollbar does not change the selection any more.
• Templates
  The Caterpillar shipping and parts identification labels (version 4.2, November 2013) were modified to comply with the latest requirements (left quiet zone of bar codes, separate EC# and LOT# SPLR SLED fields).

Hot-Fixes

• Preview
  Preview does now handle landscape correctly (TFM-5589).
• Edit ODBC Data Source Dialog
  Fixed a possible crash when retrieving table information (TFM-5596).

Hot-Fixes

• SDK Access Violation (Merged from 7.5.2)
  Fixed an access violation when loading the SDK DLLs (DLL, COM, NET, JAVA).
• TFM-5425: Access Violation fixed in 64 Bit SDK (Merged from 7.5.1)
  Fixed a bug in the 64 bit SDK, which could cause an access violation. The problem occurred in .NET 4.0+ (debug build).

Hot-Fixes

• Page Setup Dialog
  The page setup dialog now allows the user to apply arbitrary settings (TFM-5464).
• Options Dialog
  The settings for the grid and the page size are now shown in the selected measurement units (TFM-5464).
• Persistent Serials
  Persistent serials are now displayed trimmed, without trailing zeroes (TFM-5469).
• QuickPrint
  
  • The maximum number of label copies was increased from 99 to 9999, the maximum values for the start-row and the start-column are now 999 (TFM-5479).
  • The start-row and start-column are now handled correctly (TFM-5481).
• TBarCode Library V11.1.0
  This version uses a new barcode kernel (TBarCode V11.1.0). Added the Swedish Postal Shipment Item ID barcode (Code 128) and the corresponding Mod-11 check digit - see TBarCode SDK version history.

Hot-Fixes

• 64 Bit Java Wrapper
  Fixed a problem that caused an error when loading the 64-bit Java wrapper (TFM-5452).
• SDK Access Violation
  Fixed an access violation when loading the SDK DLLs (DLL, COM, NET, JAVA).
• Developer Manual
  Updated the distribution and deployment section.
• Templates
  
  • Caterpillar 2013 labels: Fixed the module width and the positioning of the supplier barcode in Caterpillar 2013 labels.
  • Caterpillar 2013 labels: Removed the formatting for the purchase order number (TFM-5449).
  • Siemens VDO label: Corrected the PDF417 data format (TFM-5404).

Hot-Fixes

• TFM-5418: Design View Scrollbar
  Double-clicks in the scrollbar are now handled correctly.
• TFM-5424: Missing vcomp100.dll
  The setup now includes the Microsoft VC100 OpenMP DLLs. There were problems with loading the TFORMer .NET SDK on Windows 8.
• TFM-5425: Access Violation fixed in 64 Bit SDK
  Fixed a bug in the 64 bit SDK, which could cause an access violation. The problem occurred in .NET 4.0+ (debug build).
• Content Dialog
  Added Shortcut Ctrl+Enter to confirm changes.
• Developer Manual SDK
  The section "Distribution and Deployment" was updated.

New Features

• New Printing Tool
  The tool QuickPrint was rewritten completely. It's ideal for untrained users and provides quick label selection, a built-in data entry form and a preview panel.
• Freely Adjustable Element Rotation
  All elements (e.g. barcodes, rectangles, texts, ...) can now be rotated as required.
• New Snapping Mode for Faster Label Design
  This mode aligns elements to the edges or centers of other elements by showing so-called "Snap Line" markers.
• TFM-4634: Use Grid Settings for Band Sizing
  Band sizing operations in design mode now consider the "align to grid" settings.

General Improvements

• Improved User Interface
  TFORMer Designer now uses a ribbon interface and floating toolbars (optional) for better usability.
• Improved Setup for In-Place Updates
  In the future, TFORMer can be installed without uninstalling a previous version first.

New Label Templates

• Bring Parcels Transport Label
  Bring Parcels AB Transport Label (Version 20101101)
• Coliposte Colissimo Label
  La Poste Coliposte COLISSIMO EXPERT F (8V) Label (V0611-2)
• Parcelforce Domestic Label
  Parcelforce Worldwide Domestic Label UK (v1.0.0)

TFORMer SDK (Core)

• Visual Studio Runtime
  TFORMer uses the runtime of Visual Studio 2010.
• New Barcodes
  TFORMer is now able to generate
  • DotCode: a 2D symbology used for DPM,
  • Han Xin Code: a 2D code optimized for Chinese characters,
  • USPS Intelligent Mail Package Code: a postal code in use by the United States Postal Service.

Bug-Fixes

• TFM-5201: Date Calculations
  The functions AddDays(), AddWeeks() and AddMonths() now work correctly when using negative values.
• TFM-5035: CSV Import Crash
  The crash when importing a CSV file with empty lines was fixed. The crash occurred only when RecordCopy was bound to some column.
• TFM-5104: Deadlock in Data View Fixed
  Under rare circumstances moving to the last record in the data view caused a deadlock.
• TFM-5108: Corrected Flush Top for Horizontal Lines in a Page Footer
  Now the line is displayed correctly.
• TFM-5234: The Function Round() Returned Wrong Results when Using Negative Values
  The problem was corrected. In addition the precision parameter was changed from DOUBLE to LONG.

Known Issues

• PDF / PostScript Output
  Non-TrueType fonts like Script are printed as Arial.
• HTML Output
  The use of rotated text is not possible.
• Issues for “Big-Endian (Non-Intel)“ Operating Systems like HP-UX and AIX
  The EURO-sign (€) can’t be used on AIX.
  The image format TIFF is not supported.
• Arabic Fonts
  Arabic fonts are not directly supported.

Hot-Fixes

• TFM-5006: New SDK Option SavePersistentSerials
  This option is used to disable the automatic saving of persistent serial numbers. Allows SDK users to generate preview images without incrementing serials.
• TFORMer SDK
  
  • Fixed a problem that caused the SDK to ignore current serial values.
  • GetDataFieldUsage (COM/NET/Java) will not lock serials anymore.
• QuickPrint
  The preview disables now the automatic saving of persistent serial numbers.

Hot-Fixes

• TFM-5264: TFORMer SDK now works correctly with JRE 7 (libxml incompatibility)
  

Hot-Fixes

• TFM-5222: Page Headers, Report Headers and Report Footers are not clipped anymore
  Physical page headers, report headers and report footers will now be clipped to the page dimensions.
• TBC-5171: Corrupt PDF and PS output
  Fixed a problem that caused corrupted PDF and PS output when using barcodes.

New Features

• Additional Data Matrix formats
  Data Matrix now supports the formats "DP Postmatrix" and "Reader Programming".

New Features

• Barcode Alignment
  The alignment of bar codes is now adjustable (left, right, center, bottom, top, middle).
• Text Editor
  Editing text with embedded expressions was enhanced (expressions are highlighted and selected like fields in Microsoft Word).

Hot-Fixes

• QuickPrint Display Language
  The display language (German or English) is now based upon the system language.
• TFM-4884: Processing of so-called Umlaute in TFORMer SDK
  Umlaute are now treated correctly by functions like ToUpper() or ToLower().
• Measurement Units in the Page Setup Dialog
  All units are now displayed with a precision of 3 in millimeter or inch.
• TFM-4869: Strike-through Text in Combination with Super- and Subscript
  Strike-through text is now rendered correctly.
• TFM-4885: Invalid Data Source Warning
  The print dialog now displays a warning when using an invalid data source (e.g. file not found).
• TFM-4896: Media Mismatch Warning
  A warning is displayed in the print dialog if the media format of the layout is not supported by the target printer.
• TFM-4992: Text Data-Sources with UNICODE Characters
  Text data sources (e.g. TXT, CSV) containing UNICODE characters are now supported on Microsoft Windows.

Hot-Fixes

• PDF417 Barcode
  A bug in the data capacity checking routines was corrected, the PDF417 bar code can now encode larger amounts of data.
• TBarCode Library 10.2.7
  This version uses a new barcode kernel (TBarCode V10.2.7) - see TBarCode SDK version history.

Hot-Fixes

• Error when Printing on 32 Bit Systems
  Fixed the error message The data area passed to a system call is too small.
• Stock Label Template Dimensions
  Fixed the dimensions of some stock label templates (e.g. R5019).
• Option Dialog (German Language)
  Fixed the bar-code printing option dialog.
• Printing Dialog
  Bar-code options were not applied immediately.

New Features

• New Page Setup Wizard (Shortcut Alt+P)
  The new page setup wizard simplifies the configuration of the basic form layout. TFORMer differentiates between reports (simple, columnar and complex) and labels (single labels for label printers, label sheets, complex labels). Note: Layouts created with earlier TFORMer versions are displayed as complex variants.
• Print Text Blocks Across Multiple Pages
  Bands (and thus large text-blocks) may be printed across multiple pages (default for this version). Layouts created with previous TFORMer versions still perform band clipping (see option "Print Across Pages").
• Superscript and Subscript
  Text elements may now use ^super- and _{sub-scripting} (see Edit Text dialog).
• Soft-Hyphenation
  Text elements support soft-hyphenation (right-click in the "Edit Text" dialog). Valid soft-hyphenation character(s) can be adjusted in the options, the default is the HTML entity &shy;.
• Word Breaks
  In previous versions words may have been clipped. The current version performs a line-break to avoid clipping if the word-wrap option is turned on.
• Improved PostScript generation
  
  • The size of generated PostScript files was reduced significantly (new encoding algorithm for text and image data).
  • New output options for embedded images: maximum resolution, compression mode (Flate, RLE, JPEG), duplex mode (see options dialog).
• Barcode Support
  The code-page which is used for encoding the data can be specified (see Barcode Properties).
• New Spanish Localization
  TFORMer Designer is now localized to German, English and Spanish.
• User-Specific Interface Language
  TFORMer Designer stores the selected user interface language per user.

General Improvements

• Avery Templates
  The list of available Avery^® label templates was updated.
• Print Settings are Stored per User
  The print settings adjusted in the Options of TFORMer Designer are persistent now. Future sessions of TFORMer Designer and TFORMer SDK use these settings automatically.
• New Scripting Functions
  
  • CheckChar_ISO7064Mod37_2(): computes ISO 7064 mod 37-2 pure check character
  • RandomLng(): computes an integer random number
  • RandomDbl(): computes a floating point random number
  • RandomStr(): generates a random string
  • Lookup(): retrieves a value for the specified key.
• Enhanced Wordbreak
  In addition to the space character the following characters are now considered as word-break characters:
  • tab,
  • minus (-),
  • zero width space (#8203),
  • minus (#x2212),
  • figure dash (#x2012),
  • en dash (#x2013),
  • em dash (#x2014),
  • en space (#x2002),
  • em space (#x2003),
  • three-per-em space (#x2004),
  • four-per-em space (#x2005),
  • six-per-em space (#x2006),
  • figure space (#x2007),
  • punctuation space (#x2008),
  • thin space (#x2009),
  • hair space (#x200A),
  • medium mathematical space (#x205F),
  • hyphen bullet (#x2043)
• Extended HTML Entity Support
  If the text editor is used for HTML input (or when using HTML expressions) the following entities are now supported: &# and &#x (character specified by UNICODE character code).
• Improved Mouse and Keyboard Handling
  • Alt-key: toggle fine positioning mode
  • Shift-key while sizing with the mouse: toggle proportional sizing mode
  • Shift-key while moving with the mouse: toggles horizontal (vertical) moving mode.
• Data Field Validations
  Data field validations are now performed after all values for a record were set. Thus validation rules can check dependencies between data fields.

TFORMer SDK (core)

• Streaming Support
  The current version is able to generate PDF and image output as in-memory stream without any file system access. For PostScript and multi-page TIFF output, temporary files on the file-system may still be used internally.
• Advanced Printing Options
  Advanced printing options may be passed to TFORMer SDK and TFORMer Designer as a parameter list.

Bug-Fixes

• ZPL Landscape Output
  ZPL landscape output did not work properly.
• Invalid Handle Error when Embedding Image Files
  On non-GDI printers 1 bit image files caused invalid handle errors.
• GIF Images
  A threading issue while loading GIF image files was fixed.
• Deadlock in the JAVA-API
  A possible deadlock in the repository classes was fixed.

Known Issues

• PDF / PostScript Output
  Non-TrueType fonts like Script are printed as Arial.
• HTML Output
  The use of rotated text is not possible.
• Issues for “Big-Endian (Non-Intel)“ Operating Systems like HP-UX and AIX
  The EURO-sign (€) can’t be used on AIX.
  The image format TIFF is not supported.
• Arabic Fonts
  Arabic fonts are not directly supported.

Bug-Fixes

• Fixed PDF output on AIX
  Fixed a problem where PDF output on AIX was cancelled due to an "Invalid Time" error.

New Features

• Unlimited Demo License
  Now it is possible to retrieve a FREE test license via Internet. Such a license unlocks all features, no demo restrictions are applied for a limited time.
  

Label Template Enhancements

• VDA 4902, VDA KLT - Added additional languages
• GALIA ETI 9
• Odette OTL 3
• MAT Labels - changed margins
• VW GTL Label - updated according to Specification Ver.03 from 2010-08-27
• AIAG B-3, B-5, B-10, B-15
• GM 1724
• Business Card Templates - QR-Code now uses LOW error correction level

Bug-Fixes

• TFM-3738: Serial data field could not be initialized (start value) based on other fields
• TFM-3778: Drag and drop of files on start page did not work
• TFM-3793: Validation Rule: references to other data fields caused problems
• TFM-0000: Predefined page sizes for Legal, JuniorLegal, Letter, Ledger and Tabloid were fixed (TFORMer.XML)
• TFM-3803: Mid-function caused truncated results (negative or too big values for the len parameter).
  For instance: Mid ("12345", 1,-1) + "truncated text" resulted in "2345"
• TFM-3820: Repository class does now support BASE64 encoded TFF files
• TFM-3842: Fixed a possible deadlock caused by the JAVA API when accessing repositories

Known Issues

• PDF / Postscript Output
  Non TrueType fonts like Script are printed as Arial.
• HTML Output
  The use of rotated text is not possible (will not be implemented because there is no cross-browser solution available).
• Issues with Big-Endian Platforms (like HP-UX and AIX)
  The EURO sign (€) can’t be used on AIX.
  The image format TIFF is not supported.
• Arabic Fonts
  Arabic fonts are not directly supported.

New Features

• Improved PDF Generation
  Generated PDF files are now significantly smaller.
  Improved TrueType collection (*.TTC font file) handling.
• New TFORMer Server properties
  Used to configure the automatic management of external projects.

Bug-Fixes

• Fixed a possible hang when starting TFORMer Designer.
• The formatted text editor does not switch to the HTML source view in case of expression errors.
• TFPrint did not handle the RCA option correctly
  RCAname option is used to specify that the record copies are specified using an attribute field (XML only).
• ZPL and image output
  Improved text rendering.

Hot-Fixes (Build 6.0.2.14122 and Later)

• Crash with 64 bit SDK
  User defined configuration files may cause a crash (64 bit SDK only).
• Rotated rectangles have not worked on image and ZPL printers.
• Support for DDE commands was removed.
• Fixed a problem caused by localized font names (e.g. Chinese SimSun).
• An incompatibility with .NET 4.0 was fixed (exceptions when using repository functions).

Known Issues

• PDF / Postscript Output
  Non TrueType fonts like Script are printed as Arial.
• HTML Output
  The use of rotated text is not possible (will not be implemented because there is no cross-browser solution available).
• Issues with Big-Endian Platforms (like HP-UX and AIX)
  The EURO sign (€) can’t be used on AIX.
  The image format TIFF is not supported.
• Arabic Fonts
  Arabic fonts are not directly supported.

New Features

• Serial Numbers
  Serial numbers are now supported. If required the current values of serial numbers are stored automatically and may be continued in the next TFORMer session.
• Computed Fields
  Computed data fields were introduced. The value of such a data field is based on a user-defined expression.
• New Label Wizard
  Creation of new label layouts and selection of label templates was reworked. TFORMer now differentiates between labels for laser/ink-jet printer or for thermal printers. A search function simplifies locating predefined label templates.
• Edit Field Contents
  Editing field contents was improved. The new dialog provides an easy way to enter field names, expressions or formatted text.
• Tab Characters
  Tab characters in text elements are not ignored anymore (tab stops at 12.5 mm).
• New Startup-Screen
  A start-up screen was introduced. This screen offers fast access to common TFORMer functions.
• Print Preview
  The print preview now displays the margins of labels automatically. In addition, labels for thermal printers are displayed in their adjusted size.
• Data Sources
  Creating data sources was improved. The data source wizard now supports field assignments (source-fields to data-fields) in a better way.
• Date Functions
  Date and time computations are now better supported by the following new functions:
  • CDateEx(): Converts a string into a date. The conversion format to be used is adjustable.
  • IsDate(): Checks if a given string can be converted into a valid date using the specified conversion format.
  • AddYears(): Adds or subtracts the specified number of years to/from a date value.
  • AddMonths(): Adds or subtracts the specified number of months to/from a date value.
  • AddWeeks(): Adds or subtracts the specified number of weeks to/from a date value.
  • AddDays(): Adds or subtracts the specified number of days to/from a date value.
  • CDate(): Hint - This function now returns an empty date instead of the current system date if a conversion was not possible.
• Function CheckDigits («Method», «Text»)
  Calculate check digits according to Modulo 10, Modulo 43, Modulo 47, EAN, UPC, GTIN, Modulo 10 (Luhn Algorithm) and many others.
• Improved Layout Editor
  The layout designer now provides better visual feedback for various design tasks.
• Mass Printing - Print Dialog
  The maximum page number in the print dialog was increased from 9999 to 999999.
• Bar Code Printing
  The bar code printing method via Windows printer drivers is now adjustable. Rare problems with the high-precision method (used by previous TFORMer version) can now be avoided (see Extras->Options->Barcodes).
• ODBC Memo/Text Fields
  ODBC Interface now supports Memo and Text Fields. BLOBs are still ignored.
• Picture Components: Image-Type Recognition
  If the Image-Type can not be determined by using the file extension, the binary data of the image is now analyzed. This allows the usage of HTTP-streams as image sources.
• Setup: Backup of custom templates
  Existing templates are now backed up in the folder Templates_Backup during the install. Custom templates are preserved after a reinstall.
• Improved Licensing
  TFORMer Designer can now be activated online.

Additional Label Templates

• Caterpillar^® Shipping/Parts Identification Labels
  Includes templates for Single Pack Label, Master Pack Label and Mixed Load Label as specified by Caterpillar^® (Shipping/Parts Identification Label Standard Practice 20 – Version 3.0).
• MAT Labels
  New MAT label templates. These labels are used in the automotive industry and are based on the Siemens VDO label according to SN 525228-2. MAT labels complements existing VDA 4902, Odette and GTL labels.
• 2D-Code Business Cards
  New templates for QR code business cards (MeCard, vCard and URL barcodes) were added.

TFORMer SDK (core)

• Improved Error Descriptions
  The error messages for problems in conjunction with image download via HTTP/HTTPS were improved.
• ZPL Printer
  When printing ZPL directly to a printer the printer name is now correctly used.
• Tray-Selection
  As documented, the first band printed on a page now specifies the printer tray to be used.

Bug-Fixes

• Printer Selection in Tray-Settings Dialog
  Printer selection will now work under Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP.
• JPEG Compression
  PDF output now correctly uses the option JPEG-Quality.
• PDF Output Improvements
  The output was truncated or missing if a text field used several trailing spaces.
  Unicode-characters are better supported.
  The use of localized font names is possible. Some fonts (e.g. SimSun and SimHei) are identified by a country-specific string.
  The EURO sign and Symbol fonts are now embedded correctly.
• ODBC Memo/Text/Blob Data Fields
  Under some circumstances Memo, Text or Blob fields in SQL select statements caused a crash (ODBC driver dependent).
• Image-Printer: Distorted Text
  Some fonts caused a distorted output for small font-sizes (e.g. font Calibri pt12). Concerns GIF, JPG, PNG and also ZPL-II!
• Expression Editor
  The call-tip in the expression editor now shows correct tips if "(", "," or ")" is used in the expression. Sample: Iif (Find ( Datafield_1, "(" ,0)>0, "Found", "Not Found")
• Other Bug Fixes
  Crash with undo, crash when switching data sources, correct handling of the HTML entity & in formatted text elements, problems with network printers and tray selection, correct handling of duplicate source field names, error with CDbl and Modulo operator.
• TFM-3293: TrueTypeFont restricted permission causes weird characters in error message
  When TrueType fonts should be embedded (PDF or PostScript output) and a TrueType font was used that is marked as not embeddable, the returned error message included some weird characters for the font name.

Known Issues

• PDF / PostScript Output
  Non TrueType fonts like Script are printed as Arial.
• HTML Output
  The use of rotated text is not possible (will not be implemented because there is no cross-browser solution available).
• Issues for “Big-Endian (Non-Intel)“ Operating Systems like HP-UX and AIX
  The EURO-sign (€) can’t be used on AIX.
  The image format TIFF is not supported.
• Arabic Fonts
  Arabic fonts are not directly supported.

Fixes

• TFORMer SDK for AIX6.1 PPC
  A bug with font spacing (wrong font initialization) was fixed (all output formats). Bug occurred only in V6.0.1 of AIX version.

Fixes

• TFORMer SDK Developer Manual
  Visual Studio dependencies and TFORMer SDK product name were corrected.

New Functions

• User Interface
  Modernized user interface style to comply with actual standards.
  Option dialog was reworked.
• Data View
  Added “Hide Unused Fields“ option.
• Image Printer
  Fixed a crash that occurred with clipped bar codes (bar code position outside of page bounds).
  Fixed ignored JPEG compression option.
• HTML Printer
  Fixed transparent color (some components always used “white“ as transparent color).
• Configuration (TFORMer.xml)
  Added bar code “drawing-mode“ option for Windows^® printers.
• Update Dialog
  Added online check for updates (Internet connection required).

Improvements for Developers

• Report Generator SDK
  Renamed TFORMer Runtime to TFORMer SDK. TFORMer SDK is now available through a separate MSI setup!
• Thread Safety
  Fixed a thread safety issue on startup (internal font initializing).
• C/C++ Runtimes
  Changed dependencies: TFORMer SDK now requires Visual Studio 2008 Redistributables.
• Java Wrapper
  Fixed several threading and memory issues.

Known Issues

• PDF / PostScript Output
  Non TrueType fonts like Script are printed as Arial.
• HTML Output
  The use of rotated text is not possible (will not be implemented because there is no cross-browser solution available).
• Issues for “Big-Endian (Non-Intel)“ Operating Systems like HP-UX and AIX
  The EURO-sign (€) can’t be used on AIX.
  The image format TIFF is not supported.
• Arabic Fonts
  Arabic fonts are not directly supported.
• Documentation
  Some outdated screen shots in the user documentation.

New Functions

• Improved User Interface
  Layout design and testing was simplified with the optimized graphical user interface. Switch between layout view, data view and preview with a single mouse-click.
• Unified Datasources
  A wizard will help you to quickly and easily create ODBC datasources and file based datasources (XML, CSV, TSV ...). You can also create multiple datasources for one single layout and then switch between them as required.
• Field Bindings
  The field names used in external datasources can now be mapped to datafields in the layout easily. No renaming is required!
• Computed Fields
  Extend your datasource with computed fields. Computed fields allow you to do custom computations in a central location (like creating serial numbers, etc.).
• Datasource Parameters
  Parametrize ODBC datasources (SQL query and/or authentication) and file datasources (file name) by using so-called source-parameters.
• User-Friendly Manual Data Input
  Per default TFORMer offers a manual datasource for each layout. This datasource allows the user to manually enter data in a data grid.
• Rounded Rectangles
  TFORMer now supports rounded rectangles. The radius of the rounded corners is adjustable.

General Improvements

• Preview
  The preview is no longer shown in a pop-up window. You can now directly switch between layout and preview.
• Filtered Data
  The data provided by a datasource can be filtered.
• Vertical and Horizontal Alignment
  The elements in a layout can now be aligned vertically and horizontally with a few mouse clicks.
• PDF Output
  Various problems with fonts, font-embedding (creation of subsets to reduce the resulting file size), watermarks (image background of a layout) and with the scaling of images were fixed.
• HTML Output
  The HTML output now supports human readable text for barcodes, circles, ellipses and diagonal lines.
• Microsoft^® Windows^® Vista^® and Windows^® 7 Compatibility
  TFORMer can be used with the coming Windows^® 7 without any restrictions. (Tested with Windows^® 7 RC!)

Improvements for Developers

• DLL, .NET and COM API
  The API was extended in order to allow the selection of the newly introduced datasources and the setting of source-parameters.
• JAVA JNI
  A JAVA JNI API is now available for TFORMer Runtime. A source-code example showing you the use of this interface is included.
• Security
  The size and the download time for images can be restricted via HTTP (see TFORMer.XML).
• Extended Search Paths
  The search paths for TFORMer.INI (License) and TFORMer.XML (configuration) were extended. The use with .NET and IIS is now possible without problems.
• API Usability
  The calling order of some API functions is now irrelevant. This simplifies programmatic printing.

Bug-Fixes

• TFM-3976: ZPL Output
  Fixed memory leak issues when using PNG compression.

Fixes

• Downloading or accessing of image files through HTTPS was fixed.

New Features:

JAVA Interface (JNI) for the Report Generator SDK (pre-release).

Bug Fixes:

• Symbol sizes of Data Matrix and QR-Code are not displayed (Designer property dialog).
• Crash when printing watermarks in PDF documents.
• Problems with printing to ZEBRA printers in ZPL-II mode.
• Wrong page layout computation when using printing conditions.
• Space suppression for text-fields was corrected.
• Page rotation for PDF and PostScript output works now correctly.
• Problem with toolbar display on Windows Vista.
• Barcode printing was fixed when using < or > in the barcode format.
• API: dependencies (execution order, parameters) for the functions TFormer_SetPrinterName, TFormer_SetOutputName, TFormer_SetPrinterType were minimized.
• The printing process can now be aborted correctly.
• A possible crash in the functions Left, Right and Mid when using UTF-8 was fixed.
• PDF: Output with fonts using more than 65535 glyphs was fixed.
• PDF: handling of bold, normal and italic fonts was improved.

Fixes:

• ODBC DB2 (On importing data - an ODBC table - using the Data Import Wizard errors have been displayed: Tables couldn't displayed with the Wizard. Just a empty list was displayed).
• Computer crashed on generating PDFs with enlarged/scaled down images.
• Computer crashed on generating PDFs with fonts (65536 character sets).
• Problems with center justification in PDF.

Removed:

• UPS Labels from Templates (available to licensed UPS end users on request).

Bug-Fixes:

• On Windows Vista and Microsoft^® Windows XP SP3 printing on network-printers is now possible. This bug-fix affects both the report designer as well as the reporting SDK.
• The PDF output generator was improved to generate correct justified text output in all situations (the problem happened on unlicensed TFORMer installations in conjunction with bar-codes).

New Features:

• UNICODE: TFORMer now supports UNICODE and therefore covers almost all scripts in current use today. Examples are Chinese (汉语 / 漢語), Japanese (日本の), Hebrew (עברית), Arabic (العربية) or Russian (Русский).
• Direct Image Output: TFORMer is now able to print directly to image formats like BMP, GIF, JPG, PCX, PNG, TGA, TIF and multi page TIF.
• ZEBRA^® Printer Support: On demand TFORMer now generates ZPL-II compliant output. This feature is available on Microsoft Windows®, Linux® and UNIX®.
• Simplified use of Expressions and Data-Fields, expressions and data-fields can now be inserted into text elements much easier.
• Syntax Highlighting: The Expression Editor now supports syntax highlighting, auto-completion and call tips.
• Save as ZIP: Stand-Alone form layouts may be saved as ZIP-file from within TFORMer Designer.

Improvements:

• PDF Output with Embedded Fonts: Embedded fonts in exported PDF files produce less overhead.
• Performance: The performance of the .NET API of TFORMer Runtime was improved when retrieving form information.
• QuickPrint: The tool QuickPrint for fast and easy on-demand printing offers a better user interface.
• Serial Number Support: QuickPrint now supports printing of unique serial numbers. This also works in a multi-user or networked environment.

New Barcode Types:

• Aztec Code: 2D symbology with binary encoding support
• DPD Code: Linear symbology in use by "Deutscher Paket Dienst GmbH & Co. KG"
• Italian Postal Code 2of5
• DAFT Code: This is not a bar-code by itself. It allows low level (bar by bar) encoding of several postal codes.

COM / ActiveX Control Security Improvement:

In combination with Microsoft Internet Explorer the security of the COM version of TFORMer Runtime was significantly improved: TFORMer Runtime is now "site locked" as well as marked as "safe for scripting". Thus TFORMer Runtime V5.1 can be safely installed on any machine.

By default only the following zones are allowed to script TFORMer Runtime as part of web pages: local computer, intranet and trusted zones. All other zones are locked out. If you need to enable the full functionality of TFORMer Runtime within web pages please check out the documentation for details.

We recommend you to update all existing TFORMer Runtime installations as soon as possible!

New Features:

General:

• Windows^® Vista^® is fully supported. TFORMer is now compatible with Microsoft^® Windows^® 2000 or higher.
• Terminal Server is supported.

Design Features:

• Improved text capabilities: The text element is now able to mix arbitrary fonts, colors and styles within one element and can be formatted using the graphical user interface or directly using HTML syntax (e.g. Bold Text).
• Better support for special characters, especially when using Eastern European character sets.
• Embedded expressions: Expressions and data-fields are now embedded directly into text elements using the placeholders [ … ] and < … >. This feature simplifies form design substantially.
• Improved barcode engine: TFORMer 5 utilizes the latest version of TBarCode 7. EAN.UCC composite symbologies as well as RSS codes are supported.
• Additional barcode settings in TFORMer Designer: Bar-width reduction (“pixel shaving”) and optimize resolution for output device (better readability).

Output Features:

• PDF output performance improved, HTTP-links to external sources are supported.
• The performance of the PostScript output was improved.
• The accuracy of HTML output was improved.
• Transparency is now supported for image files.
• Adobe^® Type 1 fonts are supported under Linux and UNIX.
• The error-handling of TFORMer Runtime was improved and may be configured via TFORMer.xml (ignore, abort, print errors).

Smart Reports:

• Auto font-size for text: The font-size of a text element is automatically adapted.
• Dynamic size of picture and text-elements: The bounding box of such an element adapts automatically to the content.
• Shiftable elements: Elements adapt their position within the layout automatically.
• Simplified multi-column reporting.

Software Developers:

• Application Programming Interface (API) revised.
• New .NET and COM support: TFORMer Runtime is now available as .NET 2.0 component, as COM component, as DLL, as shared library (on Linux^®/UNIX^®) and as command-line application.
• TFPrint now supports ODBC connectivity.
• Minimized dependencies: ImageMagick dependencies were removed from TFORMer Runtime – thus reducing setup and maintenance efforts on Linux and UNIX platforms dramatically.

Additional Tools:

• A new tool for fast manual data entry and instant printing of arbitrary forms (“QuickPrint”) was introduced. This tool is available with source code.