Automating BarTender |
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Automating BarTender by using APIs is a task that is intended for developers who are experienced in writing their own code. As an alternative to using APIs, you can create one or more integrations in Integration Builder, which provides a user interface and tools to make it convenient to set up and customize your automated tasks. Integration Builder is available in the Automation and Enterprise editions of BarTender. For more information, refer to |
You can use BarTender APIs to create automated processes to integrate BarTender with external applications, such as an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, and to cause BarTender to perform certain tasks automatically. For example, you can automate the following types of tasks:
Printing BarTender documents
Running actions, such as the following:
Sending an email message or writing to a message log
Writing content to a file, moving a file or folder, or sending files to an archive
Searching for and replacing content in a file
Reading data from or sending data to a network socket or serial port
Exporting a BarTender document to an image
Retrieving or configuring a document's settings, such as the document’s name, password, printer, and serialization support
Automating Librarian functionality, such as adding files, checking files in and out, rolling back file revisions, getting file information, and running workflow transitions
Retrieving information from the BarTender System Database, such as the following:
Application messages
BarTender print jobs and print job status messages
Printer Maestro print jobs and event messages that are related to print jobs
Printer Maestro inventory control messages
Security permissions checks that are requested by applications in the BarTender Suite
Running existing legacy BTXML script to send a BarTender print job through the Print Scheduler service
The API that you will use is determined by the tasks that you want to automate and by the environment and programming language that you are working with.
We recommend that you use the BarTender REST API whenever possible. It supports all programming languages and Windows, non-Windows, and network environments.
The APIs in the BarTender .NET SDK are specific to Windows environments and use only .NET languages and therefore are of more limited utility than the BarTender REST API. They continue to be supported but will not be added to in the future and will eventually be completely superseded by the BarTender REST API.
Use the BarTender REST API to access REST endpoints that you can use to automate your system on a Windows or non-Windows platform. By using the BarTender REST API, you can use most types of programming languages, including C#, Java, Perl, or Python.
The BarTender .NET SDK provides a .NET development environment that interfaces with any .NET language to provide resource management and extensibility. The SDK supports Windows environments.
The following APIs are available:
Librarian API: Provides a way for users to access the functionality of Librarian, which is a revision control system that is installed with the BarTender Suite.
Print Scheduler API: Provides a way to print BarTender documents, export a BarTender document to an image, and retrieve or set a document’s settings, such as the document’s name, password, printer, and serialization support.
System Database API: Provides methods to programmatically connect to the BarTender System Database, search and retrieve information, and filter stored data.
Print Engine API: Provides a managed interoperability wrapper for the BarTender print engine. This API has been superseded by newer technologies and should be used only for testing and backward compatibility.
Print Server API: Provides scalable, task-based management of large or complex print jobs. This API has been superseded by newer technologies and should be used only for testing and backward compatibility.
Older automation methods are supported for testing and backward compatibility purposes and include the command-line interface and ActiveX Automation.
Use BTXML script to pass print job data to BarTender by using Extensible Markup Language (XML) in a script that is passed by using the BarTender REST API, an Integration Builder integration file, a Process Builder process file, or the BarTender .NET SDK. Legacy methods, such as the command-line interface and the ActiveX Automation interface, are supported for testing and backward compatibility.
