®

DataMan Setup Tool

Reference Manual

01/16/2018
Version: 6.1.0.2
 Legal Notices

Legal Notices
The software described in this document is furnished under license, and may be used or copied only in accordance with
the terms of such license and with the inclusion of the copyright notice shown on this page. Neither the software, this
document, nor any copies thereof may be provided to, or otherwise made available to, anyone other than the licensee.
Title to, and ownership of, this software remains with Cognex Corporation or its licensor. Cognex Corporation assumes
no responsibility for the use or reliability of its software on equipment that is not supplied by Cognex Corporation.
Cognex Corporation makes no warranties, either express or implied, regarding the described software, its
merchantability, non-infringement or its fitness for any particular purpose.
The information in this document is subject to change without notice and should not be construed as a commitment by
Cognex Corporation. Cognex Corporation is not responsible for any errors that may be present in either this document or
the associated software.
Companies, names, and data used in examples herein are fictitious unless otherwise noted. No part of this document
may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, nor
transferred to any other media or language without the written permission of Cognex Corporation.
Copyright © 2018. Cognex Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Portions of the hardware and software provided by Cognex may be covered by one or more U.S. and foreign patents, as
well as pending U.S. and foreign patents listed on the Cognex web site at: http://www.cognex.com/patents.

The following are registered trademarks of Cognex Corporation:

Cognex, 2DMAX, Advantage, AlignPlus, Assemblyplus, Check it with Checker, Checker, Cognex Vision for Industry,
Cognex VSOC, CVL, DataMan, DisplayInspect, DVT, EasyBuilder, Hotbars, IDMax, In-Sight, Laser Killer, MVS-8000,
OmniView, PatFind, PatFlex, PatInspect, PatMax, PatQuick, SensorView, SmartView, SmartAdvisor, SmartLearn,
UltraLight, Vision Solutions, VisionPro, VisionView
The following are trademarks of Cognex Corporation:
The Cognex logo, 1DMax, 3D-Locate, 3DMax, BGAII, CheckPoint, Cognex VSoC, CVC-1000, FFD, iLearn, In-Sight
(design insignia with cross-hairs), In-Sight 2000, InspectEdge, Inspection Designer, MVS, NotchMax, OCRMax,
PatMax RedLine, ProofRead, SmartSync, ProfilePlus, SmartDisplay, SmartSystem, SMD4, VisiFlex, Xpand
Other product and company trademarks identified herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.

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 Table of Contents

Table of Contents
Legal Notices 2
Table of Contents 3
Symbols 5
Getting Started 6
About the DataMan Setup Tool 6
Overview 6
Installation and Layout 9
Installing the DataMan Setup Tool and Connecting the Reader 9
Tabs 9
Layout 11
Layout Customization 11
Using the DataMan Setup Tool 13
Connect 13
Process Monitor 15
Compare Configuration 19
Real Time Monitoring 20
Application Steps Overview 22
Optimize Image - Quick Setup 23
Code Details 27
Application Details 28
Format Data 31
Inputs / Outputs 34
Communications 35
Save Settings 37
Settings 38
Test Mode 38
Read Setups 39
Data Validation 40
Code Quality 41
Buffering and Transfer 42
Actions and System 44
View 44
Image Viewer 45
Results Viewer 47
Backstage Pages 49
Maintenance 49
Virtual Devices 50
Backup 51
Restore 52
Update Firmware 53
Device Grouping 54
Reader Groups 54
Custom Grouping 54
Managing Master-Slave Groups 56

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 Table of Contents

Image Playback 58
Options 60
Help 62
Troubleshooting 64
Image Acquisition 64
Communication 64

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 Symbols

Symbols
The following symbols indicate safety precautions and supplemental information.

WARNING: This symbol indicates the presence of a hazard that could result in death, serious personal injury or
electrical shock.

CAUTION: This symbol indicates the presence of a hazard that could result in property damage.

Note: Notes provide supplemental information about a subject.

Tip: Tips provide helpful suggestions and shortcuts that may not otherwise be apparent.

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 Getting Started

Getting Started
About the DataMan Setup Tool

Using the DataMan Setup Tool, you can access a wide range of options involving DataMan readers,
including reviewing images of the barcodes being read live, or setting up the reader to transfer no read images via FTP
for later review.
This powerful software simplifies initial reader setup and changing parameters of the readers you use. The DataMan
Setup Tool is a common platform across all models. It simplifies deployment by putting the most common controls in a
single page, allowing you to see how different options affect the reader in real time.

Overview
To be able to connect to your reader or base station on your computer, you must perform the following steps:

1. Install the DataMan Setup Tool on your computer.

2. Select the appropriate connection type and connect the appropriate cabling.
3. Power on your device(s).

The user interface is built up of the following main components:

Backstage: Upon starting the DataMan Setup Tool, the so-called backstage opens. It provides a means to start certain
operations like starting to work on the devices (connecting to them, monitoring them, monitoring the data of the selected
device or devices), or process monitoring, RTM, comparing configurations, or listing currently available user-defined
custom groups for editing.

This page is also accessible via the Home ( ) button.

Example:

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 Getting Started

You can navigate between the different backstage pages by selecting the horizontal tab headers on the left:

Document: A new document opens when the desired operation on the backstage is selected (e.g. you selected a device
to connect to and clicked Connect). The backstage control is automatically hidden, the newly opened document appears
and gets the focus. If more than one documents are open (e.g. there are more device connections), each document gets
its own tab. Switch between the different documents by clicking on their respective tab.
Example:

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 Getting Started

The Image Panel pane is always displayed by default, on the right hand side.
The currently active document’s title is shown in bold if it has the focus. You can switch between different documents by
clicking on the related tab. Documents can be closed by clicking the in the upper left corner of the tab.

Ribbon bar: The upper part of the window provides place for the context sensitive ribbon bar, the items (buttons,
checkboxes, etc.) differ for each document type. The ribbon bar shows controls for the currently active document.

Example:

The ribbon bar is context-sensitive, which means that its items (buttons, checkboxes, etc.) is different for each document
type and they show controls for the currently active (selected) document.
The following sections provide more details about the installation of the software and the components of the GUI.

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 Installation and Layout

Installation and Layout

In this section, you will learn how to install the DataMan Setup Tool, how it looks like and how the layout can be
customized.

Installing the DataMan Setup Tool and Connecting the Reader

Perform the following steps to install the DataMan software on the PC you will use to configure the settings for each
DataMan reader:

1. Check the DataMan Release Notes for a full list of system requirements.

2. Download the DataMan Setup Tool from http://www.cognex.com/support/dataman and follow the on-screen
steps.
If the installation utility does not start automatically, double-click on the setup.exe file in the installation folder.
3. Connect your DataMan reader to your PC.
4. Choose Start->Cognex->DataMan Software vX.X.X->Setup Tool to launch Setup Tool (where vX.X.X stands for
the relevant revision of the software).
5. In the Connect menu, click Refresh to have Setup Tool auto-detect the DataMan readers connected to
communication ports on your PC.
Any DataMan reader available over your network will appear in the Connect menu.
6. Select a COM port listing or Network device listing corresponding to your DataMan reader and click Connect.

For the most up-to-date information, consult the English-language documentation. The translated documents supplied
with some releases may not include recent updates.

Tabs
The tabs of the DataMan Setup Tool are context sensitive. Upon first opening the DataMan Setup Tool, you will see two
tabs: Home and View.

After selecting a device and connecting to it, more tabs will be available.

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 Installation and Layout

And the tabs also change based on the document you are currently using. For example, when using the Process
Monitor, you will have these tabs:

The tabs and their functions will be described later in this document with their respective views.

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 Installation and Layout

Layout
The DataMan Setup Tool makes it possible for users to organize the layout to fit the computer screen or to make the
desired components larger and make the less used ones smaller.

Layout Customization
As discussed in the previous section, the layout of the DataMan SetupTool is customizable. The components of the
application are:

l organizable to tabs
l pinnable to remain visible

l unpinnable to auto-hide on mouse leave

l dockable to different areas of the main window
l undockable from the application to a separate window

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 Installation and Layout

You can drag and drop the grabbed documents wherever you wish, but the ribbon bar
under View also offers buttons for tiling the windows horizontally or vertically:

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Using the DataMan Setup Tool

This section describes how to connect to a device through the DataMan Setup Tool, and it contains information on the
most essential functions that you can use when setting up your reader and reading codes.

Connect
The Connect page provides the ability to connect to a single device or several devices at the same time. The devices are
shown in a tree structure. The tree structure shows additional information for each device in separate columns.
The additional pieces of information shown are the following:

1. Device name and icon

2. Device type

3. Device address (IP address or port)

4. Firmware version
5. Status (e.g. Discovered, Misconfigured, Conflicting, In use)
6. The reader is open in the linked document
7. Interface (e.g. Serial, Network, HID)
8. The NIC (MAC address) via which the device was discovered
9. The Master Group the device belongs to in case of master-slave grouping

Click Refresh to refresh the list of available devices and their settings.

The tree and grid-like device list control provides the following options:

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l Sorting: Each column in the grid can be sorted, both in an ascending and a descending alphabetical order, by
clicking on the column header. The sorting direction is shown by a triangle. For example: or
. The triangle is shown only in the sorted column. By default, the Type column is sorted in an
ascending order.
l Grouping: You can use different groupings when showing the discovered devices. You can choose from built-in
groupings, but you can also define your custom groupings. The built-in groupings are the following:

They are based on the same data as the data in the related column of the grid. Only one grouping can be
selected at a time using the designated combo box. The default grouping is None.
For more details on reader groupings, see the Device Grouping section.

l Filtering: The text field filters the list of discovered devices based on the characters typed in.
The list of devices gets updated based on filtering on each key stroke. The filtering text can be cleared by deleting
the filter text or clicking on the clear ( ) button. The filter text is matched to each column in the device list grid
and only those rows remain visible that have a column which contains the text provided in the filter text.
l Expanding/collapsing the device tree: The displayed tree of devices can be collapsed and expanded fully, as

well as on a node-by-node basis. Full collapse or expand can be done with the designated buttons (expand: ,

collapse: ), whereas node-by-node collapse or expand can be done by clicking on the desired node’s

collapse/expand triangle ( ).

l Viewing hidden devices: You can view the hidden devices when the checkbox is selected.

After selecting one or more devices (click/Ctrl-click/Shift-click), a connection can be initiated by clicking the Connect
button or double-clicking on a device. Connection gets initiated to the selected device(s) and separate documents are
opened.

Upon connecting to a device, a device document is opened, it gets its own tab. For such a device, the Status column will
show "In Use" on the device list pages. The connection gets closed when its document tab is closed. If the device reboots
(e.g. because of a firmware update), the document tab remains open, the progress bar and messages inform you about
the current state of the device. If a connection is lost, the document tab does not get automatically closed, an overlay
message informs you about this event. If the reader goes offline, the overlay with the message stays there until the
device comes back online or until you close the document tab.

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Process Monitor
You can use the Process Monitor to check the operation of one or more devices at the same time with only a minimal
interruption in their work. This page can be accessed via Connect.

Selecting one or more devices from the list and clicking the button opens a single Process Monitor
document where the monitored data of the selected device or devices is shown.

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If more than one devices were selected, all will be shown in the Process Monitor, but you can add a new device to the
Process Monitor by clicking on Add to Process Monitor on the Connect page, which is available if you click the

downward arrow in the Process Monitor button: .

Read more about this option in Multi-reader Process Monitor.

Multi-reader Support
The DataMan Setup Tool allows connections to a number of readers simultaneously. You can select one or more
devices to connect to on the Connect backstage page.

Multi-reader Process Monitor

The DataMan Setup Tool can show performance statistics of multiple DataMan readers in a single Process Monitor
view. The Process Monitor backstage page displays readers that support such monitoring. Select one or more devices

and click the button to open a new Process Monitor document tab that displays real time statistics of
the selected readers.
More than one DataMan readers can be monitored on a single Process Monitor tab. A statistics panel opens for all
monitored readers and displays read and no-read count, percentage and other statistical data for the respective readers.
The panels are arranged in a tiled style.
Example:

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You can turn displaying read results and statistical data on and off by clicking on the respective buttons on the ribbon

bar: and .

Clear the read statistics in the selected panels any time during run time by clicking the Clear Statistics ( ) button
on the ribbon bar. The buttons in the Cell Selection ribbon group make it easy to select multiple readers before doing
mass actions:

More than one Process Monitor document tabs can be created, which show statistical data for different devices or device
groups.

Note: One device can be opened in only one Process Monitor document at a time. Devices that are already opened
in a Process Monitor document or opened for configuration are dimmed on the Process Monitor backstage page
and are shown as In Use.

Process Monitor views can be closed by clicking on the button on the left of the tab title. Titles of the tabs are auto-

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generated but the tabs can be renamed.

Readers can be added to already open Process Monitor views. The Process Monitor button becomes a drop-down
button if at least one Process Monitor view is started and the existing Process Monitor views are listed in the drop-down
menu. You can add a reader to the existing view by clicking the Add to option.

If more than one Process Monitor is open, you will see the list of available Process Monitors to which you can add the
newly selected device.

Readers can be removed from Process Monitor views by clicking the ’X’ button on the top-right corner, which appears
when hovering the mouse over the individual statistics panels.

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 Using the DataMan Setup Tool

Compare Configuration
Compare Configuration is a table view style tool used to set, copy, compare, or restore device configurations and
settings, which enables users of multiple devices to quickly synchronize configurations or check for inconsistencies.
Select multiple devices from the device list and click the Compare Configuration button to initiate the tool in a new
document that opens.

In the new document that opens, the table view lists all settings of the selected devices, while the ribbon menu on top
allows you a number of actions relating to these settings.

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 Using the DataMan Setup Tool

For more detailed information on Compare Configuration and its features, look for the Q and A panel of the page itself.

Real Time Monitoring

Real Time Monitoring (RTM) is a feature built into DataMan Setup Tool that allows for the collection and analysis of
different kinds of data related to devices on the network and their readings and displaying this data in graphs. RTM can
be connected to as a regular device on the Connect page.

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 Using the DataMan Setup Tool

Once connected to RTM, the ribbon menu allows setup and monitoring options. The target device for data acquisition, as
well as the selection of the type of data collected, can be set up under Configuration on the ribbon menu. By default,
RTM collects statistical data (Read rate, No-read count, average decode time, trigger count, trigger overrun, buffer
overflow, and process control metrics, if enabled on the device).

For a more detailed description of RTM capabilities and options, refer to the Q and A help of RTM.

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Application Steps Overview

Upon connecting to a device, the following page opens:

On the left hand side you can see a column displaying Application Steps. These steps make it easier for you to quickly
configure and set up your tool. Most of the steps have basic and advanced setting options on different panes. Advanced
options include all basic setting options and further extra ones.
First set the Application Type by selecting one of the options from the drop-down:

and then walk through the application steps starting with Optimize Image.
The application steps cover the following configuration options:

l Code Details is the step to set symbologies.

l Application Details contains all light and imager, decode and displayed image settings.

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l Format Data provides setting options regarding data formatting including standard, perl style, and script-based.
l Under Inputs / Outputs you can implement system settings.
l You can have all Communications settings implemented, including serial and ethernet options.
l With the Save Settings action button you can save all your configurations in an easy way.

Optimize Image - Quick Setup

The first application step is Optimize Image. This pane is the first one because it provides you a means for a quick setup
in one step.

In order to quickly set up your device, it is recommended to go through the following major steps:

l Live
l Tune
l Test

These functions are represented by the three large buttons. With each button, there is a drop-down window offering
additional options that opens when clicking on the right-most side of the button.
Example:

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Live
Click the Live button to enter Live mode. Live mode not only monitors what the device sees, but it decodes as well. In the
drop-down window of the Live button (see above), you can find further options to configure Live mode and reader
settings.

The following controls provide a subset of frequently used reader settings, which are duplicates of controls from other
DataMan Setup Tool panes:

l Tick Decoding if you want the device to decode the taken images.
l When checked, Focus Feedback displays a color-coded meter on the right side of the image view. The meter
indicates the focus of the lens (lower is less focused).
l Select the Automatic Exposure option to have the reader automatically determine the best exposure settings.

In the image view, you can change the region of interest (ROI) of the reader by sliding/dragging the blue ROI box. This is
the area the reader will attempt to perform reads on.
Tune
Click the Tune button to automatically find the best settings for your reading. The advanced window reveals the following
features:

l Click Optimize Brightness to set the recommended brightness for your device automatically (only available if
Manual Exposure is set), or, for advanced settings, click the link next to the button to navigate to the appropriate
pane under Application Details. Alternatively, click the brightness icon under the image, or use the slider for
manual brightness setup.

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l Choose between Automatic Exposure or Manual Exposure as desired for your application. Camera gain can
be controlled by a separate slider.
l Use the Maximum Gain Factor to set the target's maximum pixel brightness.
l Click Optimize Focus to set the recommended focus for your device automatically, or, for advanced settings, click
the link next to the button to navigate to the Advanced tab under Application Details or the appropriate pane
under Light and Imager Settings. Alternatively, click the focus icon under the image, or use the slider for manual
focus setup.

Note: It only appears when using a liquid lens.

l Click Train Code to train codes, or click the link next to the button to navigate to advanced code training settings.
l You can configure the reader with any of the following Trigger Types if Manual Exposure is set (some trigger
types are not available on all devices):
o Single triggering acquires a single image and attempts to decode any symbol it might contain. This trigger
mode supports a read timeout.
o Presentation triggering continuously scans for a symbol and decodes it each time one is detected.
o Manual triggering acquires images as long as the trigger signal remains active, and stops when a symbol
is found and decoded or the trigger signal ends.
o Burst triggering acquires a set number of images and decodes the first symbol it detects within the group.
You can configure the number of images within each burst as well as the interval between each image
acquisition. This trigger mode supports a read timeout.
o Self triggering is similar to presentation triggering in that the reader continuously scans for a symbol and
decodes it each time one is detected.
o Continuous triggering acquires images as long as the trigger signal remains active, where the reader
acquires images at a specific interval and attempts to scan any symbols each successive image contains.

The Tuning Results pane on the right shows a detailed tuning graph.

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You can select a result other than the recommended one by clicking on it and then clicking Apply selected in the bottom
row:

l If you set Tune Light Banks, the device tunes the light banks. If you know which light settings you want to use,
disable it, so the tuning doesn't overrule your preset.
l Selecting Exhaustive Tuning will force tuning the light banks. When Exhaustive Tuning is disabled, and the
reader succeeds to read the code with the primary light setting (1st one in the sequence), it will stop to try other
light bank combinations. If Exhaustive Tuning is on, the reader will continue to try all combinations to look for the
best one, no matter whether or not the first one succeeded.
l If Enable Filter Tuning is selected, the DataMan Setup Tool applies filters to the read image. The filter using
which the code is successfully read is then shown in the Tuning Results pane under Image Filter.

l If you want the focus to be automatically optimized during tuning, check the Optimize Focus During Tuning
option.
l Check Exclude Ambient Light Results if you do not want only ambient light results to be automatically selected
for the tuning process (which would otherwise be the prevailing illumination type for fix mount readers).

Test
Click the Test button to test your device with a configuration, without any disruption to production.

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If you selected a trigger type that is external (that is, not Presentation or Self trigger mode) under the Live button, you can
trigger the reader automatically using Test mode to validate and test your application. You can set up an appropriate
duty cycle for the reader using the Trigger On and Trigger Off times. For your convenience, you can see the calculated
trigger frequency.
You can either reduce Trigger On or Trigger Off times to reduce the cycle time, and thus increase trigger frequency.

Note: Depending on the read setup, code to read, and connection interface, there might be speed limitations, and
at higher speeds, it can help to disable image transfer. For more information, see the QandA pane in the DataMan
Setup Tool.

Read Performance
With the graphs in the Read Performance pane on the right, you can monitor decode times and read rates in real time.
Click the Clear button to reset the graph.

Code Details
In this application step you can select the different types of symbologies to be used. On the Basic tab you can disable all
or untrained symbologies and enable all of them. You also have the option to select 2D, 1D, Stacked and Postal
symbologies separately and set the number of codes you need to read for each trigger.

On the Advanced tab you can configure further data apart from the ones you can also set on the Basic tab.

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Application Details
This step deals with the light and imager settings. The Basic tab gives you the opportunity to set the trigger types, its
delay, timeout, interval and burst length. Exposure options and data can also be given.
The different assistants help you in configuring these settings.

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Trigger Assistant
You need to select the trigger type first for this assistant to work. Select the trigger source from the drop-down: Undefined,
None or External. You get a recommendation from the assistant for the trigger modes. Graphical presentations of the
trigger types help you decide. Select the chosen trigger type and click Save and Close.
Example:

Interval Assistant
In the case of Self and Continuous modes the Interval Assistant can help you make further settings. You can select three
ways to calculate the necessary data. In the top right corner select the units (standard or metric) you wish to calculate in.
With the help of Field of View you can calculate the longest possible interval time by measuring the physical field of view
and giving the maximum line speed and the size of the longest code.
Clicking Lens / Distance to Code is calculating with the distance of the code from the lens. Give the focal lenght from the
drop-down and select the direction in which the code is travelling. Here you also need to give the maximum line speed
and the size of the logest code.

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Code Element Size calculates with the size of the most narrow code element. Enable Test Mode to read your code. You
also need to give the direction your code is travelling in, the maximum line speed and the size of the longest code.
At the bottom of the Assistant you get the recommended maximum interval time.
Example:

Exposure Assistant
The Exposure Assistant is very similar to the Interval Assistant. You can select the same three ways for your calculations:
Filed of view size, distance to code, and code element size.
Clicking Field of View helps you calculate the recommended maximum exposure time by measuring the physical field of
view and giving the maximum line speed. You can enable Test Mode to read your smallest code.

Clicking Lens / Distance to Code is calculating with the distance of the code from the lens. Give the focal lenght from the
drop-down and select the direction in which the code is travelling. Here you also need to give the maximum line speed.
Code Element Size calculates with the size of the most narrow code element. Enable Test Mode to read your code. You
also need to give the direction your code is travelling in and the maximum line speed.
At the bottom of the Assistant you get the current and the recommended maximum exposure time.
Example:

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On the Advanced tab you can implement displayed image settings.

Format Data
Note: Platforms: DataMan 50, DataMan 60, DataMan 70, DataMan 150, DataMan 260, DataMan 300, DataMan
360, Dataman 474, DataMan 503, DataMan 8050, DataMan 8600

In addition to standard formatting possibilities, you have the option to write a script inside the DataMan Setup Tool.

You can enable script-based formatting under the Format Data application step's Basic tab. Clicking Data Formatting
in the Settings pane also navigates you to the Format Data application step:

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When script-based formatting is enabled, you can define a JavaScript module to format data according to your needs on
the Scripting tab of the Format Data application step.
Example:

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To reach this document, click Scripting in the Format Data application step.
If your DataMan device, for instance, uploads its images to an FTP server, the images on the server get a certain file
name. This file name can be customized with the help of the script that can be edited under the FTP Storage tab.
Example:

On the Communication tab, you can edit your custom communication protocols.
Example:

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For more information on the custom communication protocols, see the DataMan Communications and Programming
Guide.
The script for data formatting not only allows you to have different data formatting combinations, but you can also perform
operations on the output channel, for example, to pull output 1 up. You can configure read results flexibly and configure
reader events before the result returns.
For the details of how to write the script and for scripting examples, please see the DataMan Communications and
Programming Guide. You can find scripting samples by clicking the arrow of the Insert Snippet drop-down menu or
right-clicking within the text field and selecting Insert Snippet from the pop-up list.
You can open your own scripts through the DataMan Setup Tool’s Scripting -> Open Script... option.

Inputs / Outputs
This application step is the place to set all system settings regarding decode and device time settings, master/slave and
wake-up message settings. You can configure the input and output data.
The Basic tab enables you to configure the behavior of the trigger and tune buttons, inputs, outputs and pulse encoder
data. Height sensor data can also be set for devices that it is relevant.

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The Advanced tab provides you the following setting options:

Communications
All the communication ports data are set in this application step. Set the serial and ethernet data on the tabs with the
same name.

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The Advanced tab provides you the following setting options:

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Save Settings
This is an action button.
By clicking it, you can save all your configuration settings in one step.

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Settings
Under the Settings tab you can configure the following functions of the Setup Tool.

Test Mode
Note: Platforms: DataMan 50, DataMan 60, DataMan 70, DataMan 150, DataMan 260, DataMan 300, DataMan
360, DataMan 474, DataMan 503

Test Mode lets you configure and test a reader that is connected to a production line without needing to slow down or
stop your line. To enter Test Mode,

l Press the button (to which you previously assigned this function) on the device for 3 seconds
l Send a DataMan Control Command (DMCC)

l Click the Enable Test Mode button in the DataMan Setup Tool (Actions -> )

While in Test Mode, the reader by default ignores all external trigger sources and disables all input and output lines.
Check Automatic Triggering Enabled, and the reader will simulate external triggers at the interval that you specify.

If Automatic Triggering is not enabled, click Accept Trigger Batch in the Input / Output State field, and the reader will
accept and process a limited number of external triggers at production speed.
In both cases, you can view images and decodes using production settings, but at a slower rate and without sending
output signals to your line.

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For more information on Test Mode, see the DataMan Fixed Mount Readers Reference Manual.

Read Setups
Note: Platforms: DataMan 50, DataMan 60, DataMan 70, DataMan 150, DataMan 260, DataMan 300, DataMan
360, DataMan 474, DataMan 503, DataMan 8600

It is possible to configure a variety of acquisition parameters for your DataMan reader in a unified Read Setups
document.

Connect to a reader and click the button on the Settings pane to open the Read Setups document.

Example:

Your reader can be configured for up to 16 different settings. In Single, Continuous, Self, and Burst trigger modes, you
can enable multiple (or all) setups, and the DataMan reader goes through all of the configured imager combinations until
there is a decoded image or there are no images left (that is, a no read image).
You can change the parameters for the setups in the Read Setup document’s appropriate table cell.
Example:

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The read setup process starts with either a specific setup, or the Last Successful Decode (as you choose).
The currently selected setup also gets represented on other panes. For example, you can check which is the active Read
Setup in the Settings pane:

Data Validation
Data Validation is used to confirm that the data encoded by a symbol is in the correct format for a particular company,
industry or international standard.

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 Using the DataMan Setup Tool

Data Matrix, QR Code/MaxiCode/Aztec Code and 1D/Stacked/Postal code categories can be validated against
standards/well formedness.

Code Quality
Under Code Quality you can set the desired code quality standard you want to use for quality assessment for your code
type. Once you set this on the General tab, you can navigate to the appropriate code quality standard's sub-tab under the
1D Barcodes or 2D Codes tabs and customize for specific grades the grading thresholds, inclusion of specific grades in
the overall grade and their display in the report.

Note: MicroQR is not supported for code quality grading.

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 Using the DataMan Setup Tool

After you set up your device to compute ISO/IEC 15415, AIM-DPM/ISO/IEC TR29158, SEMI T10, or DotCode for 2D
Codes (under the General tab in the Code Quality pane), the 2D Codes, 1D Barcodes tabs allow you to manage
aspects of those types of code grading.
Result String tab: By ticking the checkbox Append Code Quality Data to Result String, you enable token based data
formatting and allow code quality result data to be appended to result strings. If checked, the Output Overall Grade
outputs the overall code quality grade (which is defined as the minimum grade of selected metrics) in the result string.
The Report FTP Transfer tab allows you to set up code quality results to be sent via FTP in form of an HTML report.

Buffering and Transfer

Buffering and Transfer lets you control what images are recorded and saved on the reader, it lets you view images that
are saved on the reader, and it lets you transfer those images to your PC.

l The Image Buffering tab lets you control what images to save to the reader.
l The Image PC Transfer tab lets you control how images are transferred from the reader to your PC.
l The Image FTP Transfer tab lets you set up automatic image transfers from the reader to your PC.
l The Result FTP Transfer tab lets you to configure the reader with the IP address and port number necessary to
send decode results to an FTP server.

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 Using the DataMan Setup Tool

Note: The Buffering and Transfer function does not perform any decoding.

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 Using the DataMan Setup Tool

Actions and System

After connecting to a device, the Actions and System tabs of the DataMan Setup Tool also become available.
On the Actions tab, you can set the input line and trigger the reader, enable live display, optimize brightness and focus,
and tune the reader. You can also enable Test Mode here and show the device log or switch to the Process Monitor.
You can also load and train images and codes on this tab.

The System tab enables you to save and open configuration settings related to the device your Setup Tool is connected
to. For more information on these options, see the QandA document of the relevant device (or the Q & A pane in Setup
Tool).

View
The View tab helps you to display different views related to the data you want to check. The following options are
available:

Opens the Image Viewer window.

Opens the Image Panel toolview where you can view the images read by the device.

Opens the Result History toolview in which you can view and log read results.

Displays the Code Quality toolview where you can do and view the necessary code quality settings.

Opens the Q & A pane in which you can see questions and answers related to the options appearing on
the open document.

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 Using the DataMan Setup Tool

Clicking on the downward arrow belonging to this option, you can select the layout in which you want to
display the panes you selected.

Clicking on this option results the same navigation steps you made occur in all open device documents.

Image Viewer
The Image Viewer window can be docked in several places of the application, it can be pinned or set to auto-hide on
mouse leave.
To open the Image viewer, select a reader in the Connect backstage page, connect to it, and go to the View tab. There,

click on the button to open the Image Viewer window:

In this window, you can view the image read by your reader. The image is zoomable, it can be copied to the clipboard or
saved to a selected folder. You can also select to check the histogram of the read image and the brightness data of a
selected point in the image. Use the buttons on the toolbar ribbon of this window to carry out these tasks.

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 Using the DataMan Setup Tool

You can view the read image on the right hand side of the window: the Image Panel is always displayed by default. On

the View tab you can switch on and off by clicking the icon. This window can also be docked in different places of
the application.
Example:

The same zooming options are available here as in the Image Viewer window, but you can also log no-read and
decoded images to the file system from this pane using the Logging options (click the More Buttons drop-down arrow on
the far right side of the Image Panel:

Clicking the last option here opens the Setup Tool Options window, in which you can set the default folder where logs of
no-read and decoded images are to be saved.

Because of multi-reader support, several device document tabs can be open at a time, which means that there can be
multiple image sources at the same time. Therefore, the Image Viewer receives image data only from the currently active
device document. If the current document cannot provide image data (e.g. it is a Reader Group Editor), the content of the
Image Viewer window will be empty.

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 Using the DataMan Setup Tool

Results Viewer
Similarly to the Image Viewer, the Result History pane can be configured in different layouts.
To open the Result History pane, select a reader in the Connect backstage page, connect to it, and go to the View tab.

There, click on the button to open the Result History pane.

The result data comes from the currently active document if it can provide any. If not, then the Result History will be
empty.

Note: Process Monitor and Reader Statistics provide all and not just the latest data, but in the case of the read
images, only the latest ones are displayed.

You can customize the layout of this pane using the available options, that is, you can choose what data should be
shown in the columns of the table.

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 Using the DataMan Setup Tool

Select what you want to log from the Logging drop-down list:

Clicking the last option here opens the Setup Tool Options window, in which you can set the default folder where reports
and the logs of result codes are to be saved.

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 Backstage Pages

Backstage Pages
The opening backstage page of the DataMan Setup Tool is Connect, which was introduced earlier in this document. This
section contains information about the other backstage pages: Repair and Support, Backup, Restore, Update Firmware,
Reader Groups and Image Playback.

Maintenance
The Maintenance page can be used to set the network settings of a misconfigured network device or change the HID
mode of a serial device to CDC, as well as for backing up and restoring device configurations, and updating firmware.

To be able to see the complete list of discovered devices, check the View Hidden option.

You can add a network device by clicking . The

Add Network Device dialog opens, where you can provide the
necessary information (IP address of the device to be added). Click OK
to save the changes and then Refresh to see the device added to the
list.

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 Backstage Pages

Virtual Devices
The Add Virtual Device function allows you to create a virtual device based on either a custom configuration file or a
device with default configuration. This can be used to look at different panes in Setup Tool without the need of a device
to connect to.

Pressing the button initiates a wizard that guides you through the steps of creating a virtual device. Initial options are to
use a configuration/backup file for creation or use the factory default settings.

After the wizard is finished, a new virtual device is added to the list of discovered devices, indicated by a V icon as a

virtual device, for example . The created virtual device is not visible for other devices on the network. The virtual
device persists during multiple Setup Tool instances.

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 Backstage Pages

The created virtual device can be connected to the same way as a regular device, except that all configuration changes
are rejected (everything is read-only) and no features, functions, and actions work on virtual devices.

Backup
The Backup page can be used to generate a backup file containing the configuration and logs of one or more readers.
To do so, highlight the devies(s) you want to backup and click the Backup button on the lower right. You can find the
backup files easily by clicking the Open Backup Folder button.

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 Backstage Pages

Restore
The Restore page allows the restoration of backed up configuration files on one or more devices. This feature is only
available if at least one device is selected and if a valid configuration source is specified. Configuration Source on top
allows you to configure the source Setup Tool uses for restoration.

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 Backstage Pages

Update Firmware
The Update Firmware page allows you to update the selected device or devices to the desired firmware version. Browse
for firmware files by clicking the '...' icon, the pop-up window navigates to the right folder automatically. After selecting the
firmware file, click the Update Firmware button to initiate the update.

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 Backstage Pages

Device Grouping
Device grouping helps you manage a larger number of devices, as well as define the Master-Slave groups in an easy
way. The DataMan Setup Tool offers built-in groups on the device list page, (see the section on the Connect backstage
page), and you can also specify your own custom groups. Creating a new user-defined group or editing an existing
group can be started from the Reader Groups backstage page.

Reader Groups
The available readers can be grouped on a custom basis and you can organize your readers in a custom tree. The list of
already created custom groupings is shown on the left. When you select a custom group, it gets displayed on the right as
a "preview".

Example:

The following options are available on this page:

l Opening an existing group

l Creating a new group
l Deleting an existing group
l Exporting an existing group
l Importing saved groups to Setup Tool

Custom Grouping
Custom groupings are displayed in a tree structure. You can select different nodes and start different operations on them
with the buttons on the ribbon bar that belong to this type of document. The group editor tree supports drag and drop
functionality, too. The group editor auto-hide ribbon appears by clicking the Edit Groups tab.

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 Backstage Pages

The group editor has two device tree controls: the one on the left is the tree of the currently edited group, whereas the
one on the right is the list of discovered devices. Filtering, grouping and sorting is available on this device tree (see
Connect for details). For group editing, the following options are available:

l Creating a new group node: If a new group is created, it automatically gets a root node. The name of the root
node is also the name of the custom group. For each group, there can be only one root node. To create a new
group node, select the desired target node (which must not be a device node) and click the New Group button (

).

l Adding a device to a group node: Select one or more devices in the right-hand side device tree (Discovered

Devices) and use the Add Discovered Device(s) ( ) button to add it to the currently selected group node on
the left side (Edited Grouping). Alternatively, you can drag and drop a device from the right to the target grouping
node on the left.

l Removing a device or group node: Select the target node(s) on the left and click on the Remove Node ( )
button on the ribbon bar.
l Renaming a Group: Click into the node’s name, press F2 on the keyboard or click the Rename Group button (

). In the case of a root node, the whole grouping gets renamed. After the renaming is initiated by one of
these methods, the group name becomes editable in the tree.

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 Backstage Pages

l Moving a node: You can move a node in the edited tree. A node can be moved either up or down in its current

group, into the next group or out of the current one. After selecting the desired node to move, the
option becomes available in the ribbon bar with the following arrows becoming green:

l Down : Move the node down among its siblings.

l Up : Move the node up among its siblings.

l Out of Current Group : Move the node up one level (out of the current group).

l Into Next group : Move the node down one level (into the next group).

Expand and collapse buttons ( ) are also available to expand or collapse the full tree, or you can expand or
collapse specific nodes by clicking on the triangle left of the node.

Managing Master-Slave Groups

In DataMan Setup Tool, master-slave configuration is part of the grouping editor, but the ribbon bar also has tools to
configure the master-slave trigger group. The following master-slave group management options are offered by Setup
Tool:
• Making a group to be a master-slave trigger (MST) group: By selecting a valid group node (the name of the group is
fit to be an MST group name) and pressing the Toggle Group Triggering button, the devices in the group are set to be
part of the MST group with the name of the group node’s name. This option is available only if all readers in the group
support master-slave triggering.
• Clearing a Master-Slave group triggering: By selecting an MST group node and clicking the Disable Group
Triggering button, the MST group entries are removed from all devices in the group.
• Setting the Master device: Some trigger modes may require to explicitly specify the master device. This can be
achieved by selecting a device in a master-slave group and clicking on the Set Master Device button. This function is
also available in the case of trigger types that do not require a specified master device, so it can be stored in the custom-
edited grouping and be displayed at a later time.
• Misconfigured MST groups: It is possible that the data regarding master-slave group triggering becomes different in
the device from what was stored in SetupTool II. Warnings appearing in such cases help you identify these issues. The
warning messages are the following:

l Incompatible trigger types: If the devices in the MST group have incompatible trigger types, the node of the MST
group has a warning sub-node that displays this information. This is an error.

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 Backstage Pages

l Master device not specified: The MST group may not require a master device, but some trigger modes do
require it, so this message is only shown as a warning.

l MST group name mismatch: It is possible that the MST group name stored in the device is different from what is
stored in your own grouping. This is considered to be a major issue, so it is also shown as an error.

l MST info not available: Discovering exact information about master-slave trigger settings cannot be done without
at least a "minimalist" connection. Until the valid information is retrieved by pressing the Refresh button, this
information entry is shown for the device.

Note:
Icons:

error

warning

information

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 Backstage Pages

Image Playback
For using the information in this backstage page, it is not necessary that a reader be connected to the DataMan
Setup Tool. This page lets you control what images are recorded and saved on the PC, it lets you view images that were
transferred to the computer as set in Settings > Buffering & Transfer.

The images will be opened on the Playback tab:

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 Backstage Pages

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 Options

Options
The OptionsDialog of the DataMan Setup Tool offers you to do settings in the application according to your preferences.
On the General tab, you can set the way according to which the read string will be decoded. Here, you can also select
the color scheme (Silver, Blue or Black) of Setup Tool itself, and you can also select a category (Layout, Communication,
Language, Codepage or Data logging) which you want to reset to defaults.

On the Data Logging tab, you can set the folders into which result codes, decoded images, no-read images and reports
are to be saved.

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 Help

Help
When using the DataMan Setup Tool, a powerful help option helps you to find answers to your questions about the
available options and settings.

Upon opening the DataMan Setup Tool, you will see a button towards the top right corner of the window. By

clicking this, Setup Tool offers you the option. Click on this button to view basic information on the Setup Tool
version you currently use:

Note: This window is also available via the Home backstage by clicking About.

This option provides you with basic data about Setup Tool. However, you can also find information on the features and
options provided in each tab, pane and document in Setup Tool.

Clicking the button on a backstage page opens the Q & A related to that backstage page. For example, you will see
the following questions when clicking this button on the Reader Groups backstage page:

Click on the little question mark icon in front of a question to see the relevant answer.

Or click to open all the answers to the questions appearing in the Q & A pane.

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 Help

After connecting to a device, you can access the Q & A pane related to each document and option if you navigate to the

View menu and click .

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 Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting
Image Acquisition
Symptom Place Solution
Image related properties cannot Settings > Light and Wait until the device finishes acquiring images or
be changed. Imager Settings decoding, and try again.

Communication
Symptom Place Solution
Setup Tool Check the firewall or antivirus application installed on your computer. These can
communications are potentially interfere with Setup Tool communications. These communication
corrupted. issues can be fixed by allowing communication on the appropriate ports.
The reader does not Connect 1. Check your Ethernet connection with the reader and click Refresh.
appear in the list of
Discovered Devices. Reader 2. Scan the Enable DHCP code in the Reader Configuration Codes
Maintenance document available from the Start menu. This might allow the reader to
acquire a suitable IP address from a DHCP server on your subnet.
3. If the reader still does not appear, you can use the Add Network Device
option in Reader Maintenance.
4. You can also use the RS-232 connection to configure the reader with
parameters that allow it to communicate over your Ethernet network.

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