Import Validation Tool

The tool can be downloaded from here
The Excel template can be downloaded from here
The layout of the tool can be seen as follows:

This tool includes features listed below:

• Validation of Materials and Formulas in CSV files.
• Automated validation of Materials and Formulas in Excel files.
• Detailed error description of invalid records.
• Generate blank Material and Formula template.
• Export valid data to CSV files from Excel files.

The list of error messages are listed below:

• Code missing or too long (maximum 25 characters)
• Name missing or too long (maximum 50 characters)
• Missing materials from formulas

Validate from CSV

Press ‘Choose File’ button and choose the CSV file you want to validate. First choose a Material file and the records will be automatically registered. If the materials are not valid then error messages will be displayed. If the materials are all valid then continue the operation pressing the ‘Choose File’ button again to choose the Formula file.

Valid records are displayed in the table ‘Valid Records’ and invalid records are displayed in the table ‘Invalid Records’. When going through the rows of Invalid Record table, you will be able to see the detailed error description underneath the same.

Validate from Excel

Click ‘Choose File’ button and choose the Excel file. This will check if all the records are valid. Valid records are displayed in the table ‘Valid Records’ and Invalid records are displayed in the table ‘Invalid Records’. When an invalid record is selected from the table, you will be able to see the detailed error description below the table.

When all the records are valid, it will ask you to save the Materials and Formulas to a CSV file. Press save to save them in your preferred directory.

Generate File

If you want to create a CSV file with the Materials and Formula file template, click ‘Generate File’ button and save them in your preferred directory.

Adding a New Formula on ColorPoint Console

 

This procedure only applies if you don’t have a management PC. To add new formulas on systems with ColorPoint Manager see Create a new Formula on ColorPoint Manager

Go to the formulas page.

Press the Add button (with a + icon)

Choose a colour from the selection. Give the formula a unique code and a descriptive name.

Use the arrow keys to select a material and press the add button to add it to the formula.

Then enter the parts per 100 for this material, followed by the ‘Next’ button.

Repeat his for each material until the formulation is complete. If a mistake is made, the ‘Edit’ and ‘Del’ buttons can be used to change or remove materials. The arrow buttons on the lower edge of the screen can be used to navigate the list of materials already added to the formula.

When you are finished creating the formula press the ‘Save’ button.

Finding infrequently used formulas and making them obsolete.

As time goes by most sites tend to find they have an ever increasing number of formulas which can become quite difficult to manage effectively and can make searching for specific formulas more difficult.  ColorPoint provides the ability to mitigate this problem by making formulas obsolete which removes them from search results while still allowing them to be viewed and re-introduced if necessary.  Sometimes it can be hard to decide which formulas should be made obsolete and time consuming to make a large number of formulas that can’t be selected in a single search obsolete.

The solution

ColorPoint Manager contains an administrative level feature that shows which formulas have not been used since a given date and allows you to make them obsolete all at once.  This feature can be launched by going to Admin menu and selecting ‘Obsolete unused formulas’

From here you will be presented with a textbox the date you want to use to define which formulas you consider to be obsolete.  By default we say that if a formula hasn’t been used in the 2 years before today then there’s a good chance you might not need it in the immediate future either.  You can of course adjust this date to increase or decrease the number of formulas being made obsolete.  Pressing the ‘Find Formulas’ button will start the process of looking for formulas which haven’t been used in the specified time frame.  This step may take a moment depending on the number of formulas on the system but you can see progress as it goes and cancel the operation at any point.

Why are designs there?

When you make a formula obsolete it means that you can no longer create jobs from any design that contains a formula which is obsolete, so the designs box shows you which designs will be made obsolete as a result of the selected formulas being made obsolete.  If there is a design that you know you will be using in the near future then if you un-tick it then the formulas it contains will also be automatically un-ticked as well.  Similarly formulas can also be un-ticked directly if you know you will need them soon.
Once you have selected the appropriate formulas and designs are ready to proceed, you simply press the ‘Make Obsolete’ button which will show you a confirmation dialogue asking you if you wish to continue.  The process of making formulas and designs obsolete may take a little while depending on how many items are being processed.

How do I get them back?

If it turns out that you do need to use one of the formulas you made obsolete then reintroducing them is a simple process.  On the formula page select ‘Include’ from the obsolete drop down in the filter panel which will include all obsolete formulas in the search results.

Once you have found the formula you want to use simply double click it and then select ‘Re-introduce Formula’ from the menu on the left hand side. 

This procedure can also be used to re-introduce designs that are obsolete.  If a design you wish to re-introduce contains obsolete formulas you can open the formula easily by right clicking them from the design’s items screen and choosing ‘Open’.

How often do I need to do this?

How often you need to run this will depend on how many formulas you create and whether the formulas you create are often re-used or not.  We generally recommend having no more than 1000 non-obsolete formulas on the system at any given time but if you’re under this number it may still be a good idea to check ever year or so simply to make the number of formulas more manageable.

what if need more than 1000 non-obsolete formulas?

While it is possible that you may need more than 1000 non-obsolete formulas on your system you may be surprised at how few formulas you’re using on a regular basis.  Even if you are using a large variety of formulas only formulas that you haven’t used in years will be suggested so the screen will not suggest making anything obsolete if you’ve used it recently.

Changing a Formulation on ColorPoint Manager

 

When you have made a correction to a formulation, typically on press by adding more of a pigment or another new pigment you can update the formula to reflect this change.

From the menu bar choose Tools | Change Formulation.

In the Change Formulation panel select the formula you will be changing from the drop down list.

Enter the weight of the original dispense you are going to change. This will populate the panel with the weights of the raw materials used.

Now adjust the formula for the quantities added. In this case 0.1kg of 9448 Blue was added by double clicking on the quantity in the added column for the material. The formula is recalculated to reflect this change.

Next 0.05kg of another Red was added. This material was not in the original formulation but is needed to correct the colour.

The formula is recalculated to reflect this change after the Add button is clicked. The change can be made permanent by clicking on the Save button.

Material Replacement

Occasionally it is sometimes necessary to replace all usages of a material within a formula with a new material that is replacing it.  Rather than having to edit all the formulas which contain this material manually ColorPoint Manager contains a material replacement function which allows you to replace a material in either all or selected formulas.

BEFORE YOU START

Before you use the material replacement screen we very strongly advise you to make sure you have a back up of the manager database.  Material replacements cannot be undone so it is important to have a back up you can go back to if you make a mistake.  For more about backing up and making sure you have back ups available please see the entry Backing up your data.  It is also advisable to save any unsaved changes and close any formula windows you may have open.

SAMPLE REPLACEMENT

For this example we will replace a material with the code ‘old’ with a material with the code ‘new’.  First we open up the material replacement screen by selecting ‘Replace Material’ from the Tools menu of ColorPoint Manager.


Next you need to decide whether you wish to replace the material in all formulas or just selected formulas.  As you can see from the screenshot below, the default option is to replace the material in all formulas but if you select the ‘Replace this material in the following formulas’ option you can un-check the formulas where you do not want the selected material to be replaced.


Next you should decide which of the following options you wish to use when replacing the material, as you can see all options are turned on by default.


There are 3 options that you can turn on or off depending on how you want the material to be replaced. The first option ‘Reapportion formulas after replacement’ reapportions formulas back to 100 parts if the total does not equal 100 parts after the material replacement.  This should be kept checked unless your formulas do not total 100 parts. 

The next option ‘Combine Materials’ determines what to do if the material you are replacing the old material with is already present in the formula. When this option is ticked it will add the old materials parts to the existing material.  When it is not checked it will add the new material as separate item (i.e. if that material was in the formula once before it will be put in twice).  This item should only be unchecked if there are some formulas that deliberately contain the same material twice.

The option ‘Replace material in returns’ is very important if you use returns on your site. If this option is not checked then the console will not suggest using any return that contains the old material with the formulas containing the new material.  If the old material and the new material can be used together then you should leave this box checked.

ONE TO ONE REPLACEMENT

For this example we will do a straight one to one replacement of the old material with the new material as this is the most common form of replacement.  Replacing a material with multiple materials will be dealt with in a separate post in the future.  Simple replacement is already the default option so all we need to do is select the replacement material from the drop down and set the material replacement percentage.


The material percentage figure represents how strong the new material is in comparison to old material.  In this example I’m using 100% which means that the new material is the same strength as the old material i.e. if a formula contains the old material at 50 parts it will replace it with the new material at 50 parts.  If for example, the new material is twice as strong as the old material and you only need to use half as much of it then if you set the material percentage to 50 then if the old material uses 50 parts the new material will be added with 25 parts.  At this point all you need to is double check that the correct options and materials are selected and press the ‘Replace’ button and confirm the replacement.

IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG

If you’ve made a mistake when replacing a material or didn’t get the result you wanted then it may still be possible to effectively undo those changes depending on what they were and how your formulas are set up.  If this isn’t the case then it is best to contact Rexson Systems directly and we will either fix the problem or restore from your latest backup.

Exporting Data and Performing Backups on ColorPoint Console

 

This post applies mainly to standalone CPC dispensers.

 

There are two methods of saving your data from CPC. Use an export when you wish view the data exported, or change it and import it again. Use a backup when you want to be able to recover the whole system in event of a failure.

 

Exporting Data

To Export data you need to be a level 3 user.

From the Main Menu page go to:

• Configuration
• Import-Export

You will see a summary of the material and formula data on your system.

• Go to Export
• Select the items of data you wish to export. By default al data is exported.
• Press Export
• The data is saved to the Export USB drive in the \ExportFiles folder.
• The file name is [Console name]-[DateTime]-[type].csv,
  • e.g. CPC-14461-001-201102161559-formulation.csv
  • e.g. CPC-14461-001-201102161559-manualmaterial.csv
  • e.g. CPC-14461-001-201102161559-automaterial.csv

See the section "Accessing your data" for the next step.

 

Backups

A database backup is more comprehensive than an export. It contains details of your user accounts and their key codes, as well as any internal settings.All new ColorPoint Consoles have automatic backups scheduled on a daily basis. On some older systems this feature wasn't available. Please contact Rexson Support if you would like to check the status of automatic backups on your console.

To make a backup of your database you will need to be a level 3 user. Go to

• Configuration
• Backup/Restore

You will see a summary of the data on your system.

• Press Backup
• The backup will be stored on the Export USB drive in the \BackupFiles folder.
• The file name is ColorPoint_Full_Date_Time.bak
• If automatic backups are scheduled on your system there may be 7or more of these files, along with some other internal backups
  • The automatic backup system keeps the last 7 days backups in a rotation.

 

Accessing your Data

To access the data on the USB drive do the following:

• Switch off the console using the power button on the front of the panel.
• Open the side panel of the console cabinet. On hazardous systems this will cause the unit to lose pressure and will require purging afterwards.
• Locate the ColorPoint embedded controller, near the centre of the panel.
• 
• Locate the export USB drive on the left of the controller
  • On early models with 2 USB drives
    • this will be a white USB drive in the upper slot.
    • or a silver USB drive labelled "Export" in the upper slot
  • On later models with a single USB drive this is the only drive.
• Remove the USB drive and connect to your computer
• Copy the contents of ExportFiles and/or BackupFiles
• Replace the USB drive taking care to insert it the right way up.
• Close the cabinet and power on the console.

Using Lists and Searching on ColorPoint Console

 

The Formula and Job pages of CPC have the facility to navigate through their lists an item at a time, a page at a time and by searching the codes or names of the items.

Navigating

To the right of the lists on the job and formula pages are the navigation buttons.

From top to bottom they are:

• Previous item
• Previous page
• Next page
• Next item

The navigation buttons “wrap around”. So pressing the previous page button when on the first page will take you to the last page and pressing previous item when on the first item will take you to the last item. Similarly, next page or item on the last page or item will take you to the first.

Searching

The main buttons to use when searching are these:

The left button is “Search”, the right button is “Clear Search”. Pressing “Clear Search” at any time reverts the list to all jobs or formulas in the database.

Pressing “Search” takes you to the search page.

Pressing the “? Code” or “? Name” button toggles between searching in the code of name for the text you enter. The search field preference will be remembered for your next search.

The text you enter is searched for anywhere in the code or name field. So typing “12” would match formulas “12”, “120”, “0012” and “ABC 12”.

Pressing the “Clear” button clears the search text.

On the left the button allows you to step through the list of your last 10 searches allowing frequently used searches to be re-used without re-typing them.

The counter in the centre of the screen shows how many records will be returned by your current search. When you have narrowed the number of results returned down, press the select button to apply your search to the list.

 

 

 

Issue returns, materials and formulas on ColorPoint Manager

 

Returns are usually used at CPC by reworking into other formulas or issuing them directly to press. For convenience the returns may also be issued to press, booked against a job.

There are two ways of issuing items to a job. The first is job centric; find the job you are looking for, open it and use the ‘Issue to Job’ action. The second is better if you need to issue items across a number of jobs; open Tools | Issues | Issue to Job from the menu bar.

In the second option the job is selected from a drop down list allowing any job to be selected, in the first option the job selector is hidden as the job number is taken from the currently selected job.

The following details need to be selected or filed in to complete the issue:

1. Screen: the screen on the press that the item is being issued to.
2. Weight: the weight to be issued.
3. Date: the date and time of the issue, defaults to the current time.
4. Only show items that are part of this job: restricts the selection of items that may be issued to those that are already on the job items list. Un-ticking this option will allow you to book and formula to any screen and is not recommended unless you are certain it is required.
5. The item type that is being booked to the job:
1. Material: select a material and the material batch of the pack/barrel being used to supply it.
2. Formula: Select the formula code that is being issued. This is used with pre-made formulas, or formulas that are already held in stock.
3. Return: Select the required return from the list. The return stock will be debited with the weight issued.

Clicking ‘Reset’ will reset the form, clicking ‘Issue’ issue the selection and resets the form.

Create a new formula on ColorPoint Manager

Open the formulas list. The ‘Add New’ button is below the list on the left. This will open a new blank detail view for the formula. If you are creating a formula that is similar to or a variation of an existing formula it may be quicker to open the existing formula and clone it using the ‘Clone Formula’ button.

Fill in the details for the formula as follows:

1. Code: a unique code to identify this formula, up to 25 characters long. If you try to enter a code that has already been used or that is too long, you will see an error outline in red around the text box.

2. Name: a description of your formula, up to 50 characters long.

3. Colour: choose a colour closest to the colour of your formula. This provides a visual clue when working with lists of formula and does not need to be an exact match.

4. Items: are the most important part of a formula

a. Select materials to add to the formula from the drop down list. Typing into the list will filter the selection if you have a large number of materials.

b. Click ‘Add Material’ to add the selected material to the formula. It is quickest to add all of the materials you need and then enter the parts required once they are all in the list together.

c. If you need to remove a material from the formula, select it in the list and click ‘Remove Material’.

d. Double click on the values in the ‘Parts’ column to edit them. Once you are editing parts, you can move up and down the list using the up and down arrow keys on the keyboard.

e. Manual add materials are indicated by a ☼ symbol. These materials are not attached to a dispense valve and are instead added manually by the operator when required.

f. Clicking on a material and dragging it up or down the list will change the dispense order. It is recommended that you place manual add materials either at the start of the list or the end. This causes the least disruption for the operator. A benefit of placing the manual additions at the beginning of the list is that any accidental over dispensing of manual can be corrected easily by the dispenser.

g. It is recommended that you save the formula at this point to validate the items. If the sum of the parts does not add up to 100, you will be given the option to reapportion the formula. In most cases this is the correct thing to do, but in some cases you may have a formula that makes more sense as 1 part of A, 1 part of B and 1 part of C. Choosing no will allow you to keep the formula in this format.

5. Categories: assign any categories you need.

6. Attributes: add any attributes required.

7. Files: add any files for supporting information e.g. a colour specification document.

8. Notes: it may be a good idea to make a note of why the formula was added to the system or changed for future reference.