Integration Builder setup

On the BarTender side, printing from Epicor is a file integration: a service that polls a folder, finds each new .bt file Epicor writes, prints it, and then moves the file out of the way. In current BarTender versions you build this in Integration Builder; older installs used the separate Commander application for the same job.

This page covers the settings that matter from Epicor’s point of view. Everything else in the integration can stay at BarTender’s defaults. Epicor’s knowledge base article KB0107461 lists the values Epicor Support recommends, based on BarTender 2019. If your version differs, the option names may too.

Before you start

• Know the folder. You need the path of the folder Epicor writes .bt files to, as the BarTender server sees it. On-premises that is usually a share on the Epicor server, for example \\epicor-app01\EpicorData\Bartender. For Epicor’s public cloud it is the Azure file share, mapped to a drive letter on the BarTender server (see cloud and Linux).
• Use a service account. Run the BarTender integration service as a domain account that can read, rename and move files in that folder, and read the .btw templates. Don’t rely on whoever happens to be logged in.
• Create a processed folder on the BarTender server, for example C:\Bartender\Processed. Keep it separate from the folder Epicor writes to.

Steps

1. On the BarTender server, open Integration Builder and create a new integration.

2. Choose the File integration method.

3. Set the detection options:

   Setting	Value	Why
   Location	Computer/Network	Reads a local path, UNC path or mapped drive. This is the method Epicor certifies
   Folder to scan	The .bt output folder	Must match the report style’s output location
   Scan method	Polling only	File-system notifications are unreliable on network shares
   Polling interval	About 10 seconds	Fast enough for users waiting at a printer
   File pattern	*.bt	Ignores processed, failed and other files in the folder
   Minimum file size	1 byte	Skips empty files that are still being written

4. Add the action that runs the command script in the file’s %BTW% header, so BarTender opens the template and prints to the printer named in the file.

5. Set actions after detection so a printed file is never picked up again:

   • Action: Move file to the processed folder.
   • New extension: something like printed.
   • Make the file name unique by appending a timestamp.

6. Set actions after failure:

   • Action: Rename file, with a new extension such as failed.
   • Again, append a timestamp.

7. Save and deploy the integration, and check that its service is running.

What you get

With these settings, every .bt file ends up in one of two places:

• Printed files sit in the processed folder with a .printed extension and a timestamp, which gives you a history of what printed and when.
• Failed files stay in the scan folder, renamed to .failed. Because the pattern is *.bt, they aren’t retried in a loop, and they’re easy to spot.

Reprinting a label

To print a label again without rerunning anything in Epicor, copy its file from the processed folder back into the scan folder and give it a .bt extension. The integration treats it as new. The same works for a .failed file once you’ve fixed the cause.

Notes

• One integration can serve many templates and printers, because each file names its own. You don’t need an integration per label.
• The printer named in the file must be installed on the BarTender server under exactly that name.
• The processed folder grows forever. Clear out old files on a schedule.

Related

• Report styles for BarTender: where Epicor writes the files
• Troubleshooting BarTender labels