MF Digital DIRECTOR Developers Guide - Manual (Page 10)

DIRECTOR EasiAPI
22nd FEB. 2013
D E V E L O P E R ’ S G U I D E
Page 10
Integrated printing
The Director comes with a CD label
designer that allows the user to easily create
a design. Any installed Windows font can
be used to create text elements. Graphic
images, like corporate logos, can also be
applied. When a job is defined the user can
select the artwork to be applied immediately
after a successful write, all in-line to the
duplication
process without operator
handling or intervention.
E ASI API
An API, or Application Program Interface, is a set of routines, protocols, and tools for building
software applications. A good API makes it easier to develop a program by providing all the
building blocks necessary to operate the machine. MF Digital’s EasiAPI allows a developer to
write an application that can take full control of the Director without the need of knowing the
intricacies of writing CD-Rs and DVD-Rs.
What makes the MF Digital Director different is that in order to produce discs on the Director
the only thing the developer must do is create or edit three simple ASCII text files similar in
appearance to Windows’ INI files. These three files are the Job file (*.JOB), the Image Script
file (*.ISC), and Label file (*.LBL). To start a job, the developer must simply rename the .JOB
file extension to .REQ and then copy it to this folder: //DIRECTOR/DIRECTOR/REQUESTS
folder. This is a special folder within Director. This folder is constantly polled for entries.
When a new job, or request, is found, that job is placed in the queue. If any drives are free, the
job will immediately begin.
When creating these files for use with your own front end application it is best to create your
original templates using the Director's GUI. These saved files can then be used as the basis for
creating your own ISC , JOB and LBL files. Also, when you upgrade your Director software it
is best to create another set of files with the GUI and compare the file against your original
templates. In this way you can be sure that there were no additions or subtractions from
available options or changes in syntax.