StarShip Connector

The Connector is a component that controls StarShip’s connection to ERPs, the printing agents necessary for generating labels and shipping docs, and electronic scales.

Desktop Application vs. Windows Service

The StarShip Connector can be run as either a desktop application or as a Windows service. The installer will install the files necessary to run in both modes. The mode in which you run the Connector is up to you. You may want to run in Service mode so you can control the user that runs the service, giving that user account Administrator rights, vs Desktop mode, where logged-in shippers will have Administrator rights.

The mode in which the Connector is running is indicated at the top of the Connector screen.

Service mode

When running the Connector in service mode, we advise running the Connector service as the user that will be signed into the local machine with the printers attached and this user should have local administrative rights.  This will provide the print agent service with the permission to run and allow the logged-in user to see all of their previously added printers.

Desktop mode

Set Up the Connector

The StarShip Connector can be launched from StarShip Client Program menu (Start > Programs > StarShip Client > StarShip Connector). The Connector runs in the Windows System Tray. Double-click the icon to open it.

Any component – Sources, Scales, and/or Printing – can be unchecked if not needed on this PC. Components that are not enabled will not appear in StarShip.

Sources

In the Connector Sources tab, enable the “Sources Support Enabled” check box and enter the address and port for your StarShip Server. By default, the port is set to “20006”.

Scales

On the Scales tab, check “Scales Support Enabled” to enable and set up a scale. Then, enter the StarShip Server address. The default port is 5721.

 

Click Setup Scales to set up a USB or COM scale. For USB scales, the list of scales will display any USB scales that are currently connected and active in Windows.

To add a COM scale, click the Add COM Scale button. Select the scale type and the COM port from the drop-down lists.

Configure the scale communication parameters and click Save. You can review the Factory settings for all supported scales here.

Once you are done configuring scales, click the Save Config for Selected Scale button.

Printing

In Printing, you can configure printing settings, enable Print Agents and set the number of Print Agents for each StarShip Location. StarShip Online users can also set the location of the Shared EDI folder.

Configure Printing Values

• Printing Support Enabled: This check box must be checked in order to print.
  StarShip Online Note

  For StarShip Online Users, this option is “Printing/EDI Support Enabled” and must be checked to enable EDI.

• StarShip Server Address: Enter the address and port for the StarShip Server. Ex. net.tcp:StarShipServer:5714/StarShip
• StarShip Server Proxy Port: Printing connector port; the recommended value is 8001.
• Printing Service Address: This is the StarShip Server address and port 20003. Ex: “net.tcp:StarShipServer:20003”
• Print Agent Timeout: This is the maximum time in seconds to start and initialize the Print Agent before timing out.
  
• Print Job Timeout: This is the maximum time in minutes to complete a printing task before timing out.
• Printing Path Folder: Select a folder to which files should be printed.
• Shared EDI Folder: StarShip will create the EDI files and save them to a shared folder that is defined here. Each person using a different Connector for printing will also need to point to the same shared EDI folder. Therefore, each user with a different printing Connector needs to set up this shared location in their Connector’s Printing settings. If the EDI path is remote you should use a UNC path instead of a mapped drive.
  StarShip will create subfolders under the folder specified here for each EDI Provider in use: TrueCommerce/RedTail or Custom EDI.

Set Up Printing Locations

1. Click the Configure button to see the list of locations.
2. Check the “Enabled” column for the locations to use with this Connector.
3. Set the number of Print Agents per location.
   

Settings

The settings section contains the paths to locations of the logging and config files. For StarShip Online users, you can also check the AutoUpdate Enabled check box to enable automatic updating of the Connector. If the current Connector won’t work with the new StarShip Online version, the Connector will auto update immediately; if it will work with the new StarShip Online version, the Connector waits until 3 – 4 AM to auto update.

ADE/Developer’s Interface Setup

Some developers coding against the ADE specification in StarShip v9 made internal references to the station number or path in the Starship.ini file or registry settings. Although these are no longer used in the current version of StarShip, they will be created to maintain backwards compatibility. If you are installing the StarShip client on a new workstation, you may need to modify the values based on the requirements of the integrated application. Consult your interface developer if you require additional detail.

Use this section to set up your ADE or Developer Interface information.

• Config files: Click “Add” to select the configuration file.
• Station Number: Changing Station Number will update the StarShip.Ini file in Windows directory and update the registry branch HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\StarShip\Main\Station.
• Windows Messaging: Check the Windows Messaging check box to update the TriggerType in the StarShip.ini.
• Communications Path: Changing the Input Path or Communications Path will update the configuration file, the StarShip.ini file, and the registry branch HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\StarShip\ADE\Path.

Diagnostics

This section allows you to tests communications between the Connector and the Server.

Video Tutorial