Scale Integration

cieTrade has the capacity to integrate with on-site scales, giving users the ability to pull live data (from the scale) into the system with a click of a button. To use this feature, you will need to create and configure the scale within cieTrade, and have the cieTrade Scale Add-in installed to your browser. This article will take you from start to finish on setting up the integration. Before beginning, please review the requirements for the integration to confirm if your devices are compatible.

Setup:

The first step is to download and install the cieTrade Scale Add-in for Google Chrome.

1. Open Google Chrome and click on the three dots in the top right corner to open the Customize and Control panel. From here, go to your Extensions > Manage Extensions. 
2. From the Extensions page, enable Developer mode. 
3. Download and unzip the cieTrade Scale Add-in.
4. From the Extensions page, click Load unpacked. 
5. Find the (unzipped) folder for the cieTrade Scale Add-in, and select it. 
6. Once selected, the cieTrade Scale Add-in should appear on the Extensions page.  

WARNING: If you receive a popup from Google Chrome saying "Disable developer mode extensions" or "cieTrade Scale is no longer supported", simply exit the popup by clicking the "x". If you click "disable", the scale integration will not work.

Configure the Scale:

The next step is to create the scale within cieTrade and configure it so it reads the weight correctly.

Create Scale:

1. Navigate to Settings, then go to the Scales page.
2. Click + New Scale. 
3. Enter a Scale Name, IP Address, and Port Number.
4. The Warehouse field is optional, but can be used to define the warehouse the scale is located in. 
5. Click Save Changes when finished.

Configure Scale:

Once the scale is created, you must configure it to read the outputted weight correctly. To do this, a Start and End String must be establish. You can think of these strings as a cushion of sorts that helps the system identify the important information (the weight) from the unimportant. To configure the scale:

1. From the Scales page, hover over the intended scale and click the checkmark that appears. 
2. If you see a bunch of numbers in the "Scale receive message" box, then you've done everything up until this point correctly. What you are looking at is the raw output of the scale (in ASCII code).
   1. If the box is empty, then you've done something wrong. The most common reasons for not seeing the scale output are:
      1. The IP address or port number are wrong.
      2. The Scale Add-in is not installed or you're using the wrong browser.
      3. The scale does not have a continuous output of data.
3. If you look at the output of the scale long enough (i,e the "Scale receive message" box), you'll notice there is a chain of numbers that repeats. The first step is to identify the chain of numbers that is repeating. The literal "start" and "end" is subjective. You can use your best judgement on what you label the "start" and "end", but the goal is to identify the chain of numbers that repeat.
   1. Using the above screenshot as an example, the chain of numbers that repeats is "32,32,52,52,57,54,48,76,66,10,60,50,83,84,88,62".
4. Once the chain of repeating numbers is identified, the next step is to locate the numbers that correlate to the weight on the scale. This will give you the Start and End Strings. The data from the scale is being transferred in ASCII code, so we recommend using an ASCII code manual for this part in addition to knowing the amount of weight that is on the scale (and therefore is being outputted). Use ASCII code to decipher what each number equates to and find the the string of numbers that correlate to the weight that is on the scale. Once you have the weight identified, the numbers before and after it will be the Start and End Strings.
   1. Using the above example, "52,56,51,50,56" correlates to "48328", which is the weight being read from the scale. This makes the Start/End Strings:
      1. Start String: "32,32"
      2. End String: ",76,66,10,60,50,83,84,88,62,"
5. Once you have the Start and End String identified, edit the scale and add this information to it. 
6. The final step is to test the scale to ensure it was configured correctly, and that you're getting an accurate reading from it. To test, open a new Receiving Ticket and use the scale block (Gross and Tare buttons). If you're getting the right numbers, then you're all set and are ready to start using the scale integration. If not, try reconfiguring the scale by adjusting the Start/End Strings.

You're done!

NOTE: Each scale is different, so the length of the Start/End String may vary from scale to scale.

Using the Scale:

Find our helpfile on using the integrated scale here.