IBM Datacap Desktop custom panels

Credit: IBM

Robert Ferin
Published on December 14, 2017

For situations where a specific application need cannot be satisfied with standard scanning or verification panels, custom panels can fulfill virtually any need. You can create custom panels for your IBM Datacap applications by using Microsoft Visual Studio 2013. The panels are written in C# .NET, implemented as DLLs.

The following users can create custom panels for their IBM Datacap applications:

Datacap application support staff that does custom implementations
Reseller application support staff that does custom implementations
Customer IT staff responsible for Datacap implementations

To create custom panels, you must be experienced with the following disciplines:

Datacap document hierarchies (DCO)
Microsoft Visual Studio
C# programming
XML

The custom panels download package contains instructions and the Visual Studio C# solution to create your own panels for DCDesktop. To create custom panels, IBM Datacap needs to be installed on your development system. Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 is required to create or modify DCDesktop panels.

Custom Datacap desktop verify panels (cross-industry)

IBM Datacap provides the Datacap Desktop (DCDesktop) client application for verification of document data and metadata. You can use Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2013 to create custom verification panels for your IBM Datacap applications.

Custom panels open up the IBM Datacap application to allow full customization of the verification panel to match your specific needs. The download link provides the foundation source code that is needed to create and modify a panel.

Custom DCDesktop verification panels provide:

Control for the layout of fields and images.
Access to the Datacap Object (DCO) and the application variables.
Custom functions specific to your vertical application.
Display of custom logos or corporate images on your panel.

See Downloads to access the custom DCDesktop panels.

Datacap Desktop Universal Field-At-A-Time Panel

One of the built-in panels to DCDesktop is the universal panel that works with any application. This panel displays fields in a generic way, allowing all of the fields to be verified, without any special customization for an application.

This universal panel can also be customized as needed. To customize the universal panel with IBM Datacap, download the ZIP file that contains the universal panel in the Downloadable resources section. Additionally, an updated build of Datacap Desktop is required to be installed to use the customized universal panel, and any panel created using the solution containing the Universal panel.

Follow the instructions to obtain the update from Fix Central and use the build with the panel package that contains the universal panel. The information regarding the download and how to update the panel is included in the download package.

Custom Datacap desktop scan panels (cross-industry)

IBM Datacap provides the Datacap Desktop rich client application for scanning paper documents, selecting and processing existing document files, and manually running rules-based workflow tasks. You can use Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2013 to create custom scan panels for IBM Datacap applications.

Custom panels open up the IBM Datacap application to allow customization of scan panels to match your specific needs. The DCDesktop panel download link provides the foundation source code that is needed to create and modify a panel.

Custom scan panels provide:

Control for the layout of the scanning UI.
Access to the XML representation of the Batch and the Document Hierarchy (Setup DCO).
Custom functions specific to your vertical application.
Display custom logos or corporate images on your panel.
Access to a controlled and supported subset of ISIS and TWAIN scanning capabilities that are contained in the dcScanISIS and dcScanTWAIN components

To successfully design and build custom scan panels requires familiarity with:

C# programming, the Microsoft .NET framework, and Windows Forms.
Microsoft Visual StudioXML, Microsoft System.XML namespace, and XPath syntax.
Datacap Document Hierarchy (Setup DCO) and the structure and contents of application batches.

By using the DCDesktop custom panel project that is available for download, you can customize DCDesktop as needed for your Taskmaster application. See the developer document within the download package that describes how to create new panels or modify existing panels for scanning, batch creation, fixup, or other batch-oriented tasks. The document also illustrates how different functional elements (image view, batch view, metadata fields, and more) are implemented and manipulated within the panels.

Access the IBM Datacap Developer Kit main page.