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What is Lexmark

In our context, Lexmark is an external system for signage and labeling, both digitally and on paper. The external interface to this system can be based on either web services or text files, with Chain Classic using the latter option.

The Lexmark system includes a database with its own item/price registers, label templates and store setup. The input file contents (label batches) are also stored in the database, so when future price changes are exported from Chain Classic these will be available in Lexmark when a store wants to print out labels before the changes take effect.

History

Version	Date	Description	Changed by
1.0	2023.08.28	Document created	Per Holm
1.1	2024.01.18	New field 53 "Lowest price in Item/Price	Odd Erik Eide
1.2	2024.09.13	New field 54 "Discount type price" in Item/Price	Odd Erik Eide
1.3	2025	New field 55 "Label tag" in Item/Price	Odd Erik Eide

Item/price file

Field no	Content	Data type	Commentary
1	Server name	Text	System parameter
2	Store no	Integer
3	Start date	Date	Date format dd/mm/yy
4	End date	Date	Date format dd/mm/yy, only for campaign
5	Item queue type	Integer	See explanation below
6	Item queue type text	Text
7	Label	Logical	Yes = Generate label No = Only update Lexmark item/price tables
8	Label template no.	Integer	0 = No label
9	Supplier no.	Integer
10	Supplier name	Text
11	Supplier order no.	Integer
12	PLU/GTIN main item	Integer
13	PLU/GTIN tandem	Integer	For items with more than one tandem, a copy of the original record (with tandem GTIN being the only changed field) has to be exported for each additional tandem
14	Model no.	Integer
15	Main item for model	Logical	For model items, one of the variants within each model should be marked with "yes" in this field
16	Item text	Text
17	Label text 1	Text
18	Label text 2	Text
19	Color text	Text
20	Size text	Text
21	Sales price	Decimal
22	Ordinary price	Decimal	Filled in only when item is on campaign
23	Fixed discount %	Decimal
24	Fixed discount amount	Decimal
25	Sales unit	Text	Unit text used for sales price
26	Compare unit	Text	Unit text used for compare price
27	Compare quantity	Decimal	Quantity per sales unit, for calculation of compare price
28	Compare price	Decimal	Calculated compare price based on current sales price
29	Linked item	Integer	PLU/GTIN for linked item (refund)
30	Number in package	Decimal	Number of units in smallest supplier package (D-PAK)
31	Department no.	Integer
32	Department text	Text
33	Item area no.	Integer
34	Item area text	Text
35	Item group no.	Integer
36	Item group text	Text
37	Free group	Text	One-letter code to decide if item is delivered directly from the supplier or from an internal warehouse. The item field "Free group" in Chain Classic is used for this, and output to Lexmark is the first letter from the text field in the related free group table
38	Label mark	Text	At this time, the only valid code is "S" for "slow mover", blank for all other items
39	Assortment code	Text
40	Consumer symbol 1 "Swan mark"	Logical (yes/no)	"yes" indicates that symbol should be printed/displayed on labels
41	Consumer symbol 2 "Keyhole"	Logical (yes/no)	"yes" indicates that symbol should be printed/displayed on labels
42	Consumer symbol 3 "Ecological"	Logical (yes/no)	"yes" indicates that symbol should be printed/displayed on labels
43	Consumer symbol 4 "EU flower"	Logical (yes/no)	"yes" indicates that symbol should be printed/displayed on labels
44	Promotion type	Text	Field has a value only for items on campaign. The value is "T" for items in department 2010 (groceries) and "K" for all other items
45	Brand	Text	Brand name
46	Show ordinary price	Logical	Set to "no" if quantity sold within last x days is less than y. Both of these values (system parameters) must have a value > 0 for this check to be performed, else the value is always "yes"
47	User ID	Text
48	Sales channel	Text	Copied from campaign group where applicable
49	Mix-match text	Text	"Additional text" from mixmatch which contains current item. Mix must be active, and of mix type 1 (criterium also for the two next fields)
50	Mix-match price	Decimal	Mix-match sales price
51	Self-scan item	Logical	"yes" if mix is marked as "self-scan only"
52	Link type	Integer	A value > 0 signifies that this item has a linked item (1 = refund)
53	Lowest price	Decimal	Lowest sales price from a given period (e.g. 30 days). Only used for campaign price and member price
54	Discount type price	Integer	Discount type price. Only used for campaign price and member price
55	Label tag	Text	Label tag text from Sys.Alt.

Item queue types

In Lexmark export files, the queue types from Chain Classic are used to define which type of change each record represents:

1 – New item/price
2 – Change of (main) GTIN on item
3 – Item info change
5 – End campaign
6 – Ordinary price change
7 – Start campaign
8 – Start member campaign
81 – End member campaign
9 – Delete item/price

In addition to these, queue type 0 is used for on-demand export (not triggered by any change of data).

Export files

Lexmark item/price files have this name pattern:

<prefix>_<server name>_<date>_<time>.<store no>
Date has the format YYYYMMDD and time is number of seconds since last midnight.
Prefixes are parameterized, see below for current values used by Coop.

There are to types of export files:

Item file – goes only to the "total store" (99900)
- Prefix: libitemlex
- Queue types included: 0, 1, 2, 3 and 9
Price file – goes to all other stores
- Prefix: priceitemlex
- Queue types included: All except type 3

Functionality - rules and considerations - Export triggered from item/price change

Future price changes / campaigns are exported immediately when registered in Chain Classic, with the label flag being set to "yes". Thus, a label batch will be created in Lexmark, making it possible for stores using paper shelf edge labels to print out these before the changes takes effect.
When the change date is reached, a new export is made, but now with the label flag set to "no".
As far as possible, we try to prevent redundant labels from being be printed. A couple of scenarios where label printing is suppressed:
- A campaign starts, and campaign price is the same as ordinary price.
- Two campaign periods are set up back-to-back, and the sales price in both periods are the same.
Some changes demand special handling to guarantee data integrity in the Lexmark database:
- Change of main GTIN for an item
  - Export of record(s) with queue type 2 (using old GTIN)
    Might be more than one record if item has more than one tandem
  - Export of record(s) with queue type 1 (using new GTIN)
    Old GTIN in tandem no. field
    Might be more than one record if item has previous tandem
- Addition/deletion of tandem
  - Export of record(s) with queue type 9
    Might be more than one record if item has more than one tandem
  - Export of record(s) with queue type 1
    Might be more than one record if item has more then one tandem after addition/deletion

Mix-match file - file definition

Field no	Content	Data type	Commentary
1	Server name	Text	System parameter
2	Store no	Integer
3	Mix-match ID	Text	External mix-match ID
4	Mix-match text	Text	Descriptive text
5	Action	Text	S=Deletion, N=New/Changed
6	Mix-match type	Integer
7	Mix type text	Text
8	Member mix	Logical	Yes=valid only for members
9	Start date	Date	Date format dd/mm/yy
10	End date	Date	Date format dd/mm/yy
11	Sales price	Decimal	Total sales price for mix-match
12	Quantity	Decimal	Quantity required to get mix discount
13	Discount %	Decimal	Discount in percent for all items in mix
14	Discount amount	Decimal	Discount amount for all items in mix
15	Subtotal limit	Decimal	Required subtotal amount for mix to kick in
16	Subtotal %	Decimal	Subtotal discount in percent
17	Subtotal amount	Decimal	Subtotal discount amount
18	Self-scannig	Logical	Yes indicates that mix-match is only valid when customer uses self-scanning
19	Mix-match text 2	Text	Short free text
20	Mix-match note	Text	Extended free text. Line feeds in original text must be replaced with hash sign (#) in export

Export files

Lexmark mix-match files have this name pattern:

mixlex_<server name>_<date>_<time>.<store no>
Date has the format YYYYMMDD and time is number of seconds since last midnight.

Functionality – rules and considerations

Only "mix header" information is exported.
Different fields will be filled in for different mix types.
Only some mix types will get a meaningful representation in this format. In Chain Classic, it is parameterized which mix types should be exported to Lexmark.