Label printing and data collection program generator

A program generator allows a user to create a software program capable of being executed by a remote labeler to control the printing of one or more labels and to control data collection operations thereof. The program generator stores a user entered sequence of commands selected from a set of commands that control label printing and data collection operations. The stored sequence of commands is validated in accordance with the program generator such that each command entered by the user is compared to a set of allowable commands to determine whether the command is valid or not. During the validation of each of the commands, the program generator determines whether the parameters of the command define allowable data manipulation operations to be performed by the labeler. If not, the program generator provides an error message that identifies the particular command and the error associated with the command. The program generator allows various application files to be selectively linked together to form an application program. Further, when downloading an application file to a labeler, the program generator automatically determines whether the application program requires a look-up file. If so, the program generator creates the necessary look-up file.