SOLACE
PLATES
A complete production ecosystem for UK number plate manufacturers — a bespoke Windows desktop application for BSAU 145e compliant plate design and printing, unified with a cloud management portal for merchants, licensing, and audit.
Smart Plate Printer synced with Plate Portal via REST API
Two Products,
One System
Solace Plates is two products working as one. The Windows application — Smart Plate Printer — handles plate design, real-time compliance validation, and print management at the operator's machine. The cloud web portal — Plate Portal — gives merchants complete oversight: user and licence management, hardware access control, print auditing, and Stripe-powered subscription billing. The two sync continuously via a secured REST API, with full offline resilience on the desktop side.
Smart Plate Printer
The desktop application plate operators use every day. Built with WPF on .NET 8, it renders pixel-perfect plate previews using official Charles Wright font families drawn from SVG glyph assets — what you see on screen is what prints. Every plate is continuously validated against BSAU 145e regulations as you work.
Live WYSIWYG plate editor with real-time BSAU 145e validation
Real-Time BSAU Validation
On-screen distance indicators continuously monitor character spacing, dealer name positioning, and postcode placement against BSAU 145e as you design.
Charles Wright Rendering
Official Charles Wright font families — Standard and Motorcycle variants — rendered from SVG glyph assets for crisp, legally compliant output at any DPI.
Native Print Control
Direct integration with Windows print APIs (winspool.drv / GDI). Full control over paper size, DPI, orientation, and colour. Printers auto-detected on startup.
DVLA Lookup
Real-time registration validation against the DVLA database via API, with debounced input and inline results — confirming plate legitimacy before production.
PDF Export
PdfSharp-powered export at exact physical plate dimensions. Millimetre-accurate page sizing for archiving, proof delivery, or third-party printing.
Offline-First Architecture
LiteDB local database keeps the application fully functional without a network connection. Templates, settings, and print jobs sync automatically on reconnect.
Template System
Save and reload full plate configurations — dealer name, postcode, flags, borders, and sizes for front and rear — with a single click. Per-user, cloud-synced.
Print Job Audit
Every print event logged locally with timestamp and printer name. Counts sync to the server on a recurring timer for a complete, server-side audit trail.
Every plate validated against regulations as you design
Per-printer calibration with live offset preview
Plate Portal
The cloud management layer — built for merchants, not operators. A multi-tenant SaaS platform running on Laravel and Vue 3 via Inertia.js. Merchants manage their customers, control machine licensing, monitor print output, and handle subscription billing — all from the browser.
Centralised overview of customers, licences, and print activity
Admin → Merchant → Customer
A clean three-tier hierarchy with strict role separation. Middleware-enforced route guards ensure every user sees exactly what they should — nothing more.
Stripe Subscription Billing
Starter, Professional, and Enterprise tiers via Laravel Cashier. Plan limits read dynamically from Stripe product metadata — no code changes needed to update tiers.
Machine Licensing
Hardware-level access control via unique machine hashes. Merchants set per-customer machine limits. Admins can revoke access instantly. Last check-in tracked per machine.
Print Audit Trail
Every plate printed across the network recorded with user, printer name, and exact timestamp. Filterable by date range. Exportable. Immutable.
Licence Expiry Management
7-day trial and 12-month full licence durations. Start and expiry dates tracked per customer. Full event history. Manual renewal by admin. Billable events flagged separately.
Merchant Branding
Company logo, RNPS number, BSAU prefix, contact details, and up to two custom navigation shortcuts — all configurable per merchant, applied platform-wide instantly.
2FA & Security
TOTP-based two-factor authentication via Laravel Fortify. Sanctum Bearer token API auth. CSRF protection. Webhook signature verification on all Stripe billing events.
Full Data Export
One-click ZIP archive of all platform data as CSV files — users, print logs, plates, licensed machines, and licence events. Admin-only. Always available.
Role-based access control with per-user machine limits
Full timestamped history of every plate printed per machine
Three-Tier
Access Model
Plate Portal enforces a strict three-tier role model — Platform Admin, Merchant, and Customer — with middleware-guarded routes at every level. Each role has clearly defined capabilities and sees only what is relevant to their position in the hierarchy.
BSAU 145e Compliance
Every plate produced through Solace Plates is validated against British Standard BSAU 145e — the legal requirement for UK road-legal registration plates. Compliance is enforced at the software level, not left to the operator.