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Barcode Generation

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    #1

    Barcode Generation

    I have a stock table with numeric stock codes eg 1234, 78901 etc.

    I created a label report to print the stock codes using a barcode font for EAN barcodes.

    However the scanner does not recognise what is printed.

    This seems to be because the barcode needs to be in a set format.

    Does anyone know what is the correct format and how to generate it? It appears to be 13 characters with a checksum of some sort at the end and various spacer characters as well.

    A search of the forum did not reveal much in this area. If no-one know how to generate the correct format, does anyone know of a 3rd party DLL or the like which can be called to reply with the format which could then be stored in the table for label report to print?

    I know that some of this is beyond Alpha but there must be others who are beginning to look at barcode generation from Alpha?
    Tags: None
    #2
    Originally posted by metadyne
    I have a stock table with numeric stock codes eg 1234, 78901 etc.

    I created a label report to print the stock codes using a barcode font for EAN barcodes.

    However the scanner does not recognise what is printed.

    This seems to be because the barcode needs to be in a set format.

    Does anyone know what is the correct format and how to generate it? It appears to be 13 characters with a checksum of some sort at the end and various spacer characters as well.

    A search of the forum did not reveal much in this area. If no-one know how to generate the correct format, does anyone know of a 3rd party DLL or the like which can be called to reply with the format which could then be stored in the table for label report to print?

    I know that some of this is beyond Alpha but there must be others who are beginning to look at barcode generation from Alpha?
    EAN-13 is a superset of the UPC-A format. Try searching the board for UPC.

    Also a nice discussion here. Nothing here beyond Alpha.
    There can be only one.

    Comment

      #3
      John,
      If after you set your barcode up as in the example Stan attached, and you still aren't able to read it, check your scanner's documentation. We use Metrologics scanners and a 3 of 9 barcode. We needed to prefix and suffix the numbers with "*" to get the scanners to properly read the code. Once we used the prefix and suffix, all went well.

      Good luck,

      Tom

      Comment

        #4
        Originally posted by Stan Mathews
        EAN-13 is a superset of the UPC-A format. Try searching the board for UPC.

        Also a nice discussion here. Nothing here beyond Alpha.
        It appears that the built in Alpha function CHKDIGIT() will compute the EAN check digit if you use the upc flag

        Code:
        ? chkdigit("007567816412",2)
= "5"
        There can be only one.

        Comment

          #5
          According to what I have read I should start the barcode with 50 split 5 guard bar then 0 for the UK, followed by a 5 digit maker code, a centre guard bar, a 5 digit product code, a checksum digit and another guard bar.

          However the Alpha generates its own itemcodes by an auto-increment field rule c.f. an maker/product code set by the supplier

          So e.g itemcode=44758 would translate as

          5 - guard bar - 0 00000 - guard bar - 44758 - checksum 9 - guard bar

          Is this reasoning correct and how do I generate the guard bars from within Alpha?

          Comment

            #6
            Originally posted by metadyne
            According to what I have read I should start the barcode with 50 split 5 guard bar then 0 for the UK, followed by a 5 digit maker code, a centre guard bar, a 5 digit product code, a checksum digit and another guard bar.

            However the Alpha generates its own itemcodes by an auto-increment field rule c.f. an maker/product code set by the supplier

            So e.g itemcode=44758 would translate as

            5 - guard bar - 0 00000 - guard bar - 44758 - checksum 9 - guard bar

            Is this reasoning correct and how do I generate the guard bars from within Alpha?
            If you study the upc_to_font() function in one of the posts on the subject you will note that the symbol is generated by appropriately "upshifting" the character to be printed. This is done by addiding a value to the character with the chr() function.

            Code:
            symbol[a] = chr(b+32)
            seems to generate the left guard bar, etc.
            There can be only one.

            Comment

              #7
              Using a demo EAN font from IDAutomation, I was able to print an EAN representation of a upc "007567816412" with the attached function. Screen shot of barcode attached as well. IDAutomation maps the left and right guard bars to the "(" character and the center guard bars to the asterisk.

              The function would have to be extended to perform the correct mapping (encoding) for UK barcodes and any others that have a leading digit other than zero.

              There was a bit of trial and error and hardcoding of certain values in devising this so there well may be areas of the function that could be consolidated.
              There can be only one.

              Comment

                #8
                Originally posted by Stan Mathews
                Using a demo EAN font from IDAutomation, I was able to print an EAN representation of a upc "007567816412" with the attached function. Screen shot of barcode attached as well. IDAutomation maps the left and right guard bars to the "(" character and the center guard bars to the asterisk.

                The function would have to be extended to perform the correct mapping (encoding) for UK barcodes and any others that have a leading digit other than zero.

                There was a bit of trial and error and hardcoding of certain values in devising this so there well may be areas of the function that could be consolidated.
                This should work for UK and Mexico as well as UPCs.
                There can be only one.

                Comment

                  #9
                  Many Thanks

                  The function seems to work - but with one issue which I can work around.

                  A product code of 57000 gives

                  ean_to_font("000000057000") = U(000000*PRKKKS(

                  Using the IDAutomation font you used, gives a wrong barcode as the capital U should be a small u.

                  However chr(117) used in the function does give a small u c.f. capital U so I am wondering why I get U?

                  Comment

                    #10
                    Originally posted by metadyne
                    Many Thanks

                    The function seems to work - but with one issue which I can work around.

                    A product code of 57000 gives

                    ean_to_font("000000057000") = U(000000*PRKKKS(

                    Using the IDAutomation font you used, gives a wrong barcode as the capital U should be a small u.

                    However chr(117) used in the function does give a small u c.f. capital U so I am wondering why I get U?
                    Not sure. I don't know why IDAutomation uses the system they do for the first (un barcoded) digit of the country code which seems to appear for human readable purposes to the left of the actual barcode. The chr(85) "U" in the first version of the function I posted is a hard coded 0 for upc compliant usage. The second version of the function has chr(117) "u" for the UK 5 and chr(119) "w" for the Mexican 7.

                    Now I see. If you want to encode 57000 as a UK barcode, which it really isn't without a valid manufacturer code, you have to encode

                    500000057000, not 000000057000

                    the function doesn't know what country to encode for until you tell it. 000000057000 would be for US/Canada.
                    Last edited by Stan Mathews; 06-23-2006, 08:36 AM.
                    There can be only one.

                    Comment

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