Products available for printing barcodes
IDAutomation has provided several methods for printing barcodes. Components such as the ASP.NET Web Components and Java Barcode Packages do not require the use of additional automation tools to calculate the check digits because the calculation takes place inside the component. However, fonts offer a high level of scalability with operating systems, applications, and printer independence and are sometimes easier to integrate into an application. Learn more about the benefits of using fonts over other tools.
Printing with Fonts:
Barcode fonts allow for printing barcodes from MS Windows, Mac, UNIX, AS/400 and a variety of other operating systems; TrueType, PCL LaserJet soft fonts, PostScript (type 1) Binary and ASCII versions are available for most symbologies. Implementing barcode solutions with IDAutomation fonts provides a high level of scalability with operating systems, applications, and printer independence. For the use of TrueType barcode fonts for Windows, consider IDAutomation’s TrueType Font Package.
Non-technical users should use self-checking barcode fonts. Self-checking fonts (such as Code 39 and Codabar) have checking code built-in so it is unnecessary to calculate check characters. Check characters are used in more dense symbologies so the barcode scanner can verify the barcode was scanned correctly. However, to help users integrate barcodes into applications, IDAutomation provides several font encoders and application add-ins to automatically format the start, stop and check characters to the barcode font.
Self-checking fonts are easy to use in graphical applications and can be entered directly from the keyboard. All barcodes require a start and stop character that must be included in the barcode so the scanner knows where the barcode starts and ends. For example, to create a barcode that encodes the data “1234ABCD” with the Code 39 Font: (1) select the font from the list of fonts in the application, (2) type the start character “!”, (3) type the data “1234ABCD”, (4) type the stop character “!”, then change the font back to the default font of the document.
Automating the printing of self-checking fonts for a mail merge or database report is very easy. It is important to make sure the start and stop characters appear directly before and after the data in the barcode. For example: to print the Code 39 Fonts from an MS Access report, use “!” & [FieldName] & “!” in the Control Source Field where FieldName is the field that contains the data-to-encode. To print the Code 39 Fonts from an MS Word mail merge, use !«FieldName»! for the merge field where FieldName is the name of the field to merge. This entire set of characters must have the barcode font selected for it, even though it will not appear correctly in the main document. After the merge is performed, the “«” and “»” will be removed and the FieldName will be replaced with the text in the data source.
Printing from a Web Browser:
The best forms of printing from a web browser include using IDAutomation’s Streaming Barcode Server for IIS, ASP .NET Barcode Server Control, or Java Barcode Servlets. See the Internet barcode FAQ for more information. IDAutomation provides the ability to use fonts in OpenType or TrueDoc format, which allows barcodes to be displayed dynamically and efficiently on web pages. A sample of fonts in this format and an evaluation of the conversion tools are available on the Internet Font Embedding Page.
Printing with ActiveX Controls & DLLs:
Users operating in the Windows environment may use IDAutomation’s ActiveX Controls & DLLs to integrate bar-coding into any application or development platform that supports Microsoft’s ActiveX or COM specification such as Delphi, Microsoft Word, Excel, Access, FrontPage, Internet Explorer, Visual Basic, and C++. ActiveX controls are easy-to-use drag-and-drop controls that have the ability to connect to data fields of a data source, such as a field in MS Access or a cell in Excel. For an easy-to-use product, when working with the more complicated non-self-checking barcode such as Code 128, UPC, EAN, ITF, or PDF417, use the ActiveX Control if possible. ActiveX Controls only work on Microsoft Windows operating systems. IDAutomation has provided an online tutorial for using ActiveX Controls in some popular applications.
Printing from Microsoft .NET and Visual Studio Dotnet:
IDAutomation’s .NET Barcode Forms Controls are managed code components that allow easy printing of barcodes from any .NET environment. IDAutomation recommends using the ASP .NET Barcode Server Control when creating barcodes in ASP Dotnet Web Applications for the Internet.
Printing with JavaBeans, Applets, or Servlets:
Java programmers and web developers may wish to use IDAutomation’s Java Barcode Packages, which contain JavaBeans, applets, and servlets. These Java products may be used on any operating system with a Java virtual machine to integrate automated bar-coding into internet applications, websites, or custom Java applications.
Creating PDF documents for the Internet and other uses:
IDAutomation barcode fonts may be used to integrate barcodes into PDF documents to create virus-free portable data files that can be viewed on all operating systems with a PDF viewer such as Acrobat Reader. The fonts have been tested and work well with all PDF generation products.
Barcode label software programs and label printers:
If the desire is to print barcode labels, but not from an existing print process, consider IDAutomation’s barcode label printing software. However, it is best to integrate barcode technology directly into the business application if there is already a print process where the barcode is needed. To print to a thermal transfer label printer, consider NiceLabel software, which prints in the printer’s native language.