Looking for a barcode font
2 posts • Page 1 of 1
Looking for a barcode font
I am looking for a barcode font. Our need is very simple from our side and somehow I cannot match it with any of your products.
We are a small sheet metal CAD/CAM company. Our output to user is essentially the NC code for a CNC machine. But together with this output, user migth want to print a .DOC report with all the parts included into a certain order. These part names can be requested to be generated as a barcodes, so on the production floor the oeprator can read the part name using a standard scanner.
As far as we see, all we need is a barcode font, creating a Word template file where certain fields are formatted with this barcode. AT report generation time all we need to do is instantiating the template by substituting the actual values for the specific fields.
The problem is that the actual text (like part name or other 'names') can be of any characters, from any language (including Asian languages and even right-2-left language, like Hebrew). So I need a font which can generate a barcode from any character set (aka from a Unicode string).
We are a small sheet metal CAD/CAM company. Our output to user is essentially the NC code for a CNC machine. But together with this output, user migth want to print a .DOC report with all the parts included into a certain order. These part names can be requested to be generated as a barcodes, so on the production floor the oeprator can read the part name using a standard scanner.
As far as we see, all we need is a barcode font, creating a Word template file where certain fields are formatted with this barcode. AT report generation time all we need to do is instantiating the template by substituting the actual values for the specific fields.
The problem is that the actual text (like part name or other 'names') can be of any characters, from any language (including Asian languages and even right-2-left language, like Hebrew). So I need a font which can generate a barcode from any character set (aka from a Unicode string).
- Meta Lix
Re: Looking for a barcode font
Thank you for the interest on our software.
First I'd like to point out that in most cases, you can't just format the text with a barcode font to create a valid barcode. You will need to call an encode function first, and get the barcode string which becomes a barcode after being formatted with a barcode font. Calling encoder function is straightforward by calling a DLL function.
Secondly you need to determine the barcode format. Generally speaking, barcode is not intended to encode large amount of text. It is used to encode an ID number that identifies info stored in a database. 2D barcodes (PDF417, DataMatrix and QRCode) can encode quite a bit text however subject to space limitation. Although there is a standard (ECI) to support mixed character set encoding in 2D barcodes, most scanners do not support it, and the ones support simply emit special character code at time of scan. This means that you will need to handle the character encoding issues in your reading program if the input is beyond ASCII and binary bytes.
The licensing issue is easier. We offer developer license at low prices. With a developer license you can bundle the font and encoder DLL with your software without royalty.
First I'd like to point out that in most cases, you can't just format the text with a barcode font to create a valid barcode. You will need to call an encode function first, and get the barcode string which becomes a barcode after being formatted with a barcode font. Calling encoder function is straightforward by calling a DLL function.
Secondly you need to determine the barcode format. Generally speaking, barcode is not intended to encode large amount of text. It is used to encode an ID number that identifies info stored in a database. 2D barcodes (PDF417, DataMatrix and QRCode) can encode quite a bit text however subject to space limitation. Although there is a standard (ECI) to support mixed character set encoding in 2D barcodes, most scanners do not support it, and the ones support simply emit special character code at time of scan. This means that you will need to handle the character encoding issues in your reading program if the input is beyond ASCII and binary bytes.
The licensing issue is easier. We offer developer license at low prices. With a developer license you can bundle the font and encoder DLL with your software without royalty.
The information above is provided "AS IS", with no warranties, and confers no rights.
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glitch - Support Engineer
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