Barcode Printing (OpenInsight 32-bit Specific)
At 15 NOV 2004 11:35:09AM Sedick Cloete wrote:
I need to print barcode for my products using code 39 or EAN13 on a barcode printer. The barcode numbers has already been generated, and I have downloaded some barcode fonts from the internet, which I call for printing the barcodes. My problem is that the scanner is not recognising the barcodes.
Please help?
At 15 NOV 2004 12:04PM Donald Bakke wrote:
Sedick,
When you say the barcode numbers have already been generated, does that include the appropriate checksum digit as well? Also, some barcode fonts map their characters differently. You need to check their documentation to see if they require anything special.
At 15 NOV 2004 01:33PM Sedick Cloete wrote:
For code 39 I exclude the checksum digit but for EAN13 I calculate the checksum digit as field 13. Something that is bothering me is the start and stop digits for the barcode. Do I need to append this, and if so, what is this start and stop digits? The font I am testing with comes from IDAutomation, which I have downloaded from the internet.
At 15 NOV 2004 02:03PM Matt Sorrell wrote:
Some of that is going to depend on how your scanners are configured.
Scanners can be configured to read or ignore the start/stop digits. IIRC, the safest thing to do is have the barcode include the start/stop digits, then rely on the scanner to interpret it correctly.
If the scanner is looking for the start/stop digits and they aren't there, it won't read. If the digits are there, it shouldn't matter how the scanner is configured.
At 15 NOV 2004 02:49PM Sedick Cloete wrote:
I think that the scanner is expecting the start/stop digits to be there, but I don't know what this should be. Can you please tell me what the start/stop digits should be?
At 15 NOV 2004 04:15PM Donald Bakke wrote:
Sedick,
The start/stop digit for EAN-13 is relatively public domain. A quick search on google found this commercial site's article on EAN-13 Specifications. It seems to give you the logic you need and a link to a page where you can validate your results. I think to ask for any more direct help would be to ask for free consulting.
At 15 NOV 2004 05:27PM Sedick Cloete wrote:
Thanks Don
At 15 NOV 2004 07:26PM Richard Hunt wrote:
Barcode 39 does need start and stop. The start and the stop is the asterisk (*) character… or THIN BLANK THIN FAT FAT THIN.
Sometimes the actual scanner is not programmed to read certain barcode types. Check the scanner manual for the "default" settings.
At 16 NOV 2004 12:06AM G Te Tamaki wrote:
We use code 39 every day. The number needs asterisks, eg: *123456*
The only trick is that bar code readers can not read short numbers, less than 3 digits from memory. Just pad the number when creating the bar code: *1 *
and strip the blanks when the bar code is read.
At 12 DEC 2004 10:05AM Jackie Jones wrote:
Once we fixed this problem by just printing a little larger barcode and it scanned ok then.