Universal 2D Barcode Font kit

The Universal 2D Barcode Font kit includes the fonts and both 32 and 64 bit ANSI and Unicode DLLs and 32 and 64 bit Active-X components, a fully-managed-code .NET (version 2 or later only) component, and a Java class, allowing calls from most programming languages to convert a character string into an Aztec, Datamatrix, PDF417, or QR Code barcode, plus a 32 bit UFL for use within Crystal Reports*.

The kit does NOT support GS1 Databar.

The DLL/OCX is suitable for calling from Visual Basic, VB.NET, C#, Visual C++, Microsoft Office, Delphi, C++ Builder and many other development systems. The DLL/OCX provides control over the Aspect ratio of the barcode (Height/Width ratio), the Security level, and the encoding Start Mode.

The OCX may be used through its properties, and the Caption property may be bound to a database field.

Supports  Aztec, Datamatrix, PDF417 (including micro PDF), QR Code (including micro QR Code) barcodes.

The kit includes examples (with source code) for C/C++, MS Access, Crystal Reports*, Java, VB6 and VB.NET. Also included are mailmerge samples for Access and Excel data sources.

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Demo program showing symbol made from Korean characters

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Sample code in C/C++

A typical C/C++ call to the DLL to convert and output a text string is:

iCodetype=2;             // 2 for PDF417
iColumns=4;              // 4 for 4 columns of data
iSecurityLevel=0;     // 0 for default
iStartMode=0;             // 0 for automatic
iFlags=0;
strcpy(szData,"ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ");
n=Bar2DUf(&iCodetype,(LPSTR)szData,&nl, &iColumns, &iSecurityLevel, &iStartMode,&iFlags,(LPSTR)szBarcode);
x=50;                         // starting X
y=100;                      // starting y
ht=0;
linespace= {selected font height}
pszk=(LPSTR)szBarcode;             // pointer to barcode string
for (i=0; i<MAXCHARS; i++)
{
    nlength=strlen(pszk)+1;
    for (pszl=pszk; ; pszl++)
    {
        if ((unsigned)*pszl<='\n')
            break;
    }
    nlength=(int)(pszl-pszk);
    if(nlength>0)
    {
        while ((nlength>0) && (unsigned)(c=*(pszk+nlength-1))<=' ')
            nlength--;
        ynew=y-ht;
        pDC->TextOut(x,ynew,pszk,nlength);
    }
    ht += linespace;
    pszk=pszl+1;
    if ((*pszl=='\0') || (strlen(pszk)<1))
        break;
}

[Alternative string handling routines may be preferred]

The iFlags value may be used in the Unicode version to allow data to be encoded as Unicode, greatly simplifying the encoding of non-western character sets.

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Sample code in VB

A typical VB call to the DLL to convert a text string is:

U2dnet1.CodeTypeValue = 2         ' =2 for PDF417
U2dnet1.StartMode = 0
U2dnet1.Caption = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"
barcode1.Text = U2dnet1.Barcode()

The barcode text has been copied to a TextBox (barcode1)

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Adding to an Access Form or Report

To add the control to an Access Form or Report, open the form or report in Design view and ensure that the Toolbox is visible. Select the “More controls” icon on the Toolbox and then select the U2DOCX Active-X Control module from the list of controls displayed. Draw a rectangle for the control on the from or report.

Once added to a form or report, selection of the control will show the available properties in Access’s properties window. The font should be set by right-clicking on the control and choosing the U2docx control properties from the displayed menu.

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Using the dFontU2D Java class

The dFontU2D Java class may be used to return strings that contain rows of characters that, when displayed in the correct font form an Aztec, Datamatrix, Databar, PDF417 or QR Code symbol. The class may be used directly or through the dFontU2D.jar provided.

The class is instantiated with the new command:

dFontU2D u2d1=new dFontU2D();

and the required properties set using the setCodeType(), setModeType() and setLevel() methods. The data is supplied to the class using the setCaption() methods and the update() method called to generated the barcode characters.

The number of rows of characters in the resulting barcode may be obtained from the getNStrings() method, and each line of the barcode returned using getBarcodeString(i), eg.

// g is output graphics – screen or printer
// ht is the chose font height in points
// x and y are the top left coordinated required for the symbol
n=u2d1.getNStrings();
for (i=0; i<n; i++)
{ g.drawString(u2d1.getBarcodeString(i),x,(y+i*ht)); }

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Licensing

Each kit may be licensed as a single computer product or as a developer version which permits Royalty-free of the components for up to 10,000 distributions.

System requirements

Requires Microsoft Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/Windows 7. To obtain printed barcodes a Windows compatible printer is required. One of the tools provided must be used for conversion of data into a barcode.

The 32 bit components may be installed on either 32 or 64 bit systems. 64 bit components require a 64 bit operating system.

Except where otherwise stated, the .NET component is designed for use with Visual Studio 2005/.NET Framework 2.0 or later. Supports x32, x64 and IA64.

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*Note:
The UFL for use within Crystal Reports can generate barcodes containing a maximum of 70 characters - the limitation arising from the maximum number of characters that can be returned from a Crystal Reports formula.

Testware versions randomly scramble characters, but otherwise provides a scannable barcode.
The fonts are not suitable for use without the one of the provided components to create the barcode.

All developer font products include an embedding licence so that fonts may be embedded into Acrobat pdf pages (see sample pdf document) or font objects created for embedding barcodes into web pages (see demo page).

View the Universal 2D Barcode Font kit help files - see the Home menu above.