mad_dr

Afternoon!

Is there a universal 'language' for barcodes? If I wanted to turn a number (Phone number etc) into a barcode, could it then be read in another country using a scanner, to turn it back into the original number?

Are there lots of variations of barcodes so that a code read by one scanner could be completely different for another? Or are they all the same?

Cheers!

OllyK

The black bars represent numbers and or letters, they are 1 to 1 mapped, so if you are using barcode "type A" then a "1" will always look the same. However, there are different standards for what a barcode "1" looks like. A bit like typing something in word then changing the font, it isn't being translated to something different as far as meaning goes just appearance. There are however different "type faces" for bar codes. If you know which one then yes you can "en-code" and "de-code" without too much of a problem

OllyK

As a side note, if you hunt about a bit, you can find most of them as true type fonts that you can use in words. Normally the barcode is just a numeric product code.

ChrisB

Indeed, lots of different standards.

Code 3 of 9 for instance is simple to encode.

EAN 13 means working out the check digit of the barcode from the first 12 digits.

Companies like Fontware sell neat little solutions of a True Type font for Windows and VBA modules to use in Access, Excel etc for generating the string which you just format in the barcode font.

mad_dr

Thanks OllyK. Any ideas if there is one type face that is particularly more popular than others?

I'm trying to make a barcode which contains a number, on my PC to print out and send to a friend in Australia who works in a supermarket. I'd like her to be able to scan it and get the number... Sounds odd I know...

Cheers!

OllyK

Looks like ChrisB knows a tad more about it than me!

mad_dr

Thanks Chris - I've got the "3 of 9" font but it makes a HUGE barcode with a 15 digit number... Around 50 lines I'd guess...

ChrisB

Odd indeed

I can encode / print EAN13 and Code 3 of 9 to name a couple. Not sure what standard Australia uses though. America has assorted standards

angrynorth

Not sure whether it helps or not but I seem to remember Corel Draw has a barcode generator, that will encode to different standards.

ChrisB

Looks like they mainly use EAN-UCC but no idea if that is the same as EAN13.

To encode 3 of 9 on one of my projects, it was just a case of puting a * at the start and end of the number.

DJ Dunk

iTrader: (5)

We use Zebra Bar-One to print our labels using a Zebra 90 XiII thermal transfer barcode printer. Generally we use Code39 barcodes, but we have the hardware to read pretty much any barcode.

You'll find that many symbologies such as Telepen require licences to use them.

If you need any info, drop me a mail.