Barcode Utility (UG)

Owned by Emma Greenwood
Last updated: Jan 31, 2020
6 min read

Overview

The barcode utility is a webservice within NorthScope to generate barcodes of various types that can be embedded into reports. When configured, the application will output all barcode types in a PNG format.

Installing/requesting a barcode

The BarCode Service is installed as part of NorthScope inside a services folder, /services/BarCodeService.svc.

For example, if the NorthScope application is running at the following location: http://doug/nstest/ , the bar code service can be found at: http://doug/nstest/services/BarCodeService.svc

From this service you can request a barcode by calling the services’ GetBarCode method and passing the appropriate values for the data and code parameters. For example, if your server is called ‘doug’ and your database is called ‘nstest’ and you would like to generate a Code128 barcode to display ‘TestOrder123’ the URL would look like the following:

http://doug/nstest/services/BarCodeService.svc/GetBarCode?data=TestOrder123&code=Code128

 

Note: If a user enters an unsupported characteristic (see Barcode specific characteristics below), an image “Barcode N/A” will be displayed.

Supported barcode formats

Currently, the following formats are supported:

  • Code11

  • Code128

  • Code128A

  • Code128B

  • Code128C

  • Code39

  • Code39Extended

  • EAN8

  • EAN13

  • Codabar

  • MSImod10

  • MSImod11

  • MSImod1010

  • MSImod1110

  • Code25Standard

  • Code25Interleaved

  • Code93

  • Code93Extended

  • UPCA

  • UPCE

  • UPCSupplement2

  • UPCSupplement5

  • Postnet

  • QRCode

  • PDF417

 

Barcode specific characteristics

Code 11

Code11 is a barcode symbology which is discrete and is able to encode the numbers 0 through to 9, the dash symbol (-), and start/stop characters.

Code 128

Code128 is a barcode symbology which encodes alphanumeric characters into a series of bars. It is of variable length, and accepts numbers, upper and lower case characters. It also includes an obligatory MOD 103 checksum.

 

The Code128 is divided into three subsets A, B, and C. There are three separate start codes to indicate which subset will be used:

  1. Code128A supports the standard ASCII symbols, numbers, upper case letters, and control characters, such as tab and new-line.

     

  2. Code128B supports standard ASCII symbols, numbers, upper and lower case letters.

     

  3. Code128C supports numbers only.

     

Code 25 Interleaved

Interleaved 2 of 5 is a higher-density numeric symbology based upon the Standard 2 of 5 symbology. Interleaved 2 of 5 encodes any even number of numeric characters in the widths of the bars and spaces of the bar code.Unlike Standard 2 of 5, which only encodes information in the width of the bars,Interleaved 2 of 5 encodes data in the width of both the bars and spaces. This allows Interleaved 2 of 5 to achieve a somewhat higher density. The symbology is called "interleaved" because the first numeric data is encoded in the first 5 bars while the second numeric data is encoded in the first 5 spaces that separate the first 5 bars. Thus the first 5 bars and spaces actually encode two characters. This is also why the bar code can only encode an even number of data elements.

 

Code 25 Standard

Stanadard 2 of 5 is a low-density numeric symbology. The spaces in the barcode exist only to separate the bars themselves. Additionally, a bar may either be wide or narrow, a wide bar generally being 3 times as wide as a narrow bar. The exact size of the spaces is not critical, but is generally the same width as a narrow bar.

Code 39

Code39 is a barcode symbology which encodes alphanumeric characters into a series of bars. It is of variable length and accepts uppercase letters, as well as numbers. It includes an optionalMod 43 checksum. Code39Extended is an extended version of code 39, which includes a bigger character set. If there is a
requirement to use the Code39 barcode with characters other than numbers and uppercase alphabets, then this is the recommended barcode.

Code 93

Code93 was designed to complement and improve upon Code 39. Code 93 is similar in that it, like Code 39, can represent the full ASCII character set by using combinations of 2 characters. It differs in that Code 93 is a continuous symbology and produces denser code. It also encodes 47 characters compared to Code 39's 43 characters. Code93Extended is an extended version of code 93, which includes a bigger character set. Code93Extended can encode full 128 character ASCIIusing the four additional characters: ($) (%) (/) (+)

EAN 13

EAN13 is a barcode symbology which encodes numbers into a series of bars. It is of fixed length, of 13 digit (12 data and 1 check), and accepts numbers. First digit is always placed outside the symbol; additionally a right quiet zone indicator (>) is used to indicate Quiet Zones that are necessary for barcode scanners to work properly. It includes a checksum.

EAN 8

EAN8 is a barcode symbology which encodes numbers into a series of bars. It is of fixed length, of 7 digits, and accepts numbers only. It includes a checksum.

MSI

MSI(also known as Modified Plessey) is a barcode symbology is a continuous, non-self-checking symbology. It is used primarily for inventory control, marking storage containers and shelves in warehouse environments. The length of this barcode type is variable.

The MSI barcode uses one of four possible schemes for calculating a check digit:

  1. MSImod10(most common)

     

  2. MSImod1010

     

  3. MSImod11

     

  4. MSImod1110

Postnet

Postnet(Postal Numeric Encoding Technique) is a barcode symbology which encodes numbers into a series of bars. It is of variable length and accepts numbers only. It includes a checksum.

QR Code

QR Code is a barcode symbology that accepts the following Alphanumeric characters 0–9, A–Z (upper-case only), space, $, %, *, +, -, ., /, :

UPC-A

UPCA is a barcode symbology, which consists of 12 digits, one of which is a checksum. This barcode identifies the manufacturer and specific product, so point-of- sale cash register systems can automatically look up the price.

UPC-E

UPCE is a variation of the UPCA symbol that is used for number system 0. By suppressing zeroes, UPCE codes can be printed in a very small space and are used for labeling small items.

UPC Supplement 2

A two digit UPC supplementary code. This barcode should only be used with magazines, newspapers and other such periodicals.

UPC Supplement 5

A five digit UPC supplementary code. This barcode is used on books to indicate a suggested retail price.

PDF417

This standard works in both EmbeddedPNG and SVG_VML output types and behaves similar to the other barcode standards. Additionally there are 3 more settings to configure:

  1. AspectRatio - Integer - Specify the ratio between width and height of the lines. Should be at least 3, to be valid for most scanners.

  2. EncodingMode - Enum - (Auto, Byte, Text, Numeric) - By default is Byte, and specify the encoding mode according to the PDF417 standards.

  3. ErrorCorrectionLevel - Integer.