RBarCode

Wellcome to RBarCode. This package contains a Java[TM] applet and a Java[TM] class you can use to create barcodes for you website or application.

BarCode

This section explains the main configuration parameters of the BarCode class. This class is a descendant of java.awt.Canvas and you can therefore use it in any container.

The names in parenthesis are the names of the applet parameters.

• barType (parameter CODE_TYPE in applet): this is the type of barcode to be used. Valid values are: BAR39, BAR39EXT, CODE39, CODE11, CODABAR, CODE93EXT, CODE128, MSI, IND25, MAT25, INTERLEAVED25, EAN13, EAN8, CODE128, POSTNET, UPCA and UPCE.
• backColor (BACK_COLOR): back color of the barcode.
• barColor (BAR_COLOR): color of the bars.
• barHeightCM (parameter BAR_HEIGHT in applet): height of the bars in CM. If this value is 0, it will be calculated using H.
• CODABARStartChar (CODABAR_START): Start character for CODABAR. Valid values are "A", "B", "C" or "D".
• CODABARStopChar (CODABAR_STOP): Stop character for CODABAR. Valid values are "A", "B", "C" or "D".
• code (parameter BARCODE in applet): this is the value to be encoded.
• code128set (parameter CODE128_SET in applet): set of charaters to be used in code128. Valid values are : A, B or C.
• checkCharacter (CHECK_CHAR): If true the software will calculate the check character automatically. The applet converts "Y" to true and "N" to false.
• fontColor (FONT_COLOR): color of the font used to display the code.
• guardBars (GUARDS_BARS): indicates if guardbars will be height than other bars. Only for EAN and UPC.
• I (parameter I in applet): intercharacter separator , only for BAR39. A value of 1 means that the separator will have the same length as X.
• H (parameter H in applet): Indicates how to calculate the height of the bars. A value of 0.5 means that the bars should be half the length of the symbol.
• leftMarginCM (LEFT_MARGIN): left margin in CM.
• N (parameter N in applet): a value of 2, means that wide bars will be 2 times the width of narrow bars. The default vaue is 2.
• postnetHeightTallBar: height (in CM) of PostNet's tall bar.
• postnetHeightShortBar: height (in CM) of PostNet's short bar.
• PDFColumns (only for Barcode2D) (PDF_COLUMNS): number of columns for PDF417 (the default is 10).
• PDFECLevel (only for Barcode2D) (PDF_ECLEVEL): error correction level for PDF417 (the default is 0).
• PDFMode (only for Barcode2D) (PDF_COMPACTION): PDF417 mode can be NUMERIC, TEXT or BINARY.
• PDFRows (only for Barcode2D) (PDF_ROWS): number of rows for PDF417 (optional).
• rotate (ROTATE): Indicates how the barcode should be painted (vertica, horizontal ...). Valid values are 0 (nomral), 90 (vertical),180 (inverted) and 270 (inverted vertical).
• supHeight (SUPPLEMENT_HEIGHT): relative height of the supplement's bars (only EAN and UPC). The default (0.8) means 80% of the normal bars.
• supSeparationCM (SUPPLEMENT_SEPARATION): separation between the code and the supplement (in CM). the default is 0.5 (only EAN and UPC).
• textFont (TEXT_FONT): font used to display the code.
• topMarginCM (TOP_MARGIN): top margin in CM.
• UPCEANSupplement2 (SUPPLEMENT=2): indicates if the codes EAN and UPC will have a 2 digit's supplement.
• UPCEANSupplement5 (SUPPLEMENT=5): indicates if the codes EAN and UPC will have a 5 digit's supplement.
• UPCESystem (UPCE_SYSTEM): encoding system to be used for UPCE, valid values are 0 and 1.
• X (parameter X in applet):: width in centimeters of narrow bars. The default is 0.03.

How to create a gif, png or jpg file.

You can also export the barcode to a gif,png or a jpeg file. In order to do this you must use the following code:

import com.java4less.rbarcode.*;

bc=new BarCode();
bc.setSize(400,200); // important, set size
....
new barCodeEncoder(bc,"GIF","file.gif");
new barCodeEncoder(bc,"PNG","file.png");
new barCodeEncoder(bc,"JPEG","file.jpg");

note that:

• The GIF encoder must previously be downloaded and included in your classpath: http://www.acme.com/resources/classes/Acme.tar.gz
• The PNG encoder must previously be downloaded and included in your classpath: http://users.boone.net/wbrameld/pngencoder/
• In order to use the JPEG encoder you must have the package com.sun.image.codec.jpeg installed.

Note: this feature is only available in JDK 1.2 or later.

How to create the barcode in a java.awt.Image object

The following code illustrates how you can create a barcode in a java.awt.Image object:

bc=new BarCode();
bc.setSize(400,200); // important, set size

// create image
java.awt.image.BufferedImage image = new java.awt.image.BufferedImage( bc.getSize().width,bc.getSize().height,java.awt.image.BufferedImage.TYPE_BYTE_INDEXED );

// get graphic context of image
java.awt.Graphics imgGraphics = image.createGraphics();

// paint barcode in graphics context of image
bc.paint(imgGraphics );

How to use the checkCharacter (CHECK_BAR) field:

If you are suppling the code with the check digit already calculated, you must set CHECK_CHAR to N (this is the default). If you want the software to calculate the checksum for you, you must set CHECK_CHAR to Y.

For EAN and UPC have fixed length and therefore you only have the following possibilities:

• EAN13: you supply a 13 digits code and set CHECK_CHAR to N or you supply a 12 digits code and set CHECK_CHAR to Y.
• EAN8: you supply a 8 digits code and set CHECK_CHAR to N or you supply a 7 digits code and set CHECK_CHAR to Y.
• UPCA and UPCE: you supply a 12 digits code and set CHECK_CHAR to N or you supply a 11digits code and set CHECK_CHAR to Y.

How to use RBarcode in a web site

You have two possibilities:

• Use the applet to create barcodes in the browser. In this case you must create HTML dinamically. The HTML page will contain the applet and the parameters.
• Use a servlet to create a gif or jpeg image in the server and send the to the browser. See RBarcodeServlet.

BCApplet

You can use BCApplet to display barcodes in your HTML pages.Some parameters of the applet have a special format:

• Colors: valid values are: RED,BLUE,GREEN,BLACK,GRAY,LIGHTGRAY,WHITE,DARKGRAY,YELLOW,ORANGE,CYAN and MAGENTA. You can also use the RGB numerical value of a color as parameter (e.g. 0x00FF00 if green).
• Fonts have the format <font name>|<style>|<size>. Style can be PLAIN, ITALIC or BOLD. Example: "Arial|BOLD|12"

Example of how to use the applet:

<APPLET CODEBASE = "./" CODE = "com.java4less.rbarcode.BCApplet.class" NAME = "TestApplet" WIDTH = 500 HEIGHT = 100 HSPACE = 0 VSPACE = 0 ALIGN = middle >
<PARAM NAME = "BARCODE" VALUE = "12345667">
<PARAM NAME = "CODE_TYPE" VALUE = "CODE11">
<PARAM NAME = "BAR_COLOR" VALUE = "RED">
<PARAM NAME = "BACK_COLOR" VALUE = "YELLOW">
<PARAM NAME = "LEFT_MARGIN" VALUE = "1">
<PARAM NAME = "TOP_MARGIN" VALUE = "1">
<PARAM NAME = "FONT_COLOR" VALUE = "BLUE"> <
PARAM NAME = "TEXT_FONT" VALUE = "ARIAL|BOLD|14">
<PARAM NAME = "CHECK_CHAR" VALUE = "Y">
<PARAM NAME = "BAR_HEIGHT" VALUE = "1"> </APPLET>

You can provide the parameters in the Applet PARAM tag or you can also do it from Javascript. For example, the following code set a new value for the barcode:

TestApplet.setParameter(BARCODE,"new value");
TestApplet.refresh();

RBarcodeServlet (the servlet)

RBarcodeServlet will allow you to use RBarcode as Servlet without any Java[TM] programming. The servlet has the advantage that the Java[TM] classes must not be downloaded to the client's browser. This means your barcode will be displayed faster. It has however the disadvantage that you need to have a web server able to execute servlets.

In the case of servlets, the barcodes are created in the server and the output in GIF or JPEG format is sent to the browser. This also means that you can use RBarcode to in browsers that do not support Java[TM].

You can very easily use RBarCodeServlet. The parameters are the same as those for the applet. You can send the parameters to the Servlet using the POST or GET methods. Furthermore there are some additional parameters:

• WIDTH: width in pixels of the output image. (default is 500).
• HEIGHT: height in pixels of the output image. (default is 500).
• FORMAT: format of output image, "gif", "png" or "jpeg". (default is JPEG).

Note that

• RBarCodeServlet needs jdk 1.2 or newer. It is however possible to make a jdk 1.1 compatible version.
• The GIF encoder must previously be downloaded and included in your classpath: http://www.acme.com/resources/classes/Acme.tar.gz
• The PNG encoder must previously be downloaded and included in your classpath: http://users.boone.net/wbrameld/pngencoder/

In order to run the servlet using JSWDK 1.0 you must do the following:

1. copy the RBarcode classes to /jswdk-1.0.1/examples/Web-inf/servlets
2. Add the following line to the file /jswdk-1.0.1/examples/Web-inf/servlets.properties :

RBarCodeServlet.code= RBarCodeServlet

1. Start the server (startserver.bat) an test the servlet entering the following address and parameters in your browser:

   http://localhost:8080/examples/servlet/RBarCodeServlet?BARCODE=123456789012&WIDTH=50&HEIGHT=50&CODE_TYPE=EAN13&CHECK_CHAR=Y
   .. ...

2. You can use the servlet with the POST or GET method.
3. You can put additional parameters to modify the image format and the size:

   http://localhost:8080/examples/servlet/RBarCodeServlet?BARCODE=123456789012&WIDTH=50&HEIGHT=50&CODE_TYPE=EAN13&CHECK_CHAR=Y&FORMAT=gif&WIDTH=600&HEIGHT=600

Barcodes types

The following is a short description of some of the barcode types:

• BAR39: Code 39 is an alphanumeric bar code that can encode decimal numbers, the upper case alphabet, and the following special symbols: _ . * $ / % +. If the CHECK_CHAR flag is set RBarCode will calculate the optional check character (modulus 43).
• BAR39EXT: Extended Code 39 encodes the full 128 character ASCII character. If the CHECK_CHAR flag is set RBarCode will calculate the optional check character (modulus 43).
• INTERLEAVED25: Interleaved 2 of 5 code is a numeric only bar code. If the CHECK_CHAR flag is set RBarCode will calculate the optional modulus 10 check character.
• UPCA: UPC-A is used for marking products which are sold at retail in the USA. Version A encodes a twelve digit number. The first number encoded is the number system character, the next ten digits are the data characters, and the last digit is the check character.
• EAN8: EAN-8 is a shortened version of the EAN-13 code. It includes a 2 or 3 digit country code, 4 of 5 data digits (depending on the length of the country code), and a checksum digit.
• EAN13: The symbol encodes 13 characters: the first two or three are a country code which identify the country in which the manufacturer is registered (not necessarily where the product is actually made). The country code is followed by 9 or 10 data digits (depending on the length of the country code), and a checksum digit.
• UPCE: The UPC-E code is a compressed barcode which is intended for use on small items. Compression works by squeezing extra zeroes out of the barcode and then automatically re-inserting them at the scanner. Only barcodes containing zeroes are candidates for the UPC-E symbol.
• CODE128: Code 128 is a continuous, multilevel, full ASCII code. If the CHECK_CHAR flag is set RBarCode will calculate the mandatory check character (modulus 103).
• MSI: MSI Code is a numeric. If the CHECK_CHAR flag is set RBarCode will calculate the modulus 10 check character.
• CODE11: Code 11 is a numeric, high density code with one special character - .If the CHECK_CHAR flag is set RBarCode will calculate check character. If the value to be encoded is longer than 10 digits, a second check character will be calculated.
• CODE93: Code 93 is a more compact version of Code 39. It encodes exactly the same characters as Code 39, but uses 9 barcode elements per character instead of 15. If the CHECK_CHAR flag is set RBarCode will calculate the optional modulus 43 check character .
• IND25: Industrial 2 of 5 is a numeric-only barcode that has been in use a long time. Unlike Interleaved 2 of 5, all of the information is encoded in the bars; the spaces are fixed width and are used only to separate the bars. The code is self-checking and does not include a checksum.
• CODABAR: Codabar is a discrete, numeric code with special characters (-$:/.+). If the CHECK_CHAR flag is set RBarCode will calculate the optional modulus 16 check character .

At HP site you will find more information abour barcode.