RMicroPDF417 for Delphi

Introduction
Installation and requirements
Example
The Servlet
JavaDoc/API

Introduction

The package RMicroPDF417 contains the classes you need to create Micro PDF 417 barcodes within your jsp or java applications.

MicroPDF417 is a 2D barcoding symbology based on PDF417. Micro PDF 417 has been specifically designed to provide even greater space efficiency for small item marking applications than the standard PDF 417 symbology.

Micro PDF 417 has the following encoding methods:

Text mode: can encode all printable ASCII characters i.e. values 32 to 126 inclusive.
Binary mode: can encode all 256 possible 8-bit byte values.
Numeric mode: can efficiently encode numeric data strings.

The maximum data capacity of micro PDf symbols is:

Text encoding mode: 250 characters.
Byte encoding mode: 150 characters.
Numeric encoding mode: 366 characters.

Micro PDF 417 barcodes can have 1 to 4 columns of data and they support a predefined set of formats with fixed error correction levels. The following table shows the available formats:

Columns / Rows	Capacity (binary encoding)	Capacity (text encoding)	Capacity (numeric encoding)
FORMAT_1X11	3	6	8
FORMAT_1X14	7	12	17
FORMAT_1X17	10	18	26
FORMAT_1X20	13	22	32
FORMAT_1X24	18	30	44
FORMAT_1X28	22	38	55
FORMAT_2X8	8	14	20
FORMAT_2X11	14	24	35
FORMAT_2X14	21	36	52
FORMAT_2X17	27	46	67
FORMAT_2X20	33	56	82
FORMAT_2X23	38	64	93
FORMAT_2X26	43	72	105
FORMAT_3X6	6	10	14
FORMAT_3X8	10	18	26
FORMAT_3X10	15	26	38
FORMAT_3X12	20	34	49
FORMAT_3X15	27	46	67
FORMAT_3X20	39	66	96
FORMAT_3X26	54	90	132
FORMAT_3X32	68	114	167
FORMAT_3X38	82	138	202
FORMAT_3X44	97	162	237
FORMAT_4X4	8	14	20
FORMAT_4X6	13	22	32
FORMAT_4X8	20	34	49
FORMAT_4X10	27	46	67
FORMAT_4X12	34	58	85
FORMAT_4X15	45	76	111
FORMAT_4X20	63	106	155
FORMAT_4X26	85	142	208
FORMAT_4X32	106	178	261
FORMAT_4X38	128	214	313
FORMAT_4X44	150	250	366

RMicroPDF417 supports:

All Micro PDF417 configurations.
Structured Append. This version allows to concatenate several PDF417 symbols in order to encode larger amount of information.
All encoding schemes: text, numeric and binary.

Installation

In order to install the software you just need to unzip the ZIP file in an empty directory (your must unzip with pathname so that the subdirectories are properly created.

The java class will run on java 1.1 or later.
The servlet requires java 1.2 or later since it uses the BufferedImage class (let us know if you need a servlet for jdk 1.1)
The sample application requires java 1.3 or later since it uses the PageAttributes class to change the printer resolution.

Examples

In order to run the sample application you must execute runSUN.bat. The sample application requires JDK 1.3 or later. However the component will also work with JDK 1.1 or 1.2. Let us know if you need a test version for java 1.1 or 1.2.

In the sample application you can set following properties all PDF and StructuredAppend PDF properties. If Segment is not -1, a StructuredAppend pdf symbol will be created. Otherwise a normal PDF 417 symbol is created.

You can execute the following commands:

Apply: repaint the symbol using the new properties.

Print: send imahe to printer at the selected resolution.

Save: save the symbol in jpg format. We recommend you to use gif or png formats,however the sample application uses JPG because it does not require you to download any additional package. In order to create gif or png files you must download an external encoder (see javadoc).

Exit: terminate application.

The Servlet

RMicroPDF417 comes with a standard servlet (RMicroPDF417Servlet) you can use to create micro PDF images. The parameters for the servlet can be sent using GET or POST commands. The parameters are:

DEBUG: use ON to activate verbose output.
MODE: encoding mode (default is BINARY). Value values are:
- BINARY: can encode any character.
- TEXT: can encode alphanumeric characters and the following punctuation characters: ! \ # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . / { } | ~
- NUMERIC: encodes digit characters only
DATA: string to be encoded.
MODULE_WIDTH: width in pixels of the bars (default is 1).
BAR_HEIGHT: height in pixels of the bars (default is 4).
TOP_MARGIN: top margin in pixels (default is 20).
LEFT_MARGIN: left margin in pixels (default is 20).
CONFIGURATION: preferred format of the micro pdf 417 (See table for available formats, for example FORMAT_1X11).
WIDTH: size of the image. Default is 400.
HEIGHT: size of the image. Default is 200.
FORMAT: output format: PNG, GIF or JPEG (default):
- 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/

Note: the servlet does not include parameters for the Structured Append properties. If required new parameters can be added.

For example, if you want to test the servlet using Tomcat 4.1 you must do the following:

copy the RMicroPDF417.jar to /tomcat/webapps/examples/Web-inf/lib
copy the RMicroPDF417Servlet.class to /tomca/webappst/examples/Web-inf/classes
Start the server an test the servlet entering the following address and parameters in your browser:
http://localhost:8080/examples/servlet/RMicroPDF417Servlet?DATA=ABC&CONFIGURATION=FORMAT_1X14

In order to property print a barcode created with the servlet you must use the <IMG> tag. In this way you can embed the image in your HTML page. Note that you will need to use the attibutes height and width in order to achieve the correct size of the maxicode on the printed page.

This is a simple HTML page that contains the barcode:

<HTML>
<HEAD>

<TITLE>Servlet Example META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">

</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>

This is your Barcode:
<IMG height=100 width=100 src="http://localhost:8080/examples/servlet/RMicroPDF417Servlet?DATA=ABC&CONFIGURATION=FORMAT_1X14" >

</BODY>
</HTML>