When you load the Barcode generator from the File menu's
External modules
entry and execute it, a dialog appears that
shows on the left a list of all available code families.
Select the desired type of barcode. The right side of the dialog offers some additional parameters.
In this editable field you specify how many codes you would like to create. The default value is 1.
This option is useful only if you entered a value greater than
1 at Number of codes
. Then the codes generated are not
identical but will be incremented successively by the value given
here. Please note that not all types of barcodes can be altered at
will. A code with a fixed length like the EAN8 with eight digits, for
instance, can not be increased by 100,000,000, of course; in the same
way, take care when using alphanumeric codes like Code39. If you
encode information like CALAMUS SL
here, say, the module will
find it difficult increasing this by 100! So please ensure when using
alphanumeric codes that the right part of the code contains numeric
information if this is to be incremented by the module.
Example: Select Code39 and enter FALCON 030
. Set
the Number of codes
to 3 and Increase succ. codes
to 10.
You will then get FALCON 030
, FALCON 040
and
FALCON 050
codes. Try it now with IBM PC
. You will see
it does not work! If you want to create several identical codes at one
go, set the Increase
value to 0.
Some types of codes are coded on a fixed schedule. For example,
the EAN13 code is made up of four parts. The first two digits reflect
the manufacturer country, the following five digits encode the
manufacturer, the next five are the article number itself and the last
digit is a control character. If you are working on a project for one
manufacturer that uses different barcodes, then the first seven digits
will always be the same. If you set Protect code chars
to 7,
the first seven digits of the code entered last will not be cleared
when you execute the module again. Then you will only have to enter
the last 6 digits for the next code.
Here you enter the information to be coded. Please bear in mind that you will not be able to enter alphabetical characters for a numeric code, of course. Furthermore you will have to enter the required number of digits when using codes with defined lengths. As a reminder the Barcode generator shows the least number of digits required for each individual type of code.
Select the button Write code in OCR-B font, too
if you
want the coded information to be generated as a readable OCR text line
below the barcode as well.
Normally the module will be closed after a barcode has been
created and you will find yourself back in the document layout. If you
do not want to exit the module, please select the button Multiple
input
.
As a special feature, the invers Barcode generator supports
barcode reader tools connected to one of the serial ports of your
computer. So if you have an unknown code format before you or simply
want to minimize the risk of input errors, you can connect any scanner
or barcode reader to one of the serial ports. Incidentally, the module
cannot recognize what type of code an item of information was encoded
in. For example, if you have selected the code 2/5 interleaved
and you scan EAN code data, then the information will be retained but
the coding will be changed. Please do not forget to set the parameters
of the serial port in the appropriate control panel of your computer,
or you are hardly likely to get the desired result!
You can abandon the scanning process by pressing the key combination [Ctrl]+[Shift]+[Alt].
After you have define all settings to suit your wishes, please click this button or press the [Return] key. The created barcode will be placed directly in your document layout.
Warning: If a vector graphic frame was selected in your document before you created a new barcode, the content of this vector frame will be replaced by the new vectorially created barcode. This might be an advantage because the barcode may be placed directly at the desired position of your layout. However you might lose important contents of vector frames that should not have been filled with the barcode.
It is better therefore to deselect all frames, if appropriate, before you execute the Barcode generator. The first barcode will be generated then in a new vector graphic frame at the document position X=1.0 cm, Y=1.0 cm. (Further automatically generated barcode vector frames will be placed 4 mm to the right and to the bottom in each case.)
