Commercial 2 of 5 Barcode Packages for BIRT

Hello out there - we have been attempting to use some 'free' 2 of 5 Interleaved barcode fonts with but but have not had good success in finding one that can be read by our scanners. I have tried several commercial barcode packages for BIRT which work. I am wondering if anyone could recommend one distribution over another. We will be deploying our solution to AIX but doing the BIRT development on Windows.
 
Thanks, len

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Matthew L.

Hello Len,
 
I suspect the reason the scanner isn't reading the barcode correctly is because "2 of 5 interleaved barcodes" require the input value to be encoded: <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://idautomation.blogspot.com/2011/07/top-5-reasons-why-barcode-font-wont.html'>http://idautomation.blogspot.com/2011/07/top-5-reasons-why-barcode-font-wont.html</a>
Some detail about 2 of 5 interleaved barcodes can be found here: <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.barcodeisland.com/int2of5.phtml'>http://www.barcodeisland.com/int2of5.phtml</a>
 
 
 
So for example, using the free 2 of 5 interleaved font found here: <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://grandzebu.net/informatique/codbar-en/code25I.htm'>http://grandzebu.net/informatique/codbar-en/code25I.htm</a>
the string ' 0123456789 ' would need to be encoded to the text ' Ã‰"8NdzÃŠ ' in order for the barcode reader to understand the barcode.
 
Looking over the VB encoding logic for the free 2 of 5 interleaved font, this should be able to translate into either a Java class or even a JavaScript function that can be added to the report design to dynamically encode the barcodes.

lenburt

Matthew - thanks -- i will take a look at that. Some of the commercial solutions seem to support out-of-the-box rotating which i know you got to work by tweaking the font.
 
So for example, one of our strings would be 04040014035775 -- you are saying we need to encode that into some hex values that the open source font would render properly?
 
The client i am working with just wants to have this issue put to rest so we were looking into commercial solutions. Thanks again for your help. -- len

Matthew L.

I decided to translate the example encoding scheme from: <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://grandzebu.net/informatique/codbar-en/code25I.htm'>http://grandzebu.net/informatique/codbar-en/code25I.htm</a>
Attached is an example report that will encode standard numbers into the '2 of 5 interleaved' encoding scheme.
The '2 of 5 interleaved' barcode font used is from: <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://grandzebu.net/informatique/codbar-en/code25I.htm'>http://grandzebu.net/informatique/codbar-en/code25I.htm</a>
 
To use, drop the following function into your reports initialize method.
Then in each element you would like to encode, call the function and set the element to its returning value.
 
Drop this code into the initialize method of a BIRT report:
<pre class="_prettyXprint _lang-js">
//

//This custom code is untested and needs to be tested thoroughly before using in a production environment.
//This function encodes a standard number string into a '2 of 5 interleaved code' Barcode encoded compatable
//string and returns the results.
//The font used with this encoder is located: http://grandzebu.net/informatique/codbar-en/code25I.htm
//
//Example use:
//In a Label's onCreate script method use the following code to encode text to 'Code 2 of 5 interleaved':
// this.text = encodeCode2Of5i(this.text);
//
//To add a checksum value:
// this.text = encodeCode2Of5i(this.text,true);
//
//*Notes*:
//Make sure to set the font style to 'Code 2 of 5 interleaved'.
//The '2 of 5 interleaved' barcode font requires an even number of numbers in the string.
//However if you want to include a checksum value, the number string must be an odd number in length as
//the checksum value adds one character to the length of the string.
//

lenburt

Awesome! -- i was looking at that VB code trying to make sense out of it...i will try this out tonight.
 
One question; on a previous post, you said you had to tweak the Code 2 of 5 font which you downloaded by editing it with FontForge -- is that still necessary in order to place this in the RotatedText control and have it render correctly?

Matthew L.

Referring to this post: <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://developer.actuate.com/community/forum/index.php?/topic/36636-properly-displaying-a-barcode-when-rotated-90-degrees/?p=136535'>http://developer.actuate.com/community/forum/index.php?/topic/36636-properly-displaying-a-barcode-when-rotated-90-degrees/?p=136535</a>
 
Yes, in order to use the rotation plugin with this font, the font must be modified as described in the referenced post due to the font not displaying properly.
 
However once you have "fixed" the font, then you must encode your text so that a barcode reader can read the barcode.
 
So for example (attached), I "fixed" the font and saved it as "Code 2 of 5 interleaved_Mod".
Then using the rotation plugin instead of changing the value in the onRender method, I wrapped the expression call with the function: encodeCode2Of5i(row["Test"]);
 
This allows the returned value (or static numeric text) to be encoded into a format that barcode readers can understand, then by applying the "Code 2 of 5 interleaved_Mod" font to the rotation element, the result is both scannable and rotatable.
 
Also note that you could name the fixed font to its original name "Code 2 of 5 interleaved" and just override the original one when your confident that the "fixed" font works for you.

lenburt

Ok, great...that makes sense....

lenburt

Matthew - i tried out your function...this is without the rotating object complexity...it generates a barcode but it is not readable by my scanner.
 
I am attaching my resulting pdf and the simple rptdesign. If you see something obvious let me know. I am using the download 2of5 font that you pointed me to.

Matthew L.

During your test with the scanner did you scan from a monitor or from a paper print out?
I tested your design with a phone app against the monitor and my scanner couldn't read it.
However when printing it out on paper, the same scanner could easily read it.
My theory is that the monitor's PPI resolution isn't sharp enough for the scanner to properly read the barcode.
If you increase the size of your barcode font (30+ points) it should be readable on the screen.
 
Attached is a modified version of your example that has the font increased to 50 points in size.
It is easily readable by the phone scanner on a monitor.
I also removed the onRender code and just used the function call in the Expression Builder of the Data Element itself, which should make it easier to use.
 
ex: encodeCode2Of5i("04040014035775");

lenburt

Ah....good to know...I did just scan my screen. I will print it out this weekend.

lenburt

Matthew - that worked quite well...i even add a reference to a dataset since that is what we need to do. The rotated barcode scanned fine when i printed it out. FYI - i did not even have to transform the font...i worked fine as is -- i wonder if encoding it somehow corrected the glyph problem.
 
One other thing, we will be depoying this on AIX; i am assuming i need to copy the jars for the rotated tect object and also the font over to AIX. I was reading something about truetype not being supported on AIX but i will research more. Again, thanks for all of your help. -- len

cathyben

I only found <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.businessrefinery.com/products/barcode_birt/main.html'>barcode genertion resource for BIRT</a>, and didn't find barcode reading resource for birt. Matthew's guide is good, but my target barcode is code 128, rather than 2 of 5 Interleaved barcode, I don't know whether this tutorial suitable for code 128?

lenburt

I did look at this vendor and they only have a streaming product for their BIRT extension which does not work for us. -- len

Matthew L.

cathyben,
 
Here is an Code 128 version based on the font from: <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://grandzebu.net/informatique/codbar-en/code128.htm'>http://grandzebu.net/informatique/codbar-en/code128.htm</a>
 
See example attached for more information.
 
Drop this code into the initialize method of a BIRT report to call the encoding function of the input string:
<pre class="_prettyXprint _lang-js">
//

//This custom code is untested and needs to be tested thoroughly before using in a production environment.
//This function encodes standard text into a Barcode Code 128 encoded compatable string and returns the result.
//The font used with this encoder is located: http://grandzebu.net/informatique/codbar-en/code128.htm
//
//Example use:
//In a Label's onCreate script method use the following code to encode text to Code 128:
// this.text = encodeCode128(this.text);
//
//*Note*:
//Make sure to set the font style to Code 128.
//

</pre>