Barcodes, Laser Printers and PCL escape sequences

[Peter McBride]

Unix Operating System, and Jbase 3.3.6

In need to print the barcode 'Code 128' on the bottom of an invoice,
from a HP laser printer. I did a similar exercise 10+ years ago,
printing 'Code 39' barcodes, using Raster Bit graphics.

Does anyone know where I can get some freeware source code, to get the
ball rolling quickly ? Is there a Pick Wiki forum, with source code,
out there somewhere ?

I found an interesting article -
http://www.taltech.com/TALtech_web/resources/intro_to_bc/printper.htm
- "Printing Perfect Barcodes from Any Printer".

It points out that "True Type Fonts" are not a reliable option, and I
can't use any Windows GUI applications anyway. The unreliability
factor might explain why I have seen so many 3rd party barcode
generator packages for sale ; all are Windows based and no use to me.
I am left with two options. PCL escapes and Raster Bit graphics, OR
the more efficient PCL escapes and Vector Graphics.

Most barcoding wands can handle multiple barcode symbologies, at the
same time. My cheap Posiflex CD2820 (AUS$200) hand scanner
automatically distinguishes 24 barcodes. Perhaps I tell The Geelong
Hospital and Australia Post that my existing 'Code 3 of 9' source code
is a more efficient and quicker option, to get this project completed
and under budget.

Thanks again.

[Gary Calvin]

If GPL is acceptable, there is a GNU Barcode package available (http://www.gnu.org/software/barcode/barcode.html). For Perl, CPAN has a GD::Barcode package (http://search.cpan.org/~kwitknr/GD-Barcode-1.15/). I suspect that in the end you'll want to "borrow" algorithms from some package like this and write your own library. Otherwise, calling out to external code for several layers of conversions will be too much hassle.

-Gary-

[Kevin Bilbee]

Don't forget the fact you can add a font dimm to the printer and just change
the font!! The only downside is you can only send to printers with the font
installed.


Kevin Bilbee

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[T.Turkington]

There are Barcode SIMM/DIMM/Cartridge fonts available for HP printers (i.e.
Barcodes and More). If you need this for only a single site/printer, this
solution is probably cheaper ($425US for HP4 DIMM @ Typehaus.com) than
trying to write PCL code to handle the barcode. But then again, if you're
looking for a generic solution that can be used by multiple
customers/numerous printers, well then you can advertise your solution as a
$425 savings per printer...

Tom

-----Original Message-----
From: jB...@googlegroups.com [mailto:jB...@googlegroups.com]On Behalf Of
Peter McBride
Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2005 7:01 PM
To: jBASE
Subject: Barcodes, Laser Printers and PCL escape sequences

[Peter McBride]

I am aware that Barcode EPROM's / Cartridge Fonts are available for HP
printers, ( and I have never used them in 25 years ). A 'generic
solution ..... numerous printers' is preferred.

The Geelong Hospital has 500+ laser printers. The new invoices with
barcodes will be printed on a minimum of 10 printers ( so I would need
a minimum of 10 Eproms ). The Eproms then become an added burden for
Hardware Support. If a printer has to be repaired, one must remember
to remove the Eprom, and then hope it works in the replacement printer.

My best bet is to get the existing 'Code 3 of 9' program accepted.
Otherwise, lots of hours writing 'Code 128', ( and the old code does
look a bit dated and sloppy ). I am also interested in trying PCL's
Vector Graphics.

Peter "MO" McBride

[T.Turkington]

Another approach is using postscript which has an opensource/free barcode
implementation (see: http://www.terryburton.co.uk/barcodewriter/). Though
I'm personally finding postscript somewhat painful to deal with, it does
open up text based printing systems to graphic output. Of course this is
somewhat dependant on the postscript capabilities of your hp printers...

Tom

-----Original Message-----
From: jB...@googlegroups.com [mailto:jB...@googlegroups.com]On Behalf Of
Peter McBride

[Kevin Bilbee]

I found this on sorceforge, I do dnot look at it in depth but on the surface
it may be usefull.

http://sourceforge.net/project/shownotes.php?group_id=23617&release_id=30168
0

You may be able to borrow the code to create your own????



Kevin Bilbee

> -----Original Message-----
> From: jB...@googlegroups.com [mailto:jB...@googlegroups.com]
> On Behalf Of Peter McBride
> Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2005 5:28 PM
> To: jBASE
> Subject: Re: Barcodes, Laser Printers and PCL escape sequences
>
>
>

[Peter McBride]

I have just leant that the barcode 'Code 39' is acceptable to the
customer. This means I don't have write 'Code 128' from scratch.

I may still consider writing the 'Code 128', in my own time. None of
the links had source code that I could use.

I suggest closing this thread. Thank-you to all.