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EaseSoft Barcode ActiveX Control

 
 

EASESOFT BARCODE ACTIVEX CONTROL FEATURES

Create or Print professional barcode images in applications
It is very easy to integrate barcode controls to any windows application that supports ActiveX technology including Visual Basic, Visual FoxPro*, C++, Delphi, ,PowerBuilder,Internet Explorer Web pages, Microsoft Word, Excel, Access, etc. We have the example codes for these applications.

Supports most barcode symbologies
Code 39, Extended Code 39, Code 128, UCC/EAN-128,Industrial 2 of 5 Planet, Interleaved 2 of 5, Codabar, UPC-A, UPC-E, EAN 13, EAN 8, BOOKLAND,MSI, Code 11, Code 93,Postnet,PDF417,DataMatrix

Data Binding
You can databind the TextToEncode, TopComment, Bottomcomment properties to the fields in a database table to generate barcodes for each data record automatically.

Printing Support
The EaseSoft Barcode ActiveX Control produces high resolution(2400DPI) Enhanced Metafile (vector) graphics that are completely device independent, fully scalable, and will print to the highest resolution of any printer supported by Windows.

Developer Support
The EaseSoft Barcode ActiveX Control was created in Visual C++ using ATL, the file size of the controls is very small (less than 400k), there are no additional runtime dependencies (i.e. MFC Class Libraries or Visual Basic Runtimes).When you distribute your application you only need to include one binary component EaseBarCD.dll.

 

USE TILDE CODE TO INPUT CONTROL CHARACTERS

  1. You can input any ASCII character using Tilde code with the format ~ddd, d represents one digit, ddd is the ASCII value of the character. For example, if you enter the text "1234~013~010", then it will converts to "1234CRLF", CR is carriage return character and LF is new line character.

  2. Also you can use the format ~X ( X is any upper case alpha character) to insert control codes (characters with ASCII value 0 to 26). For example, ~@ = NUL, ~A= ASCII 1,~G = BEL (ASCII 7), ~M = ASCII 13 (carriage return).
  
 

SYMBOLOGY SPECIFIC NOTES

  1. UPC A, UPC E, EAN 8 ,EAN 13 AND BOOKLAND
    They only can be encoded numeric data, and you can add 2 digits or 5 digits supplement to the end of the string with separator ',' ,For example, "12345678901,12345". UPC A must encode 11 digits, UPC E must encode 6 digits,EAN 8 must encode 7 digits, EAN 13 must encode 12 digits,BOOKLAND must encode 9 digits of ISBN number.

  2. Code 128
    Code 128 will automatically analyse the string to choose a better character set to encode the shortest barcode. The FNC definition in code 128 is as following: FNC1 is ASCII 200, FNC2 is ASCII 201, FNC3 is ASCII 202, FNC4 is ASCII 203.

  3. UCC/EAN-128 input data format:
    (AI)XXXX(AI)XXXX, AI is application identifier number, XXXX is data after AI. For example,(11)040901 means production date Sep 01,2004.

  4. Codabar Start and Stop character:
    It can be A,B,C or D. If you don't input one of them to be as your start and stop character, the default value "A" will be added to the encoding string.

  5. Code 11:
    Code 11 only can encode numeric data(0 to 9),the dash symbol(-). It is also known as USD-8

  6. Code 93:
    Code 93 is a continuous, variable-length symbology,it can encode the full ASCII character set. Code 93 is similar to Code 39. It encodes 47 characters.
 

INSTALL EASESOFT BARCODE CONTROL

Install and register the control

You must install and register the control in Windows before applications can use it.Our installation performs both of these tasks for you. After installing the ActiveX control package you purchased or downloaded, the control is installed to the Windows/System32 directory and registered on that PC.

Install the control in your application

After you have installed the control on your PC, you may use it in any application that can use ActiveX controls. For applications that are not listed here, search your application's help file for information on how to use ActiveX controls. Below are a few examples of implementing our controls in Microsoft Word, Excel, Access, FrontPage and Visual Basic,Visual Foxpro,Visual c++ and Delphi. 

MS Access Installation

In a Microsoft Access report in design mode, choose insert - ActiveX control. To change the properties of the control such as barcode height and symbology type, right click on the control and choose properties.

To bind the control to a data source, enter the table and field or formula in the control source field. The proper barcode will show up after the report is saved.

Microsoft Word Installation

In Microsoft Word, choose View - Toolbars - Control Toolbox. You will then see a tool box. On the tool box, choose the more controls button that looks like this:


Then, select "EaseSoft Barcode ActiveX Control" from the list of available ActiveX Controls. After selecting it, the control will appear in the document. To change the properties of the control , You must be in design mode to edit the properties of the control. You have problems editing the properties of the control, press the design mode button to enable it.

MS Excel Installation

In Microsoft Excel, choose View - Toolbars - Control Toolbox. You will then see a tool box. On the tool box, choose the more controls button that looks like this:


Then, select "EaseSoft Barcode ActiveX Control" from the list of available ActiveX Controls. After selecting it, the control will appear in the document. To change the properties of the control , You must be in design mode to edit the properties of the control. You have problems editing the properties of the control, press the design mode button to enable it.

To link a cell to the data you want encoded in the barcode, enter the cell in the "LinkedCell" property of the control.

Microsoft Visual Basic

In Visual Basic, choose Project - Components from the menu. Select the barcode control. Then choose View - Toolbox. The control should appear in the toolbox for you to add to your project.

Visual C++

Choose the resource tab in Visual C++ to view the dialogs. To add a control to the dialog, right click on the dialog form to the right and choose "Insert ActiveX Control". Select the correct barcode control from the list. The control should then appear in the dialog.

Visual FoxPro

In a form, select the "OLE Container" from the standard toolbox. After the "Insert Object" dialog box opens, select EaseSoft Barcode ActiveX Control from the list. The characteristics can then be modified in the properties window. To print bar codes on reports or labels, a field must be used to store the barcode and it must be setup as an OLE Control with data type general.

Borland C++ Builder and Borland Delphi

Perform the following to use the ActiveX Control in Borland Delphi or C++ Builder:From the menu, choose Component - Import ActiveX Control. Select EaseSoft Barcode ActiveX control type library from the list. Choose the "Install" button and confirm all pop-up messages by choosing OK. In C++ Builder you will be prompted to install into a package, choose an existing package or create a new one and then the package will be installed into your project. The ActiveX Barcode Control will now be accessible in the ActiveX portion of the toolbar and should be used as a standard ActiveX component.

 
 

BARCODE ACTIVEX CONTROL PROPERTIES:

  • AddCheckDigit: Add optional check digit for Code 39, Industrial 2 of 5 and CodaBar, all other symbologies the check digit is mandatory, the default is "Yes".
  • AutoSize:sets a value that determines whether a control is automatically resized to display its entire contents.Default is "Yes".
  • BackColor: Background color, the default is white.
  • BarHeight : the height of the barcode , the default is 500 mils.
  • BarLeftMargin: the space of left margin of the bar , the default is 100.
  • BarTopMargin: the space of top margin of the bar, the default is 200 mils.
  • BarWidthReduction:sets a value for the reduction or gain of the bar width.
  • BearerBars:sets a value determines whether to include bearer bars around the barcode.Default is "False".
  • BorderStyle:sets a value that determines that border style.
  • BorderWidth:sets a value that determines that border width.
  • BottomComment: the comment on the bottom , default value is set to "Copyright EaseSoft".
  • BottomCommentFont: Sets the font of the bottom comment.
  • BottomCommentLeftMargin:the space of left margin of the bottomcomment. The default is 0.
  • BottomCommentTopMargin: the space of Bar bottom to the bottomcomment. The default is 400.
  • Font: Set the font for human readable text.
  • ForeColor: Bar color and text color, the default is black.
  • NarrowBarWidth: Sets the bar width of the barcode , the default is 13 mils.
  • NarrowToWideRatio: Ratio of the wide bar to the narrow bar, typically this value is between 2 and 3, the default is 3, it only affects Code 39 , Code 39 Full Ascii , Codaba , Code 25 , I25 .
  • Picture: Returns an IPicture object containing a Windows Enhanced Metafile graphic image of a bar code .
  • Quietzones:sets a value that determines whether to include quiet zones at barcodes.
  • Rotation: Rotate the Barcode in clockwise.
  • ShowCheckDigit: Add check digit to human readable text, Code 128 doesn't add check digit to text, default is "Yes".
  • ShowHRText: Indicates whether the barcode human readable text should be displayed or not. For Upc-A , Upc-E, Ean 13, Ean 8, BOOKLAND the ShowText is always "Yes". the default value is "Yes".
  • SymbologyID : the barcode type ,default is code 39.
  • TextToEncode : the data to be encoded for barcode.
  • TextLeftMargin: the left margin of the human readable text, it is disable if the "TextToStretch" is true.the default is 100.
  • TextTopMargin: the space of the bar bottom to the text,default is 50.
  • TextToStretch: sets the value indicating whether the human readable bar code text is stretched to match the width of the bar code itself.
  • TopComment: the comment on the top.
  • TopCommentFont: the font for top comment.
  • TopcommentLeftMargin: the space of left margin of the topcomment.The default is 0.
  • TopCommentTopMargin: the space of top margin of the topcomment.The default is 0.
    
 

PDF417 PROPERTIES:

  • PDFSecurityLevel: The PDF417 SecurityLevel property allows you to select a PDF417 error correction level from 0 to 9 (default = 9 for automatic). PDF417 uses Reed Solomon error correction instead of check digits. This error correction allows the symbol to withstand some damage without causing loss of data. AIM standards recommend a minimum error correction level of 2. The error correction level depends on the amount of data that needs to be encoded, the size, and the amount of symbol damage that could occur.
  • PDFMaxCols: The PDFMaxCols property specifies the maximum number of codeword columns in a PDF symbol. The default value for PDFMaxCols is 0, meaning that program automatically picks the number of columns. It can be set to a value range from 1 to 30.
  • PDFMaxRows: PDFMaxRows properties allow you to set the target number of rows. The default value for PDFMaxRows is 0, meaning that program automatically picks the number of rows. The valid range for this property is 3 to 90.
  • PDFModuleHeight: PDFModuleHeight sets a value for the height of the smallest modules in the PDF417 barcode generated.The recommended value for the Module Height is approximately three times the value for the PDFModuleWidth property. You can set this property to any values greater than 10 mils. The valid range for PDFModuleHeight is between 1 to 100. The default value is 30.
  • PDFModuleWidth: PDFModuleWidth sets a value for the width of the smallest modules in the PDF417 barcodes generated.The recommended value for the Module Width is between 10 and 30 mils. To achieve the best read rate, we recommend that you set to a value which is integral times of the pixels width of the target device (the width of a pixel in the display screen is 13.88 mils and the one in the laser printer is 3.33 mils). The default value is 10.
  • PDFAspectRatio:The PDFAspectRatio determines the overall shape of the PDF417 symbol and is defined as the overall height to width ratio. Higher values for the Aspect Ratio (greater than 1) produce tall, thin PDF417 bar codes and small values (greater than zero and less than 1) produce short, wide bar codes. A value of 1 should produce approximately square bar codes. The default value for this property is 1.
  • PDFTruncatedSymbol:A truncated PDF417 symbol is more area efficient than normal PDF417. By selecting this option, the right hand side of the symbol is removed or "truncated". This option should only be used in clean environments, since it is less immune to damage.

DATAMATRIX PROPERTIES:

  • EncodationMode: the encoding mode that compresses information in the symbol; Default value is E_AUTO, it will automatically to select the best encoding mode to compress the message.
    • E_ASCII: it is used to encode data that mainly contains ASCII characters (0-127). It encodes one alphanumeric or two numeric characters per byte.
    • E_C40: it is used to encode data that mainly contains numeric and upper case characters. C40 encodes three alphanumeric data characters into two bytes.
    • E_TEXT: it is used to encode data that mainly contains numeric and lowercase characters. TEXT encodes three alphanumeric data characters into two bytes.
    • E_BASE256: it is used to encode bytes of data and 8 bit values.

  • DataMatrixSize: sets the format represented by a number; valid values are from 0 (10X10) to 23 (144X144) and from 24 (8X18) to 29 (16X48); This will be automatically determined if the size of the symbol chosen is too small.
  • DataMatrixModuleSize: PDFModuleWidth sets a value for the width of the smallest modules in the PDF417 barcodes generated.The recommended value for the Module Width is between 10 and 30 mils. To achieve the best read rate, we recommend that you set to a value which is integral times of the pixels width of the target device (the width of a pixel in the display screen is 13.88 mils and the one in the laser printer is 3.33 mils). The default value is 10.

ActiveX Control Method:

  • SaveBarcodeAsEMF(String FileName): Save current barcode image to a disk with enhanced metafile format.
  • CopyToClipBoard(): This method stores the current image into the clipboard as a Enhanced Metafile.
    You may paste this image into a number of programs (such as Microsoft Word) simply by pressing Ctrl+V or by selecting Edit->Paste from the menu.