Thread: Posting Again... Please Help

On Mon, Jul 23, 2001 at 12:09:54PM +0530, Kapil Tilwani wrote:
> Hi,
>
>         This is the second time I am sending this request... I need to
>         print barcode labels from my application (well, it could be more
>         in line with an applet... it is miniscule, really)...  Could I get
>         some logic for printing the same, which could be also readable
>         from a scanner ???  I visited some sites as guided out by the
>         members of this group but they were all paid fonts.  I cannot
>         afford to spend that...  I am getting 3,000 Rs. (75$) only for
>         getting this printing job done... and the fonts cost at least 40
>         $... and my coding would still be required to be done extra.

You have to pay money for those fonts? Wow. Anyway, what I once did was pull
one of the perl modules that does barcodes. There are loads of them. They
have a function that takes a strings and returns a list of ones and zeros
that represent the barcode.

From here I used that list to make HTML output using two images, one 1x1
white pixel and a 1x1 black pixel. Print that and it worked fine. (Well,
with my cuecat anyway :)

With those perl modules they can also (using the GD library) spit out images
in various formats that also show the barcode. If you want to be really
tricky, you can even generate postscript to do it.

Anyway, hope this helps,

--
Martijn van Oosterhout <kleptog@svana.org>
http://svana.org/kleptog/
> It would be nice if someone came up with a certification system that
> actually separated those who can barely regurgitate what they crammed over
> the last few weeks from those who command secret ninja networking powers.

Around 12:09 on Jul 23, 2001, Kapil Tilwani said:

#         This is the second time I am sending this request... I need to
# print barcode labels from my application (well, it could be more in
# line with an applet... it is miniscule, really)...  Could I get some
# logic for printing the same, which could be also readable from a
# scanner ???  I visited some sites as guided out by the members of this
# group but they were all paid fonts.  I cannot afford to spend that...
# I am getting 3,000 Rs. (75$) only for getting this printing job
# done... and the fonts cost at least 40 $... and my coding would still
# be required to be done extra.

    I think you're a bit confused...this list is for general questions
regarding PostgreSQL, not just general questions.  www.google.com is good
for general questions, and I didn't have much trouble finding a free
barcode printing utility there last time I was looking for one.

--
SPY                      My girlfriend asked me which one I like better.
pub  1024/3CAE01D5 1994/11/03 Dustin Sallings <dustin@spy.net>
|    Key fingerprint =  87 02 57 08 02 D0 DA D6  C8 0F 3E 65 51 98 D8 BE
L_______________________ I hope the answer won't upset her. ____________

> Kapil Tilwani wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
>         This is the second time I am sending this request... I need to
> print barcode labels from my application (well, it could be more in
> line with an applet... it is miniscule, really)...  Could I get some
> logic for printing the same, which could be also readable from a
> scanner ???  I visited some sites as guided out by the members of this
> group but they were all paid fonts.  I cannot afford to spend that...
> I am getting 3,000 Rs. (75$) only for getting this printing job
> done... and the fonts cost at least 40 $... and my coding would still
> be required to be done extra.

Depending on your environment you can either use GNU barcode:

http://www.gnu.org/directory/barcode.html

or write your own routines. If you just need numbers there is an easy
code named 2 of 5 interleaved. You can find a description of the various
coding systems at:

http://www.barcode-1.net/pub/russadam/info.html#Specs

But I definitely recommend using code 128, because it can hold any type
of character and has a check digit calculation included avoiding reading
errors (in contrary to the above mentioned code). But implementation is
more difficult.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Oliver
--
VECERNIK Datenerfassungssysteme
A-2560 Hernstein, Hofkogelgasse 17
Tel.: +43 2633 47530, Fax: DW 50
http://members.aon.at/vecernik

On Mon, Jul 23, 2001 at 12:09:54PM +0530, Kapil Tilwani wrote:
> Hi,
>
>         This is the second time I am sending this request... I need to
>         print barcode labels from my application (well, it could be
>         more in line with an applet... it is miniscule, really)...
>         Could I get some logic for printing the same, which could be
>         also readable from a scanner ???  I visited some sites as
>         guided out by the members of this group but they were all paid
>         fonts.  I cannot afford to spend that...  I am getting 3,000
>         Rs. (75$) only for getting this printing job done... and the
>         fonts cost at least 40 $... and my coding would still be
>         required to be done extra.

I see there is a GNU barcode (outputs ps/eps) and an "ean13" (outputs
xbm).  Both free, no special fonts.  Don't know how well they'll fit
your situation.  GNU barcode seems pretty flexible...

--
Eric G. Miller <egm2@jps.net>