Guide me to write code for barcode scan with CODE 39 BRACODE font in VB.NET

[mania_comp]

Hi guys,

I need your help here. I need to develop a form which scans students ID from a barcode and using that ID i need to further operations.
For that I have downloaded CODE 39 BARCODE font. Now what have to do further ?? Barcode scanner will be available to me within 2 days but before that I want to write the code for that.
I dont know whether its USB scanner or Keyboard scannner ... many doubts.. I want to write code thats doesn't depent on scanner..
Also it attaches ENTER character at end with each scanned student ID ..
Can anyone provide me Guideline on this?

[sknake]

Regardless of whether or not the scanner is USB or Keyboard it will basically send key presses like a keyboard so that doesn't matter as far as your application is concerned.

Secondly the barcode scanner can be programmed with a barcode prefix and suffix. This information and programming barcodes can be found in the manual. When you scan programming barcodes it affects how the scanner functions. Here is the instructions I kept on how I have customers configure scanners for one of my applications. I use tab instead of Enter so it advances the cursor to the next field:

MT-7123CG -- This manual does not have Begin/End barcodes for scanning
Page 6: Factory Default
Page 11: Scan Postamble, Page 31: Scan HT (Tab), Page 11: Scan Postamble
Page 12: Terminate

[mania_comp]

MT-7123CG -- This manual does not have Begin/End barcodes for scanning
Page 6: Factory Default
Page 11: Scan Postamble, Page 31: Scan HT (Tab), Page 11: Scan Postamble
Page 12: Terminate

Thanx for the informatoin that you gave me. But I want to know that which file I have to configure so that it takes ENTER key at end of each scan. Where this files are located ?
Whether they are located by default in windows somewhere OR
the BARCODE SCANNER comes with CD (may be DRIVER CD) so I have to install them from that CD ...IS IT so ? ?
Please guide me ..:)
Cheers

[sknake]

You don't configure a file you configure the scanner. The scanner will come in a box with a manual and possibly a CD for drivers depending on the type of scanner you get. Inside of the manual you will have pages and pages of barcodes. These are "programming" bar codes. You scan the barcodes in the manual and it actually configures the hardware scanner.

Unlike using the control panel to change your mouses sensitivity with barcode scanners you will use the manual with programming barcodes to configure how you want the device to behave. Every barcode scanner I know of uses programming barcodes instead of software to configure the device. This makes them "more compatible" with other software systems since you don't need to write software for every OS to configure the device.

[mania_comp]

Thats very inoformative to me. It solved my doubts. Now I have to wait for scanner and their pages to arrive :)
One more thing. I have downloaded CODE 39 barcode font. ?
I want to know which BARCODE is good to use.. I have heard about CODE 90 or 98, CODE 128 n all ..
But in my application student ID number is VARCHAR(50) characters so
is CODE 29 suitable for that range??
and will all these be dependent on Printer n all .. I mean printing BARCODE in different printers will affect scan factor ????

[sknake]

> One more thing. I have downloaded CODE 39 barcode font. ?
That depends on how you are creating your barcodes. Some report writers have barcode fonts embedded so you do not need them, others do not.

>I want to know which BARCODE is good to use
That depends on what you are doing. If you are creating barcodes for internal use you can use anything you want because you can make sure all of your hardware is capable of reading them. If you're printing off barcodes that will be widely distributed you will want to use the "most popular" barcode for compatibility reasons if it makes sense

> But in my application student ID number is VARCHAR(50)
It can be a varchar(2000) but how many characters of it are actually used? Thats what matters. f.ex. at my university all student numbers may begin with "9000" and if that is the case you could omit that data from your barcode as it eats up realestate for no purpose.

> is CODE 29 suitable for that range??
Depends on how many characters you need to print and the type/quality of your reader

> and will all these be dependent on Printer n all
Yes. Lasterjets will give you a better barcode than inkjets. It never fails that you will have some idiot make photocopies of the barcode instead of reprinting them .. then when the copies run out they will photocopy their photocopy etc and keep degrading the quality of the image. You will need to instruct people not to do this.

Take a look at this site:
http://www.morovia.com/free-online-barcode-generator/

You can get a good idea how long your barcodes will be based on input and code symbology.

Please mark this thread as solved if I have answered your question and good luck!

[mania_comp]

thnx..very helpful link u gave to me..
I think that a BARCODE SCANNER is not dependent on font ..
Am I right ?
Is it so that a particular BARCODE SCANNER is able to scan only some BARCODE fonts ..? IS that mentioned in manual that which fonts are supported by it ?

[sknake]

> I think that a BARCODE SCANNER is not dependent on font ..
No, that is not correct. The scanner reads the barcode and interprets the data and sends it off via simulated keyboard strokes or through the USB port. The scanner's manual will state which symbologies are supported.
Unless you are meaning you have "code39-type1" and "code39-type2" font packages installed and they both create the same type 39 barcode then you are correct. You technically don't even need a font as you could use microsoft paint and color the lines of a barcode and scan that. The fonts just make it easier to type barcodes in to applications such as Microsoft Word. All that matters is the barcode lines are the proper width with the proper padding, spacing, etc.

>Is it so that a particular BARCODE SCANNER is able to scan only some BARCODE fonts ..?
Some scanners may more support many, some may support one. Some scanners can also read lower quality barcodes than others. It all depends on the scanner.

You need to find out what scanner(s) you are using and consult the manual.

Please mark this thread as solved if I have answered your question and good luck!

[mania_comp]

That was very much helpful to me
Now I cam proceed in my project
Thanx again for your help
Good Day
:)

[Dina_Du]

i have been searching for a simple method to scan code, and i got another one in this post.
also, i'd like to share my method which i acquired not long time ago.

Dim myImage As RaterEdgeImage = New RaterEdgeImage("barcodes.tif")
Using Barcode As BarCodeReader = New BarCodeReader(myImage)

Dim options As ReadOpts = New ReadOpts()
options.Direction = Directions.LeftToRight
options.Symbology = Symbologies.code39

Dim bars As Barcode[] = Barcode.ReadBars(options)
For (i As Integer = 0; i < bars.Length; i++)
System.Console.WriteLine(bars(i).ToString())
End Using

it's very practical. for more information, you may take a look at this site: barcode reading hope it will be helpful :)