Help In Adding Start Code and Function Code To UCC-128 Barcode 2

[AnilJ]

Hello.
Our programmer has a project to create a label using bar codes formatted in GS1-128, but our program does not have this symbology. We have UCC-128, which we were told we can use to do the following but it requires some more work and I am not sure how to accomplish it.

What we have to do (example of one line) is create a bar code with a application identifier of 420, followed by 5 digits for zipcode, this we can do and it shows up on the bar code but our supplier requires us to have a start code C followed by a function code 1 and then the application identifier etc. Our barcode now displays the 420 and the zipcode both in numbers and in bar code format but I guess the "C" and "1" needs to be added to the barcode but cannot be visible and we do not know how to add this to the bar code without having that information on display.

This is their exactly resolution answer for our issue from our customer:
Resolution : Postal bar Code should be formatted in GS1-128 symbology with a Start Code C followed by a Function Code 1 and an Application Identifier of 420 followed by the 5 digit ship to zip code from Zone B.

Apparently if you are using GS1-128 it is easy, but it still can be done using UCC-128, but our programmer has no idea how to do this.

Any help in regards to this would be really appreciated.
I hope I have provided enough information to make sense of what I am looking to do. As you can tell I am not that familiar with bar codes.

Thank you.
AJ

 

[JRB-Bldr]

You might want to search Google for gs128 barcode font and you will find a number of sources.

But you might also want to look at references like:
Creating GS1-128 (UCC/EAN 128) Compliant Barcodes
(about mid-page) on:

http://www.idautomation.com/code128faq.html

note - this was found with the above Google search.

You might also want to look at:

http://www.ciax.com/manuals/ref/ue128.htm

note - again this was found with the above Google search.

Also
Code 128

http://www.computalabel.com/about128.htm

Also some code examples:
How to print GS1-128 or UCC EAN 128 barcode
with Zebra ZPL-EPL printers and VB.NET or C#..

http://vbcity.com/forums/t/159625.aspx

note - this time found with Google search for
print gs 128 font vb

Without knowing what programming language your 'programmer' is using what more can we do to advise you?

Also....
Apparently if you are using GS1-128 it is easy...

If this is BUSINESS CRITICAL for you, then why are you messing around with the more difficult way?

Maybe just purchasing what you should be using would be a much more cost effective approach - especially when you consider the cost of the man-hours to try to finagle it.

Good Luck,
JRB-Bldr

 

[AnilJ]

Thanks JRB-Bldr!!

I appreciate the help. The reason we are going the "hard" way is this is just for one customer and to update everything (software and hardware) will cost us over $10,000, so it isn't worth it if we can find another way.

We use a program from Loftware, LLM-WIN32 Professional Developer's Edition to create the bar codes (which doesn't have GS1-128 format) and after that is done the format file is loaded/saved to our AS/400 which sends it to our label printers (Intermec 3400's) when a job is required (format file is sent ahead of the job so the label prints out correctly).

That is how our programmer does it for all of our labels for the company and we wanted to be able to do it with this one customer with the existing software. Hopefully it is able to do so, if not then we will have to bite the bullet and upgrade.

I am sure we will find something from the links and tips you have given me above. I appreciate the help!

Thanks again!

AJ

 

[DansDadUK]

A few comments:

(a) As the first of the links pointed to by jrbblr indicates:
"GS1-128 (previously known as UCC-128 and EAN-128) is defined by GS1 and used to create several types of barcode symbols that include Application Identifiers".

(b) All Code 128 based barcodes start with a start character; there are three such characters, indicating which subset (A, B or C) is used to encode the whole (or at least the first part of) the encoded value.

(c) The ISO specification for Code 128 defines the location (in terms of ASCII characters and Unicode values) for the barcode symbols with character values 1 -> 94 inclusive (they are mapped to hexadecimal code-points 21 -> 7E inclusive).

For the bar-code symbols with character value 0 (space), character values 95 -> 105 inclusive (this includes the FNC1 character, and the STARTA, STARTB and STARTC characters), and character value 106 (the STOP character), the ISO specification does not specify the location of these symbols within a font.

So the values used for these characters depend on which font you are targetting for printing the barcode - typically, values in the hexadecimal ranges B1 -> BD, or C0 -> CC are used.

... and then for any 'printable' characters, you'd need to use a font which had 'space' characters for these codes if you didn't want them to print.
But normally you'd not pass the initial (START, FNC (if present)) and final (STOP) characters to the function which rendered the 'printable' line anyway.

 

[TLeaders]

AJ

I am not familiar with the intermec printers but this is what I do on zebra printers. When you design the label turn off the text print option. Then add a new text field under the barcode (in place of the auto generated text). So when you print the label send two data fields one that contains what is incoded on the barcode and second field that contains the human readable text.

Good Luck
Tom

 

[AnilJ]

DansDadUK,

Thanks for the information.

It was helpful and I sent it to our programmer for review.

I also was told (again I am not knowledgeable about barcodes) that we need to put the start code "C", followed by "1", which I was told I need to talk to Intermec (the printers we use) to get the hex code for that function, followed by two zeros and then the 18 digit string.

Again that really doesn't mean a lot to me but I was told that Intermec would be able to provide the hex code that is needed.

I appreciate your time and help.

Regards,
AJ

 

[AnilJ]

Hey TLeaders,

Thanks for the help and suggestion.

I also sent what you said to the programmer to see if that is something he can do with the intermec printers.

If not we will try the solution I posted above and get a hold of intermec to get the hex value to get what I need.

I appreciate the advise and help.

Regards,
AJ

 

[TLeaders]

AJ

You might want to look at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_128

The FNCx codes are used for special purposes. FNC1 at the beginning of a bar code indicates that it begins with a 2- 3- or 4-digit application identifier assigned by the Uniform Code Council, which explains the following digits. For example, application identifier 421 indicates that an ISO 3166-1 numeric country code and ship-to postal code follows. For example, the U.S. ZIP code for the White House would generally be printed as "(421) 840 20500", but would actually be coded as "[Start C] [FNC1] 42 18 40 20 50 [Code A] 0 [Check symbol 80] [Stop]"

Tom