Is there a problem with true type fonts

[petermeachem]

We need to put barcodes on letters. We barcode the postcode with a Royal Mail barcode font, seems to work very well and I was going to use a free font for some other stuff, a reference to which I picked up here.
It seems to me, from a cursory reading, that most people here have much more complicated schemes rather than just printing whatever in a barcode font. Am I missing something important?

http://www.therockalltimes.co.uk

http://www.therockalltimes.co.uk/2003/03/24/geneva-convention.html

 

[DougP]

Code39 and a few others, Postal code, do not require a calculation to create the barcode.
So these work great with a font.
Keep in mind that a font is just that it, creates lines which make up the barcode.
If a barcode requires you to calculate a check digit based on the other characters in that barcode then you need a function or external program to figure out the check digit character. This check digit character is then added to the first part of the barcode and the whole thing is made into a barcode.

Example: A UPC requires a check digit.
Why does it require a check digit? If part of the barcode is damaged and the scanner can read most of the lines / characters and do the calculation in reverse to determine the missing or bad numbers.
Also if a barcode is misread then the product would ring up wrong at the cash register. So steps have been taken to insure that it NEVER misreads. So you have a check digit.

2D barcodes are extremely complicated.
DougP, MCP

 

[Guest_imported]

But even the Code39 requires a '*' at each end- so even in this simple case there's a programming implication.

And some codes are even more complex than Doug mentions wrt a check digit. Code128 for instance has the means to switch among 3 codesets inside itself; the algorithm to minimise the length of the barcode by switching among codes is quite complex. Jim Brown,
Johannesburg,
South Africa.
My time is GMT+2

 

[petermeachem]

The postcode barcode has a start and stop code and a checksum. That's no problem. I didn't know that code128 was more complicated. Thanks for the info. When I know what code teh customer wants, I shall know what I need to do now.

http://www.therockalltimes.co.uk

http://www.therockalltimes.co.uk/2003/03/24/geneva-convention.html

 

[Guest_imported]

Peter in answering another thread in here, I remembered this url which might help if it turns out you need Code39. One Cesar Vezga has produced code which paints code39 barcodes with no font, ie it actually draws the lines!

http://www.andreavb.f2s.com/tip070012.html

Also, there are dlls available for the complex ones. I don't have urls handy, but there are lots of links at BarCode1 at

http://www.adams1.com/pub/russadam/

Jim Brown,
Johannesburg,
South Africa.
My time is GMT+2