Microsoft Access Barcode Tutorial
IDAutomation provides several products for creating barcodes
in MS Access. For more on which product will best fit your requirements, please
visit the Access Barcode
Integration Guide.
ActiveX Barcode Controls in MS Access
 Once
installed, the IDAutomation ActiveX
Barcode Control may be dragged,
dropped and sized on an Access form.
- In a report in design mode, choose insert - ActiveX control.
- Select the installed control
that starts with "IDAutomation" and drop it on the
form.
- Size the control as necessary.
- To change barcode height, symbology type or other properties
of the control, right-click
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
as in the image example above. The proper barcode will
show up after the report is saved and run.
- The barcode will be
created from the data in the control source field.
When using the ActiveX Barcode Control in Access, tabs and returns can be encoded by inserting
=([TestData.Data] & Chr(9) & [TestData.Zip]) in the control source
field where TestData.Data points to the table and field that
contains the data to encode first, then Chr(9) will encode the
tab and TestData.Zip will be the second field.
Barcode Fonts and Tools in MS Access
Check characters are used in high-density barcodes
so that scanners can verify the barcode was properly read. Self-checking
fonts such as
Code 39
and Codabar have
checking code built-in so that calculation of check characters is not required. Self-checking fonts are
easy to use in Microsoft Access and may be entered directly from the keyboard.
Please consider the above barcode types if not a programmer or a technical user.
For example, to create a barcode that encodes the data "1234ABCD"
with the Code 39 Font, use the following formula =("!" & [Table.Field]
& "!") in the control source field where Table.Field points
to the table and field that contains the data to encode.
Tabs and returns may be added with Code 39 fonts
(in
extended39
mode) between fields from a Microsoft Access report by inserting
=("!" & [Table.Field] & "!") in the control source field where
Table.Field points to the table and field that contains the data
to encode. The following Microsoft Access formula places a tab function
(in
extended39)
between fields: =("!"&[DataField1] & "$I"
& [DataField2] & "!")
Below is an example of the above formula in a text field on a report:
If a non self-checking, high-density barcode is preferred,
IDAutomation provides
font tools such as VBA Macro
Functions that can be used in conjunction with IDAutomation fonts to
automatically format the start, stop and check characters to the barcode fonts.
VBA Macro Functions For MS Access
IDAutomation VBA Macro
Functions generate check digits, add the start and
stop characters and format the return string for barcode
fonts. These macros may be easily integrated into an application for automation
purposes and do not require programming skills. The macros consist of a VBA
module that is free to use with a licensed IDAutomation barcode font. They
are compatible with Microsoft Office 97, 2000, XP, 2003, 2007 and 2010 running on
Windows or Macintosh systems. The unique encoding in our fonts and macros
allow cross-platform support between Macintosh and Windows systems in
most countries. For double byte language settings such as Chinese,
Korean and Japanese, the
IDAutomation
Universal Barcode Font Advantage is a better choice when used with
the
Universal Font VBA functions.
 After
downloading and extracting the files, open the sample Microsoft Access
database provided. The sample database contains one table, some sample
reports and one module. The module contains the custom VBA code, functions
and macros. Please refer to this sample database for assistance creating
barcodes.
Barcode Creation in an MS Access Report
- If using a proprietary database and not the sample provided,
import the macros into the database.
- Open a report in design mode.
- Create a text box where the barcode should appear.
- Format the data to the barcode in a text box by entering the formula
=function([table.field])
in the Control Source property of the text box. Be sure to enter
the table and the field in the Control Source property. If not sure which function to use, try the
Code 128 fonts
with the =Code128([table.field]) function or visit
the complete list of available VBA barcode functions.
- Run the report to make sure data is pulling from the
fields and is properly formatted to the barcode font. There should
be some strange characters appended to the beginning
and ending of the data from the fields: this is normal. In some
cases, the data needs to be formatted so much that it appears to be scrambled.
- Change the formula field font to the appropriate
barcode font and set the point size. If not sure of the
point size, 12 points are recommended for the scanner to
read easily.
When using Code
128 or one of the 2D barcode font macros provided with
PDF417
or DataMatrix fonts,
tabs and returns may be encoded by
inserting =Code128([TestData.Data] & Chr(9) & [TestData.NumberData],0)
in the control source field where TestData.Data refers to the
table and field that contains the data to encode, Chr(9) encodes
a tab function and TestData.NumberData is the second field. The
following example is from Microsoft Access 2003:
Barcode Label Software with MS Access
IDAutomation Barcode Label Software is an easy barcode
label printing software application that prints barcodes, text and graphics on
many printer types such as laser, inkjet, thermal transfer and direct thermal.
This barcode label printing application can link to Microsoft Access columns as a data source
for a text or barcode object, which allows printing of labels from data
in Access.
- Choose Tools - Data Sets - Link External Data.
- Choose the data type and choose Search to find the file.
- After the source path is found, choose the appropriate table
if applicable.
- Choose Link Data and a portion of the linked data should be
visible on the screen.
- After the data is linked, select Close.
- To link a column of data to a barcode or text object, click
the down arrow next to "Value Type" and select "External DataSource",
then click on the source column to link the value. The example window
will show what is linked.
- Increment the label number in the design screen to verify that the
data is linked.
- When printing, choose "all rows data source" as the option. Be
sure to verify the alignment first by printing the single page before printing
the entire report.
- When linking to the CSV or Text files, the format should be
as follows:
CSV: "Column1","Column2","Column3"
TEXT: Column1,Column2,Column3
- If assistance needed, please
contact IDAutomation.
- Report Software
Piracy! If it is suspected that IDAutomation products
are being used in violation of the IDAutomation License Agreement,
copyright laws or international treaties, please report it. The
reporting person may remain anonymous.
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