FileMaker Barcode Plug-In User Manual
| A license is
required for each computer this software is installed on;
this software may only be used according to the
License
Agreement.
Demo versions of this software may be used for evaluation
purposes only |
Overview and Compatibility
This product is a complete FileMaker Plug-In Extension that creates barcodes
without any other dependencies. The plug-in provides formulas, that when
displayed in a report, create a barcode from an already installed system
font such as Arial or Times New Roman. Once installed, no other components
or fonts need to be installed to create barcodes; it is the complete barcode
generator provided as a single redistributable plug-in file.
| Compatibility
and Requirements |
| Application Compatibility |
FileMaker 7 and above |
| OS Compatibility |
Macintosh OS X or Microsoft
Windows 95 or greater, including XP, Vista and 7 |
| Symbology Compatibility |
Code 128 (Sets A, B, C and
Auto), Code 39, Codabar, GS1-128, Interleaved 2 of 5 and MSI. |
| Minimum System Requirements |
500 MHZ Processor, 128MB RAM,
5 MB available hard drive space |
| Intended Implementer |
FileMaker Database and Application
Developers;
End users and non-developers may find it easier to use
IDAutomation's Barcode Fonts for FileMaker. |
* This package does not support UPCA, UPCE, EAN13 or EAN8 barcodes because
of the required OCR text characters that must appear below this barcode
type. If these barcode symbologies are required, the
UPC/EAN Barcode Font
Advantage is available as a separate purchase.
Installing the Native Barcode Generator is a fairly easy process. If
problems are encountered with this tutorial, IDAutomation recommends referring
to the sample database included in the package.
-
Extract or decompress the files from the Native Barcode Generator
package.
To obtain the product,
download the evaluation version or
order the fully functional version.
- Install the plug-in into the FileMaker Extensions folder:
- Microsoft Windows Systems: Copy IDAutomationNat.fmx
file to the Extensions sub folder
of the FileMaker folder.
For example: "C:\Program Files\Filemaker\FileMaker Pro 8.5\Extensions".
- Macintosh OS X: Drag the IDAutomationNat
file to the 'Extensions' folder inside the FileMaker folder.
- If FileMaker is running, shut down and restart FileMaker. Choose
Edit - Preferences - Plug-in. Choose the Plug-Ins tab
to ensure the IDAutomationNat plug-in is enabled.
- Open the database and choose File - Define Database.
For the field name enter "IDAutomationBC1"
(or another descriptive name); for the field type, choose Calculation
and choose Create.
- In the Specify Calculation
form, choose External Functions from the view of functions and
select the function beginning with
IDAuNat that is for the barcode type needed. If it is unsure
what type of barcode is needed, IDAutomation suggests using
Code 128.
Place the field that is to be encoded in the barcode as the
parameter in the function. Change the
Calculation Result to Text and choose OK.
Optional: The parameter may be changed
to a formula that appends text to a field or combines multiple fields. For example:
IDAuNat_C128( "PREFIX" & Field1 )
or IDAuNat_C128( Field1 & "," & Field2
)
- Open the form or report in Layout Mode. Choose Insert
- Field and select the field named "IDAutomationBC1" from the
list of fields and choose OK. After the field appears on the
form, the edges may need to be sized so the barcode can fit within it.
NOTE: If this field is not large enough, the barcode will not display
correctly.
- Right-click on the field and choose
Text Format:
-
Change the font to Arial or Times New Roman and change
the Font Size to 3 points.
Because the font drop-down box
does not contain small sizes, the size must be manually typed in.
The font size determines the X Dimension, or the width of the barcode,
which may be changed as necessary.
| Point Size |
Approximate
X Dimension |
| 2 |
08 Mils |
| 3 |
12 Mils |
| 4 |
16 Mils |
| 5 |
20 Mils |
| 6 |
24 Mils |
| 7 |
28 Mils |
| 8 |
32 Mils |
- Choose Paragraph and change the Line Spacing
Height to 0.65 lines and change the Alignment
to Center and choose OK to close the Text Format dialog.
- Optional: If a text interpretation of the barcode is needed, it
is suggested to place the appropriate field directly above or below
the field that will contain the barcode.
- Save and view the form or report. Verify that the barcode symbol
is being created properly. In some cases, horizontal lines may appear
in the barcode because of low screen resolution. However, the printed
barcodes should be accurate without any visible lines. If a scanner
is needed to verify printed barcodes, IDAutomation offers several
affordable USB barcode
scanners.
IDAutomation includes the capability in this product to create barcodes
and text for
GS1-128
(UCC/EAN128) symbols with the built-in ApplyTilde
feature. The following describes the changes required in the
Barcode Integration Tutorial to
implement GS1-128. This GS1-128 symbol example is created from 18 digits
of numbers in the GS1DataField field.
- Enable the ApplyTilde option in the calculation
formula and add in the application identifiers with
tilde commands. The
result line should be similar to the following:
IDAuNat_C128( "~202" & GS1-DataField
& "|12|1" )
- If it is desired to place parenthesis in the correct locations of
the text interpretation, The IDAu_Code128HR function may be used from
the
IDAu plugin as a calculated field. For example:
IDAu_Code128HR( "~202" & GS1-DataField )
- When ApplyTilde is enabled, a GS1 MOD10
check digit may also be calculated. For example, a GS1-128 symbol with
17 digits of numbers in the GS1DataField
field could be created with the following formula:
IDAuNat_C128( "~202" & GS1-DataField & "~m17|12|1" )
DataToEncode is the only required
parameter in the functions provided. Optional parameters are separated with
the pipe "|" character. When one optional parameter is used, all must be
specified.
Example Formulas
| Example Formulas |
| Code 128 barcode with default
settings: |
IDAuNat_C128( Field1 ) |
| Code 128 barcode, with height
= 12: |
IDAuNat_C128( Field1 & "|12|1" ) |
| Code 3 of 9 barcode, height =
12, N Dimension =3 and Check Digit enabled: |
IDAuNat_C39( Field1 & "|12|3|1" ) |
| Code 128 barcode created for GS1-128,
height = 18 and ApplyTilde enabled: |
IDAuNat_C128( "~202" & Field1 & "|18|1" ) |
Functions are available
DataToEncode
This is a string
value that represents the data being encoded.
BarHeight
- The height of the barcode.
Default =6. The approximate height is determined with the following
formula:
Height in Inches = (Font Size) * (BarHeight) *
0.012
Height in CM = (Font Size) * (BarHeight) * 0.03
N_Dimension
Determines the width
of the wide bars, which is a multiple of the
X dimension. Valid values are 2 and 3.
The default is 2. IncludeCheckDigit
Determines
whether a check digit should be automatically calculated and included
for the DataToEncode. Valid values are 0 (false) and 1 (true). Default
= 0.
ApplyTilde
If ApplyTilde is set
to 1 (true), the tilde will be processed and allow the following options:
- ASCII characters: The format ~ddd may be used to specify
the ASCII code of the character to be encoded. For example, if entering
the following text in the Data field: 66~02977
it will actually encode 66GS77
where GS is a delimiter ASCII
29 character. Other commonly used ASCII codes are ~009 for a tab
and ~013 which is a return function. To encode other functions,
please refer to IDAutomation's
ASCII chart.
- Encoding
GS1-128 (UCC/EAN-128) AIs:
To encode alpha-numeric UCC/EAN128, the character must be set
to "AUTO" for automatic. Then, ASCII 202 or character Ê is entered
as the FNC1 before each AI and the required start C is included
automatically. For example, the GS1 number of (8100)712345(21)12WH5678
should be entered as: ~2028100712345~2022112WH5678.
- In most cases, the AI's will be properly represented in the human
readable text. If the parenthesis is not around the correct number
for the AI, enter the following extended ASCII character as the
FNC1 for the correct number of digits in the AI:
ASCII 212 = 2 digits
ASCII 213 = 3 digits
ASCII 214 = 4 digits
ASCII 215 = 5 digits
ASCII 216 = 6 digits
ASCII 217 = 7 digits
For example, to encode (1277)56, enter
~214127756.
For more information, please refer to the
UCC/EAN 128 section of IDAutomation's Code 128 FAQ
- Create a Mod 10 Check digit: To create a Mod 10 check
digit for xx number of characters, add the following to the DataToEncode:
~mnn (where nn is a 2 digit number representing the number
of characters preceding the tilde in which to base the Mod 10 calculation).
- The additional MOD 10 check digit is commonly used in GS1 (UCC/EAN)
barcode types. For example, setting the DataToEncode property to
~2024021234567890123456~m16 will cause
a mod 10 check digit to be created based on all 16 characters before
the tilde. The human readable text and scanned data will display
as (402)12345678901234560. The final 0 is the mod 10 check digit
and replaces ~m16.
- FNC2: When necessary, the FNC2 character may be inserted
into the DataToEncode string by using ASCII 197. For example;
~1978012349091.
- IDAutomation's
SC5USB
Scanner can be programmed to hold the barcode starting with
the FNC2 in memory and only transmit it to the computer after scanning
a barcode containing the FNC1.
-
DataMatrix ApplyTilde information.
Common Problems and Solutions:
- If the barcode is truncated, looks corrupted or does not appear
completely, resize or increase the width of the field.
- If the resulting symbol contains boxes instead of a bar-code,
it is because a process used does not completely support unicode characters.
Usually, this is caused with processes that creates PDF documents.
- If horizontal lines appear in the printed barcode, check
the text format and decrease the Line
Spacing Height to 0.60 or less. However, it is normal for
horizontal lines to appear on the screen because of low screen resolution.
- If scanning problems are encountered with small barcode sizes,
verify a printer of 300 DPI or greater is being used. An X dimension
of 16 MILS or greater should be used with low resolution thermal 203
DPI printers. IDAutomation also offers many barcode fonts that
print well
to low resolution thermal printers. Additionally, verify the scanner
being used is able to read small barcodes.
- If barcodes do not scan at the default settings, check to
make sure that barcode type is enabled in the scanner and that there
is sufficient white space surrounding the barcode. Additional solutions
are provided in the
Barcode will not
scan KB article.
- Additional problems and solutions are provided at IDAutomation's
barcode font troubleshooting site and by searching resolved
public
forum threads.
Priority
phone, email and forum support is provided up to 30 days after
purchase. Additional
priority
phone, email and forum support may be obtained if the
Priority Support
and Upgrade Subscription is active.
Other Barcode Products & Information
Related Products:
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