IDAutomation^® .NET Barcode Barcode Recognition
Manual & Tutorial

INDEX:

• Order Now
• Installation and Compatibility
• Tutorial
• Properties and Methods
• Technical Issues and Support
• Hardware-Based Decoding Scanner

Application Compatibility

IDAutomation's .NET Barcode Recognition Decoder SDK is compatible with the .NET Framework 1.1 or greater.

Installation:

1. Download and unzip the package into a directory on the development computer.
2. Copy BarcodeDecoder.dll to the project directory. In visual studio, select Project - Add Reference and choose the DLL. Do not copy the DLL to the bin directory; upon compiling the project, the DLL in the project folder will be copied to the appropriate bin folder with the associated EXE file automatically.
3. Examples are provided below that should help with the various methods of using the product.

*These properties utilize the tilde character as a method of entering in special characters. Entering in a "~" followed by three numeric values will set property to the ASCII equivalent. For example setting the DecodedFNC2 property to "~202" all FNC2 characters will be represented as a "Ê" character in the decoded string.

The code below assumes that the BarcodeDecoder object is named "reader" and a picture box control named "barcode" has been added to the form.

• Displaying the decoded data in text boxes:
  Visual Basic .NET:
      Dim barcodeData() As String
      barcodeData= reader.ReadBarcode(barcode.Image)
      txtDecodedData.Text = barcodeData(0)
      txtSymbology.Text = barcodeData(1)
      txtBarPattern.Text = barcodeData(2)
  C# .NET:
      string [] barcodeData= reader.ReadBarcode((Bitmap)barcode.Image);
      txtDecodedData.Text = barcodeData[0];
      txtSymbology.Text = barcodeData[1];
      txtBarPattern.Text = barcodeData[2];
     
• Passing a piece of an image to the ReadBarcode method (this example checks the upper left region for a barcode):
  Visual Basic .NET:
      'declare the beginning and ending pixels of the image on the x and y axis
      Dim xStart As Integer = 0
      Dim yStart As Integer = 0
      Dim xEnd As Integer = barcode.Image.Width
      Dim yEnd As Integer = barcode.Image.Height
      'set the end pixels to the upper left region of the image
      xEnd = xEnd / 2
      yEnd = yEnd / 2
      Dim PartialImgWidth As Integer = xEnd - xStart
      Dim PartialImgHeight As Integer = yEnd - yStart
      'Since picture box controls do not have a GetPixel method, create a bitmap to hold the partial image
      Dim copy As Bitmap
      Dim partialImage As Bitmap
      copy = New Bitmap(barcode.Image, barcode.Image.Width, barcode.Image.Height)
      partialImage = New Bitmap(PartialImgWidth, PartialImgHeight)
      Dim x As Integer
      Dim y As Integer
      'set the pixels of the partial image to the same color of the copied barcode image
      For x = xStart To xEnd - 1
          For y = yStart To yEnd - 1
              partialImage.SetPixel(x - xStart, y - yStart, copy.GetPixel(x, y))
          Next y
      Next x
      barcode.Image = partialImage
  
  C# .NET:
      //declare the beginning and ending pixels of the image on the x and y axis
      int xStart = 0;
      int yStart = 0;
      int xEnd = barcode.Image.Width;
      int yEnd = barcode.Image.Height;
      //now we will set the end pixels to the upper left region of the image
      xEnd /= 2;
      yEnd /= 2;
      int PartialImgWidth = xEnd - xStart;
      int PartialImgHeight = yEnd - yStart;
      //Since picture box controls do not have a GetPixel method, create a bitmap to hold the partial image
      Bitmap copy = new Bitmap(barcode.Image, barcode.Image.Width, barcode.Image.Height);
      Bitmap partialImage = new Bitmap(PartialImgWidth, PartialImgHeight);
      //set the pixels of the partial image to the same color of the copied barcode image
      for (int x = xStart; x < xEnd; x++)
      {
          for (int y = yStart; y < yEnd; y++)
          {
              partialImage.SetPixel(x - xStart, y - yStart, copy.GetPixel(x, y));
          }
      }
      barcode.Image = partialImage;
  
  Note: other regions of the document may be easily specified, use the calculations below for other regions of the image:
      Upper Right:
          xStart = xEnd / 2
          yEnd = yEnd / 2
      Downward Left:
          xEnd = xEnd / 2
          yStart = yEnd / 2
      Downward Right:
          xStart = xEnd / 2
          yStart = yEnd / 2
• Decoding a rotated image (assumes the image being passed in is already at 90°)
  Visual Basic .NET:
      Dim reader As New IDAutomation.BarcodeDecoder.BarcodeDecoder
      reader.Angle = 90
      Dim barcodeData() As String
      barcodeData= reader.ReadBarcode(barcode.Image)
      txtDecodedData.Text = barcodeData(0)
      txtSymbology.Text = barcodeData(1)
      txtBarPattern.Text = barcodeData(2)
  C# .NET:
      IDAutomation.BarcodeDecoder.BarcodeDecoder reader = new BarcodeDecoder();
      reader.Angle = 90;
      string [] barcodeData= reader.ReadBarcode((Bitmap)barcode.Image);
      txtDecodedData.Text = barcodeData[0];
      txtSymbology.Text = barcodeData[1];
      txtBarPattern.Text = barcodeData[2];
   

Free product support may be obtained by reviewing resolved public help desk issues. Priority phone, e-mail and help desk support is provided up to 60 days after purchase. Additional priority phone, e-mail and help desk support may be obtained if a Priority Support and Upgrade Subscription is active.

Common Problems and Solutions:

• Performance Improvements:
  Decode performance is improved by setting the Angle property to the angle that is most accurate. For example, if scanned barcodes usually appear at 7 degrees (meaning the barcode image is rotated 7 degrees clockwise), the Angle property should be 7. Additional performance is improved by setting all symbologies to false except the type that is being decoded.
• EAN 13 barcodes return only 12 digits:
  The first digit in an EAN 13 barcode is not actually encoded in the barcode. This first digit is produced based on a pattern of the next five digits. To enable this functionality set the ExpandToEAN13 property to true and the first digit will be present in the decoded string.
• A leading zero is added to the decoded data of UPC-A barcodes:
  This is a similar problem to the one above. If the ExpandToEAN13 property is set to true, all UPC-A barcodes will contain a leading zero because of the pattern contained in the first five digits. To disable, set the ExpandToEAN13 property to false and the leading zero will be truncated.
• Barcode is not being recognized in a document:
  Too much text in the document containing the barcode can cause this behavior. Refer to the source code example to pass a partial image into the ReadBarcode method of the BarcodeDecoder class.

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