Using Barcode Products on Mobile Platforms
Solution(s):
IDAutomation has been able to use the
Linear Barcode Control for the .NET Compact Framework on a Pocket PC,
and it may be possible to use IDAutomation's
Java Applet or Barcode Class
Libraries with a Java VM to print barcodes from Pocket PC or PALM
OS. ActiveX components will not work on the Pocket PC OS in their present
form.
IDAutomation's TrueType barcode fonts have been tested and function
properly on the Pocket PC 2002 and greater operating systems, including
Windows CE, Windows Mobile and Windows Phone. These fonts need to be
copied to the \Windows\Fonts directory of the target device. IDAutomation.com
does not produce an installation utility for this process, so it will
be necessary to manually copy these files from a desktop computer to
the \Windows\Fonts directory on the target device using either Windows
Explorer or ActiveSync.
Pocket PC, Windows CE, Windows Mobile and Windows Phone do not support
VBA automation for Microsoft Office products. This means that the font
automation tools will not work in products such as Pocket Excel, Pocket
Word, Pocket Access, etc., directly on the Pocket PC. The font automation
tools are necessary to encode the data into the proper format for the
fonts and the scanners that will read the barcodes. In general, this
means that the data contained in the barcode cannot be dynamically changed
while on the Pocket PC. The data will have to be manipulated on the
desktop computer and then the spreadsheet, document, etc., must be copied
to the Pocket PC device.
One exception to the aforementioned rule is the IDAutomation
Code 39 Barcode
Font Advantage Package. Because these fonts do not require specific
encoding or complex check digit calculations, they can be used with
ease in the Pocket PC environment by simply adding the start and stop
characters (asterisk) before and after the data to encode. For example,
in Access the following formula would be used
=("*"&[Table.Field1]&"*") to add
the start and stop characters to the data. The fonts can also be used
in a custom application built with a compiler made for the Pocket PC
operating system such as Embedded C++ or Embedded Visual Basic. These
development platforms are specifically designed to develop applications
on the Pocket PC platform, and can be used in conjunction with the TrueType
fonts to produce barcodes for the Pocket PC environment. IDAutomation
offers helper functions for these development environments that can
be used in the application to encode the data and add the start and
stop characters to the data. See the links below to access these functions.
Related Documents:
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