Free Barcode Label Design Application User Manual

The Freeware Barcode Label Design Application is an easy to use WYSIWYG bar code label printing software product that prints barcodes, text and graphics on standard laser and inkjet printers, as well as thermal transfer printers. It may be used if provided with an accompanying hardware product by IDAutomation, by nonprofit organizations, or by individuals and organizations that have a gross annual revenue of less than $500,000 USD. This freeware license is granted in the Free License section of our License Agreement. Any other use requires a purchase of our Barcode Label Software to remain properly licensed.

The free Barcode Label Design Application supports Code 39 and Extended Code 39. The standard version includes all the other popular barcode types including UPC, EAN, Code 128, Interleaved 2 of 5 and Postnet. All other functionality of the product is the same.

INDEX:

• Installing the Label Design Application
• Installation on a network drive for multiple users
• Creating barcode labels
• Linking to external data sources and databases
• Creating an embedded data set to enter data manually
• Adjusting the properties of the barcode or text objects
• Other products available for barcoding purposes
• Technical issues and support
• It is important to have the ability to test the barcodes printed with a barcode scanner.
  If a barcode scanner is not currently owned, we sell high quality complete barcode scanner kits.

Our Barcode Label Software is built to run on any operating system that supports the Microsoft® .NET Framework. It is compatible with Windows® 98 and above, including Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows 2003. It is not compatible with Windows 3.1 or Windows 95.

1. Download and open or unzip the package to a folder on the hard drive. We recommend downloading and installing WinZip if the computer that is installing the product does not have a zip file extraction tool.
2. Run IDAutomation_BarcodeLabelSetup.exe to start the install utility.
3. If there is a popup message that states that Microsoft® .NET Framework needs to be installed first, please do this first and run IDAutomation_BarcodeLabelSetup.exe again. The Microsoft .NET Framework may be installed by running Windows Update from a computer connected to the Internet or may be downloaded from here.

Installation on a network drive for multiple users
Because this product does not install any DLLs or other components in the system directories, it may be easily installed and used from a network or a mapped drive.

1. Start the install utility.
2. When prompted for the location, select the network drive and complete the install process.
3. Create shortcuts on other computers that need to run the application.
4. If errors occur on any of the computers, try performing the steps outlines in our document about setting security rights for .NET applications.
5. Make sure there is a license for each user that has access to the software.

Using the process outlined here, labels can be created that include barcodes, text and graphics. After the label is created, it can be saved and retrieved for later use.

1. After the label application is installed, open the software from the appropriate program group or icon and choose "Create New Label".
2. At the "Label Options" screen, select the printer that the labels will be printed on, the label stock type, and the preferred units of measure. Predefined label stock contains several definitions for Avery, Herma, Zweckform and a few others. When using thermal bar-code printers, we recommend choosing the "Define custom label stock" option. Click Next.
   
3. When choosing the "Define custom label stock" option, the selections on the next screen will allow the label software to automatically calculate the size of each label. Choose or verify the following and then click OK:
   1. The number of rows and columns of the label sheet. For thermal printers, leave the rows and columns at their defaults and choose the label from the "paper type" drop down box.
   2. The spacing between labels.
      In this example, we are using Avery® 5263 laser labels, so we chose 5 rows and 2 columns. We also added in the spacing between labels of 0.2; smaller labels may use only .1 or .05 in these fields. Notice how the label size is automatically calculated. The label layout can be saved from this screen by clicking the save button which allows the user to easily select it as a predefined label file stock in the future by choosing "Predefined label stock" and then selecting "Custom" from the label products list.
      
       
4. On the next screen, click on the appropriate icon to add text, barcodes, graphics and objects into the design area that is white. If there is a gray border in the design area, this indicates an area where the selected printer is not able to print. The Pro and RFID versions include additional icons for RSS, Composite, PDF417, Data Matrix and other 2D barcode types.
5. Properties of any object may be adjusted by performing a right-click on the object and choosing Properties.
   
6. From the Properties window when selecting the barcode icon, choose the Value tab. This determines the value to be encoded in the barcode. Here an incremented, formula for static value may be created, or link to an external database. Learn more about adjusting the properties of an object.
7. Choose the print icon when ready to print the labels.
8. Verify or select the print range and choose Print. We recommend printing only a few labels at first to verify the alignment to the printer. If the labels do not print accurately, try adjusting the margins and the spacing between labels in the Label Stock Properties screen by choosing File - Label Stock Properties.
   
9. If working with a sheet of labels and need to print to a specific label on the sheet, click on the Advanced button for placement options.
   

We also recommend verifying that the scanner can read the barcodes well. If a barcode scanner is not currently owned, we also sell high quality complete barcode scanner kits.

This software can link to columns in Microsoft® Access, Excel or a CSV text file as a data source for a text or barcode object, which allows printing of labels from data in Excel and Access or from a file export from other software. Our label software can also link to a custom embedded data source. The Pro and RFID versions provide linking to multiple data sources, powerful database macros and support for additional data sources including ODBC, DSN, Oracle and SQL Server. Perform the following to link to the data source:

1. Choose Tools - Data Sets - Link External Data.
2. Choose the data type and choose Search to find the file.
3. After the source path is found, choose the appropriate table if applicable.
4. Choose Link Data and there should be a portion of the linked data on the screen.
   
5. After the data is linked, choose Close.
6. To link a column of data to a barcode or text object, click the down arrow next to "Value Type" and select "External DataSource", and click on the source column to link the value. The example window will show what is linked.
   
7. Increment the "label number" in the design screen to verify the data is linked.
8. When printing, we suggest choosing "all rows data source" as the option, but only after printing a single page first to verify the alignment.
9. When linking to the CSV or Text files, the format should be as follows:
   CSV: "Column1","Column2","Column3"
   TEXT: Column1,Column2,Column3

Our label software allows the user to create a database which is embedded in the label data file itself. This allows data entry of several different custom values to be created on labels.

1. Choose Tools - Data Sets - Create Embedded DataSet.
2. By default, three columns are created. Use the buttons at the bottom of the window to add, remove or export the data.
3. Choose the OK button at the bottom of the window when finished.
4. To link a barcode to the data entered, right click on the barcode, choose properties, choose the Value tab and select external data source as the value type.

Properties of the barcode or text objects may be adjusted by performing a right-click on the object and choosing Properties. The following is a list of the properties and their functions in each tab:

• Position - allows user to manually place the barcode in the design area and change the orientation.
• Value - this is the data that is encoded in the barcode. Entering data that is incorrect for the barcode type may cause unpredictable results.
  • The global append values will append the prefix or suffix to the value. For example, an incremented value of 101 and a prefix of TX will create a barcode encoding TX101 on label 1 and TX102 on label 2.
  • The formula value creates the barcode from the Visual Basic syntax formula entered. For example, the formula of "TX" & 100 + L# will create a barcode encoding TX101 on label 1 and TX102 on label 2.
    • The following is a list of what is supported:
      • Operators:
        / divide
        * multiply
        & concatenate words
        - subtract
        + add
      • Variables:
        L# label number
        T# total number of labels. Example: "This is label " & L# & " of " & T#  produces This is label 2 of 5.
      • External data functions:
        Field(col) returns the value in the linked data source for the column [col] of the current row. Example: Field(1)
        FieldName(name) returns the value in the linked data source for the column according to the current row. Example: FieldName(FirstName). If a header row is linked in and two names are the same, the second name appends a “1”, for example "CompanyName" and "CompanyName1". If one of the columns are blank it will be referenced as F# where # is the column number. The linked Value Table displays the TableName of each item.
      • Additional variables, macros and external database functions are available in the Pro and RFID versions.
• Size - this is where the barcode height, width and margins are defined.
  • Increasing the Bar Width (X dimension) will increase the width of the entire barcode. Because most bar codes require specific settings in this area, the barcode cannot be sized by dragging its edges in the design window. The default X dimension is 0.03 CM or about .012" or 12 mils. This value may need to be increased if the scanner cannot read barcodes with small X dimensions. When working with a high quality scanner, this value can be decreased to obtain a higher density barcode.
  • The measurement of mils is an industry standard that is 1/1000 of an inch.
  • White Bar Increase is the percentage of increase of the white bars compared to black bars. This property may be used when a printer prints darker than normal to increase the amount of white space between bars and improve readability. Recommended values are 15% to 25% for ink jet printers. Default = 0 (no increase).
• Encoding:
  • Barcode Encoding - this is the type of barcode or the symbology. The free Barcode Label Design Application supports Code 39 and Extended Code 39. The standard version includes all the other popular barcode types including UPC, EAN, Code 128, Interleaved 2 of 5 and Postnet. The Pro Version includes 2D bar codes such as PDF417, DataMatrix, Maxicode and RSS Composite.
  • BearerBar Horizontal - determines the horizontal bearer bar width. The value is a multiple of the X Dimension. Default = 0.
  • BearerBar Vertical - determines the vertical bearer bar width. The value is a multiple of the X Dimension. Default = 0.
  • Use Check Digit - automatically adds the check digit to the barcode.
• Text - allows the ability to change or disable the text that is displayed next to the barcode.
  • The Character Grouping field determines the number of characters between spaces in the text interpretation of the data encoded in the barcode. Default =0 (off); supported values are 3, 4 and 5.
• Color - allows changing the colors of the barcode, text and background.

We offer a few other free products like this one with similar licensing. In addition, we provide several professional grade products including:

• .NET Forms Controls - create and print barcodes from .NET applications.
• ActiveX Controls & DLLs - easy to use controls that work like barcode add-ins for Microsoft Access and Visual Basic 6.
• ASP. NET Barcode Web Controls - for creating bar codes in web applications.
• Barcode Server for IIS - easily add barcodes to any web application with this component for Microsoft IIS.
• Barcode Fonts - allow easy creation of barcodes in several different applications.
• Barcode Label Design Software  - allows easy printing of barcodes with database support.
• Hosted Barcode Services - allow dynamic creation of bar-codes without installing any software.
• Image Generator - easily creates bar-code images for almost any Windows application.
• Java Servlets, JavaBeans, Class Libraries & Applets - supporting several symbologies including Linear, PDF417, DataMatrix & Maxicode. The Java Servlets can be used on UNIX, Linux and other systems to create barcodes on web pages.
• See also our Barcode Hardware Index for products such scanners and printers.

Free product support may be obtained by reviewing articles that are documented at our Barcode Label Software support site and by searching our resolved public help desk issues. Additional support including priority phone, email and help desk support may be obtained by ordering a license to the Barcode Label Software Application.

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