Although DLL only allows plain “C” functions exported, the design uses an object-oriented methodology. All functions manipulate the barcode object through a HANDLE which uniquely identifies the barcode object. A HANDLE is defined as a pointer in C language.

A typical application creates the barcode object through function CreateBarcodeObject and retrieves the handle to the object. Subsequently it calls various of functions to manipulate the object properties. The function mbxExportImage is used to retrieve the barcode rendering from the object. After the application finishes, the function DestroyBarcodeObject should be called to release all resources allocated by the object.

All properties and methods are listed in this chapter. Some properties are now obsolete and kept only for backward-compatiblity reason.

Some properties may not be modifiable under certain design mode. Some properties may be related to other properties - i.e. change to one property will change other properties. For example, Changing Symbology property will also alter the value of Message property.

Description

Returns or sets the value that determines the current work mode.

Syntax

HRESULT get_AutoLabelSize(HANDLE handle, bool* pVal);
HRESULT put_AutoLabelSize(HANDLE handle, bool val);

Remarks

Use this property to set/return the current work mode. When AutoLabelSize property is TRUE, the current work mode is barcode design mode; otherwise the label design mode is assumed. Under the barcode design mode, the size of the working area is not fixed. It grows or shrinks as the sizes of other components, such as margins, barcode and the comment change. Under barcode design mode, properties LabelWidth and LabelHeight are read-only and can not be altered.

On the contrary, under the label design mode, the size of the working area is fixed and can not be modified. Under the label design mode, anything beyond the working area is clipped.

If you intend to create a barcode as small as possible, choose the barcode design mode by setting this property to TRUE. If you'd like to print a full label with all components turned on, select the label design mode.

See Also

Section 8.22, “LabelWidth, LabelHeight Properties”

Section 8.3, “AutoSize Property”

Description

Returns or sets the value that defines how the control size is determined.

Syntax

HRESULT get_AutoSize(HANDLE handle, bool* pVal);
HRESULT put_AutoSize(HANDLE handle, bool val);

Remarks

AutoSize controls how the object responds to the sizing request from the container. When AutoSize is FALSE, the object redraws itself to the maximum extent that the container specifies; otherwise it calculates the display size by multiplying its natural size with the ZoomRatio, and draws itself within the display size.

When AutoSize is changed from FALSE to TRUE, the ZoomRatio is changed back to 1.0.

See Also

Section 8.50, “ZoomRatio Property”

Section 8.2, “AutoLabelSize Property”

Description

BackColor - returns or sets the background color of the control.

ForeColor - returns or sets the foreground color of the control.

Syntax

HRESULT get_BackColor(HANDLE handle, LONG color);
HRESULT put_BackColor(HANDLE handle, LONG* pColor);
HRESULT get_ForeColor(HANDLE handle, LONG color);
HRESULT put_ForeColor(HANDLE handle, LONG* pColor);

Remarks

For opening systems we strongly recommend to set the background color to solid white (0xFFFFFF) and foreground color to black (0x000000). Note: barcode requires decent contrast between the foreground color and the background color in order to be readable. Always test the readability thoroughly when you select a color pair different from black and white.

Description

BarHeight - returns or sets a value for the height of bars in Barcode control.

Syntax

HRESULT get_BarHeight(HANDLE handle, LONG* pVal)
HRESULT put_BarHeight(HANDLE handle, LONG val)

Remarks

The BarHeight property specifies the height of the dark elements in all linear symbologies with exception (see notes below). The actual value is affected by the Measurement property. If Measurement is set to mbxMeasureEnglish, the unit for this property is mils (1/1000 inch) otherwise it is 1/1000 cm. The default value is 1000 which translates to 1 inch or 1 cm, depending on the measurement unit specified.

This property have no effect on the size of two-dimensional barcodes, such as PDF417, DataMatrix and MaxiCode.

The height of elements in postal symbologies (POSTNET and RoyalMail) is fixed. Therefore, changing this property has no effect on those types of barcodes.

The height of bars in a DataBar Truncated symbol is fixed at 13X (X is the industry term for NarrowBarWidth), and the height of a DataBar Stacked symbol is fixed at 50X. Therefore, this property does not affect the height of those two types of symbols.

In stacked symbologies (DataBar Stacked Omnidirectional and DataBar Expanded (multi-row), the overall height is the number of rows multiplying BarHeight, plus the height of any required separator rows.

Description

Returns or sets a value that determines whether to include bearer bars around the barcode.

Syntax

HRESULT get_BearerBars(HANDLE handle, bool* pVal);
HRESULT put_BearerBars(HANDLE handle, bool val);

Remarks

Bearer bars (see below) are horizontal bars printed across the top and bottom of the barcode image. Bearer bars can help avoid partial reads should the reader move off the top or bottom of the code. Only certain symbologies require bearer bars (for example Interleaved 2 of 5) as the start and stop characters in most bar codes make bearer bars unnecessary.

In Barcode DLL the following symbologies can have bearer bars: Codabar, Code11, Code25, Code128, UCC/EAN-128, Code39, Code39 HIBC, Code 39 Full ASCII, Code93, Interleaved 2 of 5, MSI/Plessey and Telepen. Other symbologies ignore this property.

Description

Returns or sets the color of borders.

Syntax

HRESULT put_BorderColor(HANDLE handle, LONG val);
HRESULT get_BorderColor(HANDLE handle, LONG* pVal);

Remarks

Use this property to specify the border color of Barcode DLL. The default value is 0 (black).

See Also

Section 8.9, “BorderWidth Property”

Section 8.8, “BorderStyle Property”

Description

BorderStyle - returns or sets a value that determines the border style.

Syntax

HRESULT put_BorderStyle(HANDLE handle, LONG Val);
HRESULT get_BorderStyle(HANDLE handle, LONG* pVal);

Remarks

Use BorderStyle property to specify the border style. This property is set by using one of the BorderStyle enumeration values:

See Also

Section 8.7, “BorderColor Property”

Section 8.9, “BorderWidth Property”

Description

BorderWidth - returns or sets the value for the border width.

Syntax

HRESULT get_BorderWidth(HANDLE handle, LONG* pVal);
HRESULT put_BorderWidth(HANDLE handle, LONG val);

Remarks

Use BorderWidth property to specify a border width for the Barcode DLL. The border width is expressed in logical units prescribed by the Measurement property. For example, if you set this property to 15 and the Measurement is mbxMeasureEnglish, the border width is 15 mils (0.015 inch). The default value is 15.

To disable the border, set BorderWidth to 0 or BorderStyle to mbxBorderStyleNone.

See Also

Section 8.8, “BorderStyle Property”

Section 8.7, “BorderColor Property”

Description

Code25OptionalCheckDigit - returns or sets a value that determines whether to include an optional checksum digit in all Code25 barcodes produced by Barcode DLL.

Syntax

HRESULT put_Code25OptionalCheckDigit(HANDLE handle, bool val);
HRESULT get_Code25OptionalCheckDigit(HANDLE handle, bool* pVal);

Remarks

A code 2 of 5 barcode can have an optional check digit. When the Code25OptionalCheckDigit is TRUE, a check digit is calculated using modulo 10 algorithm and added to a code 2 of 5 barcode. To display the checksum digit in the human readable text, set ShowCheckDigit to TRUE.

See Also

Section 10.7, “MSI/Plessey, Code 25 and Code11”

Description

Code39OptionalCheckDigit - returns or sets a value that determines whether to include an optional checksum digit in all Code39 barcodes produced by Barcode DLL.

Syntax

HRESULT put_Code39OptionalCheckDigit(HANDLE handle, bool val);
HRESULT get_Code39OptionalCheckDigit(HANDLE handle, bool* pVal);

Remarks

A code 3 of 9 symbol can have an optional check digit (character) at the end of the barcode. When the Code39OptionalCheckDigit property is set to TRUE, a check digit is calculated using modulo 43 method and appended to the end of the barcode. To display the checksum digit, set ShowCheckDigit to TRUE.

This property affects two symbologies: Code 39 and Code39 Full ASCII.

See Also

Section 10.2, “Code 39”

Section 10.3, “Code 39 Full ASCII”

Description

Returns or sets a value that determines whether to display the start and stop characters in the human readable text in all Code39 barcodes produced by Barcode DLL.

Syntax

HRESULT get_Code39StartStopChars(bool* pVal);
HRESULT put_Code39StartStopChars(bool val);

Remarks

For historical reasons many code39 symbols print start/stop characters (asterisks) at the beginning and the end of the human readable text. While the start and stop characters are always present in the barcode, it is not necessary for them to appear in the human readable. When the Code39StartStopChars property is set to TRUE, the asterisks are displayed at both the beginning and end of the human readable.

This property affects the three Code 39 symbologies - Code 39, HIBC and Code39 Full ASCII.

See Also

Section 10.2, “Code 39”

Section 10.4, “Code 39 HIBC”

Section 10.3, “Code 39 Full ASCII”

Description

Returns or sets a string for the human readable comment printed around the barcode symbol.

Syntax

HRESULT get_Comment(HANDLE handle, char* lpszComment);
HRESULT put_Comment(HANDLE handle, const char* lpszComment);

Remarks

In addition to the human readable, which always reflects the encoded data and conforms to the standard requirements, you can optionally place a paragraph of text beside the barcode image.

You may adjust margins around the comment, place the comment at the top or bottom, modify the font typeface as well as the size, and change how the text is aligned.

Control characters are not printed.

See Also

Section 8.15, “CommentFont Property”

Section 8.14, “CommentAlignment Property”

Section 8.43, “ShowComment Property”

Section 8.17, “CommentOnTop Property”

Section 8.16, “CommentMarginTop, CommentMarginBottom, CommentMarginLeft, CommentMarginRight Properties”

Description

CommentAlignment - returns or sets a value indicating how the comment is aligned.

Syntax

HRESULT get_CommentAlignment(HANDLE handle, LONG* pVal);
HRESULT put_CommentAlignment(HANDLE handle, LONG val);

Remarks

This property controls how the text in the comment portion is aligned. Valid alignment choices are listed in the table below:

Description

Returns or sets the font for comment text.

Syntax

HRESULT get_Font(HANDLE handle, IFontDisp** pVal);
HRESULT put_Font(HANDLE handle, IFontDisp* val);

Remarks

The default font used to draw comment text is typeface of Arial, 8 points.

This property is used to retrieve/set the font used for comment text. To set/retrieve the font used for human readable text, use Font property.

In Visual Basic you cannot create a Font object using code like Dim X As New Font. If you want to create a Font object, you can use the StdFont object, as in the code below:

Dim X As New StdFont
X.Bold = True
X.Name = "Arial"
Dim rc As Long
rc = put_CommentFont(handle, X)

Description

These four properties control the margins around the comment box.

Syntax

HRESULT get_CommentMarginTop(HANDLE handle, LONG* pVal);
HRESULT put_CommentMarginTop(HANDLE handle, LONG val);
HRESULT get_CommentMarginBottom(HANDLE handle, LONG* pVal);
HRESULT put_CommentMarginBottom(HANDLE handle, LONG val);
HRESULT get_CommentMarginLeft(HANDLE handle, LONG* pVal);
HRESULT put_CommentMarginLeft(HANDLE handle, LONG val);
HRESULT get_CommentMarginRight(HANDLE handle, LONG* pVal);
HRESULT put_CommentMarginRight(HANDLE handle, LONG val);

Remarks

The above four parameters control the margins around the comment text box. Note that under different design modes, the CommentMarginLeft and CommentMarginRight have different meanings. For detailed information refer to Chapter 5, Fundamentals.

Description

Returns or sets a value that determines whether the comment box is placed above or below the symbol.

Syntax

HRESULT get_CommentOnTop(HANDLE handle, bool* pVal);
HRESULT put_CommentOnTop(HANDLE handle, bool val);

Remarks

The default value for CommentOnTop is FALSE. To place the comment on top of the image, set this property to TRUE.

Description

Returns or sets a value that determines the width and height of a single cell in the data matrix symbols generated by Morovia Barcode DLL.

Syntax

HRESULT get_DataMatrixModuleSize(HANDLE handle, LONG* pVal);
HRESULT put_DataMatrixModuleSize(HANDLE handle, LONG val);

Remarks

The “real estate”unit of a data matrix symbol, the module, is always square. This property sets both the width and the height of the square. It affects the overall symbol size.

The default value for DataMatrixModuleSize is 20 mils. The property can be any numbers between 1 and 100.

See Also

Section 8.19, “DataMatrixTargetSizeID Property”

Description

Returns or sets a value that determines the shape of the DataMatrix symbol produced by Morovia Barcode DLL.

Syntax

HRESULT get_DataMatrixTargetSizeID(HANDLE handle, LONG* pVal);
HRESULT put_DataMatrixTargetSizeID(HANDLE handle, LONG val); 

Remarks

Data Matrix only allows a limit number of combinations of rows and columns. You must set the property to 0 (automatic) or one of the following values:

Data matrix offers limited combinations between the number of rows and columns. A valid selection is called a data matrix size. A data matrix symbol can be any one of the 30 shapes listed in table Table 8.6, “DataMatrixTargetSizeID options”. In addition, our software uses value 0 for automatic size selection. The value 0 means “do not care”. Barcode DLL selects the smallest size to fit your data when you set DataMatrixTargetSizeID to 0.

See Also

Section 8.18, “DataMatrixModuleSize Property”

Description

Returns or sets the font for human readable text.

Syntax

HRESULT get_Font(HANDLE handle, IFontDisp** pVal);
HRESULT put_Font(HANDLE handle, IFontDisp* val);

Remarks

The default font used to draw comment text is typeface of Arial, 9 points. Generally speaking, you should use a sans-serif font for human readable text. Some industries require OCR-B(Optical Character Recognition Revision B) font to be used.

This property is used to retrieve/set font for human readable text. To set /retrieve font used for comment, use CommentFont property.

In Visual Basic you cannot create a Font object using code like Dim X As New Font. If you want to create a Font object, you can use the StdFont object, as demonstrated in the code below:

Dim X As New StdFont
X.Bold = True
X.Name = "Arial"
Dim rc As Long
rc = put_Font(handle, X)

See Also

Section 8.44, “ShowHRText Property”

Section 8.47, “TexAlignment Property”

Section 8.48, “TextOnTop Property”

Description

Deprected since 3.4.

Syntax

HRESULT get_I2of5OptionalCheckDigit(HANDLE handle, bool* pVal);
HRESULT put_I2of5OptionalCheckDigit(HANDLE handle, bool val);

Remarks

Previously, in order to add check digit to an Interleaved 2 of 5 bracode, you need to set this property to TRUE. Interleaved 2 of 5 symbology requires the input to be even length. If this property is TRUE and the input already has even length, the previous implement appends a '0' at the end, and calculate the check digit. This is an unexected behavior for many customers.

In version 3.4 and above, this property has no effect on the barcode created. Whether or not a check digit is required depends on if the length of the input is even or odd. If the length is even, no check digit is added and Barcode DLL encodes as is. If the length is odd, however, the program calculates the check digit and automatically appends at the end to make the whole length even.

See Also

Section 10.14, “Interleaved 2 of 5 (ITF25)”

Description

LabelWidth, LabelHeight - returns or sets the width and height of the working area, in measurement units specified by Measurement.

Syntax

HRESULT get_LabelHeight(HANDLE handle, LONG* pVal);
HRESULT put_LabelHeight(HANDLE handle, LONG val);
HRESULT get_LabelWidth(HANDLE handle, LONG* pVal);
HRESULT put_LabelWidth(HANDLE handle, LONG val);

Remarks

Under label design mode, you need to set these two properties to the size of working area you plan to work on. The drawing can only be done within the working area; anything beyond the boundary will be clipped out.

If you are working on barcode design mode by setting AutoLabelSize to TRUE, you can not set these two properties. The working area expands and shrinks when the barcode image and comment expand or shrink.

Same as all other length properties, the actual value depends on Measurement property. If Measurement is mbxMeasureEnglish, the value is measured in mils(1/1000 inch), otherwise it is in high metric (1/1000 cm).

The default working area under label design mode is 2" by 2". When you set AutolabelSize to FALSE, Barcode DLL uses the default size for the working area by setting both LabelHeight and LabelWidth to 2000 mils.

Description

Returns or sets a value that determines the service class for structured carrier message to be encoded in Maxicode symbols generated by Morovia Barcode DLL.

Syntax

HRESULT get_MaxicodeClass(HANDLE handle, LONG* pVal);
HRESULT put_MaxicodeCountryCode(HANDLE handle, LONG val);

Remarks

The class of service code is a 3-digit number which is defined by the carrier and shipper to indentify the service class.

The default value for this property is 001 .

Description

Returns or sets a value that determines the encoding mode of Maxicode symbols generated by Morovia Barcode DLL.

Syntax

HRESULT get_MaxicodeMode(HANDLE handle, SHORT* pVal);
HRESULT put_MaxicodeMode(HANDLE handle, SHORT val);

Remarks

Maxicode specification defines 5 encoding modes from 2 to 6. Mode 2 and 3 are reserved for domestic and international carrier messages. Mode 4 and mode 5 both encode generic data. Between the two of them, mode 5 offers slightly better data security. Other Maxicode properties, such as MaxicodeClass, MaxicodeCountryCode, are meaningful only under mode 2 and 3. Mode 6 is designated for reader programming purposes.

Description

Returns or sets a value that identifies the country in the structure carrier message encoded in Mode 2 or Mode 3 MaxiCode symbols.

Syntax

HRESULT get_MaxicodeCountryCode(HANDLE handle, LONG* lCountryCode);
HRESULT put_MaxicodeCountryCode(HANDLE handle, LONG countrycode);

Remarks

The country code is a 3-digit number which represents a country. For a complete list of country codes, see ISO standard 3166.

Description

Returns or sets a value for the postal code/zip code used in the structure carrier message under Mode 2 or Mode 3 MaxiCode symbols.

Syntax

HRESULT get_MaxicodeZipCode(HANDLE handle, char* lppszValue);
HRESULT put_MaxicodeZipCode(HANDLE handle, const char* lpszValue);

Remarks

The MaxiCodeZipCode is the postal code/zip code of the delivery address. Only capital letters and digits are acceptable.

Note: Mode 2 encodes a 9-digit U.S. zip code while Mode 3 encodes a 6-character alpha-numeric postal code. You are not allowed to specify a text with length greater than 9. If MaxiCodeMode is 2 but an alpha-numeric MaxicodeZipCode is specified, the program uses 000000000 as the MaxiCodeZipCode.

Description

Returns or sets the measurement unit for all length properties.

Syntax

HRESULT get_Measurement(HANDLE handle, LONG* pVal);
HRESULT put_Measurement(HANDLE handle, LONG val);

Remarks

You can set this property to one of the two values:

Most symbologies use U.S. English measurement unit, which is based on mils (1/1000 inch). Some symbologies are metric oriented, such as Royal Mail and MaxiCode. To produce barcodes as accurate as possible, we recommend that you stick to the measurement unit specified by the standard to avoid float number calculation.

Description

Returns or sets a string for the message to be encoded.

Syntax

HRESULT get_Message(HANDLE handle, char* lppszValue);
HRESULT put_Message(HANDLE handle, const char* lpszValue);

Remarks

Not all symbologies are capable of encoding all characters. Some may only encode numeric data. Some impose a limit on the length of the encoded data. If you encode data with invalid characters or length, Barcode DLL returns an error.

Description

Returns or sets a value for the width of the narrowest module in linear symbologies.

Syntax

HRESULT get_NarrowBarWidth(HANDLE handle, LONG* pVal);
HRESULT put_NarrowBarWidth(HANDLE handle, LONG val); 

Remarks

This property defines the width of the narrowest element in a linear barcode - a.k.a X-dimension. The measurement unit is in either 1/1000 inch or 1/1000 cm depending on the Measurement unit used.

By default the value for this property is 13. The valid range is from 1 to 1000. Industry standards require that the barcodes used in an open system have a X-dimension at least of 10 mils (one-hundredth of inch). If the X-dimension is too small, some scanners may have problems reading the barcode.

This property affects most linear symbologies. Height-modulated postal barcodes, such as POSTNET and Royal Mail barcodes, use fixed pitch thus this property has no effect on these symbologies.

Description

Returns or sets the ratio of the wide to narrow bar in a barcode.

Syntax

HRESULT get_NarrowToWideRatio(HANDLE handle, double* pVal);
HRESULT put_NarrowToWideRatio(HANDLE handle, double val);

Remarks

Some linear symbologies can have two module widths. The width of the wide one is a fixed multiple of the width of the narrow module (NarrowBarWidth). You can choose a value ranging from 2.0 to 3.0 for this ratio.

This property is valid only for Code 39, Code 25, Code 11, Codabar and Interleaved 2 of 5 symbologies. All others ignore this property. We also recommend you set a value between 2.5 to 3.0 so the barcode can be easier to be recognized.

Since the value may impact the readability of the barcode, we highly recommend that you test the barcode readability when you set the value to anything below 2.5.

Description

Returns or sets a value for the overall height to width ratio of PDF417 barcode generated by Barcode DLL.

Syntax

HRESULT get_PDFAspectRatio(double* pVal);
HRESULT put_PDFAspectRatio(double val);

Remarks

The PDFAspectRatio determines the overall shape of the PDF417 symbol and is defined as the overall height to width ratio. Higher values for the Aspect Ratio (greater than 1) produce tall, thin PDF417 bar codes and small values (greater than zero and less than 1) produce short, wide bar codes. A value of 1 produces approximately square bar codes.

The default value for this property is 0.5.

Description

Returns or sets a value for the maximum number of codeword columns allowable in all PDF417 barcodes generated. Since version 3.4, this property is also used to specify the number of symbol per row in GS1 DataBar Expanded symbology.

Syntax

HRESULT get_PDFMaxCols(LONG* pVal);
HRESULT put_PDFMaxCols(LONG val);

Remarks

The PDFMaxCols and the PDFMaxRows properties allow you to set the target number of columns and rows.

The PDFMaxCols property specifies the maximum number of codeword columns in a PDF symbol. It can be set to a value ranging from 1 to 30.

Since version 3.4, GS1 DataBar Expanded is supported in Barcode ActiveX Professional and Barcode DLL product line. DataBar Expanded can be mutliple rows, with each row holding even number of symbol characters. This property is used to specify the number of symbols per row in DataBar symbology. This number must be between 2 and 22 otherwise 22 is used. Because DataBar Expanded can have 22 symbols at the most. Setting to 22 or 0 makes the resulted barcode one row only. When used in DataBar Expanded symbology, the number must be even otherwise it is rounded to the closet even integer.

See Also

Section 8.33, “PDFMaxRows Property”

Description

Returns or sets a value for the maximum number of codeword rows allowable in all PDF417 bar code symbols produced by Morovia Barcode DLL.

Syntax

HRESULT get_PDFMaxRows(HANDLE handle, LONG* pVal);
HRESULT put_PDFMaxRows(HANDLE handle, LONG val);

Remarks

The PDFMaxCols and the PDFMaxRows properties allow you to set the target number of columns and rows. The default value for PDFMaxRows is 0, meaning that program automatically picks the number of rows. The valid range for this property is 3 to 90.

See Also

Section 8.32, “PDFMaxCols Property”

Description

Returns or sets a value for the height of the modules in the PDF417 barcode generated.

Syntax

HRESULT get_PDFModuleHeight(LONG* pVal);
HRESULT put_PDFModuleHeight(LONG val);

Remarks

The recommended value for PDFModuleHeight is approximately three times the value of PDFModuleWidth. You can set this property to any values greater than 10 mils.

The valid range for PDFModuleHeight is from 1 to 100. The default value is 30.

See Also

Section 8.35, “PDFModuleWidth Property”

Description

Returns or sets a value for the width of the modules in the PDF417 barcodes generated.

Syntax

HRESULT get_PDFModuleWidth(LONG* pVal);
HRESULT put_PDFModuleWidth(LONG val);

Remarks

The recommended value for PDFModuleWidth is between 10 and 30 mils. To achieve the best read rate, we recommend that you set a value which is integral times of the pixel width on the target device (the width of a pixel on a computer display is 10.42 mils and the one on a laser printer is 3.33 mils).

The valid range for this property is between 1 and 100. The default value is 13.

See Also

Section 8.34, “PDFModuleHeight Property”

Description

Returns or sets a value for security level used in all PDF417 barcodes generated.

Syntax

HRESULT get_PDFSecurityLevel(SHORT* pVal);
HRESULT put_PDFSecurityLevel(SHORT val);

Remarks

The PDFSecurityLevel property allows you to select a PDF417 error correction level from 0 to 8 (or 9 for automatic). Each higher security level up to 8 adds additional overhead to a PDF417 symbol thereby requires large symbol space.

The default value for this property is 9 (automatic).

Description

Returns or sets a value that determines whether to generate the truncated version of all PDF417 bar codes generated by the Barcode DLL.

Syntax

HRESULT get_PDFTruncatedSymbol(bool* pVal);
HRESULT put_PDFTruncatedSymbol(bool val);

Remarks

You can produce a truncated version of PDF417 barcode by setting PDFTruncatedSymbol to TRUE. A truncated PDF417 symbol reduces the stop pattern to a single termination bar. Truncated symbols should be used only in a clean and controled environment.

The default value for this property is FALSE.

Description

Readonly property. Returns a snapshot of the drawing in Windows Enhanced Metafile Format (EMF).

Syntax

HRESULT get_Picture(IPictureDisp** ppVal);

Remarks

The Picture property provides a convenient method to retrieve the drawing without first saving it to disk. The picture object contains an enhanced metafile handle which can be passed to clipboard or played on a device.

Note after version 3.2, drawing units are measured from the default printer. If you print to a low-resolution printer, set the target printer as the default before retrieving the EMF handle.

Description

Returns or sets a value that determines whether to include quiet zones on the barcodes generated.

Syntax

HRESULT get_QuietZones(bool* pVal);
HRESULT put_QuietZones(bool val);

Remarks

In linear barcodes, quiet zone is defined as a clear space that precedes the start character of a barcode symbol and follows the stop character. In two-dimensional barcodes quiet zones are clear area around the barcode. The space is required to help scanner determine where the barcode starts and stops.

The width of space added is 10 times the NarrowBarWidth value for all linear barcodes, 2 times PDFModuleWidth value for PDF417 barcodes, 2 times DataMatrixModuleSize value for DataMatrix barcodes and 1 element width for MaxiCode barcodes. Setting this property substantially increase the barcode length for linear symbologies.

You can also use symbol margins to create effective quiet zones. By default Barcode DLL set the symbol margins to 100 mils at 4 directions. When this is the case, you may safely set this property to FALSE to better align the comment and human readable text.

Description

RasterImageResolution - returns or sets a value that corresponds to the resolution (in pixels per inch) of the target device when export barcode images to a raster graphic file format (JPEG, GIF, PNG, TIF and BMP).

Syntax

HRESULT get_RasterImageResolution(LONG* pVal);
HRESULT put_RasterImageResolution(LONG val);

Remarks

When you export the barcode image into a raster graphics file format such as JPG, GIF and PNG, you are converting the drawing commands (device independent) to an array of pixels which are device dependent. The size of a pixel varies based on the device and usually is measured by dot per inch (dpi). A laser printer usually has a high resolution of 300 dpi while the screen has a low resolution of 96 dpi. As a result, an image may have different physical size when displayed on the screen than printed. The greater the resolution is, the bigger the file size and the accurate of the details. We suggest you set this property to the value which matches your printer.

The default value for this property is 300.

See Also

Section 8.52, “ExportImage Method”

Description

Returns or sets a value indicating how to rotate the working area.

Syntax

HRESULT get_Rotation(LONG* pVal);
HRESULT put_Rotation(LONG val);

Remarks

This property controls how the working area is rotated. Valid rotation choices are:

Description

ShowCheckDigit - Determines whether the checksum characters will be shown on the human readable portion. This option is effective to selected symbologies only.

Syntax

HRESULT get_ShowCheckDigit(bool* pval);
HRESULT put_ShowCheckDigit(bool val);

Remarks

Different symbologies have different rules regarding check digit. For some symbologies, check digit is part of the data and should always be included in the human readable text. Some symbologies allow optional check digit. Some symbologies require check character not be displayed at all.

In version 3.4, there are some noteable changes:

See Also

Section 8.44, “ShowHRText Property”

Section 8.10, “ Code25OptionalCheckDigit Property ”

Section 8.11, “Code39OptionalCheckDigit Property”

Section 8.21, “I2of5OptionalCheckDigit Property”

Description

Returns or sets a value that determines whether the control displays the comment portion.

Syntax

HRESULT get_ShowComment(bool* pVal);
HRESULT put_ShowComment(bool val);

Remarks

Toggle this property to turn on or turn off the display of the comment portion. Note that if this property is FALSE, comment margin properties will not be included during the position calculation of other components, such as working area, bar code image etc. If you want to have these margins participate the calculation and do not want to see the comment, set Comment property to an empty string instead.

Description

Returns or sets a value that determines whether the control displays the human readable portion.

Syntax

HRESULT get_ShowHRText(bool* pVal);
HRESULT put_ShowHRText(bool val);

Remarks

Toggle this property to turn on or turn off the display of the human readable text.

Two dimensional barcodes do not have the concept of “human readable”. Consequently this property has no effect on 2D barcodes.

Per standard, UPC-A, UPC-E, EAN-13, EAN-8 barcodes and their supplements should always have the human readable as an integrated part of the image. In versions prior to 3.2, you can not produce those barcodes without visible human readable, even you set ShowHRText to FALSE. This behavior has changed since version 3.2. Unless you have absolute reason to turn it off, you should set ShowHRText to TRUE when creating these types of barcodes.

Description

Returns or sets a value indicating the type of the bar code format (symbology) to be generated by the ActiveX control.

Syntax

HRESULT get_Symbology(LONG* pVal);
HRESULT put_Symbology(LONG val);

Remarks

The Barcode DLL currently supports the following symbologies:

Some symbologies only encode certain limited set of characters, such as digits. Some symbologies impose limit of the data length; some require checksum characters. If you are not familiar with the symbologies you are working on, refer to Chapter 10, Barcode Technologies to get some hands-on information.

Description

These four properties control the margins around the symbol boundary (including barcode, human readable and comment).

Syntax

HRESULT get_SymbolMarginTop(LONG* pVal);
HRESULT put_SymbolMarginTop(LONG val);
HRESULT get_SymbolMarginBottom(LONG* pVal);
HRESULT put_SymbolMarginBottom(LONG val);
HRESULT get_SymbolMarginLeft(LONG* pVal);
HRESULT put_SymbolMarginLeft(LONG val);
HRESULT get_SymbolMarginRight(LONG* pVal);
HRESULT put_SymbolMarginRight(LONG val);

Remarks

These four parameters control the margins around the symbol (barcode, human readable and comment).

Description

Returns or sets a value indicating how the human readable text is aligned.

Syntax

HRESULT get_TexAlignment(LONG* pVal);
HRESULT put_TexAlignment(LONG val);

Remarks

This property controls how the text in the human readable portion is aligned. Valid alignment choices are:

Because of the unique character arrangement in UPC/EAN symbologies, this property does not apply on those symbologies: UPC-A, UPC-E, EAN-13 and EAN-8.

The barcodes below illustrate the effects of TexAlignment:

See Also

Section 8.20, “Font Property”

Section 8.44, “ShowHRText Property”

Description

Returns or sets a value that determines whether the human readable text is placed above the barcode image or below the image.

Syntax

HRESULT get_TextOnTop(bool* pVal);
HRESULT put_TextOnTop(bool val);

Remarks

The default value for TextOnTop is FALSE which places the human readable text below the barcode. To place the human readable text above the barcode, set TextOnTop to TRUE.

Two-dimensional symbologies (PDF417, Data Matrix and MaxiCode) do not support human readable text. This property has no effects when the current symbology is PDF417, Data Matrix or MaxiCode.

See Also

Section 8.20, “Font Property”

Section 8.44, “ShowHRText Property”

Section 8.47, “TexAlignment Property”

Description

Deprecated since version 3.4.

Syntax

HRESULT get_UccEanOptionalCheckDigit(bool* pVal);
HRESULT put_UccEanOptionalCheckDigit(bool val);

Remarks

Before version 3.4, this

This property kicks in only when all the following conditions are met: (1) the current symbology is set to UCC_EAN_128. (2) the data element contains an AI of 00 (SSCC-18) or 01(SCC-14). (3) the data length is 1ess than the required. The check digit is calculated based on Mod 10 algorithm and appended to the end of the data part. The check digit also appears in the human readable text.

For example, when the property UCC_EAN_128 is set to TRUE, the data (01)3001234567890 becomes (01)30012345678906 where the last digit of 6 is the calculated mod10 check digit.

Description

Returns or sets the value that determines the actual display size of the control.

Syntax

HRESULT get_ZoomRatio(double* pVal);
HRESULT put_ZoomRatio(double val);

Remarks

When the AutoSize is FALSE, the container controls the size of the display area. The Barcode DLL displays itself to the full extent in the display area prescribed by the container while keeping the aspect ratio. The user can not set ZoomRatio under this mode; instead the user changes the property by dragging the tracking box using the mouse pointer.When the AutoSize property is set to TRUE, the Barcode DLL decides the size of the display area. You can change the size of the display area by modifying the natural size, or the ZoomRatio. To make sure that barcode created has a high quality, do not set ZoomRatio to any values other than 1 at the print time. To modify the barcode size it is highly recommended to do so through length properties, such as NarrowBarWidth, BarHeight, and PDF417ModuleHeight etc.

Description

Display the About Dialog.

Syntax

void mbxAbout(HANDLE handle);

Remarks

The About dialog displays the version information. It also displays the license information used to create the barcode object.

Description

Exports the image to a graphics file with the specified format. This allows other programs to use the barcode images generated.

Syntax

HRESULT mbxExportImage(HANDLE handle, 
    const char* lpszFileName, LONG imageFormat)
HRESULT mbxExportImage2(HANDLE handle, 
    IDispatch* pStream, LONG imageFormat)

Remarks

Exports the image into the file specified by the filename in a standard format. Barcode DLL supports the export to the following graphic formats:

Use ExportImage to save the barcode image to a disk file or a Streamobject, with the specified graphic format. If the file already exists, the method overwrites the file.

When Barcode DLL exports to EMF format, the resolution of the default printer is used as the basis to create the barcode. If you use the EMF handle to print to a low resolution printer, set this printer as default before calling ExportImage.

When Barcode DLL exports to WMF format, a high resolution of 1440 dpi is assumed. A high resolution printer is needed to replay the WMF handle.

All other file formats are raster image format. The property RasterImageResoluton determines the resolution to use during the rasterization. PNG or GIF are preferred formats because they are lossless and compressed well for barcode images.

See Also

Section 8.40, “RasterImageResolution Property”

Chapter 6, Working with Low Resolution Devices

Description

Load the Barcoce ActiveX object from a file, in binary or XML format.

Syntax

HRESULT mbxLoad(HANDLE handle, 
    const char* lpszFileName, LONG persistFormat);

Remarks

The Load method loads the property data and draws the barcode image based on the data loaded. The PersistFormat can be one of these values:

Description

Saves the Barcoce ActiveX object in a file, in binary or XML format.

Syntax

HRESULT mbxSave(HANDLE handle, 
        const char* lpszFileName, LONG persistFormat);

Remarks

The Save method saves the property data into a disk file or a Streamobject in binary or XML format. The PersistFormat can be one of these values:

If the file already exist, the method overwrites the file.

See Also

Section 8.53, “Load Method”