Size of barcode labels
  • Paul Turvey
    Size of barcode labels

    by Paul Turvey » Thu Mar 08, 2007 5:33 pm

    The only way I have found to vary the width of the printed barcode is by varying the Bar Width on the field Properties / Barcode dialog. Bar width set at 1 gives a total barcode width of 23.5mm, but his is a bit below the industry recommended minimum of 25mm, so a bit bigger would be good. Next size up I can get is by setting the bar width to 2 - but this makes the barcode twice as wide and this is too big to go on labels for a lot of our products. Lots of other POS-scanned products in the marketplace have EAN-13 barcodes in the range 25-35mm wide - if we could produce something in this size range that would be great. Is there some way we can do this?
  • COBS Tech Support
    Posts:683
    Joined:Fri Sep 09, 2005 8:23 am

    by COBS Tech Support » Thu Mar 08, 2007 5:35 pm

    There are several ways bar codes might be generated:

    1. Have the application generate them graphically. This is the easiest approach because you don't have to do anything special as the functionality is built directly into your software. This is what VB does. The limitation is that VB cannot draw the image less than 1 pixel in size, and the next size up is 2 pixels and so on. This may not scale smoothly to exactly the sized font that you want.

    2. Acquire and install an EAN-13 bar code font on your computer. Font scale technology in Windows does not have the same limitation of drawing (simple) graphics. You typically have a lot more control over the font's size using this approach.

    3. Acquire a printer that has font printing capabilities and follow the instructions on how to print bar codes using it, in conjunction with Windows software.

    Note: just because you can print a font of a certain size or scale, doesn't mean your bar code scanner can read it back. If a font is outside its normal size range, your scanner will not probably be able to recognise it.
  • rancomp
    Posts:9
    Joined:Thu Nov 03, 2005 4:40 pm
    Location:Brisbane

    by rancomp » Fri Jun 15, 2007 8:45 am

    ALthough this is an old post this may be of interest:

    TO keep the barcode to a standard size when printing your own labels is to use the Stock ID Field for your bar code . It is a Constant 7 Digits Long.

    the field is a formula field. I call it BC.
    the Formula is :
    return stockid()
    and I use Code 128 B for the barcode as this tens to return the smallest size of Bar code so smaller Labels can be used.

    For specialised Bar code Printers both Brother and Dymo have a reasonable priced Printers

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