The Delphi Native Bar code Component - 16-bit version
Soft Sector, Inc.
PO Box 81480
Cleveland OH 44181
See the document ORDER.TXT for ordering information.
See the end of this document for the new features in this version.
Introduction
Thank you for your interest in our bar coding VCL. There are many bar coding products for developers in existence, but all are either in DLL or VBX form. With the release of ssBarCode from Soft Sector, Inc., developers now have a Delphi-native option to implement bar coding into their applications.
In this first version, ssBarCode supports the four most popular bar code symbologies: Code 39 (or 3 of 9), Interleaved 2 of 5, Postnet, and UPC version A. In the near future we will be implementing many more symbologies. Please see the section of this file entitled "Future Enhancements."
About Soft Sector, Inc.
Soft Sector, Inc. (SSI) is a Cleveland, OH based provider of hardware and software solutions. Our main language for development is Borland Delphi. In the course of our application development, we have created a number of components and tools that would be useful to other developers. We are in the process of packaging these components for retail distribution.
Contacting Soft Sector, Inc.
We can be contacted in a variety of ways:
US Mail: Soft Sector, Inc., PO Box 81480, Cleveland, OH 44181 USA
E-Mail: ssi@en.com
Phone/fax: (216) 777-3612
Keep an eye out for our Web page, coming soon!
Installation
You can install ssBarCode as you would any other component. Specifically, follow these steps:
1. Place all files that were contained in the .ZIP file into a directory (example: \SSBC)
2. Go into Delphi and access the OPTIONS pulldown menu. Then choose INSTALL COMPONENTS...
3. Click on the ADD button. Another dialog box will pop up. Click on the BROWSE button.
4. A file selection common dialog will pop up. Select the directory where you put the ssBarCode files. In the "List Files of Type" drop down, you should select "DCU" files.
5. You will see "SSBC.DCU" appear in the files list box. Select it and click OK.
6. Now click OK in the Install Components dialog box. DelphiÆs VCL will now recompile. When itÆs done, you should have a palette page named "Soft Sector". On it will appear an icon for the ssBarCode component.
ThatÆs all there is to it! YouÆre now ready to start creating bar codes!
Note that this restricted version of ssBarCode will only run while the Delphi IDE is running. That means in order to include it in your applications, you must pay the registration fee! See the file ORDER.TXT for more information on this extremely useful, yet affordable product.
Demo Program
WeÆve written a simple demo program to show off some of the features of ssBarcode, including the different symbologies, bar width specification, and barcode printing. The project name is DEMOBC.DPR. All of the features of this demo program are very easy to understand, and some of the code is commented.
Properties
AutoSize
BarCodeType
BarColor
BarWidth
BearerBars
CalcCheckDigit
Canvas (*)
Color (*)
Data
Orientation
PrintHumanReadable
Visible (*)
WideBarRatio
(*) These are inherited properties that are not described in this document. See the Delphi help file for details.
AutoSize property
Declaration
property AutoSize : boolean
Description
The AutoSize property will automatically size the bar code to certain proportions based a number of calculations. The first factor is the BarWidth property; the width of the component will be the BarWidth property times the actual number of bars and spaces. The height of the component will be based on the standard accepted height to width ratio for each symbology.
If you set AutoSize to false, you can size the component as you see fit. However, there is no guarantee that the resulting code will fit in the space you allot.
BarCodeType property
Declaration
property BarCodeType : TBarCodeType
Description
This is the main property of the component. It defines which symbology you want to use to create the bar code. The possible values for TBarCodeType are:
{bcCode39, bcInt2of5, bcPostnet, bcUPC_A}
See the section below entitled "Symbologies" for a more in-depth description of each symbology.
When you set the BarCodeType property, the program will check the Data property to see if the data entered is acceptable for the chosen bar code type. For example, you cannot have alpha characters in an Interleaved 2 of 5 code. If the data is not acceptable, an exception of type EBarCodeError will be raised.
BarColor property
Declaration
property BarColor : TColor
Description
Use this property to set a color for the actual bars themselves as well as the human readable text beneath the bar code. Note that for best scanning, bar codes should be black bars on a white background, but you do have the option to change this.
BarWidth property
Declaration
property BarWidth : single
Description
This property allows you to change the width, in inches, of each bar. For bar codes that have a narrow to wide bar ratio, the wide bar width is calculated based on the WideBarRatio property. If you have the AutoSize property set to True, the component will resize when you change this property.
Each symbology has a standard accepted BarWidth, listed below. Of course, these are only recommendations and you are free to use whatever width you choose.
Code 39 = 0.010 inches
Interleaved 2 of 5 = 0.015 inches
Postnet = 0.020 ** (We strongly recommend using this value for Postnet)
UPC A = 0.013 inches
BearerBars property
Declaration
property BearerBars : boolean
Description
Certain bar code symbologies call for bearer bars, or horizontal lines that run along the top and bottom of the code. The reason for these bars is that a partial scan can sometimes be interpreted as a complete scan. Bearer bars greatly reduce the chance of this happening.
As of version 1.0, only Interleaved 2 of 5 bar codes can have bearer bars. The other symbologies do not need them. If you try to set BearerBars equal to True for any other symbology, an EBarCodeError exception will be raised.
CalcCheckDigit property
Declaration
property CalcCheckDigit : boolean
Description
Set this property to True if you want the component to automatically generate the check digit for UPC A bar codes. If CalcCheckDigit is False, then you must provide all 12 digits of the UPC code in the Data property, or an exception will be raised.
Data property
Declaration
property Data : string
Description
This property is where you set the actual data to be encoded. Data for each bar code symbology must follow certain rules or an exception will be raised. See the section below entitled "Symbologies" for a description of acceptable data for each type of bar code.
Orientation property
Declaration
property Orientation : TOrientation
Description
The Orientation property is used to rotate the bar code in 90 degree increments. You would never want to have a bar code that is not rotated in an increment of 90 degrees. The human readable text is obviously also rotated. The possible values for TOrientation are:
orLeft_Right means that the bar code is created from Left to Right (it is the default). orTop_Bottom means that the bar code is created from Top to Bottom, etc.
PrintHumanReadable property
Declaration
property PrintHumanReadable : boolean
Description
This property allows you to set whether the component will output the human readable version of the bar code (i.e. the actual letters or numbers). Bar codes like UPC A should always have this set to True. As for the other bar codes, it is completely up to you.
Note that, in this version, all human readable text is printed using the Courier font.
WideBarRatio property
Declaration
property WideBarRatio : single
Description
This property affects the narrow-to-wide bar ratio for symbologies that have
