barcode programming

[Guest]

I would like to code a routine (perhaps embedded or as an active-x) that my
school district can use to add POSTNET barcodes to mailing labels. I know I
can do this in Word and linking in the Access table, but I'd like to explore
the feasability of doing it all in Access.

Does anybody have experience with this? If so, could you give me an idea or
two about the best way to proceed? Would I need a POSTNET barcode font?

Thanks.
George

 

[SA]

George:

Yes, you'd need a postnet bar code font. Do a google search for this in the
VB related forums. But really, its so much easier to use a little
automation and create a mail merge template in Word, which you then run from
within Access via automation, and produce the same results. Why ask a
database to be a word processor when you have a word processor right at your
(coding) finger tips.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the reply, Steve.
I am already familiar with (OLE) Automation between Word and Access. It's my
fallback. But it was good of you to bring it up, as I did not mention it in
my original note.

I was looking to keep the solution within Access. After all, printing labels
is not specifically a "word processing" task, as it is just a particular type
of "report", right? I know that there are lots of 3rd-party add-ons (DLLs and
ActiveX) for printing labels, but I am interested in doing the barcode
programming, myself. I figure it can be done with fonts or using some type of
vector graphics symbols. I have a USPS publication that gives specifics for
the POSTNET format; and it provides the basic logic of how to obtain the
correction character. So, I should be able to formulate the necessary
algorithm.

BTW, I would bet that Word's mailmerge feature uses a graphic
symbol---rather than font---solution. I've found no specific POSTNET font in
my installation. What a pity that MS has not built that feature into Access
as well, even though it supports printing to labels. Perhaps they left it out
in deference to their 3rd-party partners, who have developed those addon
solutions. That's ok.

George

 

[Thomas Lutz]

The easiest way to print PostNET bar codes in an Access report is to
use a bar code ActiveX control. The best one on the market is from TAL
Technologies and you can download a demo version of it from their web
site at:
http://www.taltech.com/products/activex_barcodes.html
The demo version of the control comes with a sample Access database
that contains label reports with postnet bar codes along with a report
that describes how to use the control in an Access report.

With a bar code font you would need to both calculate and append a
check digit as well as add special start and stop codes to the data
that you want encoded in the PostNET bar code. An ActiveX control will
do all of this for you as well as produce the highest quality bar code
possible. Bar Code fonts generally produce very poor quality bar
codes.

 

[Guest]

Thanks, Thomas. A good tip. Actually, I have been researching the options:
fonts as well as active-x, and including TAL's solution. As for the font
solution, the correction value is pretty easy to calculate. And creating the
start-stop characters is also no biggie, since this would all go into canned
reports and would not need to be repeated all that often.

Still, the Active-x does produce nicer-looking stuff. On the other hand,
Word will also produce point-of-delivery codes if you include 9-digit
zipcodes; and with some basic automation, I can run the deal from Access or
from Word. There is one "bug", however, that I have to see if the active-x
controls are also subject to: and that is what happens when a suite# or apt#
appears on the line between the address and zipcode.

All in all, I've learned a lot more about zipcodes than I imagined. I can
even visually "scan" a zipcode at this point!
Thanks again!
George

 

[Guest]

Hi...seemed like there is another topic which is more related to my problem
but i noticed there is no reply there. So, I came in here.

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=271488
I've tried the above link to generate a barcode in a report but af following
thru all, i still end up with a report without the barcode strips. Hopefully,
someone here can help......

 

[Thomas Lutz]

The Microsoft Article you referred to describes how to use a Code 39
bar code font. You would first need to have a Code 39 bar code font
installed in your system and you would then need to apply to Code 39
bar code font to the text in your report and finally follow the steps
in their article to put the asterisks around the data in the font.
In general, bar code fonts are tricky to use and they also create very
poor quality bar codes that could be difficult to read.
You would be much better off using a bar code ActiveX control. The
best one on the market is available from TAL Technologies. You can
learn more about the ActiveX control and download a demo version from
the following web page:
http://www.taltech.com/products/activex_barcodes.html
The demo version comes with a sample Access database that demonstrates
how to use the ActiveX control in an Access report to print bar codes.