You imported Font Tools VBA module following the instructions at Tutorial: Using Barcode Fonts in Excel Spreadsheets. After you put formula =EAN13(E2) (here E2 is the reference to data cell), Excel gives #REF! error.

Excel 2010 increases the number of columns that it can address to 3-letter column names. As a result, names like EAN13 are treated as a cell reference: column EAN and row 13. The VBA function is never invoked.

There are two solutions to this name confliction issue.

Public Function EAN_13(inpara As String) As String
Dim i As Integer
Dim checkDigit As Integer
Dim charToEncode As String
Dim symbmod As String
Dim symset As String
Dim symPattern As String
Dim charSet As String
Dim strSupplement As String
Dim charPos As Integer

charSet = "0123456789|"
inpara = maskfilter(inpara, charSet)
charPos = InStr(1, inpara, "|", 0)

If charPos > 0 Then
    strSupplement = UPC25SUPP(Right(inpara, Len(inpara) - charPos))
    inpara = Left(inpara, charPos - 1)
End If
If Len(inpara) < 12 Then
    While Len(inpara) < 12
        inpara = inpara + "0"
    Wend
ElseIf Len(inpara) > 12 Then
    inpara = Left(inpara, 12)
End If

Select Case Mid(inpara, 1, 1)
Case 0: symbmod = "AAAAAA"
Case 1: symbmod = "AABABB"
Case 2: symbmod = "AABBAB"
Case 3: symbmod = "AABBBA"
Case 4: symbmod = "ABAABB"
Case 5: symbmod = "ABBAAB"
Case 6: symbmod = "ABBBAA"
Case 7: symbmod = "ABABAB"
Case 8: symbmod = "ABABBA"
Case 9: symbmod = "ABBABA"
End Select

EAN_13 = textOnly(Mid(inpara, 1, 1)) + "["

For i = 2 To 7
    symPattern = Mid(symbmod, i - 1, 1)
    If symPattern = "A" Then
        EAN_13 = EAN_13 + convertSetAText(Mid(inpara, i, 1))
    ElseIf symPattern = "B" Then
        EAN_13 = EAN_13 + convertSetBText(Mid(inpara, i, 1))
    End If
Next i
EAN_13 = EAN_13 + "|"
For i = 8 To 12
    EAN_13 = EAN_13 + convertSetCText(Mid(inpara, i, 1))
Next i
checkDigit = getUpcGeneralCheck(inpara)
EAN_13 = EAN_13 + convertSetCText(checkDigit) + "]"

If strSupplement <> "" Then
    EAN_13 = EAN_13 + " " + strSupplement
End If
End Function
            

The SSCC is usually coded with GS1-128 symbology. The Application Identifier (AI) for this type of barcodes is 00. Below shows an example SSCC-18 barcode (created with Monterey Barcode Creator 3.3).

Figure 2. An example SSCC-18 barcode

The spaces in human readable text are not required but highly recommended because they help to identify the different parts of the number. In the example above, the 18 digits are divided into four parts:

The barcode can also be created with Code128 Fontware. If you want to add SSCC-18 printing functionality into your program, consider Morovia Barcode ActiveX.

SSCC barcode is the most critical part in a GS1-compliant shipping container label. A shipping container label may contain other barcodes and text information, such as postal code, store # and PO number. You might want to read this article for more information on creating a shipping container label.

SSCC check digits are calculated the same way as UPC-A/EAN-13 check digits. Here are the steps to calculate SSCC-18 check digits:

A web-based free utility to calculate SSCC check digit can be found here.

Conceptually using two dimensional barcode fonts with Crystal Report is no different than using other fonts. In practice, there are a couple of issues need to work out. The major issue associated is the length limit imposed by Crystal Reports: no formula field can have more than 255 characters.

To add DataMatrix barcodes to Crystal Report, you need to use Morovia 2D Fontware UFL. Native Crystal Reports formula is not supported.

We use Crystal Reports version 9 for tutorial. If you are working on an earlier version the steps outlined still apply. You are authorized to use the UFL provided by Morovia for free as long as you own a perpetual license. You are also allowed to distribute this UFL with your application with a developer license.

The DataMatrix UFL component is included in every DataMatrix Fontware package. There is no separate download of this UFL component. If you posses a valid license to any of 2D barcode font but can not locate this component, write to <support@morovia.com> to request one.

The UFL functions are automatically available to Crystal Reports once the component is installed in your computer. The following functions are added to Crystal Reports:

Both function takes a parameter called trunk_no. Because Crystal Reports do not allow any formula fields having more than 255 characters, you need to call multiple times of encoding functions to receive different trunks of the result. The trunk_no starts from 1. Each trunk holds 200 characters.

In the following tutorial we will start with a blank report. In the report we created several database fields. We want to be able to encode the data field of a table.

Once you finish the report design, you can distribute your report application with Crystal run time files, barcode fonts and the UFL library.

BarImageExport.zip is a Visual C++ 6.0 sample that demonstrates how to export image to an IStream object.

For performance or other reasons sometimes it is desirable to export the barcode image to the memory only as a stream of data.

In the IDL, ExportImage is defined as:

[HRESULT ExportImage(VARIANT Destination, 
    ImageFormatEnum ImageFormat);  

The interface function takes two parameters. The first one is a VARIANT and the second one is an interger indicating the image format. The first parameter can contain two types - if it is a string, the parameter contains the path to the destination file. If it holds an IUnknown pointer, it is treated as an IStream object.

This sample uses the following steps to export the barcode image:

//Create Morovia Barcode ActiveX object
CComPtr<IDispatch> spDisp;
HRESULT hr = spDisp.CoCreateInstance(L"Morovia.BarcodeActiveX");
if ( FAILED(hr) ) {
  cerr << _T("Failed to load Morovia Barcode ActiveX object.") << endl;
  cerr << _T("Please reinstall the ActiveX object using the installer provided")<< endl;
  cerr << _T("by Morovia Corporation.")<< endl;
  return -1;
}
cout << _T("Morovia Barcode ActiveX loaded succesfully.") << endl;  

CComPtr<IStream> spStream;
CreateStreamOnHGlobal(NULL, TRUE, &spStream);
CComPtr<IUnknown> spUnknown;
spStream->QueryInterface(&spUnknown); 

HRESULT hr = _com_dispatch_method(spDisp, 1004, DISPATCH_METHOD, VT_EMPTY, 
(void*)(NULL), L"\x000D\x0003", spUnknown, 1); 

CComVariant streamVar( spUnknown);
CComQIPtr<IBarcode> spBarcode(spDisp);
spBarcode->ExportImage(streamVar, 1); 

This is a known issue with Crystal Reports which reduces the font size when it exports to a PDF file. The solution below is retrieved from Business Objects support site.

This known issue has been assigned Track ID ADAPT00145285, and affects the following:

If the update does not fix the issue, try increasing the font size to compensate the loss during the export.

HKCR\SOFTWARE\Crystal Decisions\10.0\Crystal Reports\Export\PDF

HKCR\SOFTWARE\Crystal Decisions\10.0\Crystal Reports\Export\PDF

USPS confirmation services uses UCC/EAN128 barcodes to uniquely identify mail pieces and to designate the type of services requested. This barcode encodes the Package Identification Code (PIC), commonly referred as a tracking number. With Morovia U.S. Postal Fontware, you are able to produce such barcode in your own shipping labels in minutes.

This article is based on USPS Publication 91, published in May 2008.

The confirmation services use a 20-digit package ID which can be further divided into four parts:

The barcode uses EAN128 symbology. The Application Identifier in this case is 91. If you are familiar with Code128C, it is not difficult to find out the barcode is composed with six parts:

The AI and Package ID are required to be printed underneath of the barcode per USPS requirement.

The function to calculate checksum digit for package ID, as well as the complete barcode string for USPS confirmation services is included in Morovia Font Tools, which is included in Morovia U.S. Postal Fontware.

The text above the barcode code must read as appropriate: "USPS DELIVERY CONFIRMATION", "USPS SIGNATURE CONFIRMATION", etc. The font must be sans serif bold. And the size must be at least 12 points. (14-point type preferred).

The human readable text representing the barcode must be placed below the quiet zone of the barcode, and must be printed with a sans serif bold with minimum point size 10. The AI 91 must be printed at the beginning of the human readable text.

Two identification bars with at least 0.062" thick must appear between 0.125 inch and 0.5 inch above and below the human readable text and numbers to distinguish the Confirmation Services bar code from other information on the shipping label.

The USPS Confirmation barcode can be concatenated with another GS-128 barcode with ZIP code encoded. For more information, se KB10049.

An EAN-13 number consists of four areas: (1) The number System; (2)The manufacturer code; (3) the product code; (4)The check digit. Normally the number system digit is printed to the left of the barcode, and the check digit to the right. The manufacturer and product codes are printed just below the barcode, separated by the guard bar.

UPC-A check digit is calculated using standard Mod10 method. Here outlines the steps to calculate UPC-A check digit:

A web-based free utility to calculate UPC-A check digit is available at http://www.morovia.com/education/utility/upc-ean.asp.

A EAN-13 symbol can be divided into two halves, each consisting of six digits separated by a center guard bar pattern. The whole symbol is surrounded by two guard bar patterns. The same digit has different encoding depends whether it is in the left halve or in the right halve. The encoding pattern for digits in the left halve always starts with a space while the one for digits in the right halve always start with a bar and ends with a space.

A EAN-13 symbol has the following structure:

Not all UPC-A numbers can be compressed to UPC-E. These codes who have a corresponding UPC-E code must have at least 4 zeros. The rules are:

You can use this web-based free utility to perform conversion.

The UPC-E check digit is the same check digit of its corresponding UPC-A number. Therefore, to calculate the check digit of a UPC-E number, first convert it to UPC-A, then calculate the check digit using the algorithm described in UPC-A specification.

A UPC-E symbol has the following structure:

A typical Code25 barcode has the following structure:

The EAN-8 check digit is calculated using modulo 10 method. Here outlines the steps to calculate EAN-8 check digit:

A web-based free utility to calculate UPC-A check digit is available at http://www.morovia.com/education/utility/upc-ean.asp.

The encoding of an EAN-8 symbol uses all three two character set. An EAN-8 symbol has the following structure:

Symbologies are the schema how the data is encoded into physicals bars and spaces. Symbology is analogous to the language. The reading and printing equipments must use the same language to communicate with each other, this language is called symbology.

Generally speaking, symbologies can be divided into two major categories: width-modulated and height-modulated. Except these used in postal applications, most symbologies encode the data into the different width of the bars. All the bars have the same height. The contrary holds true for height-modulated symbologies: all bars have the same width, and the data is encoded into different length of the bars.

We call the data to encoded “message” or “code”. When we talk about the physical representation of the message, we refer as “symbol” or “barcode” in this web site.

You can find a list of barcode glossary in the support section.

The symbology configuration refers to the shape of a symbol. There are three major configurations: linear, 2D stacked and 2D matrix. The linear symbology is most widely used, consisting only one row of bars and spaces. The 2D stacked symbol uses multiple rows of bars and spaces. Each row in a 2D stacked symbol has the same height. 2D matrix symbol uses both width and height to encode the data.

Figure 1. Linear Barcode

Figure 2. 2D Stacked Barcode

Figure 3. 2D Matrix Barcode

The character set defines what kind of data the symbology encodes. Generally there are three types of character sets: numeric, alpha-numeric and full ASCII. Some symbologies can encode arbitrary binary data. Not all alpha-numeric symbologies share the same character set. Most alpha-numeric symbologies can only encode several characters in addition to letters and numbers.

In a discrete symbology, each character ends with a bar and an inter-character gap separates two adjacent characters. Each character is treated separately, no end characters are required for scanning.

In a continuous symbology, there is no inter-character gap and each character terminates at the starting bar of the next character. Hence, a stop character is usually needed. Continuous symbologies usually encode more information than the discrete symbologies.

Figure 4. 2D Matrix Barcode

Some symbologies can encode only certain length of data. For example, UPC only accepts 11 digits and Code39 encodes any length of data.

X dimension describes the nominal width of the narrowest elements (both bars and spaces). For 2D matrix symbologies, X refers to the nominal dimension of the smallest data cell.

The X dimension largely decides the barcode density (how many characters can be encoded in one inch). The resolution of a barcode readers is also measured by the X-dimension that the reader can recognize. A high resolution barcode scanner can recognize a barcode with X dimension at 5 mils.

The linear barcode symbols in an open system usually have a X dimension equal to 10 mils. Two dimensional barcodes usually have a higher X dimension at 20 mils.

Most linear symbologies employs two widths, one for the wide element and one for narrow element. The ratio between the wide element and the narrow element is called N. N typically have a value ranging from 2.0 to 3.0. The large the N is, the allowable printing tolerance increases. N also slightly impact the density of a symbol.

If a single printing defect will not cause a character to be recognized as another one, the symbology is regarded as self-checking. A non-self-checking symbology usually has a check character to make sure that the error is detected.

Start/Stop character is placed to indicate where the barcode symbol starts and ends. It also indicates the scanning direction in some symbologies.

Quiet zone refers to the spaces around the barcode that must contains no dark marks. Most of symbology requires quiet zone preceding and following barcode.

The table below lists all the functions we support in the language tools. All functions take one input parameter - the data encoded. If input contains characters which can not be encode with the indicated symbology, these characters will be filtered out. If a symbology required fixed length of the input string, the excess will be truncated if the input's length exceeds the required length; or zeroes are appended to the end of the input if too short.

The functions below are designed to support double byte languages (Korean, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese) and only apply to the following three products:

These functions required Fontware Version 2.5 or later. These functions can be found in files with suffix Asian, such as MoroviaFontTools_Asian.c. Currently only Visual Basic and C are provided. For other languages, use the Windows DLL interface instead.

When you view a report with barcode UFL functions through Crystal Report Viewer ActiveX, Crystal Reports, or Crystal Reports Web, an error message box pops up with text The Visual Basic UFL that implements this function is missing(or U2LCOM.dll is missing).

There are several possible causes:

If the existing product does not have 64-bit UFL, you need to install 32-bit Crystal Reports run-time and change application settings.

In Crystal Reports XI and Crystal Reports XI Release 2 the font shrinks by approximately 10% when a report is exported to Adobe Acrobat Format (PDF).

To solve the behavior

This section explains how you create the long 30-digit USPS code128 barcode. Before calling our encode function, you need to prepare the following information:

On Windows platform, PHP provides a class called COM through which PHP script can create an instance of a CoM object and manipulate its methods. It is fairly straightforward to translate VBScript code to PHP.

<?php
$obj = new COM("cruflMorovia.QRCode5");
$dataToEncode = "some data to encode, put here " ;
    
// find out how many chunks are needed
// parameters: data-to-encode, version, error correction
$version = 0;       // version
$ecLevel = 0;       // error correction level
$chunks = $obj->QRCodeEncodeSet($dataToEncode, $version, $ecLevel);

$barcodestring = "";
for ($i=0; $i<$chunks; $i++) {
  $barcodestring .= $obj->QRCodeEncodeGet($i);
}

echo($barcodestring);?>

<?php
$obj = new COM("cruflMorovia.DataMatrix5");
$dataToEncode = "some data to encode, put here " ;

// find out how many chunks are needed
// parameters: data-to-encode, version, error correction
$sizeID = 0      // data matrix size ID
$chunks = obj.DataMatrixEncodeSet($dataToEncode,  $sizeID)

$barcodestring = ""
for ($i=0; $i<$chunks; $i++) {
  $barcodestring .= $obj.DataMatrixEncodeGet($i)
}

echo($barcodestring);

I am trying to print the barcode from VB and I am having some problems. If I print the form by calling PrintForm method, then I am not able to scan the barcode because of print quality. If I use the Printer object and manually code everything it gets more complicated because I want to print checkboxes and I also have to worry about word wrapping.

Below is the code that made it work. You are free to use it in your applications. If you have any questions or comments about the code you can reply to this post and I will try to answer them. Simply call PrintBarcode from your printing routine and pass a string that you want to generate a barcode for. In order to generate a barcode you would need to purchase Morovia Barcode Fonts and copy and paste Code39, SpecialChar functions from the source code into your VB project. Hope this helps.

Public Sub PrintBarcode(ByVal MSR As String)
' =========================================================================================
' Programmer:        Dragan Knezevic
' Date:              July 19 2004
' Description:       Prints the contents of labels, textboxes (with word wrapping), 
'                    checkboxes(caption only), DTPicker and generates a barcode for the
'                    passed parameter.
'
' Parameters Passed: MSR: A string for which a barcode needs to be generated.
' Value Returned:    None
' Called by:         PrintFrm or your own sub
' Calls:             FormatStringAndPrint
'
' Last Revised:      n/a
' Changes made:      n/a
' =========================================================================================
    Dim ctl As Control
    
    Printer.PrintQuality = vbPRPQHigh
    Printer.Orientation = vbPRORLandscape 'or vbPRORPortrait
    Printer.FontName = "MS Sans Serif"  'or any other font used for controls
    Printer.FontSize = 8
    Printer.ScaleMode = 1   'twips
    
    For Each ctl In frmPrintBarCode.Controls 'or your form name
        If TypeOf ctl Is SSResizer Then GoTo Res'or any other controls that are invisible at run-time (Timer)
      'should not be printed
        
        Printer.CurrentX = ctl.Left
        Printer.CurrentY = ctl.Top
 'add other controls here if you want to print their caption
        
        If TypeOf ctl Is Label Or TypeOf ctl Is CommandButton Or TypeOf ctl Is CheckBox Or TypeOf ctl Is Frame Then
            Printer.Print ctl.Caption
        ElseIf TypeOf ctl Is TextBox Then 'add other controls here if you want to print their text
            'this wraps the text inside a textbox so it fits nicely
     'carriage return/line feed characters are removed prior to formatting
     FormatStringAndPrint Replace(ctl.Text, vbCrLf, " "), ctl.Left, ctl.Width
     
     'this draws a line around the edges of the textbox
            Printer.Line (ctl.Left - 50, ctl.Top - 50)-(ctl.Left + ctl.Width + 50, ctl.Top + ctl.Height + 50), , B
        ElseIf TypeOf ctl Is DTPicker Then 'date picker control
            Printer.Print ctl.Value
            Printer.Line (ctl.Left - 25, ctl.Top - 25)-(ctl.Left + ctl.Width + 25, ctl.Top + ctl.Height + 25), , B
        End If
Res:
    Next
    
    'after we printed the contents of individual controls we are ready to generate the barcode
    Printer.FontName = "MRV Code39M"
    Printer.FontSize = 12
    
    Printer.CurrentX = 12700 'X position of the barcode in twips
    Printer.CurrentY = 10930 'Y position of the barcode in twips
    Printer.Print Code39(MSR) 'Code39 function is available for users that bought Morovia Barcode Fonts
    Printer.EndDoc
    
End Sub
Public Sub FormatStringAndPrint(sInput As String, TempX As Long, tempWidth As Long)
' =========================================================================================
' Programmer:        Dragan Knezevic
' Date:              July 20 2004
' Description:       Formats each texbox before printing a barcode so that the text
'                    wraps inside the control
'
' Parameters Passed: sInput: text inside of the control free of carriage returns.
'                    TempX : current x position of the control
'                    tempWidth: width of the control.
'
' Value Returned:    None
' Called by:         PrintBarcode
' Calls:             Nothing
'
' Last Revised:      n/a
' Changes made:      n/a
' =========================================================================================
    Dim sTemp As String
    Dim bSpace As Boolean
    
    Do
        If Printer.TextWidth(sInput$) <= tempWidth Then
                sTemp$ = Trim(sInput$): Exit Do
        End If
     
        Do
            sTemp$ = sTemp$ & Left(sInput$, 1)
            sInput$ = Right(sInput$, Len(sInput$) - 1)
            Debug.Print sTemp
            Debug.Print Printer.TextWidth(sTemp)
        Loop While Printer.TextWidth(sTemp$) < tempWidth - 100
        
        Do
            If Right(sTemp$, 1) = Chr(32) Then bSpace = True
            If Not bSpace Then
                sInput$ = Right(sTemp$, 1) & sInput$
            End If
            sTemp$ = Left(sTemp$, Len(sTemp$) - 1)
        Loop While Not bSpace
        
        bSpace = False
    
        Printer.Print sTemp$: sTemp$ = ""
        Printer.CurrentX = TempX
    Loop
    
    Printer.Print sTemp$
End Sub