Really Simple Barcodes

Transcription

1 dlsoft Really Simple Barcodes By dlsoft

2 This manual was produced using ComponentOne Doc-To-Help.

3 Contents Really Simple Barcodes... for Windows 1 Introduction... 1 Installation... 1 Starting Really Simple Barcodes... 2 Using Really Simple Barcodes... 2 Creating a barcode... 2 Printing a barcode... 7 Graphic Options... 7 Saving a barcode image... 8 Copying a barcode... 9 Toolbar Labels Printing labels Batch Run Barcode Sequences Templates Support Index 17 dlsoft Really Simple Barcodes Contents iii

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5 Really Simple Barcodes... for Windows Introduction Installation Really Simple Barcodes is an application that creates barcode images. Really Simple Barcodes can: Create a barcode that can be printed, saved as a graphics file, or copied to the clipboard for pasting into another application Create many barcode graphic files, taking the data from a list in a text file, or as a defined sequence made from a user specified sequence number with a user specified prefix and suffix. Print a barcode label or many copies of the label Print barcode labels taking the data from a list in a text file, or containing a sequence of barcode data made from a user specified sequence number with a user specified prefix and suffix. Really Simple Barcodes is installed by simply running the distribution file and selecting an installation folder of your choice. On completion the installation folder contains the executable file (which is RSBarcodes.exe for Windows) and two Help files, named RSBarcodes.chm (for help on the program) and Barcodes.chm (for Barcode information). It may also contain a README file containing information not available when this file was created. Running the distribution file also creates a folder named Barcodes in your documents folder for holding barcode templates. Setup creates an icon on the desktop for starting the program, and a folder icon containing links to the Help files, the README file, and a link to download the manual. dlsoft Really Simple Barcodes Really Simple Barcodes... for Windows 1

6 Starting Really Simple Barcodes If you have carried out a default installation an icon for Really Simple Barcodes has been placed on the Windows desktop. Just double click on it to start Really Simple Barcodes. If you are using Windows 8, a tile has been placed on the Start page; tapping on this will also star he program. When the program is opened for the first time it will ask you to specify the printer you will use for printing the barcodes. You can do this by selecting Printer Setup from the program s File menu, selecting the printer required and pushing the OK button. Then select Page Layout on the File menu and either choose one of the predefined layouts from the drop-down Layout list, or enter your preferred layout in the boxes provided. Really Simple Barcodes will also check the version of.net installed on your system, and may ask to download a specific version. If you have used the trail version and subsequently obtained a licence for Really Simple Barcodes, you should now open the About Box on the Help menu, enter your serial number in the box provided and push the Register button. Then close Really Simple Barcodes and restart it. Once you have completed the above steps your Really Simple Barcodes is ready for use. Using Really Simple Barcodes Creating a barcode When Really Simple Barcode starts it displays a barcode in the centre of its window using the parameters previously saved or the built-in defaults. The display shows a menu bar and, by default, a toolbar. The toolbar may be turned on or off by using the selecting the Toolbar item on the View menu. 2 Really Simple Barcodes... for Windows dlsoft Really Simple Barcodes

7 The size of the image shown in the Really Simple Barcodes window may be the actual size of the barcode (Normal view on the View menu, or the icon on the toolbar), or it may be enlarged to fit in the window (Full view on the View menu, or the + icon on the toolbar). When the toolbar is visible it also shows the current barcode type and the graphics type and resolution of the image. The type of barcode may be changed by selecting Barcode Properties from the Edit menu (or using the icon on the toolbar) and using the Barcode properties dialog to select the required barcode type from the drop-down list of types available: When a 1D barcode type is chosen the Barcode Properties dialog shows the properties that may be specified, including the size, orientation, and the font used in any human-readable text under the bars. dlsoft Really Simple Barcodes Really Simple Barcodes... for Windows 3

8 The size of a 1D barcode may be specified by entering a value for the Height of the bars in the selected units, and for either the Width of the overall image in the selected units or the X value (the width of the thinnest element in Mils thousandths of an inch). If X is zero then the value in the Width box is used. If X is non-zero then the width of the barcode is determined from the X value and the number of elements in the barcode. 4 Really Simple Barcodes... for Windows dlsoft Really Simple Barcodes

9 For some barcode types, such as the retail barcodes EAN-13 or UPC-A, there is a recommended value for X (13 in this case), and an allowed range of values (see Recommended Sizes in the Barcodes Help). Selecting one of the 2D barcode types changes the layout of the Barcode Properties dialog dlsoft Really Simple Barcodes Really Simple Barcodes... for Windows 5

10 Many 2D barcodes have more than one Mode; for example, Datamatrix symbols may be Square or Rectangular. So the dialog allows the mode to be selected from a dropdown list. For Matrix 2D barcodes the size of each element is determined entirely by the X dimension (again in Mils), while for Stacked barcodes the elements are rectangular and the height of the element is given as a fixed multiple of the X dimension by entering a value in the Y multiplier box. Some 2D barcode types support additional options which may be turned on by checking on of the checkboxes displayed in the dialog. For example, the Datamatrix type may have data encoded using the GS1 method by checking the box labelled GS1 flag. Information about the options available for 2D barcodes may be found in the Barcodes Help. Once the barcode options have been specified the data for the barcode content may be entered in the box on the Really Simple Barcodes main window. A limited number of barcode types can encode data in a byte mode characters (e.g. Aztec, Datamatrix, PDF417 and QR Code symbols), and so can support non-ascii characters. If you need to enter such characters in the data box you may wish to change the font used to display the data. This can be achieved by selecting the Data Font item of the Edit menu, then selecting a suitable font from the list displayed. 6 Really Simple Barcodes... for Windows dlsoft Really Simple Barcodes

11 Printing a barcode Once created, the barcode may be printed by selecting Print from the File menu (or selecting the printer icon on the toolbar). By default the barcode is printed in the centre of the current label in the current page layout. However a dialog box is displayed to allow the position of the barcode to be moved from the centre by entering positive or negative values into the Left and Top offset boxes. If you are printing to a sheet of labels you can also choose to start the printing somewhere other than the first on the sheet. Pushing the Print button will cause the barcode to be printed. Graphic Options A barcode image may be saved to a file or copied to the clipboard for pasting into other applications. However, before saving or copying an image there are parameters apart from the graphics type that are significant for barcode images. When Really Simple Barcodes creates bitmap images it adjust the image so that each bar is a whole number of pixels wide, so that when the image is printed the bars have the correct widths in printer dots. Consequently it is important that the target resolution (in dots per inch DPI) is specified before the image is created. The default graphics type and the graphics resolution may be specified by selecting the Graphic Options item of the Edit menu. The Graphics Options dialog is displayed and the default values may be selected. dlsoft Really Simple Barcodes Really Simple Barcodes... for Windows 7

12 For Encapsulated PostScript files there is the additional option of including a preview bitmap image (although most modern graphics packages create their own preview from the vector data in the file). Saving a barcode image A barcode image may be saved to a file by selecting Save Image from the File menu (or pushing the disk icon on the toolbar). 8 Really Simple Barcodes... for Windows dlsoft Really Simple Barcodes

13 The Save As dialog displayed allowing the use to provide a name for the image file and to select where it will be saved. The graphics type may be changed from the default type by selecting an alternative type from the drop-down list. Copying a barcode There are two ways of copying images to the clipboard for subsequent pasting into other applications such as Word. The barcode may be copied to the clipboard as a simple bitmap image by selecting Copy Image from the Edit menu or selecting the Copy icon on the toolbar. When copied in this form the image is copied at the default resolution but contains no resolution information so may need to be resized after pasting into a program that treated the image as having 96 dpi resolution. The barcode image may be copied to the clipboard as a file containing size and resolution data by selecting Copy as Drop from the Edit menu. The image used has the default graphic type and resolution properties specified in the Graphic Options dialog. In this case when pasting into an application such as Word the image is displayed at the correct size. In this mode the pasted image would appear in the same way as the target program would display a dropped file of the same type. Note that not all program that accept dropped graphic file can accept all the graphic types that dlsoft Really Simple Barcodes Really Simple Barcodes... for Windows 9

14 Really Simple Barcodes can create. Thus WordPad can accept BMP files but not JPEG files. Toolbar The Toolbar enables you to select common actions and view significant properties without needing to select menu items. Postioning the mouse cursor over any icon will display the tip which reminds you of the icon s function. The icons and items serve the following functions: Item Function Open a template file Save the current barcode image Print the current barcode image Copy the current barcode image as a bitmap Show the Barcode Options dialog The current barcode type The current graphics image type Show the barcode at normal size Show the barcode enlarged to full window size Show the Really Simple Barcode Help system 10 Really Simple Barcodes... for Windows dlsoft Really Simple Barcodes

15 Labels Really Simple Barcodes can print barcodes onto labels Before creating labels the target printer must be specified by selecting Printer Setup on the File menu. Choose the printer and use the Preferences button to ensure that the printer is set to the required page size, orientation and mode. The printer settings chosen become the default settings and are saved along with barcode information in any template file you create. Next select the layout of labels to be printed by selecting Page Layout on the File menu. dlsoft Really Simple Barcodes Really Simple Barcodes... for Windows 11

16 The Label Sizes dialog appears and the layout may be selected from the drop-down list of predefined sizes, or by choosing Manual layout and entering the number and sizes of labels and page margins in the edit boxes. Pushing the OK set the labels size and layout for printing labels. The label size settings chosen become the default settings and are saved along with the printer and barcode information in any template file you create. So it is a simple matter to create template files for specific printer and label size combinations. Printing labels To print labels select the Print item of the File menu. The Print Labels dialog appears and allows the user to select the starting point on the page at which printing will start (defaulting to 1 down 1 across which is the top left of the page), the number of labels to be printed, and, if necessary, to adjust the margin offset so that the printing can be centred on each label. 12 Really Simple Barcodes... for Windows dlsoft Really Simple Barcodes

17 Pushing the OK button causes the specified number of labels to be printed. Batch Run Batch Run provides a facility to generate a large number of barcode images from a large number of data strings in a text. Batch Run may be setup by selecting Batch Run from the File menu. The Data file must be a text file containing the barcode data in the form of data for one barcode per line, and the first blank line will terminate the run. dlsoft Really Simple Barcodes Really Simple Barcodes... for Windows 13

18 If the Run button is pushed the barcode images will be created in the folder specified, and will be of the type and resolution currently set as the default values in the Graphic Options dialog (see above). The barcode image files will be named barcode1.xxx, barcode2.xxx, etc. although checking the use data for image filenames may be preferred if the data is simply alphanumeric. So, for example, if the data for each barcode is an EAN-13 number then it is convenient to have the barcode images identified by having the EAN-13 number as the filename.. If the Print button is pushed then the Print Dialog is displayed allowing the barcode labels to be printed on the current printer using the current label settings. Barcode Sequences Really Simple Barcode can create or print a sequence of barcodes, so that the first barcode is, say, ABC1001, the second ABC1002, and so on. To create a sequence select the Sequence Run item on the File menu. The Sequence run dialog is displayed. 14 Really Simple Barcodes... for Windows dlsoft Really Simple Barcodes

19 To create barcode images select the output directory, enter the number of members to be included in the sequence and then push the Run button. The barcode image files will be created. Each barcode will consist of the data provided in the Prefix edit box (which may be empty) followed by a sequence number consisting of the same number of digits as the number entered into the Initial number edit box, and followed by any text entered into the Suffix edit box. The increment between barcodes is usually 1, but may be changed by entering a value in the Increment edit box and this value may be positive or negative. To print the equivalent sequence of barcode labels push the Print button. (Note that it is not necessary to enter an output folder when printing labels.) The first label to be printed will use the barcode data made from <Prefix><Sequence start at><suffix>, so from the example image shown above the first label printed would use Ticket number: Templates If you need to create particular barcodes or labels regularly then it is useful to be able to save the barcode/label details and printer settings in a Really Simple Barcodes template. You can save a template by selecting Save template from the File menu and entering a suitable name for the template. In the future if you wish to have Really Simple Barcodes return to those same settings just select Open template from the File menu. dlsoft Really Simple Barcodes Really Simple Barcodes... for Windows 15

20 Templates are saved with the extension.dat Templates may be saved in any folder, although the default location will be a Barcodes folder within My Documents (on XP) or Documents (on Vista or Windows 7). Support If you need support with your Really Simple Barcodes please support@dlsoft.com Updated versions of our product appear on our website at from time to time. To be notified of the availability of product updates please visit the Newsletter page on the website. 16 Really Simple Barcodes... for Windows dlsoft Really Simple Barcodes

21 Index B Barcode Sequences 14 Batch Run 13 C Copying a barcode 9 Creating a barcode 2 G Graphic Options 7 I Installation 1 Introduction 1 L Labels 11 P Printing a barcode 7 Printing labels 12 S Saving a barcode image 8 Starting Really Simple Barcodes 2 Support 16 T Templates 15 Toolbar 10 U Using Really Simple Barcodes 2 dlsoft Really Simple Barcodes Index 17