Contents
Install Barcode Magic
to your desired directory. You may need to have a zip utility to uncompress
the program from it's archive before you are able to install. Windows 98
contains such a utility built in, or you can look for other utilities on
the internet (such as WinZip, or pkZip).
When the main form of
the application appears, you will see a blank child window near the center
of the form. This is where your barcode will appear. By typing in text
in the text edit box, your barcode will appear in this child window. You
can work on multiple different barcodes by selecting new from the File
menu. This will create a new child window, with a new barcode. You can
switch between your barcodes by simply clicking on the desired child barcode
window.
About Barcodes
If you are new to barcoding, please read the follow section.
Barcodes are used to store text information into a set of black and white bars with the intention of electronic retrieval of the encoded text. There are many different types of barcodes available. These types vary by size, what characters they are able to store, and standard usages. UPC's, for example, are only able to encode 12 numeric digits. No letters, punctuation, or special characters are allowed. UPC's are used for retail product identification, so you usually wouldn't find one for shipping/packaging identification. When you scan in a barcode using a Barcode reader (like a barcode wand), these black and white bars are automatically decoded back into regular text. Many Barcode readers are "keyboard wedge" type, which actually makes the barcode act just like it was typed in! The uses for barcodes are many, and varied. The primary advantages being accuracy (scanning a barcode has a much higher percentage accuracy rate, than manually typing them in), speed, and in some cases privacy.
Barcode Magic tries to simplify barcode creation. When you start the application, you are shown a blank window in which your barcode will appear. You will notice that when you type a number, or letter, your barcode automatically display with the text you've just typed. You can copy this barcode into another application, like a word processor, by selecting "Copy" from the main menu, and then "Paste" in your word processing application. You can also export this barcode into a graphic file for use in an image processing program. Barcode Magic also includes several printing options, if you prefer to print the barcode directly from the application.
Interpretation Line - This is the human readable portion of the barcode. This may appear above or below your barcode, depending on barcode type. In Barcode Magic, you can select to show or hide this line by selecting the "Readable Line" option.
Check Digit - A Check Digit is a calculated number against your encoded text used for barcode verification. These check digits are often the last digit in the barcode. For example a UPC "4-99999-00000-7" has a check digit of "7". Often these check digits are shown in the interpretation line, but sometimes they are hidden, and don't even show up when you scan the barcode. Some Barcodes, like Code 39, don't use check digits. Others, like Code93, include 2 check digits. Barcode Magic automatically generates these check digits for you, so you shouldn't have to worry about them.
Height - All barcodes require a certain amount of height. The taller your barcode, the better chance of it being scanned in by a barcode reader. You can adjust the height of your barcode by draging the bottom right corner of your barcode, or by typing in the height edit box the exact height.
Width - You do not have total control over your barcode width, that is to say, you cannot expect a barcode to be exactly "X" units wide. This is because of how the barcode is created. There is a very specific tolerence of how big the bars in your barcode are, and the ratio between bars and spaces. Barcode Magic does not allow you to stray from this tolerence, otherwise you could create barcodes that are never able to be read. You can control how big the unit is used to draw the narrowest bar on your barcode. This is called the "Narrow Bar Width", and is the industry common method for increasing/decreasing the size of your barcode. This unit is usually measered in mils (1/1000th's of an inch). Normally you should just let Barcode Magic determine the barcode width for you. But if you have specific scanning requirements, you can adjust the narrow bar width in both the export, and print menu.
To print your barcode, simply select "Print" from the main menu (or click on the print button). Barcode Magic will present you with a print dialog you can use to modify how you want your barcode printed.
Print Range
Use print range to select
how many barcodes you want printed. "Single" will only print one barcode
on the page. "Page" and "Labels" will print multiple copies of your barcode.
You can select how you want copies of the barcodes arranged on the page
by clicking the "Label Sheet Setup" button. You can use this to print to
label sheets, like those created by Avery or Maco. You will need to manually
enter in the label dimensions (height, width, margins, gutters - the space
between labels), or you can load in a format that you have previously saved.
If you've chosen to print
multiple
Size
The "Barcode Width" section of
the print dialog controls the narrow bar width of your barcode. Normally,
you will want to leave this on "Autosize". But if you have specific size
requirements, you can adjust the narrow bar width by selecting "custom"
and using the up and down arrows
Sequences
You may want to print a range
of numbers in your barcode. You can do this by selecting the "Use Sequence"
option. If you select the "Settings" button, you will be shown the sequence
setup dialog. In this dialog you can select a prefix to your sequence,
suffix, as well as size, and range. The first number that will print in
the sequence will be shown at the top of this dialog.
The "Copies" edit box in
the Print Range section will control how many duplicates of a single number
you want. Change this value from 1 to 9999 to adjust the number of copies.
Align
This option will allow
you to center your barcode horizontally or vertically on the page, or label.
Exporting your Barcode
Select "Export Image" from
the main menu, or click on the Export button. This will bring the export
dialog to front. You can adjust the DPI (Dots per Inch) of the output barcode
image. Use this if you plan on printing your barcode, and need a professional
quality image. If you plan on sending your barcode to a publisher, you
may want to ask what they want for the DPI.
The "Barcode Width" section of
the export dialog controls the narrow bar width of your barcode. Normally,
you will want to leave this on "Autosize". But if you have specific size
requirements, you can adjust the narrow bar width by selecting "custom"
and using the up and down arrows. You may notice that the Mils change on
the custom size box, whenever you change the DPI. This is due to
the change in the lowest common size used to create the barcode, the dot.
Higher DPI means you need more dot's to produce a thicker barcode, as well
as greater precision in barcode width.
Graphic Formats
Select your desired output graphic format.
| Bitmap - Standard Window's bitmap. Use this if you plan on loading your image into a word processing application. |
| JPEG - Compressed Image. Use this is you have a large barcode, or a very high DPI |
| TIFF - Tagged Information Format File. This format is common across platforms. Use this format if you need to load your barcode on a Macintosh or Unix platform. This is also a common format used by publishers. |
| WMF - Windows Meta File. This file actually consists of the instructions used to draw the barcode. The advantages of this include a very small file regardless of DPI or barcode size, as well as extremely high accuracy when reproducing the barcode. Use this format if you can not use "EMF". |
| EMF - Enhanced Windows Meta File. This file actually consists of the instructions used to draw the barcode. The advantages of this include a very small file regardless of DPI or barcode size, as well as extremely high accuracy when reproducing the barcode. This is format is an excellent choice as the file size is extremely small, and this file is device indenpendant (you can print this image just as well as displaying the image). |
You can save your barcode to a file for loading back into Barcode Magic. This file is only readable by Barcode Magic. Use "Export Barcode Graphic" if you want to load the barcode into another application. When you save your barcode, any label and sequence savings will be stored with your barcode.
* UPC A (numeric only)
Regular version of UPC, encodes 12
digits of data.
The first digit is the industry code.
* UPC E (numeric only)
Zero suppressed version, is a six
digit code used for marking small packages.
The first digit is industry code (always
0)
The next six digits are based on the
following :
* EAN 13/JAN (numeric only)
EAN barcodes are used to encode 13
digits of data.
The first two characters are the country
of origin (49 for Japanese JAN)
The next 5 characters are the manufacturer's
identification (assigned by the EAN council)
The next 5 characters are the product's
id (company assigned)
The last character is a check digit
(automatically generated)
* EAN 8 (numeric only)
The 8 digit version is used for marking
small packages.
The first two characters are the country
of origin.
The next 5 characters are all data
characters.
The last character is a check digit
(automatically generated)
* UPC 2,5 Digit Supplementals (numeric
only)
Used to encode either 2 or 5 characters
of supplemental data. (Like the EAN, UPC 5 ext. combination commonly found
on books)
* Interleaved 2 of 5 (numeric only)
A high density code used that can
be as long as desired. The "interleaved" part comes from the fact that
the first digit is encoded in bars, and the second is encoded in spaces.
Since two digits are required to produce the bar-space pattern, all Interleaved
2 of 5 codes have an even number of characters. If an odd number is desired,
the first character of '0' will be added to the code.
* Code 39 (Alpha Numeric)
Code 39 can encode 26 uppercase characters,
10 numeric digits, and 7 special characters ( '-' , '.' , ' ' , '*' , '$'
, '/' , '+' , '%'). It can be as long as required.
* Code 93/Code 39 extended (Alpha
Numeric)
Code 93 & Code 39 extended can
represent the full 128 ASCII character set. Code 39 extended uses either
1 or 2 standard Code 39 characters to represent a character. Code 93 is
similar to Code 39 extended, however it includes 2 check digits, and all
characters are encoded in 9 bar/space modules instead of 13, making code
93 able to produce shorter barcodes than code 39 extended. Both sets can
be as long as required.
* Code 128/EAN-128 (Alpha Numeric)
Code 128 uses the full 128 ASCII character
set, can encode as many characters as desired, and is designed to be ultra-high
density. Code 128 is capable of displaying 2 digits with one set of bars
(known as double density, or Subset C). All Ichiku SW barcodes tools will
automatically use the most efficient subset of Code 128 as possible. Code
128 also includes a check digit (automatically generated). UCC/EAN-128
is a standard methodology for labeling a package with more than just the
product code. UCC/EAN-128 uses standard Code 128 symbols, an always includes
the special "FNC 1" character.
* Postnet 5,9,11 (Numeric)
Postnet supports 5, 9, and 11 digits
of data. The data being encoded is either the destination zip code (5),
destination zip code + 4 digit extension (9), destination zip code + 4
digit extension + last 2 digits of street address (11). Documentation exists
on placement, bar sizes, from the United States postal service on our links
page.
Select print from the main menu, under "File", or press the print button. A dialog will appear showing all availible print options. You can print a single barcode onto a page, or use the label settings to print multiple barcode per page.
* Labels - Select multiple labels from the "Barcodes per Page" section. You can set up your label height & width, top & left margins, and gutter sizes (gutters are the unprintable borders surrounding a label). Press the "Setup" button to alter these settings. You can also import/export settings for future use. Barcode Magic always saves your last changes automatically, and restores them when you restart the application. Pay particular attention to the non-printable area displayed in the settings. This non-printable area is based upon your printer's limitations. Make sure, when purchasing label stock, that you look for labels with margins equal to or greater than your non-printable region. This will ensure that you can use every label on a page, otherwise, some barcodes might not show up completely along the borders.
* Sequences - Instead of using the text you typed in for the barcode, you can use a generated number called a sequence. Simply select sequence in the Barcode Text section. Then each barcode printed will have a incrementally higher number. Set the minimum value, maximum value, and current value in the sequence "Settings" button. You can also specify a minimum size for your sequece. If your number's length is less than the minimum size, it will be left padded with zeros. (ie. a sequence value of 25 with a minimum size of 4 will appear as '0025')
Q) Part of my label does not
print on the label's edge
A) This is because your printer
has an unprintable margin surrounding the page. Most printers are unable
to print up to the very edges of the page. This is not a limitation of
Barcode Magic, but a limitation of your printer. If the label sheet your
attempting to print to has margins smaller than your printer limitation,
your likely to see some of your label cut off. Most label manufacturers
are diligent about trying to create labels that will print within most
printer's limitations. If you run into a case where your labels are getting
cut off, the only solutions are to try and use only the center portion
of your label, selecting a different label stock with more acceptable margins,
or switching to a printer with little or no page margin limitations.
Q) How do I get a UPC code for
my product.
A) Visit the Uniform Code Coucil's
(UCC) web page at www.uc-council.org
Q) How do I get a EAN code for
my product.
A) Visit the European EAN Code
Council's web page at www.ean.be
In order to get this product out in a timely fashion, we were unable to include any premade label format files with this release. We will try to most popular label formats available soon. You can help posting any formats you've created and saved in our support forums at: http://www.digitalcandle.com/support. Please include the brand, identification number, and small explanation of what type of label.
Limited technical support is available at http://www.digitalcandle.com/support. Use the Barcode Magic forum to post you questions and/or suggestions.
Unlicensed copies of Barcode Magic will automatically disable several key features after 15 days. You may register your copy by visiting www.digitalcandle.com and following the registration link. Registration fee is $25 US. By registering, you will receive a key to unlock your copy of Barcode Magic.
Barcode Magic was developed by Ichiku
Software for DigitalCandle, Inc.