FAQ: Barcode Printing and Decoding Issues

Usually the horizontal line of the demo version doesn't affect reading (only if the barcode is very small, in such a case contact us for a temporary license key for proper testing).

Reading problems can occur if the printer has low resolution (<=300 dpi) - especially thermo transfer label printers need adaption. Solution: adjust the narrow bar width to the pixel width of a printer dot.

You can do this by adjusting the TBarCode property ModuleWidth - examples:

200dpi ... 2Pixel = 0.254mm ... ModulWidthProperty = 254
202dpi ... 2Pixel = 0.251mm ... ModulWidthProperty = 251
300dpi ... 3Pixel = 0.254mm ... ModulWidthProperty = 254

Also there is a TBarCode property "OptResolution" which should be turned on.

ActiveX^® object only: if you change the ModuleWidth the symbol width will change, so make sure that the bounding rectangle of the object is wide enough to hold the complete symbol (no clipping!).

Keyboard Layout

Problem: mixed up characters like "-" is read as"/".

Solution: change the keyboard layout setting in your keyboard wedge scanner.

These problems can occur with scanners connected to the keyboard cable of your system. The scanner translates the barcode into keystroke sequences - these keystrokes are language dependent. To solve the problem make sure that the "keyboard language" of the scanner matches the language of the used keyboard. Please check out the configuration manual of the scanner - usually the manual contains some configuration bar - codes which must be scanned with the scanner.

Codepage (2D Barcodes)

For encoding characters outside of the standard ASCII table (0-127) you can choose different code pages (with specific 2D bar codes). If you choose a non-standard code page (other than default) you can get mixed up or non readable characters. Whenever possible you should always use the default code page of the respective 2D bar code. If you try to encode special characters (like Ä or Ñ), make sure that the 2D symbology in use is able to encode them with the default code page.

This is confirmed to be a printer driver problem. Along other printer models this effect also happens with Toshiba TEC and DataMax printers.

The solution is to change the draw mode of TBarCode:

TBarCode V8+ Set the ActiveX Property DrawMode to Compatible.

TBarCode V7 Create a file barcode.ini with the following content: [DRAW_MODE] UseGDIRect=1 Copy the barcode.ini file to the installation directory of TBarCode (where you can find the file tbarcode7.ocx or tbarcode7.dll). Restart the program.