How to Encode Chinese Characters in Han Xin Code?

How to Encode Chinese Characters in Han Xin Code?

Han Xin Code provides a special support for encoding Chinese characters with character set GB18030 (using 2 -4 bytes depending on character).

Usage in TBarCode Library:

Using Unicode input:

• Switch the Codepage to GB18030 with BCSetCodePage
• Provide the characters in Unicode format* with BCSetTextW
  ∗UTF-16 on Windows, UTF-32 on Linux, but no UTF-8 (!)
• Unicode input will be converted to GB18030 format for the barcode

Example:

BCSetCodePage(pBarCode, e_CodePage::eCodePage_GB18030);
WCHAR unicode[] = L"数"; /*Unicode U+6570*/
BCSetTextW(pBarCode, unicode, wcslen(unicode));

⇒ Barcode will contain the GB18030 Byte sequence CA FD. A barcode reader should read this as 数.

Using GB18030 input:

• Disable Codepage conversion with BCSetEncodingMode (pBC, eEncMode_LowByte or eEncMode_ByteStream)
• Provide the GB18030 characters as Byte sequence with BCSetTextA
• The Bytes are encoded “as is” without any further conversion.

Example:

BCSetEncodingMode(pBarCode, eEncMode_ByteStream);
unsigned char bytes[] = { 0xCA, 0xFD };  /* GB18030 数 CAFD */
BCSetTextA(pBarCode, (LPCSTR) bytes, sizeof(bytes));

⇒ A barcode reader should read this as 数

More resources:

• Unicode table: https://unicode-table.com
• Online Converter: https://r12a.github.io/app-encodings/
• Offline Converter: https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/download/details.aspx?id=40334
• Android Apps to test Han Xin with Chinese characters: Vintasoft Barcode Scanner (need to enable Han Xin in 2D options first)