FAQ TBarCode/X - Barcode Software for Mac OS X^®, UNIX^®, Linux^®

No Human Readable Text on Bitmap Exports

TBarCode/X has no built-in support for rendering fonts for bitmap exports. This would require an additional font rendering library. This applies only to bitmaps, our vector formats (EPS, SVG, PCL...) support human readable text. See also our data sheet.

You can use the following workarounds or alternative products:

TBarCode/X

Export in EPS format and convert the file to a bitmap format (BMP, PNG, JPG...) with ImageMagick convert or Ghostscript gs (open source tools). You can also export in SVG format and use convert.

TBarCode Library: You can create the entire output with the Custom Drawing API. You receive separate callbacks for the bars and the text, each with the coordinates of where to draw. The font output and bitmap export must be realized via a separate library (own code).

TFORMer

Employ our TFORMer Labelling SDK on Linux, offering robust font rendering support for barcodes across various output formats (BMP, PNG, JPG, TIF, PDF, etc.). This comprehensive solution includes a command line tool and a developer library. While templates are designed using TFORMer Designer on Windows, the SDK enables users to generate a wide range of output formats on Linux.

How to Generate Swiss QR Code in a PCL Print Job?

To generate a Swiss QR Code, add the following control sequences to your PCL File:

• Start of the barcode: $_tbcs -fPCL -b126 -w46 -h46 -eon -d
• Then the data in double quotes: "<Data structure according to SIXX specification 2.2>"
• The end of barcode: $_tbce

Example of Swiss QR Code (the line feeds are encoded with \n):

$_tbcs -fPCL -b126 -w46 -h46 -eon -d"SPC\n0200\n1\nCH4431999123000889012\nK\nRobert Schneider AG\nRue du Lac 1268\n2501 Bile\n\n\nCH\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n123.59\nCHF\nK\nPia-Maria Rutschmann-Schnyder\nGrosse Marktgasse 28\n9400 Rorschach\n\n\nCH\nQRR\n210000000003139471430009017\nInstruction of 15.09.2019\nEPD"$_tbce

• To see the Swiss cross in the middle of the barcode, switch to PCL5noHPGL. This can be done either in the prefix parameters with --pclmode=PCL5noHPGL (e.g. insert after -fPCL) or permanently in the tbarcode.conf file with pclmode=PCL5noHPGL (insert additional line at the end).
• The data is transferred as ANSI ⁄ Latin-1, but encoded as UTF-8 in the barcode. The UTF-8 encoding is generated internally by the barcode generator.
• The barcode generator has a built-in validation, i.e. if the data structure does not match the specification, an error is output on stderr (as well as an exit code <>0). If required, tracing can be activated in tbarcode.conf.
• By default, a relative insertion position is used. Optionally, you can still control the exact position absolutely or change the origin - see User Manual: --pos --xpos --ypos --origin.
• This Excel-Sheet may help you to create the data structure: https://www.tec-it.com/Download/Samples/Swiss_QR-Bill_V2.zip.
• The existing demo version can be used for testing without any restrictions. The final activation is done via a license file (no new installation necessary).

How to Create Bitmaps and SVG for HTML Output?

Below are sample calls for bitmap creation. The bitmaps are already optimized for 100 and 300 dpi. You can load these bitmaps on-the-fly into the browser through a dynamically created bitmap file (random/timestamp-based file name). As an alternative you can use also vector graphics via SVG format.

tbarcode -fIMAGE -iGIF -oBarcode.gif -b8 -m0.254 --dpi=100 -d"1234567890ABC"

tbarcode -fIMAGE -iPNG -oBarcode.png -b112 -m0.508 --dpi=300 -d"www.tec-it.com"

Quality optimisation:

• The module width (smallest graphic element in the code) was already adjusted to the pixel grid in the bitmap. At 100 dpi, 0.254 mm corresponds exactly to one pixel, at 300 dpi it is 3 full pixels (so there are no quantisation effects or rounding errors). At 300 dpi, a dot size of 0.508 mm corresponds to 6 full pixels (again, no quantisation effects).
• You can also specify a target value for the module width -m (or the total width -w) and use the internal optimization via the parameter --optimalwidth. The barcode can then become smaller than the target value, as it is always rounded down to full pixels.
• When displaying and printing, the resolution of the display and the printer are taken into account. Depending on the DPI, rounding errors may occur.

tbarcode -fSVG -oBarcode.svg -b112 -m0.762 -d"https://www.tec-it.com"

The vector format SVG is also supported, most browsers can display this by now. In SVG format, we also have a plain text line for 1D codes.

HTML integration:

With the SVG format, you can either load the SVG via an <img src="svg-url"> tag as with the bitmap or directly integrate it inline into the HTML as <svg> nodes (no extra image download required). For inline integration, omit the first line from our SVG file, you only need the <svg> node. The display size (viewBox) can also play a role.

TBarCode/X Filter Not Applied in CUPS PCL Queue

First make sure the mime.types file contains the header sequence for PCL and the mime.convs file contains the correct conversation route from PCL to octet-stream. The mime.convs must also include a call to the TBarCode filter script, alternatively, this can be done in the PPD file. See more details on how to configure this for your CUPS version in the TBarCode/X user manual.

Next, either the origin mime-type of the print job is determined by “auto-typing” in CUPS (with the help of mime.types) or you preset a document type for the queue in question.

You can preset a PCL document type for a queue as follows:

lpoptions -o document-format=application/vnd.hp-pcl -p MYPCLQUEUE

You can set it also on a per job base:

lp -d PRINTERNAME -o document-format=application/vnd.hp-pclpathtojobfile

This avoids autotyping for the filter and can solve issues if the print job is not correctly recognized as PCL job.

How to Integrate the Spool Filter into the Windows Printing System?

A direct spool filter integration is not supported in Windows; the filter must be called separately in a script or program code. If you have a PCL print job, call the following command before sending the PCL file to the printer:

 tbarcode --filter <infile.pcl >outfile.pcl