djc728 Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 I have a windows inventory application to develop for parts and I need a way to produce barcodes and print them out as users are entering data for the parts. Can someone recommend a barcode plugin or a way to generate unique barcodes and a printer to print them out. I thought I remember the company Zebra having a barcode printer type setup but wasn't too happy with it so any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Dom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elkpodemiami Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 Hello, this is a pretty simple thing to do, what I would recommend you to do is: 1 - create a calculation field containing the part number you want to make as a serial number, this number mjust be between "*" ( example *12345* ) 2 - get a barcode font, this is the font you will use in the barcode layout 3 - create a layout with that font and point it to the calculation field 4 - set a script trigger or even a button (whichever better suits your needs ) to point that layout and print it. As for the printer, Zebra offers a lot of label and barcode printers, but it all depends on the size of label you want to print, the most common ones are TLP-2844 and LP-2844 I hope this helps, Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbante Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 One detail to note about Elkpodemiami's suggestion for how to generate a barcode is that the barcode font you find should be for the Code 39 barcode type to work as described. Barcode Creator is another tool for generating barcodes. (Disclosure: I wrote it, so naturally I'm biased.) It's a folder of scripts you can copy & paste into your solution. You can pass Barcode Creator your product serial number as a script parameter, and receive a script result in base 64. You can then use the Base64Decode function to put the barcode image in a container field. It may spare you some deployment hassle compared to fonts or plugins, since there are no fonts or plugins to install on client machines — it's just FileMaker. If you're working on a multi-user solution, this is especially great since you only have to install it once on the hosted file for all clients to be able to use it. What do your product serial numbers look like? Depending on what characters you're using, Code 39 may not work. Code 128 is a great barcode type to start with if you don't need any particular type. It can encode any ASCII character (thus the "128" in the name), it's relatively compact, and the overwhelming majority of barcode scanners have no problem with it. Fonts and plugins are available that will handle Code 128 for you, but Barcode Creator gives you a bit more flexibility than most, and does some optimization for you that might be a hassle otherwise. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djc728 Posted December 3, 2014 Author Share Posted December 3, 2014 Thank you both for the input. I just found out today that we will be using QR Codes. I will look into the Zebra printers again. Thanks. D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbante Posted December 4, 2014 Share Posted December 4, 2014 Since you will be using QR Codes, a barcode font is out of the question. Barcode Creator doesn't support QR Code yet, but I'm furiously working on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comment Posted December 4, 2014 Share Posted December 4, 2014 http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?cht=qr&chs=500x500&chl=It%27s%20been%20done%20already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sky Willmott Posted December 4, 2014 Share Posted December 4, 2014 You might want to try looking at FMEasyBarcodes - www.fmeasybarcodes.com It does QR codes without any plugins or internet connection required.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djc728 Posted December 4, 2014 Author Share Posted December 4, 2014 Thanks I actually found this very helpful for QR Codes. http://hbase.net/2013/12/18/qr-codes-in-filemaker-12-13-no-plug-ins-no-custom-functions/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbante Posted December 5, 2014 Share Posted December 5, 2014 I recommend against the Google-based QR Codes. It makes your application dependent on both an internet connection, and the service continuing to exist. Google, for example, has already announced that their QR Code rendering is deprecated, so it is likely to stop working in the near future. This may be a reasonable stop-gap measure if you need QR Codes immediately, but keep looking for a more stable solution. FMEasyBarcodes uses the jquery.qrcode.js JavaScript library for QR Code rendering, which does relatively low-quality encoding, but works if your needs aren't particularly demanding. FMEasyBarcodes also doesn't currently support Windows. Another option that will require a bit more work on your part is to use SuperContainer. This thread can get you started in the right direction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djc728 Posted December 5, 2014 Author Share Posted December 5, 2014 Jbante - Thank you, I did not know that about the Google based QR codes. I appreciate the feedback greatly. Dom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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