General Barcode question

[fearlessreaders]

Hey, Im by no means a developer, or even a filemaker pro user, but I cant seem to find a decent answer to this, or a tutorial, or reference to this. ..

Im trying to find some good barcode software that will work/integrate with filemaker pro 6. Im setting up a rather huge database consisting of over 100,000 inventory items. I need a program that can set me up with a dynamic barcode generator, or a simple way to do it within filemaker pro.

The database is going to consist of comic books, so I would need a way for the barcode program to set up bar codes in a similar manner to this

for marvel comics ie.

MAR012345 only that would be a bar code

or for dc comics

DC012345

As well as somthing in the means of which Marvel comics, for instance all spiderman comics would be in the 20000's or something

spider man #1

MAR20001

We are using Code 39 as it seems to be the most standard and easy to use.

If this isnt possible, then We would atleast need the generated numbers to be consistent with out the MAR or DC or whatever we would like, so long as all the 20000's or whatever we like stay consistent.

Then if that is the case, we Need a way to print on the label which comic it is and possibly a price too. . .

If you can please respond to this thread or email me directly. . .

[email protected]

Thanks everyone

Links or anything of the nature that can help is welcome. Suggestions or ideas as well. IM up for anything at this point

Here is what my ideal barcode would look like. . . Whats the easiest/best way to acheive this:

[ernst]

Hi Fearless,

As far as I can see a simple labelprinter and a barcode font would be enough to get the desired result.

I would not go for a 'meaningful' barcode, but just use an sequential serialn

[fearlessreaders]

Hey,

Thanks for the input. . .

I guess what my solution to the problem is setting it up like a Mail Merge. I have found 1 decent piece of software, called Nice Lable, on www.idautomation.com

Im in the demo right now testing, and it seems to be able to do what I need.

In filemaker, Can I set up the file to print out lables in a mail merge fashion?

If so, how, or how can i start to find out how to setup the file.

Sorry im rather confused about everything right now, I need to learn more about filemaker.

Thanks again

[fearlessreaders]

another question:

In filemaker, when setting up a barcode field. Im not totally sure what im doing, but. .

Am I able to take 2 strings from a field, such as "Publisher" & "ComicName" and take only the first 4 characters from each and combine them into a single string value for my Barcode, and maybe a few random numbers after that. .

ie. MARVSPID123123

MARVE being part of MARVEL

SPIDE being part of SPIDERMAN

123123 = random number that filemaker would generate in increments, starting at 000001 then 000002 and so on.

Or other suggestions for setting up a barcode field that would generate consistent numbers for our inventory in certain catagories.

[ernst]

Hi Fearless,

I dont't want to be pushy with my opinion, bit I'm really thinking that there is nothing to be gained from putting categories etc. in a barcode. The only function a barcode has i.m.o. is to link a product to a line in the database. So you could either use a filemaker generated serialnumber, or something like captkurt described in the article section:

http://www.fmforums.com/threads showflat.php?Cat=&Number=41246&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1

The database(s) would then have one record for every comic book, so you would need to setup a database with the following text fields:

- serial number (auto enter, non modifiable, starting at 000000001 or so)

- category

- title

- publisher

- price

- etc.

You would possibly need one 'form' layout to enter the above data,

one list layout to view search result etc. and

one lable layout for barcode and additional data, like the category and price fields.

Printing the label layout could be easily performed for more records (books) in one go, which is what you mean with the 'mail-merge' possibility I think?

One more question, are you trying to make a sort of catalog, or is this more a shop like setup? (is every piece of inventory unique or are you selling several pieces of one 'type'?)

regards,

Ernst.

[kennedy]

I will second the recommendation to avoid meaningful barcodes.

Rather, you simply want a unique ID that is highly likely to

remain unique forever and to never change forever. You may not

see it happening now, but consistently all meaninful codes eventually

become a huge headache. Consider this one of the fundamental laws

of good database practice: no meaningful ID codes!

I recommend using CaptKurt's UniqueIDs for barcodes, or something

similar. I use a shorter variation of his UniqueIDs (to keep my

barcode length more manageable)... you can check it out in "The Works"

template that I posted to the Sample Files forum. You can find the

article on CaptKurt's UniqueIDs in the Articles forum.

[stanley]

I agree, but with an exception. Either use truly random ID generation (UniqueIDs) or use the actual information you are entering for the record, which would have to be unique. For example, if you've got Marvel Spiderman #121, the ID might be MARVSPID000121. The problem with this is if you've got the following pair:

DC Dark Knight #2

DC Dark Avenger #2

Both of them want to be DCDARK00002 or something like that.

If you really really really want to have the barcode contain useful info (which is, I agree, totally unnecessary, as you can have real data on the label as well) then you've got to come up with what might be a very complicated classification and abbreviation system - akin to what the post office did when they told us to stop writing "Ohio" and "California" and replace them with "OH" and "CA" just so some machine could read it all easier.

Sorry to babble on - really you should go with random generation. Or, dare I say, the barcodes that are on the comics already (but then, the older ones don't have barcodes, so you're back to generating your own...)

-Stanley