[FP5] New To Bar Codes

April 1, 200421 yr

We have some clients who wan't a tracking system using barcodes. This is what I need to do:

-Create a new record and print a lable with a barcode on it,(I think we will use 39) then put lable on item, put item on shelf.

-Take item from shelf and scan it to find the record.

-1 Scanner will be attached to computer

Questions:

To generate a scanable bar code in FileMaker do I need to purchase a plugin?

If not how do I create the barcode using a barcode font?

Any other advice would be great.

thanks

FileMaker Version: 5

Platform: Windows 2000

April 1, 200421 yr

Check out this link for barcodes with FileMaker.

HTH, Mike

April 1, 200421 yr

Author

thanks for th reply but I wanted to see if the was possible with out using a plugin or another software.

April 1, 200421 yr

MGM75:

A barcode is just another font. In my solutions I use the 3of9 font. The best data to use in the barcode is the record's auto-entered serial number. Because you'll be printing it on a label, make sure the serial number starts high (like around a million) so that the barcode is always the same length...

With that in mind, you do not need a plugin, although you may need to program the scanner (they're all different.) Think of the scanner as just another input device, like a keyboard or mouse. When you scan in a barcode, you're entering data into a field.

When finding the item's record, you could have a "Find Item's Record" button on a layout; when that button is clicked, you enter Find mode, send the cursor to the Serial Number field, pause the script, and wait for the input from the barcode reader. You will need to make sure that the reader appends an "Enter" to its scan, in order to escape from the pause...

-Stanley