I have searched for both topics and I have not found a definitive answer:

I have been using FM for the past two years. The DB is used for equipment checkout and inventory to students. We have been manually entering the Student ID and then the Product ID. They now want to go to a barcode system which will barcode all products based on my product ID (i.e. TRP1241) and also create ID cards for the students based on their current ID number (i.e 98023123456.) Then they wish to scan the ID and any products they are to checkout.

Do you have any recommendations on a system (plugins?) for barcode generation and also hardware for printing ID cards. I have looked at the IDautomation site, Fargo.. but I am unsure.

It will be a single standalone machine running FM on Mac OS 10.5...

There are a few barcode plugins out there. Some require fonts to be installed and others do not. I have used a few different vendors in the past.

It really depends on what type of code that you want to use. You may find cheaper alternatives when the type is common as opposed to uncommon ones such as ISBN and Codabar.

Geoff has an affordable basic one here.

http://sixfriedrice.com/wp/products/6barcode/

Barcodet (or an individual module) is likely what you need. You can choose to produce bar codes either with or without fonts. Furthermore, all aspects of the program are completely unlocked for easy integration. http://www.lifesuccess.org/barcodet.html

The easiest for you is

Barcode 39

You can encode uppercase letters (A through Z), digits (0 through 9).

[color:blue]No plug-in needed. You just have to install a Code 39 barcode font. Code 39 is widely used and can be decoded with virtually any barcode reader.

The only thing you have to know is to put your IDs between stars for printing:

[color:red]*TRP1241*

*98023123456*

Find freeware 39 fonts here:

Font for 39

Font for 39

Print on Avery:

Identification Cards

Happy FileMaking Ralph Nusser

Sogetes Computer-Services

Switzerland

www.sogetes.com

We do a great deal of barcoding at my work with a FM system I developed. We we Zebra printers for our labels as we have pretty specialized needs in terms of label materials. We also print thousands of labels a days. In terms of generating barcodes I have a Code 39 font that allows you to print a barcode from anywhere (even excel, FM, word, etc.). This works fine if linear barcodes are fine. We use 2D matrix barcodes for almost everything these days and use Scodico's PHP plugin and code I've adapted to generate these barcodes. Very flexible and nice. If you want details or example files, just let me know.

Hi,

I need to know how could I put the barcode numbers in between the starts.

Thanks for the help

N2FM