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Barcode?

Author

Topic

chriskhan2000
Aged Yak Warrior

544 Posts

Posted - 2005-03-30 : 15:11:07

Anyone using barcode dll files before? I search and there seems to be only 1 out there, which is the IDAutomationBarcode which runs about $420. Anyone found a workaround or knows how to generate barcode at a cheaper price?

rockmoose
SQL Natt Alfen

3279 Posts

Posted - 2005-03-30 : 15:47:10

You could check this out:
[url]http://www.sqlservercentral.com/columnists/mivica/generatingabarcode.asp[/url]

rockmoose

chriskhan2000
Aged Yak Warrior

544 Posts

Posted - 2005-03-30 : 15:53:18

Thanks Moose. My boss wants everything in Reporting Services so I will need to figure out a way to get it to work in reporting services. We had used asp.net in the past to generate barcode, but I'm trying to figure if it's possible to specify the font type to barcode font and convert it that way. Doing some testing and will see if anything turns out.

From my understanding one can use barcode font by expressing the value like:

*I10022022*

chriskhan2000
Aged Yak Warrior

544 Posts

Posted - 2005-03-30 : 16:07:33

Got it to work as intended now. Downloaded barcode fonts and install those barcode fonts. Then I just apply that text box as the barcode font and presto it's in barcode format.

Only problem is that all users how use this must install the same barcode font on their machine or they will see a bunch of meaningless numbers.

rockmoose
SQL Natt Alfen

3279 Posts

Posted - 2005-03-30 : 16:14:55

Ok, sounds nice, that barcode font.
...making a mental note...

rockmoose

ElQueso
Starting Member

4 Posts

Posted - 2005-03-31 : 17:59:52

To counter the problem with your users needing the font - maybe you could create an assembly that would create a grpahic of the font? The assembly could create a bitmap using the DrawString function to create the barcode, and then display the bitmap in the report instead of a textbox wit actual text.

Dunno, just a quickie off the top of my head.

Merkin
Funky Drop Bear Fearing SQL Dude!

4970 Posts

Posted - 2005-03-31 : 18:41:57

quote:
Originally posted by ElQueso

To counter the problem with your users needing the font - maybe you could create an assembly that would create a grpahic of the font? The assembly could create a bitmap using the DrawString function to create the barcode, and then display the bitmap in the report instead of a textbox wit actual text.

Dunno, just a quickie off the top of my head.

I believe this is the way to do it, but it can be a bitch to get working. There are a few threads about this here, I know someone who spent a bunch of time getting it to work.

Damian
Ita erat quando hic adveni.

chriskhan2000
Aged Yak Warrior

544 Posts

Posted - 2005-04-01 : 16:09:34

It will be awesome to be able to do what you guys suggested, but if it's going to take several days to get it to work. I rather just install the fonts on whoever's machine that needs to view the barcodes.

Would be nice if someone can provide the dll file or some kind of example to follow.

JustinBigelow
SQL Gigolo

1157 Posts

Posted - 2005-04-07 : 13:27:18

I was able to get the barcode fonts rendering on the browser but they don't export to pdf (try it I dare ya). Since you can't scan from the browser it rendered (pun intended) RS completely useless for a particular aspect of the project. Instead I had to return to my mistress of pain, Crystal Reports.

"Hit me with a shovel 'cause I can't believe I dug you."

tkizer
Almighty SQL Goddess

38200 Posts

Posted - 2005-04-07 : 13:30:04

I've had issues with the export to pdf for other things as well. I was using the strike out option. Worked fine when viewing from html, but from pdf the strike out wasn't there. I tried all sorts of other things that would make sense to the user, but nothing worked. I ended up having to put brackets around the data, which was not intuitive to the user so we had to include information about this in our help docs.

I hope the pdf support for RS improves in the next version.

Tara

JustinBigelow
SQL Gigolo

1157 Posts

Posted - 2005-04-07 : 13:34:42

If I remember correctly the problem with the pdf export is that the font must be converted to an image to export to pdf. So ElQueso's solution of converting the font to a bitmap at render time should work.

"Hit me with a shovel 'cause I can't believe I dug you."

chriskhan2000
Aged Yak Warrior

544 Posts

Posted - 2005-04-08 : 17:55:48

Oh that sucks big time. We can export it to web archive and print from there, but it doesn't look as pretty any more. Only if they could put the damn print button feature. Hopefully they thought of this and put that on the next release.

I wonder when the next release will be due? Any ideas?

tkizer
Almighty SQL Goddess

38200 Posts

Posted - 2005-04-08 : 17:59:48

I just heard this today: Reporting Services service pack 2 will include the option to print from html but it requires an ActiveX control on the client. And sp2 is due out this month.

Tara

Gabriel
Starting Member

1 Post

Posted - 2005-04-22 : 18:10:44

Here are step by step guides about how to add barcode images using .NET component without fonts!

Using Barcode Professional for ASP.NET in Reporting Services
[url]http://www.neodynamic.com/ND/FaqsTipsTricks.aspx?tabid=66&prodid=1&sid=24[/url]

Using Barcode Professional for Windows Forms in Reporting Services
[url]http://www.neodynamic.com/ND/FaqsTipsTricks.aspx?tabid=66&prodid=3&sid=25[/url]

Cheers

chriskhan2000
Aged Yak Warrior

544 Posts

Posted - 2005-04-25 : 09:49:14

This one you provided is cheaper than the one from IDMS, but it would be nice if I can use what we already have to work for us and not have to buy another new product. In the past we use barcode fonts to work with asp.net web pages. NOw that we are moving away from the old reports and into this new Reporting Services format, I was hoping that I can reuse what we already have.

Maybe the print option for RS 2 may allow printing of barcode if it supports direct printing?

JustinBigelow
SQL Gigolo

1157 Posts

Posted - 2005-04-25 : 12:20:01

quote:
Originally posted by Gabriel

Here are step by step guides about how to add barcode images using .NET component without fonts!

Using Barcode Professional for ASP.NET in Reporting Services
[url]http://www.neodynamic.com/ND/FaqsTipsTricks.aspx?tabid=66&prodid=1&sid=24[/url]

Using Barcode Professional for Windows Forms in Reporting Services
[url]http://www.neodynamic.com/ND/FaqsTipsTricks.aspx?tabid=66&prodid=3&sid=25[/url]

Cheers

I checked out the website and $199 for a dev license with a royalty free runtime isn't too bad. I'm going to download the eval, I'll post my results.

pst, Gabriel I'll trade you a glowing review for a free license