05.01.11
Barcoding
Just sharing a few lessons learnt for adding barcodes to your application (had to do this for a personal one):
1) Select the barcode type you want to use. For common stuff, Code 39 or Code 128 are good options. Make sure the barcode scanners available support the selected barcode type.
2) Create an algorithm for encoding the information you want to embed on the barcode.
2a) It’s a good idea to use Base36 encoding to shorten the data and therefore make the barcode shorter.
2b) It’s also a good idea to use a checksum algorithm if you use Code39 (Code 128 already has a checksum algorithm), for example Luhn’s algorithm.
3) Bind the data to the barcode control. Barcode controls are usually expensive, so if you want a cheaper solution go for a barcode font, there are free ones out there.
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