About barcodes

1D and 2D barcodes

Why and what are barcodes good for?

A barcode is a visual and machine-readable representation of data. The encoded data usually describes information about the object that carries the barcode.

Traditional barcodes represent data by varying the widths and spacings of parallel lines. These barcodes are commonly referred to as linear or one-dimensional barcodes.

ActiveBarcode: 2D barcode example

Later, two-dimensional barcodes were developed. They use geometric patterns such as rectangles, dots, or hexagons and are often called matrix codes. Two-dimensional barcodes offer a higher data density and can therefore store more information than one-dimensional barcodes.

Initially, barcodes were scanned using dedicated optical devices known as barcode readers. Today, barcodes can also be read by software on devices with cameras, such as smartphones.

You can find more detailed information about barcodes on Wikipedia.

The role of ActiveBarcode

ActiveBarcode is used to generate barcodes from data. This data can come from spreadsheets, databases, business applications, or cloud-based systems.

Instead of creating barcodes manually, ActiveBarcode allows you to generate them automatically from existing data. This saves time, reduces errors, and eliminates manual data entry.

Barcodes are created as bitmap images or vector graphics and can be embedded directly into documents, labels, or web applications. The resulting barcodes are standard images and can be viewed and printed without installing any additional software.

With the ActiveBarcode REST API, barcode generation is available as a modern, cloud-based service. It can be used in Microsoft 365, Excel, web applications, and automated workflows on any platform.

When barcodes are generated from live data, they automatically update whenever the underlying data changes. This makes ActiveBarcode suitable for dynamic documents and automated processes in modern environments.

ActiveBarcode provides a simple, reliable, and platform-independent way to generate barcodes from data. The following layout options are available for all barcode types:

Barcode layout options

Rotation

Select the orientation by 90 degree steps. When creating image files, you also can set the rotation in 1 degree steps.

0 degrees

90 degrees

180 degrees

270 degrees

Plain text line

The plain text line can be set on or off:

ActiveBarcode: Barcode Plain text line Off

Off

Colors

You have the free choice of the front color and the background color:

Foreground

Background

Borders

Set the border height and width:

Border height 4px

Border height 20px

Notches

Determine the length of the notches:

50%

100%

Alignment

Set the alignment of the barcode:

Left

Center

Right

How to use control characters in barcodes

Some barcode types can encode control characters such as TAB. This includes the QR-Code the DataMatrix, the Code 128 and the PDF417. You enter these control characters as plain text embedded in <>.

Overview of the control characters:

<SOH>

Start of Heading

ASCII Code: 1

<STX>

Start of Text

ASCII Code: 2

<ETX>

End of Text

ASCII Code: 3

<EOT>

End of Transmission

ASCII Code: 4

<ENQ>

Enquiry

ASCII Code: 5

<ACK>

Acknowledge

ASCII Code: 6

<BEL>

Bell

ASCII Code: 7

<BS>

Backspace

ASCII Code: 8

<TAB>

Horizontal Tabulation

ASCII Code: 9

<LF>

Line Feed

ASCII Code: 10

<VT>

Vertical Tabulation

ASCII Code: 11

<FF>

Form Feed

ASCII Code: 12

<CR>

Carriage Return

ASCII Code: 13

<SO>

Shift Out

ASCII Code: 14

<SI>

Shift In

ASCII Code: 15

<DLE>

Data Link Escape

ASCII Code: 16

<DC1>

Device Control 1

ASCII Code: 17

<DC2>

Device Control 2

ASCII Code: 18

<DC3>

Device Control 3

ASCII Code: 19

<DC4>

Device Control 4

ASCII Code: 20

<NAK>

Negative Acknowledge

ASCII Code: 21

<SYN>

Synchronous Idle

ASCII Code: 22

<ETB>

End of Transmission Block

ASCII Code: 23

<CAN>

Cancel

ASCII Code: 24

<EM>

End of Medium

ASCII Code: 25

<SUB>

Substitute

ASCII Code: 26

<ESC>

Escape

ASCII Code: 27

<FS>

File Separator

ASCII Code: 28

<GS>

Group Separator

ASCII Code: 29

<RS>

Record Separator

ASCII Code: 30

<US>

Unit Separator

ASCII Code: 31

<DEL>

Delete

ASCII Code: 127

When Application Identifier (AI) data is encoded, the control characters <GS> or <FNC1> are used to signal the end of variable-length data.