UPC-A, UPC-E, EAN-8, EAN-13

UPC-A, UPC-E, EAN-8 and EAN-13 are a few of the barcode types that can be added to a template.

The barcode can be added either using the Barcode toolbar button or through selecting Insert > Barcode on the menu; see Adding a barcode.

To change a barcode's properties, such as the scale and color, open the Barcode properties dialog: right-click the barcode (on the Design tab in the Workspace) and select the Barcode... option in the context menu.

Note that these barcode types process tilde characters in the data as special characters. See the Java4less Barcodes Guide to learn what the tilde character can be used for.

This topic lists the properties and output options of the barcode types UPC-A, UPC-E, EAN-8 and EAN-13. For the properties of other barcode types, see Barcode type and properties.

Barcode properties

Module width

Specifies the width of the narrow bars in centimeters. Changing this value to a higher value will make the barcode bigger when Scale is set to None.

Scale

Defines if and how the rendered barcode is scaled in relation to the parent element:

  • None: The barcode is rendered based on the module width.

  • Fit to box: The barcode is stretched to fit the parent box in both width and height.

Supplement

UPC-A, UPC-E, EAN-13, and EAN-8 may all include an additional barcode to the right of the main barcode.

  • Type: The supplement type can be 2-digit (originally used to indicate the edition of a magazine or periodical) or 5-digit (used to indicate the suggested retail price for books). In case this option is set to None, and the data includes digits for the 2 or 5 supplement, the supplement data will be skipped and the additional barcode will not be rendered.

    Note: When the chosen supplement type doesn't match the data, the supplement data will be skipped and the additional barcode will not be rendered.

  • Height Factor: This is the relative height of the supplement's bars compared to the normal bars.

  • Space Before : Defines the space between the main symbol and the supplement, in cm.

Human Readable Message

PlanetPress Connect shows a human readable text below the barcode, using the specified font and font size. The font size is given in points (pt).

Barcode output

Color

The Color group allows you to choose a different Barcode color (instead of black) and Background color (instead of white), by typing a hexadecimal color value (see for example w3school's color picker).

When black is a composite of CMYK or RGB values, it may incur a color click charge on some printers. Check the Output in Grayscale option to make sure that pure black is used.

Output format

Defines how the barcode is output on the page. There are two possible formats:

  • SVG: Vector format. This is usually of higher quality, but may take longer to generate and is not compatible with Email output.

  • PNG: Binary rasterized format. This has a slightly lower quality than SVG but is usually generated faster and will display properly in Email output.