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iText Barcode Label Generation

 
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Hi,

I am looking on creating our in house Barcode Label Generation Software and thru google I found that iText can support such functionality.

I haven't use iText and have not done any reading about this but can this iText support my needs below?

1. Ability to pre-select Paper Size/Template
2. Create Label Template with images/text/barcode.
3. Access to DB for data.
4. Print output is compatible with different printers like Laser Jet Printer/Thermal Printers?

Much of the software that I am seeing is not free like this barcode designer and codesoft.

Sorry if my question might be vague but I am trying to find out a Barcode Printing Solution and if iText can support such needs. Thanks.

 
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Mark Reyes wrote:1. Ability to pre-select Paper Size/Template



If you're talking about creating PDFs: iText can create documents in any size.
iText can also import PDF files (of any paper size) and stamp barcodes on it.

Mark Reyes wrote:2. Create Label Template with images/text/barcode.



iText can create barcodes as a java.awt.Image and as a com.itextpdf.text.pdf.PdfTemplate.
If the barcode specification supports text (not all of them do), then you can add text.

The following barcodes are supported: EAN-13, UPC-A, EAN-8, UPC-E, Supplemental 2, Supplemental 5, Plain code 128, raw code 128, UCC/EAN-128, Interleaved 2 of 5, POSTNET, PLANET, Barcode 3 of 9, 3 of 9 extended, Codabar.

The following matrix codes are supported: PDF417, Data Matrix, QRCode.

Mark Reyes wrote:3. Access to DB for data.



Strange question: why would you use iText to access a DB if you have tools like JDBC, Hibernate,...?
Plenty of documents generated in the book samples are generated from a database, so the answer could be: yes.
I'm sorry, I really don't understand the question. It sounds like: "Can I eat vegetables with a knive?"
The answer is: "You probably can, but wouldn't you rather use a fork and a knive like most people do?"

Mark Reyes wrote:4. Print output is compatible with different printers like Laser Jet Printer/Thermal Printers?



iText doesn't print. iText creates PDFs. PDFs are compatible with different printers.

Mark Reyes wrote:Sorry if my question might be vague



I must admit that I don't understand the question. I think you are looking for an end-user product, but iText is an API. I always compare with the automobile industry: I think you are looking for a car, but instead of going to a car dealer, you are asking an engineer that offers an engine, hence the confusion.

If you want to use iText (the engine), you will still need to build the application (the car).
 
Mark Reyes
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Hi Bruno,

Thanks for the detailed explanation although my question is really not that clear.

I must admit, I am still at the exploration stage and I still dont know much regarding the scope of my project. I already checked out JasperReports and it can generate
moderate Barcode Template that is applicable to Laser Jet printers not yet for thermal printers.

I checked out JasperReports and I do think that it is using iText under the hood.

Thanks again..
 
Bruno Lowagie
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Mark Reyes wrote:I checked out JasperReports and I do think that it is using iText under the hood.



Yes, JasperReports uses iText under the hood.
In the car-metaphor: JasperReports is a car, iText its engine.

As for thermal printers: we've had reports about problems
for instance when glyphs aren't drawn using standard fonts,
but using PDF drawing operators (such as: the letter O consists
of two concentric circles in the syntax instead of a character
referring to a glyphs in a font). This happens for instance
when the PDF is created using the PdfGraphics2D class
(I believe that's how JasperReports works).

It would be interesting to find out how the barcode is 'drawn'
in the PDF syntax. Do you know of PDFs with barcodes that
print OK with a thermal printer? Then we could compare the
barcodes in that file with the barcodes generated by JasperReports.

If we could compare the
 
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