Barcode Font vs. 3rd Party

SMS
SMS Member Posts: 22
edited 2003-05-22 in Navision Attain
I am looking at integrating barcoding into our warehouse. I would like to barcode our products as the enter the warehouse using a label printer, as well as barcoding the Purchase Order, Sales Order etc. for accurate recall.

I have seen a few posts regarding barcoding and I was hoping that I could get some more opinions. I see that some ppl prefer to just use a barcode font, and others prefer to use a 3rd party package of some sort. What are the advantages and disadvantages of both options?

Thanks.
Sandy

Comments

  • Sbhat
    Sbhat Member Posts: 301
    Hi SMS,

    By using a thrid party Bar code you would get all the required documentation and installation procedures and you can get back to the supplier in case you have a issue. But incase of a free download bar code you may have to play with it for a while till it fits into your requirement and very rare a documentation is available for these kind of free downloads. Hope i have answered your question.

    Thanks

    Best regards
    Suresh.
  • KEVINARCHER
    KEVINARCHER Member Posts: 4
    I have an Add-on I could sell you that creates a barcode as a bitmap on the fly and adds it to reports or forms. E-Mail me with you needs and I can help you.
    Kevin Archer
    Developer
    MSApple Technolgies
  • damn
    damn Member Posts: 3
    Hi SMS!

    I've tried to use three different solutions: programming barcode printer in it's own language, using barcode font, and using 3rd party package.

    My favorite solution is programming barcode printer. It's the hardest one, takes much longer to create but gives you most freedom - you can write virtually anything on your labels. (At least using Zebra's printers...) Sometimes it may be hard to get programmers manual.

    2nd best in my opinion is using (free) barcode fonts. It is quite fast to develop. The disadvantages are: a) it takes more time to print such a label because it's printed using Windows drivers as graphics; b) calculating checksums for EAN13 barcode is a pain in the ass; c) most free barcode fonts have very little documentation about start/stop characters and only very few have info on how to do correct EAN8/EAN13 encoding; d) lots of barcode fonts are not working correctly in NF2.60, NA3.10

    And the worst solution I've seen is using 3rd party package. It's the slowest one because it's usually done through OLE automation and standard Windows Printer drivers. Also it's hard to trace bugs in such solutions, they tend to be unstable and you have to pay for that 3rd party package (as you probably noticed in previous reply... ) As an advantage - they sometimes offer more features than using barcode fonts (e.g. printing barcodes vertically) and some packages can make some exotic barcodes (like 2D-barcodes, US postal barcodes, etc.)


    good luck,
    damn

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