RDatamatrixX ActiveX

Copyright J4L (http://www.java4less.com) 2006.

Introduction

RDatamatrixX is an ActiveX that will allow you to create Datamatrix (ECC200) barcodes for your windows applications. The activeX has been developed using Visual Basic 6 and is specially suitable for Visual Basic, Visual basic script, ASP , MSAccess and .NET applications.

Data Matrix is a two-dimensional (2D) matrix symbology which is made up of square modules arranged within a perimeter finder pattern. It can encode up to 3116 characters from the entire 256 byte ASCII character set. The symbol consists of data regions which contain square modules set out in a regular array. Large ECC 200 symbols contain several regions. Each data region is delimited by a finder pattern, and this is surrounded on all four sides by a quiet zone border (margin).

 

 

ECC 200 symbols have an even number of rows and an even number of columns. Most of the symbols are square with sizes from 10 x 10 to 144 x 144. Some symbols however are rectangular with sizes from 8 x 18 to 16 x 48. All ECC 200 symbols can be recognized by the upper right corner module being light (binary 0).

ECC200 is the newest version of data matrix and supports advanced encoding error checking and correction algorithms (reed-solomon). This algorithms allow the recognition of barcodes that are up to 60% damaged.

The barcode supports two optional mechanisms:

RDataMatrixX supports:

Formats

RDataMatrix supports all data matrix formats. The following table contains the size , the capacity and the correction error features of each format:

Size

Numeric Capacity

Alphanumeric capacity

Binary capacity

Max Correctable

Error/Erasure
10 x 10

6

3

1

2
12 x 12 10 6 3 3
14 x 14 16 10 6 5/7
16 x 16 24 16 10 6/9

18 x 18

36

25

16

7/11
20 x 20 44 31 20 9/15

22 x 22

60

43

28

10/17

24 x 24

72

52

34

12/21

26 x 26

88

64

42

14/25
32 x 32 124 91 60 18/33
36 x 36 172 127 84 21/39
40 x 40 228 169 112 24/45
44 x 44 288 214 142 28/53
48 x 48 348 259 172 34/65
52 x 52 408 304 202 42/78
64 x 64 560 418 278 56/106
72 x 72 736 550 366 72/132
80 x 80 912 682 454 96/180
88 x 88 1152 862 574 112/212
96 x 96 1392 1042 694 136/260
104 x 104 1632 1222 814 168/318
120 x 120 2100 1573 1048 204/390
132 x 132 2608 1954 1302 248/472
144 x 144 3116 2335 1556 310/590
8 x 18 10 6 3 3
8 x 32 20 13 8 5
12 x 26 32 22 14 7/11
12 x 36 44 31 20 9/15
16 x 36 64 46 30 12/21
16 x 48 98 72 47 14/25

Encoding

The data represented in the symbol can be compressed using one or several of the following algorithms:

All encoding system can be used to encode any data, but for example, encoding binary data with C40 generates much more overhead (longer symbol) than with BASE256.

Control characters

RDataMatrix uses the character ~ to recognize some special characters in the input data. The following possibilities are available:

References

You can find more information about data matrix at:


Installation

  After unzipping the file you have received , the activeX needs to be registered in your windows environment by executing the install.bat file. On windows 7 you must right click the bat file and run it as administrator.

If you want to uninstall the OCX you can do it by means of uninstall.bat.

Boths programs just run the regsvr32.exe windows tool in order to register and unregister OCX's.

The ActiveX has been developed using Visual Basic 6.0. For this reason it needs the following files:

  1. the OCX needs the file Msvbvm60.dll. Make sure the file is available at your PC.
  2. If you use the OCX in other development environment different from Visual Basic, you will also need the file Msstkprp.dll.
Let us know if you need any of these files.
 
 

Examples

The product contains the following example:

Visual Basic

In the subdirectory Examples/VB you will find a visual basic 6.0 project you can use to test the ActiveX. The project is already compiled, you can execute it by means of exampleDM.exe.

 

Use with MSAccess

The ActiveX can be inserted into your MSAccess forms and reports. If you want to retrieve a value from the database before you create the barcode you can do it this way:

  1. Place an invisitble text box in the detail band where the barcode resides, and set its Control Source to the appropiate field in the database.
  2. In the detail_format event of the report (or form), place the following code: me!NameOfBarCodeControl.barCode=me!MyControlsName

 

Use with ASP

The ActiveX can also be used in your web applications when you use ASP. The following code shows how this can be done:

<%@ LANGUAGE="VBSCRIPT" %>
<%

set bc=server.createobject("RDatamatrixX.RDMx")
bc.standalone=true
bc.barcode=98765432
bc.encoding=5 'AUTO
bc.preferredFormat=-1 ' AUTO
bc.saveToBMP("c:\inetpub\wwwroot\datamatrix")
set bc=nothing

<HTML>
<BODY>
RDATAMATRIXX<BR>
<img src="datamatrix.bmp">
</BODY>
</HTML>

this script uses RDatamatrixX in order to create a bmp image that can be display in the browser. If you want to use another format (not BMP) you can use external tools for the conversion. The following example uses the JanGraphics freeware library to convert the bmp to a png file:

<%@ LANGUAGE="VBSCRIPT" %>
<%

set bc=server.createobject(""RDatamatrixX.RDMx")
bc.standalone=true
bc.barcode=98765432
bc.saveToBMP("c:\inetpub\wwwroot\datamatrix")
set bc=nothing

set conv=createobject("janGraphics.Compendium")
conv.convert "c:\inetpub\wwwroot\datamatrix.bmp","c:\inetpub\wwwroot\datamatrix.png"
set conv=nothing
%>

 

 

Properties and methods

The activeX RDM.ocx has following properties and methods:

Methods

Properties