How to Generate BarCodes with ByteScout Barcode SDK

In this article, we’ll see how to generate barcodes with Bytescout Barcode SDK. Generating different types of barcodes from scratch can be challenging for developers, considering one has to follow all specifications and rules for each barcode type. Bytescout Barcode SDK takes heavy lifting from the developer and provides easy to use SDKs for it.

In order to get an idea of how Bytescout Barcode SDK works, we’ll be covering the following programs. 

1. Basic barcode generation
2. Adding a barcode to existing PDF/Image

These programs will be in C#, however, Bytescout Barcode SDK supports different languages too like C++, VBScript, Delphi, Javascript, etc. Bytescout also provides restful web API for these SDKs, so it can be used in all development environments. 

You also need to install Bytescout SDKs in your machine in order to take reference of Bytescout SDK and reference it to execute these programs. This is an installation package to install BarCode SDK.

Let’s get started.

We’ll be using console application in visual studio, which can be created from menu File -> New -> Project, then choose “Console Application” under the “Windows” tab. If you are using the latest IDE at the time of writing this article which is Visual Studio 2019, then select “Console App” from the start page.

Then we’ll be adding a reference for “Bytescout BarCode SDK”.

1> Basic barcode generation

In this program we’ll be going to generate Code39 barcode as follows:

using Bytescout.BarCode;
namespace Sample
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
// Create new barcode
Barcode barcode = new Barcode();
barcode.RegistrationName = "demo";
barcode.RegistrationKey = "demo";

// Set symbology
barcode.Symbology = SymbologyType.Code39;
//barcode.Symbology = SymbologyType.QRCode;

// Set value
barcode.Value = "Sample";

// Save barcode to image
barcode.SaveImage("result.png");

// Show image in default image viewer
Process.Start("result.png");
}
}
}

The output is below.

As you have noticed the code is very simple and straightforward. We can divide this process into the following steps:

1. Initiate Barcode object.

Here, we are generating an object of Barcode class, and providing registration key and name to it. In this demo we’re using demo keys (which has watermarks), however, in production one has to use original keys received upon purchase of Bytescout SDKs.

            Barcode barcode = new Barcode();

barcode.RegistrationName = "demo";
barcode.RegistrationKey = "demo";

2. Specify Symbology.

Specify Symbology depending on which kind of barcode we need to create. Here we’re using Code39 type, however, as shown in the comment we can use different types as per our requirement like QRCode type.

// Set symbology
barcode.Symbology = SymbologyType.Code39;
//barcode.Symbology = SymbologyType.QRCode;

3. Provide an input value.

We’re using the “Value” property to specify barcode input value.

barcode.Value = "Sample";

4. Save output.

Here we’re saving barcode to an image, however, there is different output option available like saving to stream. Or we can add this barcode to existing PDF or Image which we’ll see in the next program.

// Save barcode to image
barcode.SaveImage("result.png");

Bytescout BarCode SDK covers almost all kinds of barcodes to generate. The following are some of the supported Barcode Types with their usage.

The full list of all supported barcode types can be viewed at the following URL.

https://cdn.bytescout.com/help/BytescoutBarCodeSDK/html/79288258-f847-7548-2a5d-de6d03c5f335.htm

2> Adding barcode to existing PDF/Image

This program will demonstrate how to generate a barcode and write to an existing image or PDF file. This can be very helpful in scenarios where we want to add barcodes to existing images or PDF documents.

The input file is as follows:

The program is as below.

class Program
{
static void Main()
{
// Create new barcode and register it.
Barcode barcode = new Barcode();
barcode.RegistrationName = "demo";
barcode.RegistrationKey = "demo";
 
// Set symbology
barcode.Symbology = SymbologyType.Code39;
 
// Set value
barcode.Value = "Sample";
 
// Place barcode at top-right corner of every document page
barcode.DrawToPDF("wikipedia.pdf", -1, 500, 50, "result.pdf");
 
// Place barcode at bottom-right corner of the image
// barcode.DrawToImage("wikipedia.png", -1, 400, 900, "result.png");
 
// Open output file in default PDF viewer
System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("result.pdf");
// System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("result.png");
}
}
It generates the output:

If we analyze this program with the previous program, the only difference is the way we generating output. In this program, we are putting a generated barcode to all PDF pages at a certain location ( top-right corner).

// Place barcode at top-right corner of every document page
barcode.DrawToPDF("wikipedia.pdf", -1, 500, 50, "result.pdf");

Method “DrawToPDF” has the following arguments.

In case we want to render a barcode on an image, we can use the method “DrawToImage” as shown below.

// Place barcode at bottom-right corner of the image
barcode.DrawToImage("wikipedia.png", -1, 400, 900, "result.png");

Arguments of “DrawToImage” are the same as that of the pdf version. One might wonder why we need pageIndex argument for this method which deals in images. Answer to that is, it’s for when we have TIFF file as input; as it can have multiple pages; clever right?.

That’s all guys. I hope you enjoyed this article. If you want to explore more please visit these documents.

You can also try an online barcode scanner for easier daily tasks.

Happy Coding 🙂

   

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