Sun StarOffice & OpenOffice Barcode Font Tutorial

This tutorial describes how to use IDAutomation's barcode fonts in Sun StarOffice and OpenOffice. The solutions described here are compatible with Star Office 8 and Open Office 2.0 and should be compatible with later releases.

Index:

• Prepare OpenOffice for the use of barcode fonts
• Barcode Creation in Calc
• Barcode Creation in Base
• Barcode Creation in Writer
• Download macros (includes VB source code and examples)
• Symbologies included in barcode macros
• Download the free barcode font
• It is important to have the ability to test printed barcodes with a barcode scanner. If a scanner is not available for testing purposes, IDAutomation sells high quality complete barcode scanner kits.

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The following will prepare OpenOffice applications such as Calc, Base or Writer for use with IDAutomation's barcode fonts.

1. The default method Star Office and Open Office uses to display font names is to list them in their own font as a preview. This works well for text fonts; however, barcode fonts cannot be viewed this way because their names cannot be chosen. To allow viewing of barcode font names in Calc, Base or Writer choose Tools - Options - View, deselect the "Show Preview of Fonts" check box and choose OK.
   
2. The additional items below do not have to be performed when using the Code 39 Barcode Fonts. If a checksum is required for Code 39 or another barcode type is needed, perform the steps below to install the macros. These macros will reformat the data to the barcode fonts and handle any required checksum calculations.
3. Choose Tools - Options - Security - Macro Security and set the level to Medium and choose OK.
   
4. Download and extract the IDAutomationVB.bas file.
5. Choose Tools - Macros - Organize Macros - OpenOffice.org Basic.
6. In the macro from area, click on the name of the desired file and choose New. This will embed the macros and Visual Basic source code into the file.
   
7. Remove the Sub Main and End Sub lines that are automatically added.
   
8. Click on the Insert Basic Source button and choose the file IDAutomationVB.bas provided in the download.
   
   This will automatically add the code into the editor window.
9. Choose File - Save and File - Exit to exit the VB editor.
10. Shut down all OpenOffice applications and install the IDAutomation barcode fonts. If unsure of what barcode font type to use, IDAutomation recommends the Code 128 Barcode Fonts.

1. If the tasks in the Prepare OpenOffice section have not been completed, do so now.
2. Open Calc and Create an area in the spreadsheet column for the barcode.
3. Size the column to make sure it is wide enough to contain the entire barcode.
4. Format the column so that any text appearing in it will be centered. This is necessary to create the white space (often called the quiet zone) before and after the barcode.
5. Enter the formula in the cell that will format the data to the barcode font - this is where the barcode will appear. For use with the Code 39 font, enter the formula of ="*" & A1 & "*" in the cell. If unsure of which function or barcode to use, IDAutomation recommends using the Code 128 fonts, using the formula =Code128(A1;0;0) where A1 refers to the cell location of the data to be formatted and encoded in the barcode.
   After entering the formula, the modified text that is to be formatted and encoded for the barcode font should appear in the cell with the formula.
   
6. Apply the applicable barcode font to the cell and size the cell so there is at least 4 times the white space before and after the barcode based on the thickest bar in the barcode.
   
7. To create barcodes for other cells in the column, select the original cell and choose Edit - Copy and select the new cell or cells, then choose Edit - Paste.
8. To allow for easier scanning of barcodes in cells, select the bar-coded cells and choose Format Cells - Borders and set the spacing to 4 points.
   

This section is currently under construction. In the interim, consider IDAutomation's easy-to-use Barcode Label Software or Barcode Image Generator products. To assist with information that would be beneficial to this section, please contact IDAutomation.

To create barcodes in an OpenOffice Writer mail merge using macros, it is necessary to use Calc as the data source. The field used for the data source in Writer should be the column in Calc where the formula has been applied, which is used to format the data to the barcode font. IDAutomation suggests using the last column of the spreadsheet in order to avoid any merging problems. To set up the Calc spreadsheet with the macros, please refer to the Calc Tutorial.

1. Calc requires a medium security setting to run macros. Open Calc, set the security level to medium by choosing Tools - Options - Security - Macro Security, set the level to Medium and choose OK.
2. To begin the mail merge go to Tools - Mail Merge Wizard.
3. First, select the starting document for the Mail Merge. In this example, the current document will be used. Click Next.
   
4. The following screen will default to Letter. Click Next.
5. On the Insert Address Block screen, click Select Different Address List. The next screen will list the available Calc spreadsheets available to use.
   
6. Select the Name and Table from the list provided or choose data from a different location by clicking Add. A new table may also be created by selecting Create. Once the selection has been made, click OK.
   
7. On the Insert Address Block screen, select "This document shall contain an address block" and click Match Fields.
   
8. Start with the first 'Address elements' field and match the fields wanted to the spreadsheet attached. Click OK.
   
9. Now click on More and select Edit.
   
10. Remove the address elements not mapped to the spreadsheet. Click OK twice, then click Next.
    
11. The salutation should be disabled on the next screen.
12. Skip Adjust Layout because it will be easier to move the barcode area on the next Edit Document screen, where the text box created may be manually aligned on the original Writer document. This will also be the time where the barcode font will be applied to the encoded data as well as adding any additional information to the document such as data fields if needed.
13. Click Next and the mail merge will be completed. If specific notes need to be applied to individual pages in the merge, the Personalize Document screen will allow users to add notes to single pages.
14. The Print screen will save the document or print out directly.
15. After the merge is performed, print and scan the barcode(s) to verify the correct data is encoded. If a scanner is needed to verify barcodes, IDAutomation suggests the easy-to-use USB Barcode Scanners.
16. When distributing the mail-merge, the font should be embedded in Writer and the Calc data source must be accessible.

The barcode macros listed below are supplied in the file named "IDAutomationVB.bas" which is provided in the download package.

For all functions listed below, the DataToEncode is the string data type. Other data types, such as numbers or dates, may need to be converted to the string data type to be properly encoded. All parameters are required. For example, use Code128("123456"; 0; 0) instead of Code128("123456"). For all number symbologies, such as POSTNET and UPC, dashes or spaces may be imputed for easier readability, the dashes and spaces will be filtered out before the barcode is generated. For UPC-A, UPC-E & EAN-13, the +2 and +5 add-on codes may be created by adding the data to the end of the string.

* NOTE: Interleaved 2 of 5 fonts dated May 1, 2001 or later must be used for Interleaved 2 of 5 functions. Code 128 fonts dated December 2000 or later MUST be used for Code 128 functions.

IDAutomation offers a free, fully functional Code 39 barcode font. This product may be freely used by individuals and organizations that have gross annual revenue of less than $500,000 USD or are classified as nonprofit for tax purposes excluding government and military organizations. This product may also be freely used by educational organizations such as schools and universities. Any other use requires a purchase of IDAutomation's Code 39 Font Advantage Package to be properly licensed. IDAutomation also offers fully functional demo versions of their products available for download.

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