Creating Barcodes in Oracle XML BI Publisher (BIP)
The implementation tutorial presented here creates barcodes in Oracle XML Publisher with RTF templates using the QR Code Font and Encoder. This example is a summary taken from a barcoding blog written by Tim Dexter at the Oracle Website. For assistance with this tutorial and technical support, please refer to the examples provided on the Oracle site:
- Oracle blogs about BI Publisher
- BI Publisher Barcode Font Tutorial Applications and Components
- QR Code Font and Encoder Package (Developer License and up)
- BI Publisher
- Microsoft Word
- BarcodeUtil.java file. Download an example from Tim Dexter's article or download a copy from IDAutomation.
- Collection of Jar files from the jlib folder of the BI Publisher Desktop install.
Java Barcode Jars | Symbology Information | Class File Path |
IDAutomation_QRCode_JavaFontEncoder.jar | QRCode with support for Byte, Numeric, and Alpha-numeric encoding modes. Automatic Version selection. | com.idautomation.fontencoder.qrcode |
IDAutomation_LinearJavaFontEncoder.jar | Code 39, Extended Code 39, Code 128, Code 128 auto, GS1-128, Interleaved 2 of 5, Codabar, UPC-A, UPC-E, MSI, EAN-8, EAN-13, Code 11, Code 93, Industrial 2 of 5, USPS Intelligent Mail IMb, Postnet & Planet, GS1 DataBar, Stacked, Truncated, Stacked Omni-directional, Limited, Expanded, Expanded Stacked Omni-directional, and Universal Fonts | com.idautomation (Linear, Databar, and Intelligent Mail) com.idautomation.universalencoder (Universal) |
AztecEncoder.class | Aztec matrix generation with automatic mode selection and GS1 compatibility. AIM Specification ANSI/AIM BC13 ISS Aztec Code. | com.idautomation.fontencoder.aztec |
IDAutomation_JavaFontEncoder_DataMatrix.jar | Data Matrix with ECC200, ASCII, text, C40 and Base256 encoding, Includes support for US DOD UID and macro codeword 236 and 237 ISO/IEC 15434 formats | com.idautomation.fontencoder.datamatrix |
PDF417Encoder.class | PDF417 with EC levels 1 to 8, text and binary encoding. | com.idautomation.fontencoder.pdf417 |
IDAutomation_JavaFontEncoder_DotCode.jar | In Development and Testing | com.idautomation.fontencoder.dotcode |
IDAutomation_JavaFontEncoder_MaxiCode.jar | MaxiCode with structured append, UPS encoding and mode 2-6 support. | com.idautomation.fontencoder.maxicode |
- Install all required applications and components for Word and BI Publisher.
- Purchase, download, extract, and install the QR Code Font and Encoder (Developer License and up).
- A Java Font Encoder class file is included as .jar with the license. Extract this file and retrieve the .jar.
- Set up the .jar file in your environment. View Oracle's documentation for additional help.
- Access Tim Dexter's BarcodeUtil.java file available in the qrbarcodes-2.zip.
- Because the Quick Quips tutorial was created in 2012, the
BarcodeUtil.java available in Tim's article has a few outdated
parameters. The Encoder section of the tutorial provides an example of the parameters. Open the BarcodeUtil.java file and verify that it is updated to this:
/* Import the idautomation encoder class */
import com.idautomation.fontencoder.qrcode.QRCodeEncoder;QRCodeEncoder qre = new QRCodeEncoder();
boolean ApplyTilde = false;
String EncodingMode = "Byte";
int Version = 0;
String ErrorCorrectionLevel = "M";
boolean BestMask = false;
return qre.FontEncode(DataToEncode, ApplyTilde, EncodingMode, ErrorCorrectionLevel,Version,BestMask); - Within the BarcodeUtil.java file, include an encoder call to the IDAutomation_QRCode_JavaFontEncoder.jar :
- Verify the IDAutomation_QRCode_JavaFontEncoder.jar is in the classpath.
- Access the jlib path and place the following jar files in the classpath: xdocore.jar, xmlparserv2.jar, collections.jar, aolj.jar, share.jar, xdoparser.jar, jewt4.jar, 18nAPI_v3.jar.
- Compile the BarcodeUtil.java file to create a new class. If there are errors, contact Tim Dexter directly.
- After creating the BarcodeUtil.class, create a jar file to store it in. In the example, Tim Dexter names it barcodejar.jar.
- Copy the IDAutomation_QRCode_JavaFontEncoder.jar and the barcodejar.jar to the jlib folder within the Template Builder for Word.
- So that BI Publisher can find the wrapper class, all the jars required for the project must be put into the RTF2PDF.jar which is located in the jlib folder.
- Make a back up of the RTF2PDF.jar file.
- Open the RTF2PDF.jar using Winzip or 7zip and access the META-INF directory. Open and edit the MANIFEST.MF to include the jars at the end of the classpath list:
Manifest-Version: 1.0
Class-Path: ./activation.jar ./mail.jar ./xdochartstyles.jar ./bicmn.jar ./jewt4.jar
./share.jar ./bipres.jar ./xdoparser.jar ./xdocore.jar ./xmlparserv2.jar
./xmlparserv2-904.jar ./i18nAPI_v3.jar ./versioninfo.jar
./barcodejar.jar ./IDAutomation_JavaFontEncoder_QRCode.jar
Main-Class: RTF2PDF - In order to render the barcode in a PDF report, it must be embedded by referencing the font within a config file in the BI Publisher config folder. Open
the xdo example.cfg file located:
- Add an entry for the IDAutomation2D font in the code area under the font setting:
<!--IDAutomation 2D QR Code Font--> <font family="IDAutomation2D" style="normal"> <truetype path="C:\windows\fonts\IDAutomation2D.ttf"/> </font>
- Return to Word and access the BI Publisher file. Double-click the field to barcode and choose Add Help Text to open the Form Field.
- In the Status Bar tab, enter the first command:
<?register-barcode-vendor:'ENCODER WRAPPER CLASS'; 'ENCODER NAME'?>
- In the Help Key (F1), enter the second command:
<?format-barcode:DATA_TO_ENCODE;'ENCODER_METHOD_NAME';'ENCODER_NAME'?>
- To ensure the data is encoded, view the document (PDF,RTF,HTML):
- Return to the project and select the IDAutomation2D font from the font list. View the document.
Class[] clazz = new Class[] { "".getClass() };
//ENCODERS.put("code128a",mUtility.getClass().getMethod("code128a", clazz));
//ENCODERS.put("code128b",mUtility.getClass().getMethod("code128b", clazz));
//ENCODERS.put("code128c",mUtility.getClass().getMethod("code128c", clazz));
ENCODERS.put("qrcode",mUtility.getClass().getMethod("qrcode", clazz));
This entry will register the encoder method.