Reportlab and Barcodes

[Neil Benn]

Josh wrote:

>Hi All,
>
>I need someone to explain to me how to output a Code39 barcode to a
>Reportlab PDF. As far as I can tell, there is no means to do this with
>the Canvas object, and the demo that is included with the libraries is
>using the platypus Frame to place the barcode on the form. I do not
>wish to use this method. I'm guessing that it needs to be placed on the
>form as some type of graphic. It's obviously not going to work with the
>drawText method. Any ideas? 
>
>Thanks
>
>Josh
>
>  
>
Hello,

          Code39 isn't that complicated a barcode symbology to work 
with.  What you can do is to write some code which can encode a Code39 
barcode from a string into a simple graphic.  I used to have the 
official spec for the barcode but that was in an old job.  You can get 
the official spec from AIM - you'll have to pay for it but it's not 
much.  Although beware about the Narrow:Width ratio if you're gonna try 
and scan the barcode after printing it out - try and get hold of a 
crappy scanner (I got stung by using a good scanner before in the past).

Cheers,

Neil

-- 

Neil Benn
Senior Automation Engineer
Cenix BioScience
BioInnovations Zentrum
Tatzberg 46
D-01307
Dresden
Germany

Tel : +49 (0)351 4173 154
e-mail : benn at cenix-bioscience.com
Cenix Website : http://www.cenix-bioscience.com