Has anyone printed a PDF-417 font successfully?

[AnalogKid2DigitalMan]

I've searched the forums on PDF 417, there were a few relevant threads but none answered decisively with a successful outcome.

I looking at purchasing a PDF-417 for use in a sub-vi whose front panel has an indicator (set to use the PDF-417 font) that prints out automatically with the barcode to a laser printer. Since there will be a lot of data encoded in it, was wondering if there are any native graphics issues with resolution.

So, has anyone successfully done this before? Any suggested reputable sources as where to purchase? There seems to be a lot of 'questionable' sources that I would rather avoid.

The fonts only cost a few hundred dollars so if no one reponds I'll just purchase one initially to test out. Eventually there will be 6 stations performing this function.

Neat trick- with the camera based bar code scanners you can scan a barcode displayed on the monitor. 🙂

Thanks

-AK2DM

[Ben_S]

AnalogKid2DigitalMan,

Hello!

I too wasn't able to find anything on printing a PDF-417 either. However what  did find about PDF-417I'll share with you incase you hadn't allready run across this.

• We have Instrument Drivers for the Microscan Systems MS 850 PDF417 2D bar code scanner
• There is a VI that reads PDF417 Barcode Data

[Neil.Pate]

I had issues printing out a barcode font when the font size was increased. In Word or Open Office the barcodes printed perfectly regardless of the font size (by printed perfectly I mean they could be scanned in with no issues), but when doing a panel print from LabVIEW although the barcode looked right to the eye they would not scan properly.

[A_Patel]

Hi nrp,

How does it look when you print it out?

Can you please post a VI using the font?

thanks

Flash

[Neil.Pate]

Flash,

This was last year some time, I do not have the VI anymore.

To the human eye it looked ok, but there must have been some scaling issues (I needed a really big barcode, about 1.5 inch high and 4 inches along) that prevented it from being scanned correctly.

[AnalogKid2DigitalMan · Accepted solution]

Well, I have achived success.

Downloaded a trial version of Morovia's PDF417 Fontware, used a simple ActiveX interface within LabVIEW. Attached is the barcode generated using 3 point MRV PDF417XS font.

As I suspected there was an issue. It looks great on the monitor, but is somewhat rasterized in both axis, more noticeable horizontally. More pronounced on laser vs inkjet printers. I will experiment with other fonts and point sizes.

It does scan successfully. Time to buy a corporate liscence.

-AK2DM