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IDautomation.com UPC/EAN Font Advantage Package DEMO

A license is required for each computer this software is installed on;
this software may only be used according to the License Agreement.
Demo versions of this software may be used for evaluation purposes only

NOTICE: We recommend you use our Font Tools to automatically perform the required check character calculations on barcode fonts and ensure the printed barcode will scan properly. This demo of the UPC/EAN Font Advantage Package is provided for evaluation purposes only. It does not contain any symbols representing the numbers 1, 5 and 7.  If you want to test printing and scanning ability before you order, you will need to think of numbers that do not include 1, 5 or 7 in the symbol or in the check digit. After you order the UPC/EAN Font Advantage Package, you will receive the fully functional font set, with rights to use the font tools, plug-ins, macros and source code in your application. Below are two examples you may use to test the functionality of our font:

Symbol to Produce: Number to use: Characters to type:
UPC-A 20 34 89 34 38 22 W(c03489*NONSMm(W
EAN-8 2034 0698 (2034*KQTS(

INDEX:

Symbology Overview

UPC, UCC, EAN, JAN, ISBN and Bookland barcodes can all be created from our UPC/EAN Font Advantage Package, with the exception of EAN-14, UCC-128 and EAN-128, that are created with Code 128 Barcode Fonts. The primary purpose for these barcodes is to uniquely identify a product and manufacturer for retail checkout and tracking purposes. Below, we briefly describe the different bar code standards.

Because of the complex encoding that is required in these specifications, the fonts may be difficult to use if you are not a technical user or programmer. Therefore, if your application is Microsoft Access, Word, Excel, Visual Basic or C++ we suggest you consider our Linear ActiveX Controls that support UPC, EAN, JAN, ISBN and Bookland, as well as other barcode types, and they automatically calculate everything, so you don't have to be concerned with macros and source code. In addition, Java programmers may try our Java Packages.

UPC/EAN Font Advantage Package Features

Our UPC/EAN Font Advantage Package enables you to print UPC, EAN, JAN, ISBN and Bookland bar codes from systems supporting TrueType, PostScript, PCL, BDF and FON fonts, such as Windows, Macintosh and UNIX. Our UPC/EAN Font Advantage Package much more than just a few fonts! With this package you get 4 different font versions in 6 different font formats. You also get font tools, macros and source code to help you integrate the fonts into your application. Implementing solutions with our fonts provides a high level of scalability with operating system, application and printer independence. Learn more about the quality of our fonts. Details of the UPC/EAN Font Advantage Package are as follows:

Font Installation Instructions

To install the TrueType fonts in Windows, run the INSTALL.EXE program or perform the following for manual installation: 

  1. Click on Start, Select settings and click on Control Panel.
  2. Click on Fonts, Click on File in your main tool bar, Select Install New Font.
  3. Select the folder where you placed the barcode fonts.
  4. The fonts will appear and look like this: FontName (true type) - select the fonts you want to install and choose OK.
  5. Click Start and choose to shut down and restart your computer.
  6. The font should be active when you restart your computer.

Installing the fonts on Macintosh OS X:

  1. Drag or copy and paste the TrueType font file(s) ending in TTF to the Library/Fonts folder.
  2. To activate the fonts, restart the application - some applications may require you to restart the computer.
  3. The font should now be active in the font menu of your application.

To install the TrueType font on the Classic Macintosh (OS 7.1 - OS 9):

  1. Download and install Stuffit Expander on your Macintosh if you do not have an expander utility that can open ZIP files and decode MacBinary files.
  2. Open the ZIP distribution file that contains the fonts by dragging the ZIP file on the Stuffit Expander icon. The font files will be extracted from the ZIP distribution file and will appear in a subfolder of the folder you placed the ZIP file in. Open this subfolder to view the font files.  At this point, you may want to view the documentation supplied with the font files. To do so just drag the file "readme.html" to the Netscape or Internet Explorer icon.
  3. Now we must decode the files from MacBinary format. Drag the font files that you wish to use that end with "mtt" to the Stuffit Expander icon.
  4. Drag the decoded font files to the System - Fonts folder.
  5. Restart the application you wish to use the font with.
  6. The font will be active in the font menu of your application.
  7. To create the correct output for the font, you will need to choose the font in your application and type in the corresponding letter.

Font installation procedures for other operating systems are provided here

Printing with the UPC / EAN Fonts

We recommend you use our Font Tools to automatically perform the required check character calculations on barcode fonts and ensure the printed barcode will scan properly. To manually create the barcode, please refer to the Character Mapping section of this manual.

UPC / EAN Barcode Font Size

The UPC / EAN font characters are all represented in a single font named UPCEAN. UCC standards specify that the UPC / EAN barcode font should be printed at 20 points.  However, they allow a magnification factor of .8 to 2.0 which allows printing at 18 to 36 points.  For best results, print the UPC / EAN barcode font at the largest point size and height possible.  

UPC / EAN Barcode Font Height

Fonts with "s" in the name are "shortened height" fonts, that are below what the UCC recommends, but we have seen these heights in use with UPC-A and UPC-E barcodes and they do scan properly.  Fonts with "m" in the name are medium height fonts and are recommended for printing EAN-8 barcodes. Fonts with "t" in the name are the tallest, with a height of approximately 22mm when printed at 20 points. This height is recommended for printing UPC-A, UPC-E and EAN-13 barcodes. Other various font heights are marked with a number that represents the height in MM of the barcode (minus the human-readable number) printed at 20 points.

About Print Quality

When printing the barcode font, a high quality printer with a 600 DPI or greater should be used; it may also be necessary to reduce the print intensity if you have increased this in the past to a value greater than normal. The proper output can be determined by examining the "normal guard pattern". The space between the two bars of the "normal guard pattern" should be approximately the same as the bar to the left or right of the space.

If you are using a 203 or 300 DPI printer, it is recommended you print at either 20, 25 or above 30 points to create a high quality barcode.

About Check Digits and Character Sets

Barcode Plug-in Also Available - if your application is Microsoft Access, Excel, Word, Visual Basic, C++ or an application that supports ActiveX in Windows, we also sell an easy to use barcode plug-in called the Linear ActiveX Control that supports UPC and EAN as well as other barcode types and they automatically calculate everything, so you don't have to be concerned with macros and source code.

Need a Scanner? - it is important to have the ability to test the barcodes you print with a barcode scanner. If you do not already have a barcode scanner, we also sell high quality complete barcode scanner kits at our IDAutomation.com site.

Barcode Font Character Mapping

In order to represent all symbols of the UPC and EAN barcodes, we have mapped these to the standard PC keyboard. The layout for all symbols of the UPC and EAN barcodes is presented in figures 1-1 through 1-5. The following barcodes should be made up as follows, reading from left to right:

UPC-A:

  1. The number representing the first digit from figure 1-3.
  2. Normal guard pattern from figure 1-4.
  3. The number representing the first digit from figure 1-2.
  4. 5 digits from character set A of figure 1-1.
  5. A center pattern.
  6. 5 symbols from character set C of figure 1-1.
  7. The last (or 12th) digit from figure 1-2.
  8. Normal guard pattern from figure 1-4.
  9. The last (or 12th) digit from figure 1-3.

Below is a sample of the UPC-A barcode encoding the number 20348934382 with a check digit of 2.  The check digit and characters were calculated using our Bar Code Check Digit Calculator & Printing Application. To print out this barcode, we chose the UPCEANs font and typed W(c03489*NONSMm(W to get the proper output.  UPC-A barcode font sample

UPC-E: (also called the zero-suppression barcode)

  1. The number representing the prefix digit from figure 1-3.
  2. Normal guard pattern from figure 1-4.
  3. 6 symbols from character sets A or B.
  4. Special guard pattern from figure 1-4.
  5. The number representing the check character from figure 1-3.

EAN-13, ISBN, Bookland, ISSN & JAN:

  1. The number representing the 1st digit encoded by variable parity, from figure 1-3.
  2. Normal guard pattern from figure 1-4.
  3. 6 symbols from character sets A and B of figure 1-1. The difference between character sets A and B (called variable parity) is how the check digit is encoded. This can be automatically calculated with our font automation tools, or can be calculated manually by reviewing the variable parity section below.
  4. A center pattern.
  5. 6 symbols from character set C of figure 1-1.
  6. Normal guard pattern from figure 1-4.

Variable Parity in EAN13:

In EAN-13, the leading digit is encoded into the left half of the EAN-13 symbol by using variable parity between character sets A and B according to the following VB source code:

Select Case LeadingDigit
 Case 0 Encoding = "AAAAAACCCCCC"
 Case 1 Encoding = "AABABBCCCCCC"
 Case 2 Encoding = "AABBABCCCCCC"
 Case 3 Encoding = "AABBBACCCCCC"
 Case 4 Encoding = "ABAABBCCCCCC"
 Case 5 Encoding = "ABBAABCCCCCC"
 Case 6 Encoding = "ABBBAACCCCCC"
 Case 7 Encoding = "ABABABCCCCCC"
 Case 8 Encoding = "ABABBACCCCCC"
 Case 9 Encoding = "ABBABACCCCCC"
End Select

EAN-8:

  1. Normal guard pattern from figure 1-4.
  2. 4 symbols from character set A of figure 1-1.
  3. A center pattern.
  4. 4 symbols from character set C of figure 1-1.
  5. Normal guard pattern from figure 1-4.
Digit Value Letter to type for
Character Set A
Letter to type for
Character Set B
(ASCII + 17)
Letter to type for
Character Set C
(ASCII + 27)
0 0 A K
1 1 B L
2 2 C M
3 3 D N
4 4 E O
5 5 F P
6 6 G Q
7 7 H R
8 8 I S
9 9 J T

Figure 1-1: UPC / EAN barcodes with human readable characters. These are the primary barcodes with the number representing the symbol printed at the bottom.

 

Digit Value

Letter to type for
Character Set A
(ASCII + 49)

Letter to type for
Character Set C
(ASCII + 59)

0 a k
1 b l
2 c m
3 d n
4 e o
5 f p
6 g q
7 h r
8 i s
9 j t

Figure 1-2: UPC / EAN barcodes without human readable characters below. Used for far left and far right digits of UPC-A symbols and other barcodes as required.

 

Digit Value Letter to type to
print numbers only
(ASCII + 37) / 
(ASCII + 64)
0 U 85
1 V 86
2 W 87
3 X 88
4 Y 89
5 u 117
6 v 118
7 w 119
8 x 120
9 y 121
Greater symbol >  
Dash "-" -  
Less symbol <  
Add-on Greater '  

Figure 1-3: UPC / EAN numbers and characters without barcodes. These are used as required for human interpretation but are not printed as a barcode.

 

Guard Patterns Letter to Type
Normal Guard Pattern (
Center Pattern *
Special Guard Pattern )
Add-on Guard Pattern +
Add-on Delineator !
9X (UPC add-on space) Space
7X (EAN add-on space) Z
2X `

Figure 1-4: UPC / EAN guard patterns and special functions. 

 

Digit Value Letter to type for
Character Set A
ASCII Letter to type for
Character Set B
ASCII
0 " 34 z 122
1 # 35 = 61
2 $ 36 ? 63
3 % 37 @ 64
4 & 38 [ 91
5 , 44 \ 92
6 . 46 ] 93
7 / 47 _ 95
8 : 58 { 123
9 ; 59 } 125

Figure 1-5: Add-on UPC / EAN barcodes with human readable characters. These barcodes can be used for ISSN, ISBN Bookland and others that require an add on barcode.  The human readable character is printed above the barcode.

More Information

About the UPC and EAN Numbers:

You must obtain a UCC or EAN company number before you can start barcoding. This company number allows a company to build ID numbers that uniquely identify products, assets, etc. Information on this can be obtained at the UCC website or EAN website.

JAN:

For more information on JAN barcodes visit the Japanese Standards Association website.

ISBN and Bookland:

For more information on ISBN and Bookland barcodes visit the ISBN website.


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