How to use insertBom parameter in the method BarcodeGenerator.setCodeText

Use insertBom parameter in the BarcodeGenerator.setCodeText method

In version 25.2, the setCodeText(String codeText, Charset encoding, boolean insertBOM) method was introduced in the BarcodeGenerator class.
This method allows setting the code text with a specified encoding and optionally inserting a BOM (Byte Order Mark) at the beginning of the string.

Usage examples of method.

 public class ExampleUsageInsertBom
 {

    private static final String folderPath = "PathToFolder";

    @Test
    public void test() throws IOException
    {
        Path fullPath = Paths.get(folderPath, "barcode1.png");
        BarcodeGenerator generator1 = new BarcodeGenerator(EncodeTypes.CODE_128);
        generator1.setCodeText("123ABCD", StandardCharsets.US_ASCII,true);
        generator1.save(fullPath.toString(), BarCodeImageFormat.PNG);

        BarcodeGenerator generator2 = new BarcodeGenerator(EncodeTypes.CODE_128);
        generator2.setCodeText("123ABCD", StandardCharsets.ISO_8859_1);
        generator2.save(Paths.get(folderPath, "barcode2.png").toString(), BarCodeImageFormat.PNG);

        BarcodeGenerator generator3 = new BarcodeGenerator(EncodeTypes.QR);
        generator3.setCodeText("123ABCD", StandardCharsets.UTF_8, true);
        generator3.save(Paths.get(folderPath, "barcode3.png").toString(), BarCodeImageFormat.PNG);

        BarcodeGenerator generator4 = new BarcodeGenerator(EncodeTypes.QR);
        generator4.setCodeText("123ABCD", StandardCharsets.UTF_8, false);
        generator4.save(Paths.get(folderPath, "barcode4.png").toString(), BarCodeImageFormat.PNG);
    }
 }

Impact of insertBOM on Barcode Generation

The insertBOM parameter affects the generated barcode image only in specific cases.

Combinations of Barcode types and encodings where insertBOM affects the generated image

Barcode Type	Encoding	Does insertBOM Affect?	Reason for Impact
QR Code	UTF-8 / UTF-16 / UTF-32	✅ Yes	BOM adds extra bytes at the beginning of data, altering the encoded content.
Micro QR Code	UTF-8 / UTF-16 / UTF-32	✅ Yes	Same as QR Code.
DataMatrix	UTF-8 / UTF-16 / UTF-32	✅ Yes	Encoding with BOM modifies encoded data.
GS1 DataMatrix	UTF-8 / UTF-16 / UTF-32	✅ Yes	Similar to DataMatrix.
PDF417	UTF-8 / UTF-16 / UTF-32	✅ Yes	Encoding changes affect data representation.
MicroPDF417	UTF-8 / UTF-16 / UTF-32	✅ Yes	Same as PDF417.
Aztec	UTF-8 / UTF-16 / UTF-32	✅ Yes	BOM adds bytes, altering encoded data.
MaxiCode	UTF-8 / UTF-16 / UTF-32	✅ Yes	Encoding changes impact the final representation.
Code 128	UTF-8 / UTF-16 / UTF-32	✅ Yes	BOM affects the encoded text by adding extra bytes.
GS1-128 (UCC/EAN-128)	UTF-8 / UTF-16 / UTF-32	✅ Yes	Similar to Code 128.
Code 39	UTF-8 / UTF-16 / UTF-32	✅ Yes	BOM adds unexpected characters, modifying the encoded data.
Code 93	UTF-8 / UTF-16 / UTF-32	✅ Yes	Similar to Code 39, BOM introduces unexpected characters.

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Combinations of Barcode types and encodings where insertBOM does not affect the generated image

Barcode type	Encoding	Does insertBOM affect?	Reason for no impact
EAN-13 / EAN-8	Any	❌ No	Only numeric data, BOM does not apply.
UPC-A / UPC-E	Any	❌ No	Only digits, encoding does not matter.
Interleaved 2 of 5	Any	❌ No	Only numeric data, encoding does not affect output.
MSI	Any	❌ No	Only numeric data.
Codabar	Any	❌ No	Limited character set, encoding has no effect.
ITF (Interleaved 2 of 5)	Any	❌ No	Only numbers, encoding does not change the result.

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Summary

• insertBOM affects the barcode image when using UTF-8, UTF-16, or UTF-32 encodings in barcodes that support multibyte characters (QR Code, DataMatrix, PDF417, Aztec, MaxiCode, Code 128, etc.).
• insertBOM does not affect the barcode if the barcode type supports only numeric characters or a restricted character set (EAN-13, UPC, Code 39, Codabar, etc.).

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