Generate Data Matrix Barcodes in C#

Generate Data Matrix Barcodes Online: You can test the quality of Aspose.BarCode generation for DataMatrix barcodes and get the results online.

Overview

Data Matrix is a 2D matrix barcode type that allows generating barcodes of rectangular and square shapes. It is a widely used industrial barcode standard that enables encoding both sets of characters and byte streams. In the maximal configuration, Data Matrix barcodes include 144 rows and columns and contain up to 1,555 bytes or 3,116 numerical (2,335 ASCII) symbols. Moreover, Data Matrix implies including additional recovery information that is used for data integrity check and error correction so that even severely damaged barcodes can be recognized. This symbology supports two main standards that are described below.

Data Matrix Standard	Description
ECC 000-140	A set of the outdated standards that support only square-shaped configuration, rely on obsolete encoding methods, and enable error correction based on convolutional codes. They are not recommended for use and are currently applied only to work with industrial tasks based on outdated instructions
ECC 200	The actual standard that supports both square and rectangular barcodes, enables modern encoding methods, and provides Reed-Solomon error correction. It is recommended for use in all up-to-date applications

Data Matrix Rectangular Extension

Data Matrix Rectangular Extension (DMRE) has been introduced as a part of the Data Matrix standard to enable the creation of rectangular symbols. This subtype supports all capabilities of ECC 200 and uses the Reed-Solomon error correction algorithm to detect and fix recognition errors. To generate DMRE barcodes, it is necessary to initialize the DataMatrixVersion parameter using the values from DMRE_8x48 to DMRE_26x64.

If you need any clarifications, feel free to reach out Aspose Technical Support: ask your questions at Aspose.Barcode Forum or contact Aspose Paid Support Helpdesk.

Data Matrix ECC Standard Settings

To select the required Data Matrix standard for barcode generation, Aspose.BarCode for .NET provides the DataMatrixEcc property in class DataMatrixParameters. This property can be used to set one of the following standards: ECC 000-140 (a set of the outdated standards) and ECC 200 (the new universal standard). By default, DataMatrixEcc is set to DataMatrixEccType.Ecc200.

ECC 200

To enable the ECC 200 standard explicitly, it is required to set the DataMatrixEcc property to EccAuto or Ecc200. This standard supports all data encoding modes defined in DataMatrixEncodeMode, including the possibility to work with Unicode characters using CodeTextEncoding. Recovery capacity values for error correction are strictly specified in the standard for barcodes of different sizes.

The following code snippet illustrates how to set the ECC 200 encoding standard.

BarcodeGenerator gen = new BarcodeGenerator(EncodeTypes.DataMatrix, "Åspóse.Barcóde©");
gen.Parameters.Barcode.XDimension.Pixels = 4;
//set DataMatrix ECC to 140
gen.Parameters.Barcode.DataMatrix.DataMatrixEcc = DataMatrixEccType.Ecc200;
gen.Save($"{path}DatamatrixEcc200Basic.png", BarCodeImageFormat.Png);

ECC 000-140

ECC 000-140 standards are supported only by the following encoding modes specified in DataMatrixEncodeMode: Auto, ASCII, and Bytes; other encoding modes in this case are automatically processed as Bytes. CodeTextEncoding, ECIEncoding, StructuredAppend, MacroCharacters, and IsReaderProgramming properties are not supported in these standards. ECC 000-140 standards have barcode layout settings that differ from those of ECC 200. Among each other, they vary only in terms of damaged data recovery percentage for different error correction levels, as outlined below.

Error Correction Level	Damage Recovery Capacity
Ecc000	Only error detection
Ecc050	2.8%
Ecc080	5.5%
Ecc100	12.6%
Ecc140	25%

The following code sample shows how to enable the ECC 140 standard.

BarcodeGenerator gen = new BarcodeGenerator(EncodeTypes.DataMatrix, "Åspóse.Barcóde©");
gen.Parameters.Barcode.XDimension.Pixels = 4;
//set DataMatrix ECC to 140
gen.Parameters.Barcode.DataMatrix.DataMatrixEcc = DataMatrixEccType.Ecc140;
gen.Save($"{path}DatamatrixEcc000140Basic.png", BarCodeImageFormat.Png);

Encoding Mode Settings

In Aspose.BarCode for .NET, developers can enable different encoding modes by initializing the DataMatrixEncodeMode property of class DataMatrixParameters. The library supports nine different encoding modes that are listed below. By default, the Auto encoding mode is set.

Encoding Mode	Description
Auto	In Auto mode, the CodeText is encoded with maximum data compactness
ASCII	Allows encoding both ASCII symbols and byte streams, but the characters from 128 to 255 are encoded using 2 bytes
Binary	Encodes any character in 8 bits. This mode is the most suitable for encoding byte streams
C40, Text, EDIFACT, and ANSIX12	Encode only predefined character sets using the specialized industrial encodings, such as C40, Text, EDIFACT, and ANSI X12
ECI	The Extended Channel Interpretation (ECI) mode indicates the encoded data is interpreted according to the ECI protocol defined by the AIM ECI Specifications
Extended	Provides flexible encoding controls and the possibility to manually specify the required encoding for a part of Codetext

Auto Encoding Modes

In Auto mode, the CodeText is encoded with maximum data compactness. Unicode characters are re-encoded using the encoding specified in the ECIEncoding parameter, with an ECI identifier inserted. If a character is found that is not supported by the selected ECI encoding, an exception is thrown. By default, the ECIEncoding property is set to ECIEncodings.UTF8 (ECI ID:"\000026").

The following code snippet explains how to set the Auto encoding mode.

using (BarcodeGenerator gen = new BarcodeGenerator(EncodeTypes.DataMatrix, "Aspose常に先を行く"))
{
    gen.Parameters.Barcode.XDimension.Pixels = 4;
    //set encode mode to Auto
    gen.Parameters.Barcode.DataMatrix.DataMatrixEncodeMode = DataMatrixEncodeMode.Auto;
    gen.Save($"{path}DataMatrixEncodeModeAuto.png", BarCodeImageFormat.Png);
}

ASCII Encoding Mode

The ASCII encoding mode enables both encoding ASCII symbols and byte streams; however, encoding the characters from 128 to 255 requires 2 bytes.

The following code sample shows how to use the ASCII encoding mode.

using (BarcodeGenerator gen = new BarcodeGenerator(EncodeTypes.DataMatrix, "Aspose"))
{
    gen.Parameters.Barcode.XDimension.Pixels = 4;
    //set encode mode to ASCII
    gen.Parameters.Barcode.DataMatrix.DataMatrixEncodeMode = DataMatrixEncodeMode.ASCII;
    gen.Save($"{path}DataMatrixEncodeModeASCII.png", BarCodeImageFormat.Png);
}

Binary Mode

The Binary mode serves to encode byte streams. If a Unicode character is encountered, an exception is thrown. The code sample below explains how to work with this encoding mode.

byte[] encodedArr = { 0xFF, 0xFE, 0xFD, 0xFC, 0xFB, 0xFA, 0xF9 };
using (BarcodeGenerator gen = new BarcodeGenerator(EncodeTypes.DataMatrix))
{
    bg.SetCodeText(encodedArr);
    //set DataMatrix encode mode to Binary
    gen.Parameters.Barcode.DataMatrix.DataMatrixEncodeMode = DataMatrixEncodeMode.Binary;
    gen.Save($"{path}DataMatrixEncodeModeBinary.png", BarCodeImageFormat.Png);

}

ECI Encoding Mode

The Extended Channel Interpretation (ECI) mode indicates that the encoded data is interpreted according to the ECI protocol defined by the AIM ECI Specifications. When the ECI mode is selected, the entire CodeText is re-encoded using the encoding specified in the ECIEncoding parameter, with an ECI identifier inserted. If a character is found that is not supported by the selected ECI encoding, an exception is thrown. By default, the ECIEncoding property is set to ECIEncodings.UTF8 (ECI ID:"\000026").

The following code sample demonstrates how to use the ECI mode.

// ECI mode, Latin/Greek alphabet encoding. ECI ID:"\000009"
var str = "ΑΒΓΔΕ";

using (var bg = new BarcodeGenerator(EncodeTypes.DataMatrix, str))
{
    bg.Parameters.Barcode.DataMatrix.DataMatrixEncodeMode = DataMatrixEncodeMode.ECI;
    bg.Parameters.Barcode.DataMatrix.ECIEncoding = ECIEncodings.ISO_8859_7;
    var img = bg.GenerateBarCodeImage();
}

Extended Encoding Mode

The Extended mode enables adding special control characters to the main barcode text. They serve to set extended control over data encoding and allow manually switching between different encoding schemes and ECI modes within a single barcode. To generate barcodes in this mode, it is recommended to use class DataMatrixExtCodetextBuilder.

The following code snippet explains how to work with the Extended mode.

//create barcode text
DataMatrixExtCodetextBuilder codetextBuilder = new DataMatrixExtCodetextBuilder();
codetextBuilder.AddECICodetext(ECIEncodings.UTF8, "犬Right狗");
codetextBuilder.AddECICodetextWithEncodeMode(ECIEncodings.UTF8, DataMatrixEncodeMode.C40, "ABCDE");
codetextBuilder.AddPlainCodetext("test");
codetextBuilder.AddCodetextWithEncodeMode(DataMatrixEncodeMode.Text, "abcde");

//generate barcode text
string codetext = codetextBuilder.GetExtendedCodetext();

//generate a Data Matrix barcode
using (var generator = new BarcodeGenerator(EncodeTypes.DataMatrix, codetext))
{
    generator.Parameters.Barcode.XDimension.Pixels = 4;
    generator.Parameters.Barcode.CodeTextParameters.TwoDDisplayText = "Extended";
    //set encode mode to Extended
    generator.Parameters.Barcode.DataMatrix.DataMatrixEncodeMode = DataMatrixEncodeMode.Extended;

    generator.Save($"{path}DatamatrixExtended.png", BarCodeImageFormat.Png);

    //attempt to recognize the generated barcode
    using (var reader = new BarCodeReader(generator.GenerateBarCodeImage(), DecodeType.DataMatrix))
    {
        foreach (BarCodeResult result in reader.ReadBarCodes())
            Console.WriteLine("DatamatrixExtended:" + result.CodeText);
    }
}

Industrial Encoding Modes: C40, Text, EDIFACT, and ANSIX12

C40, Text, EDIFACT, and ANSIX12 encoding modes can be used to encode information using specialized industrial encodings. These modes are intended for specific industrial tasks only.

The following code sample explains how to set the C40 encoding mode.

BarcodeGenerator gen = new BarcodeGenerator(EncodeTypes.DataMatrix, "ASPOSE.BARCODE");
gen.Parameters.Barcode.XDimension.Pixels = 6;
//set encode mode to C40
gen.Parameters.Barcode.DataMatrix.DataMatrixEncodeMode = DataMatrixEncodeMode.C40;
gen.Save($"{path}DatamatrixEncodeModeC40.png", BarCodeImageFormat.Png);

Layout Settings

Data Matrix enables different layout variants, which can be set to generate barcodes with required size parameters. To set a layout, it is necessary to initialize the DataMatrixVersion property of class DataMatrixParameters. It can take the following values:

Auto. The barcode size will be selected automatically depending on the amount of data to be encoded.
Values from ECC000_9x9 to ECC000_140_49x49. These options can be used to set the barcode size manually for standards ECC000-140. If the amount of input data does not fit to the selected format, an exception will be thrown.
Values from ECC200_10x10 to ECC200_144x144, from ECC200_8x18 to ECC200_16x48, as well as from DMRE_8x48 to DMRE_26x64. These settings allow selecting the barcode size manually for standard ECC200. If the amount of input data does not fit to the selected format, an exception will be thrown.

Layout Settings	ECC 200 Mode 12 Rows 64 Columns 64	ECC 200 Mode 22 Rows and 22 Columns	ECC 140 Mode 29 Rows and 29 Columns

using (BarcodeGenerator gen = new BarcodeGenerator(EncodeTypes.DataMatrix, "Åspóse.Barcóde©"))
{
    gen.Parameters.Barcode.XDimension.Pixels = 4;
    //set ECC type to Ecc200
    gen.Parameters.Barcode.DataMatrix.DataMatrixEcc = DataMatrixEccType.Ecc200;
    //set rows 22 columns 22
    gen.Parameters.Barcode.DataMatrix.DataMatrixVersion = DataMatrixVersion.ECC200_22x22;
    gen.Save($"{path}DatamatrixRows22Columns22Ecc200.png", BarCodeImageFormat.Png);
    //set rows 12 columns 64
    gen.Parameters.Barcode.DataMatrix.DataMatrixVersion = DataMatrixVersion.DMRE_12x64;
    gen.Save($"{path}DatamatrixRows12Columns64Ecc200.png", BarCodeImageFormat.Png);

    //set ECC type to Ecc140
    gen.Parameters.Barcode.DataMatrix.DataMatrixEcc = DataMatrixEccType.Ecc140;
    //set rows 23 columns 23
    gen.Parameters.Barcode.DataMatrix.DataMatrixVersion = DataMatrixVersion.ECC000_140_29x29;
    gen.Save($"{path}DatamatrixRows29Columns29Ecc140.png", BarCodeImageFormat.Png);
}

Using Macro Characters

In Aspose.BarCode for .NET, developers can use so-called macro characters for Data Matrix barcode generation. Data Matrix enables abbreviating industry-specific headers and trailers in one character. This feature allows reducing the number of characters required to encode data using specific structured formats and can be enabled to address some specific industrial requirements. A macro character needs to be placed be in the first character position.

The following code snippet illustrates how to work with macro characters while generating Data Matrix barcodes.

BarcodeGenerator gen = new BarcodeGenerator(EncodeTypes.DataMatrix, "ASPOSE");
gen.Parameters.Barcode.XDimension.Pixels = 4;
//set macro character to 05
gen.Parameters.Barcode.DataMatrix.MacroCharacters = MacroCharacter.Macro05;
gen.Save($"{path}DatamatrixMacro.png", BarCodeImageFormat.Png);

//attempt to recognize it
BarCodeReader read = new BarCodeReader(gen.GenerateBarCodeImage(), DecodeType.DataMatrix);
foreach (BarCodeResult result in read.ReadBarCodes())
    Console.WriteLine("DatamatrixMacro:" + result.CodeText);

Aspect Ratio Settings

Aspect Ratio is the ratio between the width and height of a barcode. In Aspose.BarCode for .NET, developers can use the AspectRatio property of class DataMatrixParameters to adjust barcode proportions according to the X and Y coordinates. This parameter is defined as a relative coefficient to the value of XDimension. In general, the Aspect Ratio value should be set to 1.

Aspect Ratio	Is Set to 1	Is Set to 0.5

BarcodeGenerator gen = new BarcodeGenerator(EncodeTypes.DataMatrix, "Åspóse.Barcóde©");
gen.Parameters.Barcode.XDimension.Pixels = 4;
//set aspect ratio 1
gen.Parameters.Barcode.DataMatrix.AspectRatio = 1;
gen.Save($"{path}DatamatrixAspectRatio1.png", BarCodeImageFormat.Png);
//set aspect ratio 0.5
gen.Parameters.Barcode.DataMatrix.AspectRatio = 0.5f;
gen.Save($"{path}DatamatrixAspectRatio0.5.png", BarCodeImageFormat.Png);

Structured Append

Structured Append is a special mode, which allows combining together up to 16 Data Matrix symbols. To enable this mode, it is required to initialize three parameters described below:

StructuredAppendBarcodesCount - the number of barcodes (from 2 to 16)
StructuredAppendBarcodeId - the position of a barcode in a set (from 1 to StructuredAppendBarcodesCount)
StructuredAppendFileId - the identifier of a file (from 1 to 64516)

using (BarcodeGenerator gen = new BarcodeGenerator(EncodeTypes.DataMatrix, "Aspose"))
{
    gen.Parameters.Barcode.XDimension.Pixels = 4;
    //set DataMatrix strucutured append mode
    gen.Parameters.Barcode.DataMatrix.StructuredAppendBarcodeId = 3;
    gen.Parameters.Barcode.DataMatrix.StructuredAppendBarcodesCount = 5;
    gen.Parameters.Barcode.DataMatrix.StructuredAppendFileId = 150;
    gen.Save($"{path}DataMatrixStructuredAppend.png", BarCodeImageFormat.Png);
}

Hardware Reader Initialization

To encode a special flag denoting that barcode data is intended to initialize a hardware barcode reader, it is required to set the IsReaderProgramming property. The following code snippet explains how to use this property.

using (BarcodeGenerator gen = new BarcodeGenerator(EncodeTypes.DataMatrix, "Aspose"))
{
    gen.Parameters.Barcode.XDimension.Pixels = 4;
    //set flag that indicates that data is encoded for reader programming
    gen.Parameters.Barcode.DataMatrix.IsReaderProgramming = true;
    gen.Save($"{path}DataMatrixReaderProgramming.png", BarCodeImageFormat.Png);
}

Generate Aztec Code in C# Generate MaxiCode Barcodes in C#