Generate Barcodes using WinForms and WPF in C#

This article provides all necessary information and instructions to perform barcode generation using GUI-based C# tools, such as WinForms and WPF.

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.

Overview

AsposeBarCode for .NET enables GUI-based development using standard C# visual component frameworks: Windows Forms and Windows Presentation Foundation.

Windows Forms (WinForms) is a UI development platform that benefits from wide functionality, including graphics, controls, user input, data biding, and other features. It enables a drag-and-drop visual designer in Visual Studio to facilitate the implementation of Windows applications. WinForms provides various controls that can be added to forms, such as text boxes, buttons, drop-down boxes, radio buttons, and even web pages. To work with custom UI elements, developers can use the System.Drawing namespace that includes specified classes to render lines, circles, and other shapes directly on a form.

Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) is a UI framework that allows creating desktop client applications. As a development tool, it is resolution-independent and employs a vector-based rendering engine to benefit from modern graphics hardware. It supports various application development features, including an application model, security, resources, graphics, controls, layout, documents, data binding, and others. WPF relies on the Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML) to enable a declarative model for application programming. Core WPF building blocks include the following: an application model to deploy application contents; the WPF layout system to simplify the arrangement of controls in a UI; data binding to facilitate the integration between UI and data; the comprehensive range of graphics, animation, and media support to enhance the visual appearance of an application.

Before starting development with the use of GUI-based frameworks, it is necessary to have installed .NET Framework 2.0 for WinForms and .NET Framework 3.0 for WPF. Please note that .NET Core does not support this option.

License Setting

To work with Aspose.BarCode for .NET using GUI-based tools, it is necessary to activate the product license in the application code. General information about how to buy a license or get a trial period is available in Licensing. In this case, the recommended way to install the license is to do that through lazy initialization using the Singleton pattern that serves to call the license setting code via the form initialization constructor, as shown in the code sample below.


internal class LicenseSingleton
{
    private static LicenseSingleton _instance = new LicenseSingleton();
    private LicenseSingleton()
    {
        // init the license
        (new Aspose.BarCode.License()).SetLicense(@"{path}Aspose.Total.Product.Family.lic");
    }

    public static void SetLicense()
    {
        LicenseSingleton local = _instance;
    }
}
	
	//lazy initialization before using the library
	LicenseSingleton.SetLicense();

The following code snippets illustrate how to call license installation code in WinForms and WPF.

Calling License Setting Code in WinForms


public Form1()
{
    //set license
	LicenseSingleton.SetLicense();
    InitializeComponent();
}

Calling License Setting Code in WPF


public MainWindow()
{
    //set license
    LicenseSingleton.SetLicense();
    InitializeComponent();
}

Generate Barcodes in WinForms GUI

Aspose.BarCode for .NET includes a control class called BarCodeGeneratorControl that is inherited from System.Windows.Forms.Control class. BarcodeGeneratorControl class is the key component that enables barcode generation in WinForms. To start a new project in this way, follow the steps outlined below:

Create a new project in WinForms
Add the Aspose.BarCode for .NET library using NuGet:

Right-click on References and then on Manage NuGet Packages

Select and install the Aspose.BarCode for .NET package

Drag the BarCodeGeneratorControl component from the Aspose.BarCode for .NET directory in Toolbox to the form

Insert the license setting code to the System.Windows.Forms.Form constructor as described above in License Setting; otherwise, watermarks will be placed onto generated barcode labels. If the license is activated successfully, the barcode will be generated as in the example below.

Generate Barcodes in WPF

Aspose.BarCode for .NET is compatible with the DLL for the Microsoft WPF framework to enable building WPF-based applications. Barcode generation and recognition functionality can be deployed by referencing Aspose.BarCode.WPF.dll in WPF applications. To implement barcode generation in WPF, follow the steps described below.

Create a new WPF project
Add the Aspose.BarCode for .NET library using NuGet:

Right-click on References and then on Manage NuGet Packages

Install the Aspose.BarCode for .NET package

In Toolbox, open the Choose Items menu. Then, on the WPF Components tab, make sure that the checkbox for BarcodeGeneratorElement is selected. After that, click on the Browse button and choose the library .NET Framework 3.0 or later

Drag the BarcodeGeneratorElement component from Toolbox to the form

Add the license setting code to the System.Windows.Window WPF window as described above in License Setting; otherwise, watermarks will be placed onto generated barcode images. If the license is activated successfully, the barcode will be generated as in the example below.

Set Barcode Checksum Controls in C#