Barcode Reading Settings

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Overview

In the reading process implemented in Aspose.BarCode for PHP via Java, data decoding is initiated according to the special protocol after scanning the raw data from a graphical representation. Some linear and postal barcode types have passed standardization after their wide implementation, and therefore, it has led to the presence of incompatible decoding formats. To resolve possible conflicts, class BarCodeReader provides a special class called BarcodeSettings used to manage barcode decoding settings.

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

Checksum Controls

Various 1D and postal types include checksum control mechanisms for data integrity verification. To adjust checksum settings for data validation purposes, class BarcodeSettings contains the ChecksumValidation class. Generally, barcode types can be classified according to the following types: with obligatory checksum controls and with optional ones. The ChecksumValidation class suggests different options for these two groups. The barcode reading procedure varies in line with checksum settings.

$generator = new BarcodeGenerator(EncodeTypes::EAN_13, "1234567890128");
$generator->save("c:/test.png", BarcodeImageFormat::PNG);
$reader = new BarCodeReader("c:/test.png", DecodeType::EAN_13);
//checksum disabled
$reader->getBarcodeSettings()->setChecksumValidation(ChecksumValidation::OFF);
foreach($reader->readBarCodes() as $result)
{
     echo ("BarCode CodeText: ".$result->getCodeText());
     echo ("BarCode Value: " + result.getExtended().getOneD().getValue());
     echo ("BarCode Checksum: " + result.getExtended().getOneD().getCheckSum());
}
$reader = new BarCodeReader(@"c:\test.png", DecodeType::EAN_13);
//checksum enabled
$reader->getBarcodeSettings()->setChecksumValidation(ChecksumValidation::ON);
foreach($reader->readBarCodes() as $result)
{
     echo ("BarCode CodeText: " + result.CodeText);
     echo ("BarCode Value: " + result.getExtended().getOneD().getValue());
     echo ("BarCode Checksum: " + result.getExtended().getOneD().getCheckSum());
}

Checksum Validation for Barcodes with Obligatory Checksum

Barcoded types with obligatory checksum controls require performing compulsive checksum validation when ChecksumValidation is initialized using DEFAULT or ON values. Alternatively, setting the OFF value turns off checksum verification and in this way, allows decoding information from invalid barcodes. This option increases the probability of incorrect recognition.

Checksum Validation for Barcodes with Optional Checksum

ChecksumValidation allows enabling and disabling checksum controls for barcode standards with optional checksum verification. To request checksum validation, the following setting should be enabled: ON. When other options, DEFAULT and OFF, are used, checksum controls are disabled.

Managing Barcodes with Unicode Encodings

Aspose.BarCode for PHP via Java provides class BarcodeSettings. It includes the setDetectEncoding function that enables the automatic reading of UTF8 and UTF16 Unicode encodings for 2D types and allows re-encoding barcode information in a string with Unicode characters. If this reading mode is turned off, barcode information can be scanned and decoded manually based on the desired encoding.

$generator = new BarcodeGenerator(EncodeTypes::QR, "Слово"))
$im = $generator->generateBarcodeImage(BarcodeImageFormat::PNG);
 
//encoding detection for Unicode encodings is enabled
$reader = new BarCodeReader($im, DecodeType::QR);
$reader->getBarcodeSettings()->setDetectEncoding(true);
foreach($reader->readBarCodes() as $result)
    echo ("BarCode CodeText: ".$result->getCodeText());
 
//encoding detection is disabled
$reader = new BarCodeReader($im, DecodeType::QR);
$reader->getBarcodeSettings()->setDetectEncoding(false);
foreach($reader->readBarCodes() as $result)
    echo ("BarCode CodeText: ".$result->getCodeText());

FNC Symbols

The GS1 association suggests using FNC character to perform decoding of some barcodes, including Code 128 and Code 128. Four types of FNC symbols (FNC1-4) are supported. FNC1 is the most widely used one that is intended for GS1 Application Identifier (AI) marking. When a barcode does not relate to any of GS1 types (for example, Code 128 or GS1 Code 128), the decoder processes FNC symbols as “<FNC#>”. These symbols can be removed from decoding results passing the False value to the setStripFNC function.

$generator = new BarcodeGenerator(EncodeTypes::GS_1_CODE_128, "(02)04006664241007(37)1(400)7019590754");
$generator->save("c:/test.png", BarcodeImageFormat::PNG);
$reader = new BarCodeReader("c:/test.png", DecodeType::CODE_128);
 
//StripFNC disabled
$reader->getBarcodeSettings()->setStripFNC(false);
foreach($reader->readBarCodes() as $result)
{
    echo ("BarCode CodeText: ".$result->getCodeText());
}
 
$reader = new BarCodeReader("c:/test.png", DecodeType::CODE_128);
 
//StripFNC enabled
$reader->getBarcodeSettings()->setStripFNC(true);
foreach($reader->readBarCodes() as $result)
{
    echo ("BarCode CodeText: ".$result->getCodeText());
}

Read Australia Post Barcodes

Australia Post is a 4-state postal barcode type implemented by the Australian Post. This type requires including special two-digit format control code (FCC) fields and eight-digit sorting code (SC) fields into barcode information. FCC fields are intended to set one of three supported types with various fixed numbers of bars: 37, 52, or 67 bars. For some FCC, barcodes may comprise a customer information (CI) field that indicates one of the encoding types supporting numerical or alphanumeric characters. Customer information can take 31 bars in 67-length barcodes or 16 bars in 52-length ones. The Australia Post symbology has checksum controls and supports Reed-Solomon error correction.

Because of the possible presence of customer information in barcode information for Australia Post, the reading process has some peculiarities. Class AustraliaPostSettings is provided to manage recognition parameters according to specific industrial needs.

Decoding Customer Information in Standard Formats

The Australia Post standard enables encoding additional customer data in three formats; automatic detection of the used format is not supported. The desired decoding format can be enabled through the setCustomerInformationInterpretingType function of class AustraliaPostSettings using the properties of class CustomerInformationInterpretingType shown in the table below.

Australia Post Encoding Table	Supported Symbols
CTable	Numerical digits, English letters, space symbol, and #
NTable	Numerical digits
Other	0, 1, 2, and 3 that correspond to H, A, D, and T states

CTable

$generator = new BarcodeGenerator(EncodeTypes::AUSTRALIA_POST, "5912345678ABCde");
$generator->getParameters()->getBarcode()->getAustralianPost()->setAustralianPostEncodingTable(CustomerInformationInterpretingType::C_TABLE);
$image = $generator->generateBarcodeImage(BarcodeImageFormat::PNG);
$reader = new BarCodeReader($image, DecodeType::AUSTRALIA_POST);
$reader->setCustomerInformationInterpretingType(CustomerInformationInterpretingType::C_TABLE);
foreach($reader->readBarCodes() as $result)
{
    print("BarCode Type: ".$result->getCodeType());
    print("BarCode CodeText: ".$result->getCodeText());
}

NTable

$generator = new BarcodeGenerator(EncodeTypes::AUSTRALIA_POST, "59123456781234567");
$generator->getParameters()->getBarcode()->getAustralianPost()->setAustralianPostEncodingTable(CustomerInformationInterpretingType::N_TABLE);
$image = $generator->generateBarcodeImage(BarcodeImageFormat::PNG);
$reader = new BarCodeReader($image, DecodeType::AUSTRALIA_POST);
$reader->setCustomerInformationInterpretingType(CustomerInformationInterpretingType::N_TABLE);
foreach($reader->readBarCodes() as $result)
{
   print("BarCode Type: ".$result->getCodeType());
   print("BarCode CodeText: ".$result->getCodeText());
}

Other

$generator = new BarcodeGenerator(EncodeTypes::AUSTRALIA_POST, "59123456780123012301230123");
$generator->getParameters()->getBarcode()->getAustralianPost()->setAustralianPostEncodingTable(CustomerInformationInterpretingType::OTHER);
$image = $generator->generateBarcodeImage(BarcodeImageFormat::PNG);
$reader = new BarCodeReader($image, DecodeType::AUSTRALIA_POST);
$reader->setCustomerInformationInterpretingType(CustomerInformationInterpretingType::OTHER));
foreach($reader->readBarCodes() as $result)
{
   print("BarCode Type: ".$result->getCodeType());
   print("BarCode CodeText: ".$result->getCodeText());
}

Removal of Filling Patterns

The Australia Post type requires setting a fixed size for each subtype. When the CTable format is enabled, the empty space included in the input message is decoded as “z”. To disable this property, the setIgnoreEndingFillingPatternsForCTable function needs to be called.

$generator = new BarcodeGenerator(EncodeTypes::AUSTRALIA_POST, "5912345678AB");
$generator->getParameters()->getBarcode()->getAustralianPost()->setAustralianPostEncodingTable(CustomerInformationInterpretingType::C_TABLE);
$image = generator->generateBarCodeImage(BarcodeImageFormat::PNG);
$reader = new BarCodeReader($image, null, DecodeType::AUSTRALIA_POST);
$reader->getBarcodeSettings()->getAustraliaPost()->setCustomerInformationInterpretingType(CustomerInformationInterpretingType::C_TABLE);
$reader->getBarcodeSettings()->getAustraliaPost()->setIgnoreEndingFillingPatternsForCTable(true);
foreach($reader->readBarCodes() as $result)
    echo("BarCode Type: ".$result->getCodeType());
    echo("BarCode CodeText: ".$result->getCodeText());
}

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