Positioning of Human Readable Text

In many applications of barcodes, the human readable text provides an easy way to verify the contents of a barcode. To enhance the appearance and/or readability of a barcode symbol, BarTender provides control over the positioning of the barcode by adjusting the placement and alignment of the human readable text. Placement refers to the location of the human readable text in relation to the barcode. Alignment defines the horizontal positioning of the characters within the human readable text. Both options can be configured using the Human Readable property page of the Barcode Properties dialog.

Placement

The placement of the human readable text refers to the position of the text relative to the barcode symbol. When you initially add a barcode to your template, BarTender will, by default, set the placement to Bottom, meaning that the human readable text will be placed below the barcode symbol. All symbologies support the following Placement settings:

• Top. Specifies that the human readable text will display and print above the barcode.

• Bottom. Specifies that the human readable text will display and print below the barcode.

• Left. Specifies that the human readable text will display and print to the left of the barcode.

• Right. Specifies that the human readable text will display and print to the right of the barcode.

When designing and printing circular barcodes, you may wish to place the human readable text inside the barcode. The Middle option, available only for circular barcodes, allows you to place the human readable text in a blank space, so that it is completely surrounded by the barcode symbol. In other words, you can place the human readable text in the "hole" of the barcode.

Once the placement of the human readable text is defined, you can adjust the position of the text by modifying the offset values. The Vertical Offset specifies the vertical distance between the text and the barcode symbol. The Horizontal Offset specifies the position of the text relative to the symbol. A positive value will move the human readable characters to the right; a negative value will move the human readable characters to the left.

Alignment

The alignment of the human readable text specifies the alignment method used to position the human readable text relative to the barcode. For top or bottom placements, this determines the horizontal positioning of the characters. For left or right placement, alignment refers to the vertical position of the text. Depending on your selection for Placement, the following Alignment settings may be available:

• Left. Specifies that the first human readable character lines up with the first bar of the barcode. Available for Top or Bottom placement selections.

• Right. Specifies that the last human readable character lines up with the last bar of the barcode. Available for Top or Bottom placement selections.

• Top. Specifies that the top edge of the human readable text lines up with the top edge of the barcode. Available for Left or Right placement selections.

• Bottom. Specifies that the bottom edge of the human readable text lines up with the bottom edge of the barcode. Available for Left or Right placement selections.

• Bar Density. Specifies that the human readable characters are spaced according to the density of the barcode; the left edge of each human readable character lines up exactly with the left edge of the beginning of each barcode character in the barcode message. Available for Anker-Plessey, BC412, CEPNet, Codabar (NW-7), Code 11 (USD-8), Code 39 - Full ASCII, Code 39 - Regular, Code 93, Code 128, Datalogic 2-of-5 (China Post), GS1-128, Industrial 2-of-5, Interleaved 2-of-5, ITF-14, Japanese Post 4-State Customer Code, KIX 4-State Customer Code, Matrix 2-of-5, MSI Plessey, NEC 2-of-5, Royal Mail 4-State Customer Code, Standard 2-of-5 (IATA), Telepen, UK Plessey, USPS Intelligent Mail (4-State Customer Code), USPS PLANET, and USPS POSTNET (Zip, ZIP+4, DPBC) for Top or Bottom placement selections.

• Space Evenly. Specifies that the human readable characters are spaced evenly along the width of the barcode; the left and right edges of the human readable line up exactly with the left and right edges of the barcode. Available for Australia Post 4-State Customer Code, Channel Code, Circular Codes, Code 32 (Italian Pharmacode), Deutsche Post Identcode, Deutsche Post Leitcode, GS1 DataBar (RSS), Korea Post, OPC (Optical Product Code, VCA), PHARMA-CODE - One-Track, PHARMA-CODE - Two-Track, PosiCode, and PZN, when Hide Error Correction Digits is unchecked.

• Centered. Specifies that the human readable characters are centered between the two edges of the barcode. Available for all placement selections.

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