Serialization Method

The Method option, located on the Serialization tab of the Serialization dialog, specifies the set of characters that will be used to serialize the contents of a data source. The "Alphanumeric" setting works best for most purposes, though you can also choose from six other settings, including a "Custom" setting which works in conjunction with the Sequence option to allow the specification of any unique set of characters.

For any alphabetic or alphanumeric methods, letter types are available to determine which set will be used (i.e., uppercase or lowercase). You can also choose options to exclude numbers that could potentially be confused for numbers, such as uppercase "I", uppercase "O", and lowercase "l".

The following options are available for Method:

• Alphabetic and/or Numeric. With this setting, BarTender automatically senses at print-time whether the initial characters in the data source to be serialized are numeric, alphabetic, or some combination of the two, and maintains compatibility with that character set. That is, if the characters to be serialized start out as numeric, the serialized data will continue to be numeric and, if the characters to be serialized start out as alphabetic, the serialized data will continue to be alphabetic. The following letter options are available:

  • Uppercase A-Z

  • Uppercase A-Z without "I" and "O" (avoids confusion with "0" and "1")

  • Lowercase a-z

  • Lowercase a-z without "l" (avoids confusion with 1)

  Sequences that include both letters and numbers serialize from the last character forward. For instance, an Uppercase A-Z sequence using a starting value of "1A1A", the sequence would consist of "1A1A, 1A1B, 1A1C...1A1Z, 1A2A...".

• Numeric. The set of characters used in the serialization sequence will be made up of the ten digits 0 through 9 only.

• Alphabetic. The set of characters used in the serialization sequence will be alphabetic only. (Although there are 26 characters in this set, we do not refer to it as base 26, because it does not start with 0, as do standard numbering systems.) The following letter options are available:

  • Uppercase A-Z

  • Uppercase A-Z without "I" and "O" (avoids confusion with "0" and "1")

  • Lowercase a-z

  • Lowercase a-z without "l" (avoids confusion with 1)

• Alphanumeric. The set of characters used in the serialization sequence will include the ten digits 0 through 9 and the 26 characters A through Z (in that order). (Unlike the "Alphabetic and/or Numeric" setting, both sets of characters are always used, not one or the other.) Because there are 36 characters in this set, it is sometimes referred to as "base 36." The following letter options are available:

  • Uppercase A-Z

  • Uppercase A-Z without "I" and "O" (avoids confusion with "0" and "1")

  • Lowercase a-z

  • Lowercase a-z without "l" (avoids confusion with 1)

• Hexadecimal. The set of characters used in the serialization sequence will include the ten digits 0 through 9 and the following letter options:

  • Uppercase A-F

  • Lowercase a-f

• Custom Sequence. The set of characters in the serialization sequence will be a specific sequence of your choosing, as defined in the Sequence field below:

  • Sequence. Displays the characters that BarTender will use to serialize the data source.

    When creating a custom sequence, BarTender does not allow you to specify the same character twice in a single set of characters. If you repeat a character in the sequence that you specify, BarTender will automatically display error message 6620. For example, if you type in a five-character sequence of 24682, the error will display, and you will not be able to continue until the repeated character has been deleted.

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