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In early 1991 the Uniform Code Council (UCC) and the International Article Numbering Association (EAN) released new barcode standards for use in the worldwide distribution of retail, industrial, and commercial products. These new standards, often called "GS1-128 (UCC/EAN-128)," specify a standard of application identifiers (AI). An application identifier is a numeral that prefixes and identifies the intended purpose (such as batch number or perishability date) of a barcode data field. For example, the AI "01" indicates that what follows is the 14-digit GS1 primary identification number, and AI "30" means that what follows is the number of items in each package.

When the GS1-128 (UCC/EAN-128) option or the Apply Application Identifier Specification option on the Symbology and Size property page is enabled, BarTender automatically adds certain characters and performs certain functions required to print GS1-128 (UCC/EAN-128) compliant barcodes, including the following:

• Leading FNC1 character generated automatically: A FNC1 character is printed at the beginning of the barcode. (If the symbology is GS1-128 (UCC/EAN-128), it appears immediately following the GS1-128 (UCC/EAN-128) start character). It is used as an identification prefix or "flag character" to indicate that the rest of the symbol code complies with the new GS1 distribution standards.

• Additional FNC1 characters can be entered manually: The FNC1 character may be entered manually by putting "^1" into the barcode data string for use as a field separator when combining multiple data fields into a single barcode. This use of the FNC1 character is described in more detail in the following topics, GS1 Application Identifiers and Entering Function Characters into the GS1-128 (UCC/EAN-128) Data String.

• GS1 Application Identifiers: All of the current GS1 Application Identifiers are supported by BarTender. In GS1 barcodes, Application Identifiers immediately precede the string of characters that they identify. They tell a barcode reader what type of data field to expect and often the length of the data field as well.

• Automatic addition of check digits to certain data fields: Certain data fields with Application Identifiers make use of an additional check digit, usually a MOD 10. When such a data field is used, BarTender automatically computes and appends the appropriate check digit to the data field. Since GS1-128 (UCC/EAN 128) supports multiple data fields, each of which could be a type that gets its own check digit, a given barcode printed by BarTender could potentially contain numerous data fields, each with its own check digit.

• Extra spaces and parentheses are added to the human readable characters: Most GS1 applications specify that extra spaces and parentheses be added to the barcode's human readable characters. In its default mode, BarTender automatically generates these characters in their most common configuration. However, the GS1 Template option on the Human Readable property page gives you other configurations to choose from. If your application requires characters not supported by the GS1 Template option, they can be entered using BarTender's standard Character Template option.

The following options are available for GS1 Composite symbols featuring more than one data source:

• Apply Application Identifier Specification to Primary Data GS1 Composite: Visible as an option for the following types:

  • GS1 DataBar Expanded

  • GS1 DataBar Expanded Stacked

  • GS1-128 (CC-A/CC-B)

  • GS1-128 (CC-C)

• Apply Application Identifier Specification to Secondary Data GS1 Composite: Visible as an option for all types.

The following option is available for GS1 DataBar (RSS) symbols: 

• Apply Application Identifier Specification: Visible as an option for the following types:

  • GS1 DataBar Expanded

  • GS1 DataBar Expanded Stacked

Supported Symbologies

This option is available for the following symbologies:

• Code 128

• GS1-128

• GS1 Composite

• GS1 DataBar (RSS)