Mode (QR Code)

GS1 (FNC1): Specifies that GS1 (FNC1) mode is used. This mode supports messages that contain specific data formats in accordance with the UCC/EAN Application Identifier standard or a specific industry-wide standard that is approved by AIM. This mode is required for all GS1 QR Code symbols.

You can manually switch between modes in a single barcode. To do this, encode the appropriate mode change command in your data stream, as follows:

• ^N switches to numeric mode.

• ^A switches to alphanumeric mode.

• ^B switches to byte mode.

Unlike QR Code, GS1 QR Code does not support kanji characters, so ^K does not function to manually change modes.

• Auto: Specifies that BarTender automatically determines the appropriate language mode to use from the four that are available (Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Japanese, and Korean). Additionally, this option supports changing modes within the string as required based on the input data.

• Binary (Compressed): Specifies that the compressed binary mode is used. This mode supports the 8-bit byte encoding mode, and the encoder compresses the input data. In some cases, this can reduce the symbol size. However, due to the size of the compression algorithm that becomes a part of the symbol, compression can actually increase the size of a symbol.

• Binary (Uncompressed): Specifies that the uncompressed binary mode is used. This mode supports the 8-bit byte encoding mode.

• Chinese Simplified: Specifies that the Chinese Simplified encoding mode is used, and sets the text encoder to Chinese Simplified (GB-2312, 936). Additionally, this option supports changing modes within the string as required based on the input data.

• Chinese Traditional: Specifies that the Chinese Traditional encoding mode is used, and sets the text encoder to Chinese Traditional (Taiwan, Big 5, 950). Additionally, this option supports changing modes within the string as required based on the input data.

• Japanese (Kanji): Specifies that the Japanese (kanji) encoding mode is used, and sets the text encoder to Japanese (Shift JIS, 932). Additionally, this option supports changing modes within the string as required based on the input data.

• Korean: Specifies that the Korean encoding mode is used, and sets the text encoder to Korean (Hangeul, 949). Additionally, this option supports changing modes within the string as required based on the input data.

When you select a binary mode (compressed or uncompressed), the original Unicode string from the data source is converted to a byte sequence of the specified text encoding. If the original string contains characters of a language that cannot be converted to the specified encoding, you receive an error message. To avoid this, select Binary for the text encoding.

• Auto: Specifies that BarTender automatically determines which character set to use based on the data that is provided for the barcode.

• Numeric: Specifies that numeric characters (0–9) are used.

• Alphanumeric: Specifies that the following alphanumeric characters are used: 0–9, uppercase A–Z, space character, dollar sign ($), percent (%), asterisk (*), plus sign (+), hyphen (-), period (.), colon (:), and slash mark (/).

• Japanese (Kanji): Specifies that Shift JIS values 8140_HEX–9FFC_HEX and E040_HEX–EAA4_HEX are used. (These are values that are shifted from those of JIS X 0208. For more information, refer to JIS X 0208 Appendix 1: Shift-Coded Representation.)

• Binary: Specifies that the JIS 8-bit character set (Latin and Kana) is used in accordance with JIS X 0201.

• Manual: Specifies that the barcode must contain at least one of the following code commands, which specify which character set to use. You can use additional code commands to switch between character sets, as follows:

  • ^N switches the character set to numeric mode.

  • ^A switches the character set to alphanumeric mode.

  • ^K switches the character set to Japanese (kanji) mode.

  • ^B switches the character set to binary mode.

  If the data stream is Unicode, data that follows ^K and ^B is converted to the kanji encoding. Data that follows ^N and ^A is converted to the ANSI 1252 (Western languages) encoding.

  The following is an example of a code stream that switches from numeric to alphanumeric to binary (the mode change commands are in bold):

  ^N12345678^AABCDEFG^B1248

  If the mode is set to the default setting of Auto, these mode change commands do not work. Instead, BarTender selects the required character sets for the data automatically.

• Auto: Specifies that BarTender automatically determines which character set to use based on the data that is provided for the barcode.

• Numeric: Specifies that numeric characters (0–9) are used.

• Alphanumeric: Specifies that the following alphanumeric characters are used: 0–9, uppercase A–Z, space character, dollar sign ($), percent (%), asterisk (*), plus sign (+), hyphen (-), period (.), colon (:), and slash mark (/).

• Japanese (Kanji): Specifies that Shift JIS values 8140_HEX–9FFC_HEX and E040_HEX–EAA4_HEX are used. (These are values that are shifted from those of JIS X 0208. For more information, refer to JIS X 0208 Appendix 1: Shift-Coded Representation.)

• Binary: Specifies that the JIS 8-bit character set (Latin and Kana) is used in accordance with JIS X 0201.

• Manual: Specifies that the barcode must contain at least one of the following code commands, which specify which character set to use. You can use additional code commands to switch between character sets, as follows:

  • ^N switches the character set to numeric mode.

  • ^A switches the character set to alphanumeric mode.

  • ^K switches the character set to Japanese (kanji) mode.

  • ^B switches the character set to binary mode.

  If the data stream is Unicode, data that follows ^K and ^B is converted to the kanji encoding. Data that follows ^N and ^A is converted to the ANSI 1252 (Western languages) encoding.

  The following is an example of a code stream that switches from numeric to alphanumeric to binary (the mode change commands are in bold):

  ^N12345678^AABCDEFG^B1248

  If the mode is set to the default setting of Auto, these mode change commands do not work. Instead, BarTender selects the required character sets for the data automatically.

• GS1 (FNC1): Specifies that GS1 (FNC1) mode is used. This mode supports messages that contain specific data formats in accordance with the UCC/EAN Application Identifier standard or a specific industry-wide standard that is approved by AIM. This mode is required for all GS1 QR Code symbols.

• HIBC: Specifies that the Health Industry Bar Code (HIBC) standard is used. When you select this option, the encoding is forced to US ASCII.