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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 standards, now called "GS1-128" (previously "UCC/EAN-128"), specify a standard for application identifiers (AI).

An application identifier is a numeral that prefixes a barcode data field and identifies its intended purpose (such as batch number or sell-by date). For example, an AI of "01" indicates that what follows is the 14-digit GS1 primary identification number, and an AI of "30" indicates that what follows is the number of items in each package.

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

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

• Additional FNC1 characters can be entered manually: You can enter the FNC1 character manually by inserting "^1" into the barcode data string for use as a field separator when you combine multiple data fields into a single barcode. For more information about this use of the FNC1 character, refer to GS1 Application Identifier Data Source Wizard and Entering Function Characters.

• GS1 AIs are supported: BarTender supports all of the current GS1 AIs. In GS1 barcodes, AIs immediately precede the string of characters that they identify. They tell a barcode reader what type of data field to expect, and they often also indicate the length of the data field.

• Check digits are automatically added to certain data fields: Certain data fields that have AIs use an additional check digit, which is usually a modulo 10. When such a data field is used, BarTender automatically computes and appends the appropriate check digit to the data field. Because GS1-128 supports multiple data fields, each of which could be a type that uses its own check digit, a barcode that is 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 that are not supported by the GS1 Template option, you can enter these characters by using BarTender's standard Character Template option.

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

• Apply Application Identifier Specification to Primary Data GS1 Composite: Available 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: Available for all types.

The following option is available for GS1 DataBar symbols: 

• Apply Application Identifier Specification: Available for the following types:

  • GS1 DataBar Expanded

  • GS1 DataBar Expanded Stacked

Supported Symbologies

These options are available for the following symbologies:

• Code 128

• GS1-128

• GS1 Composite

• GS1 DataBar