Serialization Method

The Method option, which is located on the Serialization tab of the Serialization dialog, specifies the set of characters that are used to serialize the contents of a data source. The "Alphanumeric" setting works best for most purposes, but you can also choose from six other settings, including a "Custom" setting, which works together with the Sequence option so that you can specify any unique set of characters.

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

Sequences that include both letters and numbers serialize items from the last character forward. For example, for an Uppercase A-Z sequence that uses a starting value of "1A1A", the sequence consists of "1A1A, 1A1B, 1A1C...1A1Z, 1A2A...".

The following options are available:

Alphabetic and/or Numeric: Specifies that 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. This means that if the characters to be serialized start as numeric, the serialized data will continue to be numeric and, if the characters to be serialized start 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)
Numeric: The set of characters that are used in the serialization sequence are the ten digits 0 through 9 only.
Alphabetic: The set of characters that are used in the serialization sequence are 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 that are used in the serialization sequence 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 that are used in the serialization sequence 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 are a specific sequence of your choosing, as specified in the Sequence field, as follows:
- Sequence: Displays the characters that BarTender uses to serialize the data source.

When you create a custom sequence, the same character cannot be specified twice in the same set of characters. If you repeat a character in the sequence that you specify, BarTender automatically displays error message 6620. For example, if you enter the five-character sequence 24682, the error message is displayed, and you cannot continue until the repeated character is deleted.