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IDAutomation® Reporting Services Barcode Custom Report Item
User Manual and Tutorial

INDEX:

Installation and Compatibility

Application Compatibility

IDAutomation's Reporting Services Barcode CRI components are compatible with the .NET Framework 2.0 and Microsoft Reporting Services 2005 and later versions. They are used to create barcode images on reports as an integrated control that may be bound to SQL Server database fields.

Barcode Compatibility

The controls support several linear and two-dimensional barcode symbologies including Code 39, Extended Code 39, Code 128, Telepen, Interleaved 2 of 5, LOGMARS, Codabar, EAN-128, GS1-128, USS Code 128, UPC-A, UPC-E, MSI, EAN-8, EAN-13, Code 11, Code 93, Industrial 2 of 5, Postnet, Planet, OneCode USPS4CB, PDF417, MacroPDF417, Data Matrix ECC200 and MaxiCode barcode symbologies.

Installation

  1. Download and unzip the package into a directory on the development computer.
  2. Copy the IDAutomation_ReportingServices_BarcodeCRI.dll file (or in the 2D package, the appropriate file ending in *CRI.dll) from the extracted file to the Visual Studio private assemblies directory (by default, \Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE\PrivateAssemblies) and to the Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services bin directory (by default, \Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.3\Reporting Services\ReportServer\bin). Please note the second directory is machine specific. MSSQL.3 may be MSSQL.1, MSSQL.2, or MSSQL.4.

  3. Copy the IDAutomation_ReportingServices_Barcode.dll file (or in the 2D package, the appropriate file not ending in *CRI.dll) to the Visual Studio private assemblies directory (by default, \Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE\PrivateAssemblies).

Deployment

  1. Edit the rsreportserver.config and the rssrvpolicy.config files in the "\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.3\Reporting Services\ReportServer" directory:
    1. In the rsreportserver.config file insert the following code before </Extensions>
      • <ReportItems>
        <ReportItem Name="LinearBarcode" Type="IDAutomation.ReportingSevices.LinearBarcodeCRI,IDAutomation_ReportingServices_BarcodeCRI"/>
        </ReportItems>
    2. Insert the following code in the rssrvpolicy.config file to add the <CodeGroup
      • <CodeGroup
        class="UnionCodeGroup"
        version="1"
        PermissionSetName="FullTrust"
        Description="This code group grants IDAutomation_ReportingServices_BarcodeCRI.dll FUllTrust permission. ">
        <IMembershipCondition
        class="UrlMembershipCondition"
        version="1"
        Url="C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.2\Reporting Services\ReportServer\bin\IDAutomation_ReportingServices_BarcodeCRI.dll" />
        </CodeGroup>
  2. To register the design component, edit the rsreportdesigner.config file in the "\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE\PrivateAssemblies" and add the following code:

Reporting Services Custom Report Item Tutorial
  1. Follow the steps for installation and deployment.
  2. If adding the custom assembly to an existing report, skip to Step 12.
    Create a report: Select File | New | Project from the Visual Studio .NET 2005 (VS.NET) IDE menu.
    In the New Project dialog, highlight Business Intelligence Projects in the Project Types box and Report Project Wizard in the Templates box.
    Name the sample report appropriately in the Name box. Click OK.
  3. Select the data source. For this example, the AdventureWorks database is used.
    Ensure that the user Edits the connection string to properly connect to the database. Click Next.
  4. Create the query string for generating the report by using the Query Builder.
    Add the Customer table to the query by right-clicking the upper pane in the query builder and selecting Add Table.
    Highlight Customers and click Add and Close.
    Click the CustomerID, TerritoryID, and AccountNumber fields. Click OK.
  5. Click Next on the Design Query Wizard.
  6. Choose the type of report (tabular or Matrix) to create and click Next.
  7. Leave the default values for the grouping of the report and click Next.
  8. Select the style of the table and click Next.
  9. Select the Report Server (The user will want to leave the default value. This was setup during Report Services installation) and the folder for the deployment of the compiled report. Click Next.
  10. Name the report Barcode Company ID and click Finish. The report will now be in Layout mode. The user may run the report to get an idea of how the output will be displayed. The following steps will add the barcode image to the report.
  11. Right click the last column in the table.
    Select Insert Column to the right.
    Label the column Barcode ID by typing directly into the column header.
    Inserting a Barcode ID column into Microsoft Reporting Services.
  12. To add the IDAutomation Reporting Services Barcode CRI component, right click the Report Items Toolbox and select Choose Items...
    In the next window select the .Net Framework Components tab and click browse.
  13. Browse to the IDAutomation_ReportingServices_Barcode.dll in the "\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE\PrivateAssemblies" directory. Click OK.
  14. The Linear Barcode component should be visible in the Report Items Toolbox.
  15. Select the LinearBarcode CRI component and drag it into the Barcode field. The properties of the barcode may be edited in the Properties window.
  16. Click the Preview tab to ensure that a barcode is returned. To verify that the data is being encoded properly, print the report and scan it with a barcode scanner. If a scanner is needed to verify barcodes, IDAutomation suggests the easy-to-use USB scanners.
  17. To deploy the solution to the Report Server, choose Build | Deploy Solution.

Sizing the Barcode CRI Component:

The custom report item component cannot be sized by dragging the object because barcodes must meet specific requirements, such as a precise X dimension (narrow bar width) and barcode height, which is specified in the properties of the control. To increase the barcode width, increase the XDimensionMils property. To increase the height, increase the BarHeight property.

Properties
IDAutomation recommends using default values for all properties, unless requirements dictate otherwise.
Name Default Description
ApplyTilde False When ApplyTilde is set to "1" in Code 128 with the Auto character set, the format ~ddd may be used to specify the ASCII code of the character to be encoded and several other tilde options are enabled.
BackColor Transparent The background color of the barcode canvas.
BarHeightCM 1 The height of the barcode in centimeters (CM).
BearerBarHorizontal 0 The width of the horizontal bearer bars as a multiple of the XDimension; valid options are 0-10.
BearerBarVertical 0 The width of the vertical bearer bars as a multiple of the XDimension; valid options are 0-10.
CaptionAbove null When text appears in this property, it is displayed in the margin above the symbol.
CaptionBelow null When text appears in this property, it is displayed in the margin below the symbol.
CharacterGrouping 0 Determines the number of characters between spaces in the text interpretation of the data encoded in the barcode. Supported values are 0 (which disables grouping), 3, 4 and 5.
CheckCharacter True AddCheckDigit automatically adds the check digit to the barcode when equal to "True". The check digit is required for all symbologies except Code 39, Industrial 2 of 5 and Codabar. When using symbologies that do not require the check digit, the check digit may be disabled.
CheckCharacterInText False AddCheckDigitToText automatically adds the check digit that is encoded in the barcode to the human readable text that is displayed when equal to "True".
CodabarStartCharacter A The Start Character in the Codabar barcode.
CodabarStopCharacter B The Stop Character in the Codabar barcode.
Code128CharSet Auto The set of characters to be used in Code128. Valid values are: Auto, A, B or C. IDAutomation recommends using Auto.
DataToEncode 123456789012 DataToEncode is the data that is to be encoded in the barcode. If the control is connected to a control source, the source will override this field. For example; setting DataToEncode to "=Fields!AccountNumber.value" will encode the values in the AccountNumber field.
Font Sans Serif Used to change the font or font point size of the text interpretation or human readable text.
Color Black The color of the foreground text and bars in the barcode.
LeftMarginCM 0.2 The space of the left margin in centimeters.
NarrowToWideRatio 2.0 The wide to narrow ratio of symbologies that only contain narrow and wide bars such as Code 39, Interleaved 2 of 5 and MSI. Common values are 2, 2.5, 2.75 and 3.
PostnetHeightShortBar 0.1270 The size in centimeters of the short bars when using Planet and Postnet symbologies, and the tracker bar when using the OneCode. The default value .1270CM.
PostnetHeightTallBar 0.3226 The size in centimeters of the tall bars when using OneCode, Planet and Postnet symbologies.  The default value .3226CM.
RenderedImageDPI 300 The DPI of the image that will be rendered when the report is run.
RotationAngle Zero_Degrees Orientation indicates the orientation of the barcode. Valid values are Zero_degrees, Ninety_Degrees, One_Hundred_Eighty_Degrees and Two_Hundred_Seventy_Degrees.
ShowText Yes If ShowText is yes (the default), the human readable text will be displayed with the barcode.
ShowTextLocation Below Determines if the human-readable text is placed above or below the barcode.
SuppSeparationCM 0.5 The distance between the end of the barcode and the beginning of the supplement for UPC/EAN sybologies
SymbologyID Code128 A number that selects the symbology or barcode type. To obtain more information about barcode types, visit the bar-coding for beginners site.
TextMarginCM 0.10 Sets the distance between the symbol and the text in centimeters.
TopMarginCM 0.2 The top margin in centimeters.
UPCESystem 0 The encoding system to be used for UPC-E; valid values are 0, 1, and Auto.
WhiteBarIncrease* 0 A percentage value to increase the white space between the bars to improve readability. Common values are 10, 15, 20 and 25. *
XDimensionMILS 11.8 The width in mils (1/1000 of an inch) of the narrow bars. The X dimension should be increased if the barcode scanner being used does not dependably decode the symbol.

* When used with low resolution devices such as the display screen, changes in the WhiteBarIncrease property value may not be visible in the control itself. However, the change will usually only be visible when printed, if a printer with 300 dpi or greater is used.

Symbology Specific Notes

UPC-A, UPC-E, EAN-8 and EAN-13
Enter the data to be encoded without any spaces or dashes. The +2 and +5 add-on codes can be entered by just adding them to the end of the string. If the check digit is added, it will be ignored and regenerated to ensure that the code can be scanned. If the barcode needs to be rotated by 270, the top margin may need to be increased. For UPC-E, the full 11 or 12 digit UPC-A code must be entered and the barcode will be compressed if possible.

USPS ONECODE 4CB, POSTNET and PLANET
When using the POSTNET barcode, the X Dimension (Narrow Bar Width) of .05 cm or 19 mils should be used. For these barcodes to be acceptable by the U.S. Post Offices, they must be between 22 and 24 bars per inch. Setting the X Dimension to .05 cm or 19 mils should produce about 23 bars per inch. The user should adjust this setting for the printer if the results are different.

Code 128 and GS1-128
The "AUTO" setting for Code 128 will automatically switch character sets as necessary to compact numbers in character set C and encode functions in character set A. IDAutomation's implementation of Code 128 auto has many options available when ApplyTilde is set to "1" or enabled:

UCC128
This symbology option encodes an even number of number digits and includes the FNC1 character in set C as required. Use Code 128 Auto to encode additional FNC1 codes or data containing text or odd numbers. Use the UCC128 function only for UCC-128 applications where the input data is an even number such as in SSCC-18 and SCC-14 barcodes. For example, to encode an SSCC-18 barcode, 00000123455555555558 would be entered as the data input. More information about creating GS1-128 and UCC/EAN 128 barcodes.

Related Products and Links

IDAutomation offers many other products for barcoding purposes including:

Technical Support:

Free product support may be obtained by reviewing articles that are documented at the Reporting Services Support Site and by searching the resolved public help desk issues. Priority phone, e-mail and help desk support is provided up to 30 days after purchase. Additional priority phone, e-mail and help desk support may be obtained if a Priority Support and Upgrade Subscription is active.

 

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