BarcodePlugin

This plugin is used to create embedded barcodes in topics. Currently only Code128 codes are supported. Support for other standard codes could easily be added for any standard supported by Perl Barcode or CPAN:GD::Barcode modules.

The original inspiration for this was so I could generate barcodes that can be read by a CueCat

One useful application is to print out a page with the Topic name encoded in the barcode. Then use the scanner to quickly jump to the Wiki page for editing. eg,. %BARCODE{text="%TOPIC%"}%

%BARCODE{text="BarcodePlugin"}%

Syntax Rules

The %BARCODE{parm="value" ...}% variable gets expanded to an image representing the barcode.

%Barcode% Parameter	Comment	Default
text	The text to encode	"R.T.F.M."
padding	Size of whitespace before & after barcode	5
height	Height of barcode. Set to "0" for minimum size. Must be at least 15% of the width of the final barcode.	0
scale	How many pixels for the smallest barcode stripe	2
border	Size of the black border around the barcode	0
font	Font for the text at the bottom. Font may be one of the following: "giant", "large", "medium", "small", or "tiny". Or, it may be any valid GD font name, such as "gdMediumFont".	"medium"
font_align	Align the text ("left", "right", or "center")	"center"
transparent_text	0/1: use transparent background for text?	1 - Transparent
show_text	0/1: Show text under the barcode	1 - Text is shown
cue_cat	0/1: Swap upper and lower case for Cue Cat	0 - No swap

BarcodePlugin Settings

Plugin settings are stored as preferences variables. To reference a plugin setting write %<plugin>_<setting>%, for example, %DEFAULTPLUGIN_SHORTDESCRIPTION%

• One line description, shown in the TextFormattingRules topic:
  • Set SHORTDESCRIPTION = This plugin creates embedded Code128 barcodes in a page.

• Debug plugin: (See output in data/debug.txt)
  • Set DEBUG = 0

Examples

You type ...	Expect output	If Installed
%BARCODE{text="Hello" transparent_text="0" height="0" }%		%BARCODE{text="Hello" transparent_text="0" height="50"}%
%BARCODE{text="BarcodePlugin2004" scale="1"}%		%BARCODE{text="Barcode01234" scale="1"}%

I use this to generate a table of topics with the topic encoded in a barcode. I then use a cuecat to scan the barcode and take me to the relevent page. Here is the verbatim code, note the use of the "$percent" to escape the BARCODE tag in the formatted search:

%TABLE{ sort="on" tableborder="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="3" headerbg="#666699" 
headercolor="#FFFFCC" databg="#CCCCCC, #EFEFEF" headerrows="1" footerrows="1" }%
|*Box Database</b>%ENDCOLOR%*||||
|*Box #*|*Location*|*Owner*|*Barcode*|*Contents*|
%SEARCH{ "HouseBox[0-9][0-9][0-9]" scope="topic" regex="on" nosearch="on" nototal="on" format="
| [[$topic]] | $formfield(HouseBoxLocations) |  $formfield(HouseBoxOwners) 
| $percntBARCODE{text=$topic scale=1 padding=20}$nop% 
|$formfield(Description)|" }%

Plugin Installation Instructions

Note: You do not need to install anything on your browser to use this plugin. The following instructions are for the administrator who installs the plugin on the server where Foswiki is running.

• Make sure your Perl administrator has installed the Barcode::Code128 module. (perl -MCPAN -e "install Barcode::Code128")
• Make sure you have GD 1.20 or later installed.
• Download the ZIP file from the Plugin web (see below)
• Unzip BarcodePlugin.zip in your Foswiki installation directory. Content:

  File:	Description:
  lib/Foswiki/Plugins/BarcodePlugin.pm	Plugin Perl module
  data/System/BarcodePlugin.txt	Plugin topic
  pub/System/BarcodePlugin/example_0.png	Sample barcode image
  pub/System/BarcodePlugin/example_1.png	Sample barcode image

• Visit configure in your Foswiki installation, and enable the plugin in the {Plugins} section.
• Test if the plugin is correctly installed:
  • Check above examples if the "if installed" column shows images instead of variables.

Plugin Info

Plugin Author:	Original: TWiki:Main/StevenSprouse / Ported to Foswiki by Foswiki:Main.WillNorris and Foswiki:Main.KennethLavrsen
Plugin Version:	1.004 (30 Mar 2009)
Change History:
30 Mar 2009	v1.004 - Directory paths fixed and extention released on foswiki.org
15 Dec 2008	v1.003 - Rebranded to Foswiki
11 Nov 2004	v1.002 - Improved benchmarks by changing Perl module load timing.
5 Nov 2004	v1.001 - Added cue_cat flag
4 Nov 2004	v1.000 - Initial release
Foswiki Dependency:	$Foswiki::Plugins::VERSION 1.024
CPAN Dependencies:	CPAN:Barcode::Code128
	CPAN:GD v1.20 or later
Other Dependencies:	none
Perl Version:	5.8
Plugin Home:	http://foswiki.org/Extensions/BarcodePlugin
Support:	http://foswiki.org/Support/BarcodePlugin

Related Topics: DefaultPreferences, SitePreferences, Plugins