Integration Barcode Fonts With Visual Basic .NET (2.0)

SampleFontVB is a VB (.NET 2) project that demonstrates the integration of the ConnectCode DLL with  Visual Basic . The source code for SampleFontVB is provided in the download below and requires Visual Studio 2005 or later to compile. For the barcodes to be properly displayed, the trial version of ConnectCode Barcode Font Pack has to be installed .

The following is a screenshot of the sample in Vista.



Download

Download the SampleFontVB.zip executable and source code.

The ConnectCode Barcode Fonts DLL and the source for the SampleFontVB sample can be freely used, compiled and distributed with the users' (or developer's) applications as long as they are being used with any one of the registered barcode font packs. Redistribution of ConnectCode's fonts will, however, require a Distribution or Unlimited Distribution License.

Steps for integrating the DLL into your Visual Basic .NET Project

1) Make sure the namespace System.Runtime.InteropServices is imported into your project

Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices

2) Copy the DLLImport statements for connectcodefont.dll into your project.

3) Make calls to the DLL to encode the input data. For example

Dim inputstr As String
Dim outputstr As System.Text.StringBuilder
inputstr = "12345678"
Encode_Code39(inputstr, 0, outputstr, outputstr.Capacity)

The result will be stored in the outputstr variable. 

4) Set the font of the outputstr to the appropriate barcode font. For example, if you are using Encode_Code39, then the font to choose should be CCode39_S3. (If you are developing with the Trial version of ConnectCode Font Pack, the font to choose would be CCCode39_S3_Trial instead)


 

The SampleFontVB sample includes all the above steps in a short and easy to understand program.

Note that the barcodes generated with the Trial version of ConnectCode Font Pack will have horizontal lines across them.

 


DLLImport Statements for Visual Basic .NET

Copy the following block of statements into your VB .NET project to integrate with the DLL. To use DLLImport statements in your project, you will need to import the System.Runtime.InteropServices namespace. 

Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices

The connectcodefont.dll file has to be placed in the same folder as the executable for it to load properly. 

 

<DllImport("connectcodefont.dll")> _
Public Shared Function Encode_Code128Auto(ByVal instr As String, ByVal outstr As System.Text.StringBuilder, ByVal outstrmax As Integer) As Integer

End Function
<DllImport("connectcodefont.dll")> _
Public Shared Function Encode_Code39(ByVal instr As String, ByVal checkdigit As Integer, ByVal outstr As System.Text.StringBuilder, ByVal outstrmax As Integer) As Integer

End Function
<DllImport("connectcodefont.dll")> _
Public Shared Function Encode_POSTNET(ByVal instr As String, ByVal checkdigit As Integer, ByVal outstr As System.Text.StringBuilder, ByVal outstrmax As Integer) As Integer

End Function
<DllImport("connectcodefont.dll")> _
Public Shared Function Encode_Code93(ByVal instr As String, ByVal checkdigit As Integer, ByVal outstr As System.Text.StringBuilder, ByVal outstrmax As Integer) As Integer

End Function
<DllImport("connectcodefont.dll")> _
Public Shared Function Encode_Codabar(ByVal instr As String, ByVal checkdigit As Integer, ByVal outstr As System.Text.StringBuilder, ByVal outstrmax As Integer) As Integer

End Function
<DllImport("connectcodefont.dll")> _
Public Shared Function Encode_Code39Ascii(ByVal instr As String, ByVal checkdigit As Integer, ByVal outstr As System.Text.StringBuilder, ByVal outstrmax As Integer) As Integer

End Function
<DllImport("connectcodefont.dll")> _
Public Shared Function Encode_I2of5(ByVal instr As String, ByVal checkdigit As Integer, ByVal outstr As System.Text.StringBuilder, ByVal outstrmax As Integer) As Integer

End Function
<DllImport("connectcodefont.dll")> _
Public Shared Function Encode_ITF14(ByVal instr As String, ByVal checkdigit As Integer, ByVal bearer As Integer, ByVal outstr As System.Text.StringBuilder, ByVal outstrmax As Integer) As Integer

End Function
<DllImport("connectcodefont.dll")> _
Public Shared Function Encode_Industrial2of5(ByVal instr As String, ByVal checkdigit As Integer, ByVal outstr As System.Text.StringBuilder, ByVal outstrmax As Integer) As Integer

End Function
<DllImport("connectcodefont.dll")> _
Public Shared Function Encode_ModifiedPlessy(ByVal instr As String, ByVal checkdigit As Integer, ByVal outstr As System.Text.StringBuilder, ByVal outstrmax As Integer) As Integer

End Function
<DllImport("connectcodefont.dll")> _
Public Shared Function Encode_EAN13(ByVal instr As String, ByVal humantext As Integer, ByVal outstr As System.Text.StringBuilder, ByVal outstrmax As Integer) As Integer

End Function
<DllImport("connectcodefont.dll")> _
Public Shared Function RetrieveOptionalString_EAN13(ByVal instr As String, ByVal humantext As Integer, ByVal strtype As Integer, ByVal outstr As System.Text.StringBuilder, ByVal outstrmax As Integer) As Integer

End Function
<DllImport("connectcodefont.dll")> _
Public Shared Function Encode_UPCA(ByVal instr As String, ByVal humantext As Integer, ByVal outstr As System.Text.StringBuilder, ByVal outstrmax As Integer) As Integer

End Function
<DllImport("connectcodefont.dll")> _
Public Shared Function Encode_EAN8(ByVal instr As String, ByVal outstr As System.Text.StringBuilder, ByVal outstrmax As Integer) As Integer

End Function
<DllImport("connectcodefont.dll")> _
Public Shared Function Encode_UCCEAN(ByVal instr As String, ByVal outstr As System.Text.StringBuilder, ByVal outstrmax As Integer) As Integer

End Function
<DllImport("connectcodefont.dll")> _
Public Shared Function Encode_Code128A(ByVal instr As String, ByVal outstr As System.Text.StringBuilder, ByVal outstrmax As Integer) As Integer

End Function
<DllImport("connectcodefont.dll")> _
Public Shared Function Encode_Code128B(ByVal instr As String, ByVal outstr As System.Text.StringBuilder, ByVal outstrmax As Integer) As Integer

End Function
<DllImport("connectcodefont.dll")> _
Public Shared Function Encode_Code128C(ByVal instr As String, ByVal outstr As System.Text.StringBuilder, ByVal outstrmax As Integer) As Integer

End Function
<DllImport("connectcodefont.dll")> _
Public Shared Function Encode_UPCE(ByVal instr As String, ByVal humantext As Integer, ByVal outstr As System.Text.StringBuilder, ByVal outstrmax As Integer) As Integer

End Function
<DllImport("connectcodefont.dll")> _
Public Shared Function Encode_EXT2(ByVal instr As String, ByVal outstr As System.Text.StringBuilder, ByVal outstrmax As Integer) As Integer

End Function
<DllImport("connectcodefont.dll")> _ Public Shared Function
Encode_EXT5(ByVal instr As String, ByVal outstr As System.Text.StringBuilder,
ByVal outstrmax As Integer) As Integer

End Function