2-dimensional barcodes

[Hondaman]

Every autumn/Christmas, I find myself wanting to create some barcodes for use at my workplace. I don't have access or authority to use any software at work for this purpose, so I must rely on "home-built" solutions. These barcodes will be printed out and be laminated on a lanyard around my neck.

I would like barcodes that can be easily resized, so I can find the size that works best for the laser barcode readers that we have.

I would rather have software (and the final barcode files) here on my local machine (no web-based software, and no proprietary formats if possible). The barcodes I will create could range from, I don't know, 16-20 "squares" on both X and Y axis to 32 or maybe more, and probably be around, oh, I don't know, 20-23 millimeters in each dimension (maybe larger for more complex barcodes).

I thought about Inkscape for Windows/Linux; I toyed around with it briefly in 2005, but now it seems full-featured, quite complex and better suited to photo editing.

I suppose the interface would have a "grid". Kind of like working with the gridlines on a 8.5 by 11 inch sheet of paper in a desktop publishing program, but these gridlines would only be for what amounts to a 16 by 16 or a 32 by 32 piece of clipart, basically (the user can choose the exact size beforehand). I could click with a mouse to turn each square white or black, then save the file. That's all I need.

Is this the best way to accomplish this task? I don't need a huge, full-blown piece of software to create one or two barcodes......

Any advice would be greatly appreciated !

[Curious.George]

Re: 2-dimensional barcodes

[stuff elided]

Every autumn/Christmas, I find myself wanting to create some barcodes for use at my workplace. These barcodes will be printed out and be laminated on a lanyard around my neck.

I would like barcodes that can be easily resized, so I can find the size that works best for the laser barcode readers that we have.

I suppose the interface would have a "grid". I could click with a mouse to turn each square white or black, then save the file. That's all I need.

Is this the best way to accomplish this task? I don't need a huge, full-blown piece of software to create one or two barcodes......

Assume you can create a grid "template" that just needs "squares" that are white or black (that may not be possible, depending on the code you are using), you could create a bunch of adjoining squares/rectangles in something as crude as MSPaint, choosing "black" or "white" for the fill color of each square that you draw.

MSPaint sucks in that it forgets the objects you've created as soon as you've created them (e.g., it "flattens" the drawing after each operation). So, a better tool would be something that treats the squares as individual objects that you can LATER alter (select object, pick new color, lather, rinse, repeat)
Something like Illustrator, CorelDRAW/PAINT, etc.

But, this leaves you with the responsibility of creating the individual "squares" having the correct dimensions relative to the symbol as a whole.

An easier solution is just to find one of the many barcode generating tools, specify the barcode of interest and then just type the desired text -- letting the tool create the symbol at whatever size you require.

[stj]

Re: 2-dimensional barcodes

there is lots of software to print barcodes.

[Huscarl17]

Re: 2-dimensional barcodes

A free barcode generator

https://www.barcoding.com/resources/barcode-generator/

It's at the bottom of the page.

I use it to correct UPC's on gaming products and hang tags for product in our hobby shop.

[Uranium-235]

Re: 2-dimensional barcodes

He said no web based software

[gg1978]

Re: 2-dimensional barcodes

I recall there being a command line 2d barcode generator, although the name of it i am drawing a blank on at the moment. Just found it, it's qrencode from linux..

https://fukuchi.org/works/qrencode/