What is Barcode Field?

Barcode fields represent a user’s form entries in a visual pattern that can be scanned, interpreted, and incorporated into a database. Form authors add barcode fields in PDF forms and distribute the forms to users to fill in and submit to form receivers; the received barcode data can be scanned or interpreted with dedicated hardware that processes barcode data. Using barcodes to collect and process data helps save time and avoid errors that can occur during manual data entry.

How to add a barcode field?

1.Open the PDF form with Foxit PDF Editor and select the Automatically calculate field values option in File > Preferences > Forms.

2.Click Form > Barcode Field.

3.Drag an area in the desired place to define a barcode area.

Tips:

• Place the barcode in an appropriate position that can be easily seen and scanned. And make sure it’s unlikely to get folded when placed in an envelope and won’t get clipped off during printing or faxing.
• Make sure that the barcode area is large enough to accommodate the amount of data. Otherwise, it turns a solid gray, and a message “**Too Much Data**” appears on the barcode field in form editing mode. You can adjust the barcode size by dragging a handle to make the data fit in the barcode area.
• If you will decode the barcode with a handheld scanner, avoid creating barcodes wider than 4 inches. Tall, narrow barcodes generally work better with handheld scanners.

4.A box appears under the area for you to input the field name.

5.Double-click the barcode area or click the All Properties to open the Barcode Field Properties dialog box.

Note:

1. In addition to the barcode size adjustment, to make the data fit in the barcode area, deselect any fields that don’t need encoding in the Value tab of the Barcode Field Properties dialog box, or consider creating additional barcode fields in the form and mapping different data to each barcode field.
2. If you add a new form field to the PDF form after you have created the barcode, it is not automatically included in the barcode. Then you need to manually include the field in the barcode by clicking Pick in the Value tab of the Barcode Field Properties dialog box.

What Tabs and options are included in Barcode Field properties window?

There are also five tabs, a General tab, a Position tab, an Options tab, a Value tab, and an Actions tab, for you to set Barcode Field’ properties.

1.The General tab

Most items in this tab are the same as the ones in the properties of Push Button.

2.The Position tab

3.The Actions tab

4.The Options tab

Symbology: You can choose a barcode type from PDF417, QR Code, and Data Matrix. Each barcode type follows an algorithm for standardizing the encoding and storing of data. Here are samples of the three barcode types.

Compress Data Before Encoding to Barcode: Specify whether to compress data before it is encoded. Compressing data allows more data to be stored in the barcode. Avoid compressing data when using a handheld scanner since most of these scanners cannot decode compressed data. By default, the option is not selected.

Decode Condition: Select the type of hardware to process returned forms. Foxit provides you with ready-to-use preset decode conditions. You can also click Custom to create a new decode condition.

Custom: Click it to select custom processing parameters that are best for your scanning and faxing hardware. The options available vary from the barcode type you select.

• X Dimension: Specify the width of the cell.
• Y/X Ratio: Specify the height-to-width ratio of the cell. This option is only available for PDF417 barcodes.
• Error Correction Level: PDF417 and QR Code barcodes provide additional data redundancy by using an error correction technique to allow a partially damaged barcode to be scanned or decoded successfully. You can specify the error correction level that corresponds to the level of data redundancy. The error correction levels range from 0 to 8 for PDF417 barcodes (8 is the highest), and L, M, Q, and H for QR Code (H is the highest). A higher Error Correction Level allows a higher percentage of the barcode to be damaged by pen marks, poor print quality, degradation caused by fax transmission, or folds in the document. However, a higher level also increases the overall size of the barcode.

Manage Barcode Parameters: Lists all the decode conditions including the seven presets. You can create, edit, remove, import, and export custom decode conditions.

Settings: Displays the detailed parameters for the decode condition you selected.

5.The Value tab

Encode using: Select the format of the barcode data that is automatically scripted. When an option is selected, the associated JavaScript script is automatically generated. XML requires a larger barcode area to encode information than Tab Delimited does.

• XML: Encodes the form data into the barcode in XML format.
• Tab Delimited: Encodes the form data into the barcode in a tab-delimited format. If the form is configured to output the data in individual XFDF or XDP files, the data must be encoded in a tab-delimited format with the field names in the first line. This option is also useful if you need to encode more data into a barcode or copy the data into database or spreadsheet tables.
• Pick: Selects which fields to be encoded into the barcode.
• Include field names: Encodes field names in the first line of the barcode contents and the field values in the second line, with the specified delimiter between each field. This option is only available when Tab Delimited encoding is selected.

Custom calculation script: Displays the default script. You can click Edit to open the JavaScript Edition dialog box and write custom calculation scripts for your barcode. A script that restricts data to alphanumeric characters and to a single case (either all uppercase or all lowercase) can help make the data occupy less barcode area. Note: The National Association of Computerized Tax Processors (NACTP) guidelines, used by the United States Internal Revenue Service and state tax agencies, recommend using all uppercase characters for 2D barcode data including PDF417 and Data Matric barcode types.

Reference to published form: Shows the path to the PDF form under the barcode. You can modify the path by typing in the URL to the form. The URL is useful if you need to re-create a digital version of the completed form by merging the form template with an instance of user-supplied data.