Printing Interleaved 2 of 5 Bar Codes in Access
When you need to print Interleaved 2 of 5 barcodes from within a Microsoft Access database, you can make it easy by using Azalea’s free barcode.dll along with our Interleaved 2 of 5 TrueType fonts. Our barcode.dll adds the start and stop bars to your input string, calculates the necessary modulo check digit, and then it maps the output into our fonts’ character set. To make an I2of5 barcode, your&squo;ll need to use the our DLL because you cannot simply format a chunk of text in a bar code font and create a scannable bar code symbol. Azalea’s DLL will do all of the heavy lifting for you and make it effortless.
1. Download barcode.dll and save it into your\WINDOWS\SYSTEM or \WINNT\SYSTEM32 directory, as appropriate. Then your’ll want to download I2of5sampleinput.mdb, our sample database. Open Microsoft Access.
2. In Access, open the database window; then click “Modules”.
Close this database and make sure you remember its path and then open the database with your information that you need to barcode.
3. Import your Interleaved 2 of 5 functions by opening your database and attaching I2of5sampleinput.mdb. Open the File menu and select Get External Data/Import. Enter the path to the I2of5sampleinput.mdb.
4. Enter the path to the I2of5sampleinput.mdb sample database. In the “Import Objects” window, click the “Modules” tab, highlight “I2of5” and then click “OK”.
5. Choose “Queries”.
6. Then double click “Design view”. Select the table you wish to print bar codes from. Click “Add” and then “Close”.
7. Double-click on the field that contains your input data to be converted into an I2of5 barcode. Uncheck the “Show” check box, as we just want the bar code.
8. In the Expression Builder left pane, expand “Functions”. Expand “I2of5sampleinput”; on the right pane, select “AzaleaI2of5”.
9. Replace “InputString” with the name of the input data field that you intend to convert. (in our example, “I2of5SampleInput” without the quotes). Click “OK”. Save and name your query. Choose your entire query field, go to File >Format>Fonts and then select an Azalea Interleaved 2 of 5 font and then set the point size.
10. Run the query; double-click the name of your query in the main database window. Check your output…if the output result differs or you see boxes or odd characters, please send a screenshot to technicalsupport at azalea dot com and we’ll be happy to help you get it sorted out.