Bar Codes - General
The default barcodes on SpoolFab drawings consist of the letter K followed by the job number and the six-character control number. This is the configuration required by SpoolFab's own barcode-based status updating. To enable barcodes, enter non-zero coordinates for BarCode 1 and/or BarCode 2 in the layout. The relevant lines in the layout are highlighted below. BarCode1Dir=0 and BarCode2Dir=0 mean that those barcodes are horizonal. Change this value to 1 if you want vertical barcodes.
Adding “BarCodeLengthPercent=110” to the layout will make the barcode print ten percent longer than normal. Other percentages work too.
Adding “BarCodeHeightPercent=200” to the layout will make the barcode print at twice the normal height, which may make it easier to read. Other percentages work too.
If your system has trouble reading the barcodes on the drawings, select Edit, Local Settings and adjust the printed barcode thin line width in pixels as highlighted below.
See articles K0010 and K0082 for instructions on using the MotorolaCS3000 and the Inateck P6 scanners respectively.
Custom Bar Codes (Most users don’t need to read this section.)
It is also possible to customize one or both barcodes for use with your own existing tracking system. For example, if you include in the layout the lines
BarCodeCustom1= K+J+C
BarCodeCustom2= K+J+C
This will give you the same barcodes that you would get by default. If you use
BarCodeCustom1= JOB+C3 you will get just the job number followed by the last three characters of the control number.
To get just the control number plus the revision number, have a line in the layout that reads:
BarCodeCustom1= C+R
Note that the revision number is 0 when there are no revisions, then1, then 2 etc. In the barcode, the revision is always represented by two digits, so it will be 00, 01, 03 etc.
If you need to include the literals C, J, R, S, or P in the template, enter them in lowercase. Otherwise C will be assumed to mean control number, J will be taken as job number, and S as spool number.
Suppose you normally use just three digits of the control number, so you use Job+C3 to make a barcode of the Job No. plus the last three digits of the control number. But now you want to build 62A, 62B and62C as one spool, so you want to include them as 062A, 062B etc. The solution is to use the custom barcode Job+C3A. This makes the barcode include one extra character of the control number, IF the final digit is a letter.
If BarcodeCustom1 is used, the control number in tiny print in the bottom left corner is replaced with the text content of the barcode. This is used by systems that need to search pdfs or separate them into individual drawings.
When you print sheets of barcodes from the Status window using
File/Print Barcodes, you can now edit the layout of the printed barcodes.
QR Codes (SpoolFab 10 only)
If you are using SpoolFab 10, and your own tracking system requires it, you have the option of using QR codes in place of one or both barcodes. To use QR codes in place of barcode1 and barcode2, include the following lines in the parameter list at the start of the layout:
BarCode1Format=1
BarCode2Format=1