Bulk creation of 2D Barcodes (QR Code, DataMatrix) in XMPie
For several versions now the XMPie’s suite of desktop tools for creating highly personalised and relevant documents has been able to support numerous variants of 1 and 2 dimensional barcodes. Code128, Code39, Codabar, EAN8, EAN13, INT2of5, MSI, OneCode, PostNet, UPCA, UPCE, PDF417, AztecCode, DataMatrix, MaxiCode, MicroPDF and QRCode to be precise!
From directly inside InDesign CS3 and CS4 XMPie’s uDirect plugin has the ability of generating and placing a barcode within the design. I blogged about this a while ago. However this is limited to using those barcodes within the printed piece. I was thinking about how you could use them online, or in an email communication, or even creating them on-mass to use in another process.
Most people seem to be content in creating single QRCodes that are then used. But what about if you want a QRCode to contain a personalised URL, or a unique piece of information linked to that the recipient?
Well, here’s one idea to create barcodes on mass by using XMPie:
- Fire up InDesign with the XMPie plugin activated. (you can always get the 30-day free trial from www.xmpie.com)
- Create a new document of say 50mm by 50mm
- Connect to your database of recipients, or simple create a Counter and use that
- Create a new image ‘Content Object’, call it QRCode, and set the expression to use the fields of your choosing.
- Place the QRCode content object on the page and change the Dynamic Graphic Properties to ‘Fill proportionally and Centered’
- Save the document
- Select ‘Dynamic Print’ in the XMPie Palette and choose, JPG (or PDF) as the output format.
- Select your output destination and records, and hit ‘OK’
- Job done. You should have individual JPG/PDF files in the output destination folder named {filename}_r{record number}_p001.jpg
The only real drawback here is that the files are not named in a fashion that relates to their contents. It would be great if you could produce them based on an element in the database, like you can with personalised images through uImage. Having said that, you can still work productive in this manner, it just needs more careful thought.
Another reason to use XMPie I think!
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Dave is a 30-something year old technologist and professional working and living in the UK. Ever since he first sat down at a computer keyboard back in the early ‘80s he has been hooked on technology – good and proper! Now-a-days he works within the software business with a fast paced organisation evangelising how technology can help save us all time, and make us money! Dave’s wife and 2 kids tend not to share this enthusiasm and believes that he is just playing!
The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of his employer.
“The only real drawback here is that the files are not named in a fashion that relates to their contents. It would be great if you could produce them based on an element in the database”
there is a way to do this but its only available on the XMPie server solutions, where you can name an output filename based on an ADOR (variable from the database)
Regards
Alan
Indeed – which is great for customer that have a server. However for those that have a desktop version a more ‘creative’ solution would be needed.
Good tip! Will try this NeXT week…..
hi David, i’m interested to know more about mass QR code generation which link to purls. not quite clear. does XMPies uDirect InDesign plug in (or was it uCreate) have a generator that translates urls to QR code images? a bit like http://qrcode.kaywa.com/?
thanks
Both uCreate and uDirect (which are essentially the same tool) have the built-in ability to create QR Code images. It does this directly, without any 3rd party integration (such as Kaywa) and all XMPie customer have the ability to do this (providing they are paying support and maintenance or have the latest version).
You simple need to create a rule (ADOR) in XMPie that uses the QRCOde function to format the string that the code will contain. The function then encodes that string as a QRCode and displays back the image. Drop me a line if you need more information.
it’s possible with uDirect/uCreate but sounds like breaking a fly on the wheel for me. i suggest to spend 80 bucks for a single desktop license of tbarcode from tec-it.com. easy to handle, easy to integrate and much more parameters to customize your linear or 2d barcode than in uDirect/uCreate.
btw those tec-it libraries *do* the magic behind when you are calling barcode functions out of xmpie, they are bundled/integrated
regards
jan
Indeed Jan – of course you could go and buy dedicated software to do it just as well (possibly even better!). Looking at the tec-it.com website though – the prices seems to start at $116 for a single 2D license.
I guess the point that I was making here is that if you were already an XMPie user than this capability is already on your desk.
Hi David,
Thanks for the tips. I was able to put purl on pages. I am looking for putting contact info or iCal event. Is that possible? Any tip for buck contacts ?
Regards
CL