Barcode font or image

[Michael]

Hi,

we are evaluating if we can use your reporting system for our software.

 

As we are printing many labels directly to label printers (e.g. cab a4+ 200 dpi) we have to know how do you transfer the barcodes of reports to the printer. Are barcodes directly sent using barcode fonts, or are barcodes preprocessed and transfered as images to the printer? Our experience has shown, that if barcodes are sent as image to the barcode printers, that some barcode readers (especially old ones) are not able to read the barcodes.

 

Thanks!

[Rick]

Hi Michael,

Provided you are using the latest HTML5 ReportViewer and a recent version of Telerik Reporting in a modern browser, the bar codes are neither fonts nor bitmap images. The bar codes are representing by SVG objects. Since vector graphic can be scaled without loss of quality, you shouldn't experience that issue with printing your barcodes on a continuous-feed label printer.

Please let me know if I can help any further.
Thank You for choosing Progress.

Regards,
Rick
Progress Telerik

[Rob]

Interesting answer but the question didn't mention browsers nor Html5. We also are considering Telerik reporting but as per Michael's question, our output goes straight to the printer via PrintDocument from a web service, after a request (from a browser as it turns out but they don't want to see it, just print it)

So how to use Kendo Reporting for maximum quality of barcode without having to encode as images?

[Nasko]

Hello Rob,

The HTML5 Viewer uses HTML rendering and SVG objects for barcodes. Most of the other rendering extensions will render to an image. The report processor's PrintReport method also uses the IMAGE rendering extension and the barcodes are converted to images.

Regards,
Nasko
Progress Telerik

[Rob]

Thanks Nasko - However I don't see the HTML5 Viewer as being applicable to a 'PrintDocument' scenario unless I can capture the HTML and SVG images somehow. Please tell me if I am wrong about this.

Note again, there is no browser involved. I talk straight from Web Api under .Net to the printer same as you would to print anything. There are technologies for rendering HTML5 directly to printers but that just adds an additional layer for me. It seems that Kendo can't print barcodes direct to a label printer without resorting to images which the barcode readers often don't like.

[Nasko]

Hello Rob,

You are correct about the SVG objects.

A possible solution for this scenario would be to render the report to PDF programmatically in the web api code. Then print the rendered PDF to the label printer. I offer this solution since the PDF rendering format uses PDF primitives instead of an image to render barcodes. It is not a direct print to the label printer, but it might result in better reader compatibility.

Regards,
Nasko
Progress Telerik