Microcom 322M User Manual
Page 83
Chapter 9
Bar Codes
322M Operator’s Manual
79
9.1.19 PDF-417, TCI 46
The Portable Data File 417 or PDF-417 is a two-dimensional stacked symbology that is
capable of encoding the entire ASCII character set, 2710 digits, and up to 1108 bytes in a
single bar code. The requirements for generating a PDF-417 symbology are the text data,
placement information, size configuration, rotation, aspect ratio, and Error Correcting Code
or ECC. The character count (CC) parameter only has to be set to one character that will
be used as a placeholder and not printed. The PDF-417 format command (^D77) is used to
load the data as well as formatting instructions for the bar code and is placed on the first line
of the format.
The following format is used to generate a PDF-417 bar code:
^D77
:Text Data^[
Number_of_Rows
Number_of_Columns
Rotation
ECC_Percent
ECC_Level
Aspect_Ratio
This format is then followed by the placement instructions and text placeholder.
:Text Data^[
This parameter is where the desired data is placed and must be terminated with the “^[“
control code. The text data may include carriage returns and other control codes.
Number_of_Rows
The PDF-417 symbology may have as few as 3 or as many as 90 rows with a default setting
of 90. A carriage return character must be used to terminate this field.
Number_of_Columns
symbology. The PDF-417 symbology may have 1 to 30 columns with a default setting of 30.
A carriage return character must be used to terminate this field.
Rotation
increments. The valid arguments for this parameter would be 0, 90, 180 or 270 with the
default being set to 0. A carriage return character must be used to terminate this field.
ECC_Percent
Error Correction Control (ECC) of the PDF-417 symbology. This parameter has to be set to
0 if the ECC# method is desired. The default ECC% is set to 0. A carriage return character
must be used to terminate this field.