In this article, I’ll show you how to generate barcodes programmatically using Java. Furthermore, you will also learn how to scan and read different types of barcodes using Java.
Barcode technology is a popular and widely used way to visually represent data about objects in the form of different patterns. Barcode is the encoded and machine-readable form of the data that can be decoded or read using the barcode scanners. These days, almost every product contains a barcode that can be scanned to retrieve information about that product. Furthermore, the increasing number of online businesses has also influenced the usage of different types of barcodes in the purchase process. Keeping an eye on today’s trends, this article aims to show you how to generate and scan various types of barcodes within your Java applications using Aspose’ barcode generator and scanner library.
In this article, you will learn how to:
- Generate a barcode using Java
- Generate QR or other barcodes using Java
- Create barcodes with a customized appearance using Java
- Create barcodes with a caption using Java
- Scan and read barcodes in Java
Java Barcode Generator and Scanner Library
In order to generate barcodes in Java-based applications, i.e. console application, Java Swing application, Aspose.BarCode for Java has proved to be a flexible and feature-rich Java barcode generator and scanner library. You can download the JAR of Aspose.BarCode for Java or install it in your Maven-based application using the following configurations.
Repository
<repository>
<id>AsposeJavaAPI</id>
<name>Aspose Java API</name>
<url>https://repository.aspose.com/repo/</url>
</repository>Dependency
<dependency>
<groupId>com.aspose</groupId>
<artifactId>aspose-barcode</artifactId>
<version>20.3</version>
<classifier>jdk17</classifier>
</dependency>Generate a Barcode using Java
The following are the simple steps to generate a barcode as an image.
- Create an object of the BarcodeGenerator class.
- Initialize the BarcodeGenerator object with the encoding type and the text to encode.
- Set the resolution of the resultant image (optional).
- Generate barcode using BarcodeGenerator.save(string) method.
The following code sample shows how to generate a barcode using Java.
Generated Barcode
Generate QR Barcode using Java
You can generate a variety of barcode types using Aspose.BarCode for Java. The supported barcode symbologies of the API include, but not limited to:
- Code128
- Code11
- Code39
- QR
- Datamatrix
- EAN13
- EAN8
- ITF14
- PDF417
- and more.
You can generate any of the above-mentioned barcode types by specifying the respective encoding type using the EncodeTypes parameter while initializing the BarcodeGenerator’s object. For the demonstration, we’ll generate a QR barcode. The following code sample shows how to generate QR barcode in Java:
Generated QR Code
Generate Customized Barcode using Java
By default, the barcodes are generated in black and white color combination. However, in certain cases, you may want or need to customize its appearance. Aspose.BarCode for Java lets you customize the barcode’s forecolor, back color, text’s color, font, and etc. The following is the recipe to generate a customized barcode.
- Create an object of the BarcodeGenerator class.
- Initialize BarcodeGenerator with the encoding type and the text to encode.
- Access and set the parameters related to the appearance of the barcode using BarcodeGenerator.getParameters().
- Generate barcode using BarcodeGenerator.save(string) method.
The following code sample shows how to generate an AZTEC barcode with a customized appearance using Java.
Barcode with Customized Appearance
Generate Barcodes with Captions in Java
The barcode images may also contain their captions. You can add the caption below the barcode, above the barcode, or at both of the locations at the same time. The following steps are used to set captions for a barcode:
- Create an object of the BarcodeGenerator class and initialize it with the encoding type and the code text.
- Access and set the captions using BarcodeGenerator.getParameters().getCaptionAbove().setText() or getCaptionBelow().setText() methods.
- Set the visibility of the captions using the setVisible() method.
- Generate barcode using BarcodeGenerator.save(string) method.
The following code sample shows how to generate a barcode with the caption in Java.
Barcode with Captions
Read or Scan Barcode in Java
Along with generating the barcodes, you can also scan the barcode images to decode and read the information/data they contain. Since an image may contain more than one barcode, you may access and read all of them at the same time. The following are the steps to scan and read a barcode image:
- Create an object of BarCodeReader class and initialize it with the path of the barcode image file.
- You can also pass DecodeType as the second parameter to BarCodeReader’s constructor to read the barcodes with a particular symbology only.
- Read the barcodes using BarCodeReader.readBarCodes() method.
The following code sample shows how to scan and read barcode images in Java.
Output
CodeText: Aspose.BarCode
Symbology type: Code128Conclusion
In this article, we have seen how to generate different types of barcodes using Java. The step by step guide and code samples demonstrated how to customize the barcode’s appearance and scan the barcodes within Java applications. You can explore more about Aspose.BarCode for Java using its documentation.
