code-128-encoder

an optimizing code-128 encoder for node.js, the commandline, and your browser.

live example

this is not a renderer!

this is a specialized encoder, which you can use to write your own renderer see the examples

install the command line interface

npm install -g code-128-encoder

install node module

npm install --save code-128-encoder

install for browser usage

bower install code-128-encoder

Examples

use the cli

encode128 yourText

outputs the encoded version of your input as an ascii string: ÑyourText,Ó

encode128 -o bars yourText

outputs the encoded version of your input as a series of 0s and 1s where 1 represents a bar and 0 represents a space: 110100100001001101110010001111010101100100001100011101011

encode128 -o weights yourText

outputs the encoded version of your input as a series of weights. each number corespons to a width alternating between bars and spaces: 2112141221321341111122142331112

to see more options use:

encode128 -h

you can pipe data from other commands using encode128 -.

echo "Test" | encode128 -o weights -

use in your Browser

after installing the encoder with bower you can use it like this:

<script src="bower_components/code-128-encoder/code-128-encoder.min.js"></script>
<script>
    var encoder = new Code128Generator()
    console.log(encoder.encode(text))
</script>

you can use the varoius options to write your own renderer. For your convenience, the bower package comes with a code 128 font which you can use to display the code.

<style>
  @font-face { font-family: 'code128'; src: url('bower_components/code-128-encoder/fonts/code128_XL.ttf'); }
  .barcode { font-family: code128; font-size:50px; margin-top:10px}
</style>
<script>
    var encoder = new Code128Generator()
    document.querySelector(".barcode").innerHTML=encoder.encode(text)
</script>

use in your node.js app

var Encoder = require("code-128-encoder")
var encoder= new Encoder()
console.log(encoder.encode("Test"))

prints: ÑTestWÓ

you can pass an options parameter to specify the output.

encoder.encode("Text",{output:"ascii",mapping:0})

the output parameter can be one of:

name	example	description
ascii	ÑTestWÓ	the ascii characters of the encoded string
bars	11010010000110111000101011001...	a 1 represents a bar a 0 represents a space
weights	2112142133111122141142121241123113212331112	each number represents a width alternating between bars and spaces
codes	[ 104, 52, 69, 83, 84, 55, 106 ]	an array of code numbers as per the code 128 spec
array	[ 209, 84, 101, 115, 116, 87, 211 ]	the ascii code points of the encoded string

the mapping parameter changes the ascci character mapping and can be one of:

name	description
0	most common mapping (compatible with google fonts)
1	barcodesoft mapping
2	mapping used by my old fonds (as due to a wrong/uncommom mapping in wikipedia)

Examples Folder

you can use this to write your own renderer. in the examples Folder, there are a few example renderer.

the html folder holds examples for rendering barcodes client side in the browser using a base128 font, canvas or just divs. for the html examples to work, go to the examples/html folder, and do bower install

in the cli folder there is a ->svg->inkscape->png renderer, a plaintext renderer which renders the barcode using ascii art, and a latext rederer.