Barcode 128 generator (using scalar function)

One my web application uses barcodes.... When i add a new item i am generating a barcode value which is converted to a barcode image... My question is what would you suggest storing barcode values or barcode images in sql server 2005?What Type of barcode you would suggest using with an asp.net application?Linear Barcode (Code 128) is my choice.. Any other suggestion....

If that were true, you wouldn't be asking for help, now would you? 😉

This is actually pretty easy to pull off in SQL Server including the CheckSum character but I need you to answer a question first. According to the start character that you've used, it implies that you will always be using Barcode 128 "B". Is that true or will you make excursions to Barcode 128 "A" and/or Barcode 128 "C"?

But, once you've calculated the CheckSum character, it is just as easy as applying the font on a 1:1 basis. Attaining the proper 128-B True Type font isn't all that difficult and neither is calculating the ChecksSum character in T-SQL. I'm working on that for BarCode 128-B right now.

Here you go. Details are in the code as they should be. Please do read the comments because this function won't handle excursions to Type A or C, yet. Example usage included in the comments.

CREATE FUNCTION dbo.BarCode128

/**********************************************************************************************************************

Pupose:

Given a string of legal "Type B" Barcode 128 characters, return the original string with StartCode, Checksum, and

StopCode characters.

Note that this will currently only handle "Type B" and no excursions to "Type A" or "Type C" are allowed. The

@pBarCodeStart is for future exapansion to handle such things.

Usage:

SELECT BarCode128

FROM dbo.BarCode128('B','bananas') --ÑbananasÈÓ expected

;

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_128

http://courses.cs.washington.edu/courses/cse370/01au/minirproject/BarcodeBattlers/barcodes.html

Revision History:

Rev 00 - 05 Feb 2015 - Jeff Moden

- Intial creation. Handles only legal "Type B" characters and no excursions to "Type A" or "Type C".

**********************************************************************************************************************/

(

@pBarCodeStart CHAR(1)

,@pString VARCHAR(8000)

)

RETURNS TABLE AS --iSF or "Inline Scalar Function", in this case.

RETURN WITH

cteCheckSum AS

(

SELECT CheckSumValue = (

ASCII(@pBarCodeStart)+38 --StartCode Value (38 is 103-65 and 65 is "A")

+SUM((ASCII(SUBSTRING(@pString,t.N,1))-32)*t.N)

)%103+32

FROM dbo.fnTally(1,LEN(@pString)) t

)

SELECT BarCode128 =

CHAR(ASCII(@pBarCodeStart)+143) --StartCode Character (143 is 200-65 and 65 is "A")

+ @pString --Original String

+ CHAR(CheckSumValue + CASE WHEN CheckSumValue < 127 THEN 0 ELSE 73 END) --CheckSum Character

+ CHAR(211) --StopCode Character

FROM cteCheckSum

WHERE @pBarCodeStart = 'B'

;

Here's the code for the dbo.fnTally function. If you don't know what it is or how it works, see the "references" in the comments in the code.

CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[fnTally]

/**********************************************************************************************************************

Purpose:

Return a column of BIGINTs from @ZeroOrOne up to and including @MaxN with a max value of 1 Billion.

As a performance note, it takes about 00:02:10 (hh:mm:ss) to generate 1 Billion numbers to a throw-away variable.

Usage:

--===== Syntax example (Returns BIGINT)

SELECT t.N

FROM dbo.fnTally(@ZeroOrOne,@MaxN) t

;

Notes:

1. Based on Itzik Ben-Gan's cascading CTE (cCTE) method for creating a "readless" Tally Table source of BIGINTs.

Refer to the following URLs for how it works and introduction for how it replaces certain loops.

http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/T-SQL/62867/

http://sqlmag.com/sql-server/virtual-auxiliary-table-numbers

2. To start a sequence at 0, @ZeroOrOne must be 0 or NULL. Any other value that's convertable to the BIT data-type

will cause the sequence to start at 1.

3. If @ZeroOrOne = 1 and @MaxN = 0, no rows will be returned.

5. If @MaxN is negative or NULL, a "TOP" error will be returned.

6. @MaxN must be a positive number from >= the value of @ZeroOrOne up to and including 1 Billion. If a larger

number is used, the function will silently truncate after 1 Billion. If you actually need a sequence with

that many values, you should consider using a different tool. ;-)

7. There will be a substantial reduction in performance if "N" is sorted in descending order. If a descending

sort is required, use code similar to the following. Performance will decrease by about 27% but it's still

very fast especially compared with just doing a simple descending sort on "N", which is about 20 times slower.

If @ZeroOrOne is a 0, in this case, remove the "+1" from the code.

DECLARE @MaxN BIGINT;

SELECT @MaxN = 1000;

SELECT DescendingN = @MaxN-N+1

FROM dbo.fnTally(1,@MaxN);

8. There is no performance penalty for sorting "N" in ascending order because the output is explicity sorted by

ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY (SELECT NULL))

Revision History:

Rev 00 - Unknown - Jeff Moden

- Initial creation with error handling for @MaxN.

Rev 01 - 09 Feb 2013 - Jeff Moden

- Modified to start at 0 or 1.

Rev 02 - 16 May 2013 - Jeff Moden

- Removed error handling for @MaxN because of exceptional cases.

**********************************************************************************************************************/

(@ZeroOrOne BIT, @MaxN INT)

RETURNS TABLE WITH SCHEMABINDING AS

RETURN WITH

E1(N) AS (SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL

SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1 UNION ALL SELECT 1) --10E1 or 10 rows

, E3(N) AS (SELECT 1 FROM E1 a, E1 b, E1 c) --10E3 or 1 Thousand rows

, E9(N) AS (SELECT 1 FROM E3 a, E3 b, E3 c) --10E9 or 1 Billion rows

SELECT N = 0 WHERE ISNULL(@ZeroOrOne,0)= 0 --Conditionally start at 0.

UNION ALL

SELECT TOP(@MaxN) N = ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY (SELECT NULL)) FROM E9 -- Values from 1 to @MaxN

;

Thanks Jeff!

I wasn't expecting an answer now, but it's still useful. I'll definitely test it in my system.

Hi Jeff,

I have one also that handles A, B and C

http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/FindPost1470956.aspx