Barcoding in 5.6.2

Question

Acording to MetaLink: "XML Publisher now provides an interface to call custom Java code to calculate barcode alogorithms and then send the results back to XML Publisher to include the barcodes in your documents."
I cannot for the life of me find any documentation for this enhancement in XMLP 5.6.2. Can anyone point me in the correct direction?
Thanks,
Brett

Answer 1

Hi Brett,
Here is the way you can call external java code to support start/stop/check digits in 5.6.2.
1. Two new RTF template syntaxes are introduced to support pluggable barcode
vendors:
a) <?register-barcode-vendor:java_class_name;barcode_vendor_id?>
b) <?format-barcode:data;barcode_type;barcode_vendor_id?>
User uses the first command to register a barcode encoder, and use the 2nd
command to format/encode a barcode. All the parameters are dynamic. So, user
can define them either in template or in xml data file or based on certain
condition and/or expression.
2. the java_class_name indicates a java class that could be instantiated
on-the-fly at the command <?register-barcode-vendor:...?> is called. The
class should implement a common interface defined by Oracle XML Publisher,
i.e.
oracle.apps.xdo.template.rtf.util.XDOBarcodeEncoder.java
This class has following 3 methods need to be implemented:
* Return a unique ID for this bacode encoder
* @return the id as a string
public String getVendorID();
* Return true if this encoder support a specific type of barcode
* @param type the type of the barcode
* @return true if supported
public boolean isSupported(String type);
* Encode a barcode string by given a specific type
* @param data the original data for the barcode
* @param type the type of the barcode
* @return the formatted data
public String encode(String data, String type);
The class should located in the classpath that the middle tier XML Publisher
JVM is running.
If in the <?register-barcode-vendor:...?> command, the barcode_vendor_id is
not provided. XML Publisher will call the getVendorID() and use the result
of the method as ID for the vendor.
If in the <?format-barcode:...?> command, the barcode_vendor_id is not
provided, XML Publisher will use a default encoder to encode the data. The
encoder now supports:
Code128a
Code128b
Code128c
Code39
Code39Mod43
Postnet
Interleaved2of5Mod10
Interleaved2of5
Example:
<?register-barcode-vendor:’oracle.apps.xdo.template.rtf.util.XDOBarcodeUtil’;’myvendor’?>
<?format-barcode:12345;’code39’?>
<?format-barcode:12345;’code128b’;’myvendor’?>
Hope it'll help you!
Thanks,
Shinji