Creating Bar Codes on Web Pages - Client Side Overview:
Adding bar codes to web pages using the TALtech Bar Code ActiveX
control is extremely easy when all web clients are running Windows
and Internet
Explorer 4.0 or above. Internet Explorer under Windows fully supports
ActiveX controls and will even automatically download and install
the ActiveX control from your web server the first time a client
visits a page containing a reference to the ActiveX control. Once
the control
has been installed on the clients PC, it does not need to be downloaded
or installed again if the user visits other web pages that contain
references to the control. The steps for adding client side ActiveX
bar codes are as follows:
-
Copy the Internet CAB file containing the redistributable version
of the TALtech Bar Code ActiveX control to a folder on your
web server.
The server can be any type of system including UNIX, Linux, Windows,
etc. The TALtech Bar Code ActiveX Control is provided with the
necessary
CAB file (approximately 500Kb) so that all you need to do is
copy the supplied CAB file your server.
- Add Object tags to your HTML documents that reference the control.
The following sample object tags show how to insert a TALtech Bar
Code Object into an HTML document. The first object points to a
LPK
(license)
file that must be installed on the users system in their Windows
folder. The TALtech Bar Code ActiveX Control will not be scriptable
in Internet
Explorer without this file installed. The LPK file is installed automatically
from the Internet CAB file and the Setup program that comes with
the
TALtech Bar Code ActiveX Control. The second object tag below is
for the actual control. The name of the control is set using the
ID="controlname"
setting and the CODEBASE tag points to a web URL or a file path where
the setup program for the control can be found if the control is
not
currently installed on the user's system. If the control is not installed
then the client's browser will automatically download the control
from the specified URL and install it. The TALtech Bar Code ActiveX
Control comes complete with a fully code signed CAB file (signed
with Verisign's
Authenticode technology) so that all you need to do is copy the supplied
CAB file to a folder on your web server.
Note: The URL in the CODEBASE tag should reference the CAB file on
your web server.
To place a TALtech Bar Code ActiveX Control in a HTML document
you simply add the following object tags to your document where
you
want a bar code to appear.
<object CLASSID="CLSID:5220cb21-c88d-11cf-b347-00aa00a28331">
<param name="LPKPath" value="Talbc.lpk"></object>
<object ID="TALBarCd1" CLASSID="CLSID:C917E12F-9757-11D2-85DB-F01851C10000"
CODEBASE="http://www.YourWebServer.com/talbcocx.cab"></object>
- Add VBScript or JavaScript code to your HTML document to set the
properties of the control so that it generates the type of bar code
that you want as well as the message that you want to encode in the
bar code.
To set properties of the TALtech Bar Code ActiveX Control after
it has been placed in an HTML document, you would use JavaScript
or
VBScript code similar to the following line: TALBarCd1.message="1234567890"
Refer to the documentation that comes with the TALtech Bar Code
ActiveX Control for a complete reference to all of the properties
and
methods
that are available in the control.
To see an example of a web page that demonstrates generating bar codes
with the TALtech Bar Code ActiveX control using the client side technique,
download
the ActiveX demo.
Note: You must be running a 32 bit version of Windows, have the TALtech
Bar Code ActiveX control (or the demo version) installed and your
browser
must be Internet Explorer version 4.0 or above.
