Insert Bar Codes into the Header or Footer of your Document

Background:
This article describes how to use B-Coder to insert a barcode image into the header or footer of a MS Word 97/2000 document.

Solution:
To use the code below Download a fully working example of this macro and jump to step 5 or if you are confident with Word VBA Programming:

1. Copy the Sub InsertBarCodes() Routine to the clipboard by highlighting it and pressing Ctrl + C.

2. In Microsoft Word, Open the Visual Basic Editor by pressing Alt + F11
3. Insert a new Module, by clicking on Insert|Module
4. Paste the code into the module
5. Run the macro by going to the "Tools" menu, selecting "macro" and clicking on "Macros" and then double clicking on "InsertBarCodes" from the list.

Sub InsertBarCodes()
'
' InsertBarCodes Macro
' Macro written 6/28/01
'
Dim YouWantThisSubToLaunchBCoder
Dim BCoderPath$
Dim BCPath$
Dim Chan

On Error Resume Next ' ignore errors

'Delete barcode image file if it exists
Kill ("C:\barcode.wmf")

If Application.Documents.Count < 1 Then
Beep
MsgBox "This macro cannot be run with no documents open!"
GoTo Quit
End If

YouWantBCoderToExitWhenDone = 0
' change the above line to "YouWantBCoderToExitWhenDone = 1"
' to have B-Coder quit running at the end of this macro

' check if B-Coder path is registered in WIN.INI
BCoderPath$ = System.ProfileString("B-Coder", "ExePath")

If Len(BCoderPath$) = 0 Then
' if path isn't registered then assign the path here
BCoderPath$ = "C:\B-Coder3\B-Coder.Exe"
' Change the path in the above statement to point to
' your copy of B-Coder.
' add path to Win.ini
System.ProfileString("B-Coder", "ExePath") = BCoderPath$
Else
'B-Coder path is in the WIN.INI - allow automatic launching
YouWantThisSubToLaunchBCoder = 1
End If

If Not Tasks.Exists("B-Coder Professional") Then
' If B-Coder is already running then do not launch
Shell BCoderPath$, 2
' The above line launches B-Coder with its window minimized
' The ,2 is part of the Shell statement in VBA that
' indicates to run the application minimized.
Tasks("Microsoft Word").Activate
' set focus back to Word
End If

'If Bcoder path is incorrect then warn user
If Tasks.Exists("B-CODER Professional") = 0 Then ' Check if B-Coder is running
MsgBox "B-Coder is not running! - B-Coder must be running either in a window or as an icon for this macro to work. Please start B-Coder and try again."
GoTo Quit
End If
'Get Message to encode
BCData$ = InputBox("enter a bar code message:")

' remove any carriage return/line feeds from the selected text
If Right$(BCData$, 1) = Chr(13) Then
BCData$ = Left$(BCData$, Len(BCData$) - 1)
ElseIf Right$(BCData$, 1) = Chr(10) Then
BCData$ = Left$(BCData$, Len(BCData$) - 2)
End If

' strip off trailing spaces
BCData$ = RTrim$(BCData$)

' if no text is selected then quit
If Len(BCData$) = 0 Then GoTo Quit

Chan = DDEInitiate("B-Coder", "System") ' Initiate DDE link
DDEExecute Chan, "[PrintWarnings=off]" ' Turn off print warnings
DDEExecute Chan, "[MessageWarnings=off]" ' Turn on message warnings
DDEExecute Chan, "[CODE39]" ' Set B-Coder to Code 39
DDEExecute Chan, "[BARHEIGHT=0.25]" ' Set height to quarter inch

' generate the bar code
DDEExecute Chan, "[barcode=" + BCData$ + "]" ' send to B-Coder
'Save the barcode to disk
DDEExecute Chan, "[SAVEBARCODE(C:\barcode.wmf)]"
DDETerminate Chan ' Terminate the DDE link

'open header/footer view
ActiveWindow.ActivePane.View.SeekView = wdSeekCurrentPageFooter

'Use the following line to insert the barcode into the Header
'ActiveWindow.ActivePane.View.SeekView = wdSeekCurrentPageHeader

'Delete last barcode if exists
Selection.Delete Unit:=wdCharacter, Count:=1

'insert barcode image
Selection.InlineShapes.AddPicture FileName:="C:\barcode.wmf", _
LinkToFile:=False, SaveWithDocument:=True

'close header/footer view
ActiveWindow.ActivePane.View.SeekView = wdSeekMainDocument

Quit:
End Sub

Make sure you enable the macros when opening the document. In Word 2000 also make sure that the macro security level is set to medium. (Check under Tools|Macro|Security).