Several changes must be made in WordPerfect prior to using B-Coder with it. By default WordPerfect 6.0 converts MetaFiles to "WordPerfect Graphic" images (.WPG format). This conversion distorts your bar codes causing them to be unreadable. To correct this problem, select "Preferences" from WordPerfect’s "File" menu and then double click the icon labeled "Import" in the dialog box that appears. This will open the "Import Preferences" dialog that contains a set of "MetaFile Options". Select "Retain MetaFile (.WMF) Format" and click "OK".

In WordPerfect 6.1 you must select "Preferences" from the "Edit" menu and then double click on the icon labeled "Convert" in the dialog box that appears. This will open up the "Convert Preferences" dialog box that contains a group of "MetaFile Options". Select "Convert to WordPerfect (.WMF) Format" and then click "OK".

The second problem is that when you paste a bar code (or any other MetaFile graphic) into WordPerfect from the clipboard, WordPerfect will automatically select and apply the graphic style "Figure" to the image. The default definition for the "Figure" style is set up in a way that causes MetaFiles pasted from the clipboard to be drawn not only out of scale, but inside a box with a border and right justified on the page! To set up WordPerfect to work with B-Coder the way it should, you will have to re-define the "Figure" style as outlined below.

To re-define the "Figure" graphics style in WordPerfect, first select "Graphics Styles..." from the "Graphics" menu and then hi-light the style "Figure" in the Styles list and click on the "Edit" button. When the "Edit Box Style" dialog box appears go through the following five steps:

1. Click on the button marked "Content" to display the "Image Content" dialog. In the "Box Content" dialog, choose "Image" from the "Content" list and clear the check box marked "Preserve Image Width/Height Ratio" and click on "OK" to return to the "Edit Box Style" dialog.
2. Click on the button marked "Position" to display the "Box Position" dialog. Select "Treat Box As Character" from the Box Placement options and then choose "Centered" from the "Position Box" options that appear. Check the check box marked "Box Changes Text Line Height" and click the "OK" button to return to the "Edit Box Style" dialog.
3. Click on the button marked "Size" to display the "Box Size" dialog. Select "Size to Contents" from the options for both the Height and the Width and click the "OK" button.
4. Click on the button marked "Border/Fill" to display the "Border/Fill Styles" dialog. Click on the button marked "Off" to disable borders and to return to the "Edit Box Style" dialog.
5. Click on the "Close" button in the "Edit Box Style" dialog to return to your document.

After you have gone through all of the steps above, WordPerfect will be set up to work as it should when pasting bar codes from B-Coder or MetaFiles pasted from other programs.

Related Links

B-Coder DDE Examples for WordPerfect