BarcodePlugin

This plugin is used to create embedded barcodes in topics. Currently only Code128 codes are supported. Support for other standard codes could easily be added for any standard supported by Perl Barcode or GD::Barcode modules.

The original inspiration for this was so I could generate barcodes that can be read by a CueCat

One useful application is to print out a page with the Topic name encoded in the barcode. Then use the scanner to quickly jump to the Wiki page for editing. ie. %BARCODE{text="%TOPIC%"}%

Syntax Rules

The %BARCODE{parm="value" ...}% variable gets expanded to an image representing the barcode.

BarcodePlugin Settings

Plugin settings are stored as preferences variables. To reference a plugin setting write %<plugin>_<setting>%, for example, %DEFAULTPLUGIN_SHORTDESCRIPTION%

• One line description, shown in the TextFormattingRules topic:
  • Set SHORTDESCRIPTION = This plugin creates embedded Code128 barcodes in a page.

• Debug plugin: (See output in data/debug.txt)
  • Set DEBUG = 0

Examples

You type ...	Expect output	If Installed
%BARCODE{text="Hello" transparent_text="0" height="0" }%		%BARCODE{text="Hello" transparent_text="0" height="50"}%
%BARCODE{text="BarcodePlugin2004" scale="1"}%		%BARCODE{text="Barcode01234" scale="1"}%

I use this to generate a table of topics with the topic encoded in a barcode. I then use a cuecat to scan the barcode and take me to the relevent page. Here is the verbatim code, note the use of the "$percent" to escape the BARCODE tag in the formatted search:

%TABLE{ sort="on" tableborder="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="3" headerbg="#666699" 
headercolor="#FFFFCC" databg="#CCCCCC, #EFEFEF" headerrows="1" footerrows="1" }%
|*Box Database</b>%ENDCOLOR%*||||
|*Box #*|*Location*|*Owner*|*Barcode*|*Contents*|
%SEARCH{ "HouseBox[0-9][0-9][0-9]" scope="topic" regex="on" nosearch="on" nototal="on" format="
| [[$topic]] | $formfield(HouseBoxLocations) |  $formfield(HouseBoxOwners) 
| $percntBARCODE{text=$topic scale=1 padding=20}$nop% 
|$formfield(Description)|" }%

Plugin Installation Instructions

Note: You do not need to install anything on your browser to use this plugin. The following instructions are for the administrator who installs the plugin on the server where TWiki is running.

• Make sure your Perl administrator has installed the Barcode::Code128 module. (perl -MCPAN -e "install Barcode::Code128")
• Make sure you have GD 1.20 or later installed.
• Download the ZIP file from the Plugin web (see below)
• Unzip BarcodePlugin.zip in your twiki installation directory. Content:

  File:	Description:
  lib/TWiki/Plugins/BarcodePlugin.pm	Plugin Perl module
  data/TWiki/BarcodePlugin.txt	Plugin topic
  data/TWiki/BarcodePlugin.txt,v	Plugin topic repository
  pub/TWiki/BarcodePlugin/example_0.png	Sample barcode image
  pub/TWiki/BarcodePlugin/example_1.png	Sample barcode image
  pub/TWiki/BarcodePlugin/example_0.png,v	Sample barcode repository
  pub/TWiki/BarcodePlugin/example_1.png,v	Sample barcode repository

• (Dakar) Visit configure in your TWiki installation, and enable the plugin in the {Plugins} section.
• Test if the plugin is correctly installed:
  • Check above examples if the "if installed" column shows images instead of variables.

Plugin Info

Related Topics: TWikiPreferences, TWikiPlugins, EmptyPlugin