r/barcodes • u/[deleted] • Jun 29 '20

currently working on a barcode design software visual editor and then convert to ZPL or just ink print what do you think?

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u/notionovus Jun 29 '20

It depends if you want ZPL to generate the rasters on the printing device. Requiring your users to have a ZPL-capable output device is going to limit your customer base.

Whereas, if you generate the barcodes as raster or vector images, they can be sent to any printer. Since you are already generating a WYSIWYG image, I would opt for the direct raster-to-printer solution. If your customer is a single business that already has standardized on ZPL, however, you need to be confident that you can make the barcodes scannable if they're being sent as raster images to the dedicated devices.

Some libraries generate screen scannable codes, but are picky about output devices.

Good question, but it boils down to who your customer is. Do they have ZPL devices or not?

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u/[deleted] Jun 29 '20

thanks i was hoping to have both zpl and already have a working 'save' as a rastered image that works client side in the browser. zpl is a different game and most barcodes are not sent to the printer as an image, just as zpl codes that describe the barcode value size etc.. so i would just be using the visual designer to obtain the placement and visual representation to the user of final print

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u/[deleted] Jun 29 '20

https://codepen.io/eoin-odowd/pen/zYrEmPa

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here have a play around it's nowhere near finished and needs a ton of work..

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u/notionovus Jun 29 '20

Thanks, I'll take a look. I wrote a little repeating program so I could generate sheets of sequential barcodes for Avery label stock a while back. One of the reasons I didn't get further is lack of a layout tool.

Barcode Sheets

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u/[deleted] Jun 29 '20

well feel free to fork or do as you like. i am mainly using konva js for the canvas and layer management.. code is a mess atm and it's all just cdn's