JobBOSS | Ideas

We have been switching over to QR Codes in the last 6 months because we were having so many problems with the standard bar. There is a little learning curve but they work very well.

Here are some things we tried to do to get the old Code 39 and Code 128 bar codes to work in our Crystal Reports. The canned Jobboss Reports use a modified version of Code 128. We are also using the Code 39 bar code which is the current default included in Crystal. The problem with that code is that it is not as robust when using a bar code reader and when we have more than about 20 characters the bar code is so long that the readers do not read it. So what I have been doing on some of our reports is to do a, “if then” statement that looks for spaces and if there is no space we use the Code 128 (since it will read better on the reader up to about 24 characters.) If there is a space we use the Code 39 bar code. A couple problems with the Code 39 bar code is how it displays parenthesis and commas and sometimes it will not even show the bar code if there is a parenthesis or commas. We have begun testing the use of QR Code bar codes with some real success.

We are looking very seriously at transitioning everything to the QR Code because we can have a very small landscape for the QR Code and it will handle up to 4,200 characters. The other big advantage is that we are able to scan the code right on the computer screen without having to print everything. Some of the problems; you need to purchase the QR font we chose ID Automation. There are others out there. You need to figure out how to scale the QR Bar Code so that all the data will show up in the code. You will need to create new Crystal Reports to work with the QR Codes. One really nice feature that we are working through right now is we can fill out the entire Data Collection screen with one QR Code because you can have multiple lines in the QR Code. When done correctly we can cut down on data errors being entered in Data Collection. We have switched over all of our Work Cards and Material Labels already, and we have not really had many problems.