To provide more information on this question, here is a summary of what we are trying to achieve and the problems we are having & questions we have: Background * We have two different forms that we want to capture data using 2D barcodes. * The intention is that the main form is completed & signed, given to the second party who then fills out their form and faxed together to a central server. * It is critical for us that we capture the form data via the same channel as the physical signature & electronic signatures are not viable. * For the main form, we need to fit the barcodes on to the existing pages -- this is a very limited amount of space. The problem * The main form is the problematic form - we have ~ 200 fields on the main form * We are planning to fix the max length of each field - some based on existing systems & others not. * Current total length count is ~ 3200 but we expect to strip this back to 2000-2500 chars, of which some will be all numeric or uppercase. * We are currently assuming 3 barcodes for the main form but we may be able to get the max chars low enough to fit in 2 barcodes if they hold 1598 chars each. * Based on our understanding the Adobe barcoding presentation ... * PDF-417 is restricted to a maximum of 34 columns (30 data) wide x 90 rows high * This gives a maximum of 928 code words in a bar code * Level 6 error correction redundancy uses 129 code words * This leaves 799 code words for data. * Each code word holds 1-2 data chars (2 if all numbers or all uppercase, 1 is worst case if swap from upper/lower/number/symbol for every char) * This theoretically gives 799 to 1598 screen chars per barcode. * Originally had intended to use XML data in the barcode, but now understand the cost and plan to use delimited data only (probably tab) * It is quite important to have a minimal (preferably zero) rate of barcode overflow as these forms may have to be manually re-typed. * Barcode compression is reported to give ~10-30% saving in space for typical data * With compression it may be hard to guarantee that there is no overrun unless the max field lengths are < the barcode stores uncompressed * Before commitments are made within our organisation, we need to be sure: - how many barcodes we need to store the max length of data - how much space does each barcode need on the page - whether we can fit the required number into the available space! Specific Barcode Questions 1. How can we find out in livecycle designer (a) the number of rows/cols in a barcode, or (b) how many chars it can actually hold? 2. What is the max # of uppercase-only chars we can fit in one barcode? 3. What is the minimal space occupied by one barcode that is holding the max # of chars? 4. If we make a barcode smaller does this reduce the max # of rows/cols (and therefore chars) that it can store? 5. How do tab delimiters or commas count towards filling the barcode? 6. Can we stop the barcode from greying out when it overflows so we can capture the "first half" of the data? 7. What proportion of reduction do you typically get with the Livecycle compression? 8. If using compression to fit more data in, how do we avoid the problem with an unusual case having poor compression & overflowing the barcode?
9. We don't understand the limit of 928 code words given that 30 data cols x 90 rows would be 2700 code words?
10. We have found a couple of cases where barcodes are greyed out in LiveCycle Designer but the same form / same data has a good barcode when using Adobe 8 Standard - are there known differences / limitations between the products.
I have attached our test form below.
The barcode is 100mm x 45 mm but we can only get 868 uppercase chars to fit in it - it greys out in Livecycle designer with more.
Do we have to make it bigger to get more chars or have we done something wrong?
Any help or advice much appreciated.