12.28. Message Property

Description

Returns or sets a string for the message to be encoded.

Syntax

object.Message[= String] 

Remarks

Not all symbologies are capable of encoding all characters. Some may only encode numeric data. Some impose a limit on the length of the encoded data. If you encode data with invalid characters or length, Barcode ActiveX returns an error.

  • UPC symbologies (UPC-A, UPC-E, EAN-13, EAN-8)

    A UPC symbol may have an optional 2-digit or 5-digit add-on barcode. To create an add-on barcode, separate the main data and the extension data with a vertical bar. For example, the input 1-932111-39-5|55999 produces a Bookland barcode with a 5-digit add-on symbol.

  • UCC/EAN-128 Symbology

    To ensure the human readable format is correct, the AI and field ID must be enclosed with parentheses ( () ). If the data is formatted incorrectly you may end with an error. For example, the following data is valid for UCC/EAN 128 message input:

    (01)12345678901231

    Additional information is also needed to create a shortest possible barcode. Refer to Section 14.12, “UCC/EAN-128” for more details.

  • Tilde codes

    Tilde code sequence can be used to enter special characters, such as extended ASCII characters and symbology-specific characters if supported. See each Symbology section for details.