The creation of a data matrix barcode consists of two distinct processes - encoding and rendering. During the encoding process, the data is translated into a two dimensional array of 1s and 0s. In the rendering process, the drawing surface is first divided into cells. A painter paints the cells according to its value: the cell is painted black when it is 1, otherwise it is painted white. Repeating for all cells we get a data matrix barcode.

Morovia DataMatrix Fontware simplifies the rendering process by packing four adjacent cells into 1 text character. This approach has a couple of benefits. First, user does not need to learn drawing APIs in order to create a barcode. Secondly, since the drawing commands contained in a true type font are resolution independent, the results are portable among different devices. At the last, programmers can examine encoding results by comparing text strings, which is easier than comparing images.

On Windows platforms, the data matrix encoder is packaged in an ActiveX DLL which exposes its interfaces in both COM and plain DLL API format. For details on the programming side refer to Chapter 3, Programming data matrix.

The font name is called MRV DataMatrix. The typeface begins with MRV which is the our Font ID - most Morovia font typeface names begin with three letters MRV.

On Windows platforms, the DataMatrix Encoder is packaged in an ActiveX DLL which exposes its interfaces in both COM and plain DLL API format. For how to write programs utilizing our software, refer to Chapter 3, Programming data matrix.

Starting at version 3.20, another typeface, MRV DataMatrixR1 has been added. This font is designed to work around some incompatibility issues when working with certain applications.

To generate a DataMatrix symbol, retrieve the encoding results (called Barcode String) from the DataMatrix encoder (either from GUI or ActiveX) and format them with one of the data matrix fonts.

To change the symbol size, simply select the whole text and format with a different point size. For MRV DataMatrix typeface, values between 6 and 20 points are recommended. For MRV DataMatrixR1, any size above 3 points should be fine.