IDAutomation.com MSI/Plessey Font Advantage
Package DEMO
A license is required for each computer this
software is installed on;
this software may only be used according to the
License Agreement.
Demo versions of this software may be used for
evaluation purposes only |
NOTE:
We recommend you use our
Font Tools to automatically perform the required check character
calculations and ensure the printed barcode will scan properly.
This sample MSI
Plessey bar code font should only be used for testing
and evaluation purposes because some of the characters contain the text
"DEMO" in them which can cause scan errors. For testing purposes, a
successful scan can be obtained by scanning the lower 25% of the barcode
that does not contain any "DEMO" text in it. After you order the MSI Plessey Font Advantage Package
license, you
will receive our fully functional MSI Plessey barcode font set, with rights to
use our macros, tools and source code. To order the fully functional MSI Plessey barcode fonts containing all numbers, please visit the
MSI Plessey Font Site or
click here to order
MSI Plessey Fonts directly.
- The MSI Plessey barcode was designed in the 1970s by the Plessey Company,
in England, and has been used primarily in libraries and retail
applications.
- The symbology of the MSI Plessey character
set consists of bar code symbols representing the numbers 0-9, the start
character and the stop character. In the MSI Plessey font, the parentheses
are used for start and stop characters.
- Printing the MSI Plessey barcode requires the calculation of a check
digit, which makes it a difficult font to use for non-programmers or users
that do not implement our font
tools. If you
are not a programmer and you need an easy to use numeric barcode, consider our
Codabar Barcode Font which does not require checksums to be calculated.
If your application supports ActiveX in Windows, we also sell easy to use
"drag and drop" Linear
ActiveX Controls that support MSI Plessey as well as other barcode
types and they automatically calculate the checksum.
MSI/Plessey Barcode
Font Advantage Package Features
|
With this package you receive 8 different MSI font versions in 6 font formats. You
are also provided font tools, macros and
source code to help you integrate the fonts into your application. Implementing barcode solutions with our fonts provides a high
level of scalability with operating system, application and printer
independence. Learn more about
the quality of our fonts.
Details of the MSI Plessey Font
Advantage Package are as follows:
- Tools Provided - to help users integrate barcode fonts into their applications, we provide font
automation tools with our fonts that include MS
Office Macros for Word, Excel and Access, Visual
Basic, FoxPro, ANSI C
and JAVA Source Code, ActiveX
DLLs for development platforms that support Microsoft's ActiveX / COM technology,
Crystal
Reports User Function Libraries (UFLs) and a check
digit calculation application with Visual Basic source code as a
free download for programmers and technical users. The DLLs, macros, UFLs
and code provided automatically format the start, stop and check
characters to the barcode font.
- Versions Provided - The MSI Plessey barcode fonts are scaleable and should be printed at the correct font size to suit your application and scanning equipment.
The MSI font is designed to be printed from 6 to 18 points.
Four (4) versions of the MSI Plessey barcode fonts are provided to support different width and height requirements.
Fonts beginning with IDAutomationHMSI are "human readable" versions.
The last characters in the MSI Plessey barcode font
name determines the height of the barcode with the shortest being
IDAutomationMSIXS and the tallest being
IDAutomationMSIL. To determine which MSI Plessey barcode font to use, first print out the
IDAutomationMSIXS barcode font at various font sizes to determine which size is the smallest that will work with your scanning equipment. Then, choose the tallest version that will fit in your scanning area.
- Multiple Formats Provided - when you purchase a license for this font, you will receive all versions
in a single ZIP file. The manual is supplied in a file named
"readme" in the ZIP file. The following fonts are included:
- TrueType fonts are supplied in PC and Macintosh format. The TrueType TTF
fonts are compatible with Macintosh OS X and all versions of Microsoft
Windows, including Pocket PC. Macintosh formatted MTT TrueType fonts are compatible with
Macintosh System 7.1 and above.
- OpenType OTF fonts with PostScript outlines are provided. These are
compatible with Windows, Macintosh OS X and other systems supporting the
OpenType format.
- PostScript Type 1 fonts are supplied in binary,
ASCII and Macintosh Classic MacBinary versions.
- Also included in this package are PCL laserjet soft fonts in 8, 10, 12 and 14 points.
- With the purchase of a Developer License and 1 year of support and
upgrade protection, we can convert fonts from this package to PCL 4,
Xerox Metacode, XES, FNT, BDF, FON and AFP. More about this is
provided here.
The Developer License also grants you the right to convert our fonts
to other formats as necessary including TrueDoc and OpenType.
- You may also get more information on what
font
types are provided.
- For
the most up to date installation procedures for
other operating systems, please visit our
Technical
Support Site.
NOTICE: When printing the barcode fonts at less
than 12 points, a high quality printer with a 600 DPI or greater
resolution should be used; it may also be necessary to reduce the print
intensity, if you have increased this in the past to a value greater than
normal.
If you need to print barcodes smaller than 12 points with
a 203 DPI printer, it is recommended you print at point sizes 6, or 11.5
to create a high quality barcode. For a 300 DPI printer, it is recommended
you print at point sizes 4 or 7.8.
To install the TrueType fonts in Windows:
- Click on Start, Select settings and click on Control
Panel.
- Click on Fonts, Click on File in your main tool bar,
Select Install New Font.
- Select the folder where you placed the barcode fonts.
- The fonts will appear and look like this:
FontName (true type) - select the fonts you want to install and
choose OK.
- Click Start and choose to shut down and restart your
computer.
- The font should be active when you restart your computer.
Installing the fonts on Macintosh OS X:
- Drag or copy and paste the TrueType font file(s) ending in TTF
to the Library/Fonts folder.
- To activate the fonts, restart the application - some applications may
require you to restart the computer.
- The font should now be active in the font menu of your application.
To install the TrueType font on the
Classic Macintosh (OS 7.1 - OS 9):
- Download and install Stuffit Expander on your Macintosh if you do not have
an expander utility that can open ZIP files and decode MacBinary files.
- Open the ZIP distribution file that contains the fonts by dragging the ZIP file
on the Stuffit Expander icon. The font files will be extracted from the ZIP
distribution file and will appear in a subfolder of the folder you placed
the ZIP file in. Open this subfolder to view the font files. At this
point, you may want to view the documentation supplied with the font files.
To do so just drag the file "readme.html" to the Netscape or
Internet Explorer icon.
- Now we must decode the files from MacBinary format. Drag the font files
that you wish to use that
end with "mtt" to the Stuffit Expander icon.
- Drag the decoded font files to the System - Fonts
folder.
- Restart the application you wish to use the font with.
- The font will be active in the font menu of your application.
- To create the correct output for the font, you will need to choose the font
in your application and type in the corresponding letter.
Font
installation procedures for other operating systems are provided here
Eight different versions of the MSI Plessey barcode fonts are provided to
support human readable versions and different height requirements. Fonts with
the letter "H" in the font name are "human
readable" versions. The last characters in the MSI Plessey barcode font name
determines the height of the barcode, with the shortest being "XS" and the
tallest being "L". Because each single font can be printed at various
point sizes, there are several combinations of heights and widths that can be
produced. (click
here to view font names prior to July, 2003)
Font name of purchased version |
Font name of eval version* |
Font height at 12 points* |
MSI Plessey Fonts with no
text below the barcode: |
IDAutomationMSIXS |
IDAutomationSMSIXS |
1/4" (.25") or .6 cm |
IDAutomationMSIS |
IDAutomationSMSIS |
1/2" (.5") or 1.2 cm |
IDAutomationMSIM |
IDAutomationSMSIM |
1" or 2.5 cm |
IDAutomationMSIL |
IDAutomationSMSIL |
1 1/4" (1.25") or 3.1 cm |
MSI Plessey Fonts
with text below the barcode: |
IDAutomationHMSIXS |
IDAutomationSHMSIXS |
1/4" (.25") or .6 cm |
IDAutomationHMSIS |
IDAutomationSHMSIS |
1/2" (.5") or 1.2 cm |
IDAutomationHMSIM |
IDAutomationSHMSIM |
1" or 2.5 cm |
IDAutomationHMSIL |
IDAutomationSHMSIL |
1 1/4" (1.25") or 3.1 cm |
* Measurements are approximate and were measured
when printed at 12 points which should work for most scanners. Measurements
for Human Readable fonts do not include the text below. At 12 points, the X
dimension is about 8 mils.
To print at a different height, find the font that has the height closest
to what you need and use this formula to find the point size you need to
print the font at to get that height:
12 * (height you want) / (height at 12 points) =
(point size converted to integer)
For example, if you are using IDAutomationMSIS and you want it to be about .75"
tall, you need to print it at 18 points because:
12 * .75 / .5 = 18 |
To help users integrate barcodes into their applications, we provide font
automation tools such as MS
Office Macros for Word, Excel and Access, Visual
Basic, ANSI C and JAVA Source Code, ActiveX
DLLs for development platforms that support Microsoft's ActiveX / COM
technology, Crystal
Reports User Function Libraries (UFLs) and a check
digit calculation application with Visual Basic source code as a free
download for programmers and technical users. The DLLs, macros, UFLs and code
provided automatically format the start, stop and check characters to the
barcode font.
To print the MSI barcode symbols for the number 173946, you would need to type
or print (1739465) . In this example, the check digit is 5. This is how we
calculated the MSI Plessey Code check digit manually:
- The number to be encoded is 173946. Starting from the right side
of the number (the units position), collect all of the odd position digits
(i.e. digit 1, digit 3, digit 5, etc.) and create a new number leaving the
digits in their left to right order. Our new number would be 796.
- Multiply the new number by 2. (796 x 2 = 1592)
- Add the digits of the product created in Step 2.
(1 + 5 + 9 + 2 = 17)
- Starting from the right side of the number (the units position), collect
all of the even position digits (i.e. digit 2, digit 4, digit 6, etc.) and
create a new number leaving the digits in their left to right order. Our new number would be
134.
- Add the digits of the number created in Step 4. (1 + 3 + 4
= 8)
- Add the sums obtained in step 3 and 5. (17 + 8 = 25)
- Determine the smallest number, when added to the result of Step 6 (25),
that will produce a multiple of 10. This value is the remainder obtained
when dividing the result of Step 6 (25) by 10. 25 divided by 10 = 2
with a remainder of 5. The check digit is 5.
Font names used prior to July, 2003
|
The
last character in the MSI Plessey barcode font name determines the height of the
barcode with the shortest being "A" and the tallest being "D".
Font name of purchased version |
Font name of eval version* |
Font height at 12 points* |
MSI Plessey Fonts with no
text below the barcode: |
ADVMSIA |
SMSIA |
1/4" (.25") or .6 cm |
ADVMSIB |
SMSIB |
1/2" (.5") or 1.2 cm |
ADVMSIC |
SMSIC |
1" or 2.5 cm |
ADVMSID |
SMSID |
1 1/4" (1.25") or 3.1 cm |
MSI Plessey Fonts
with text below the barcode: |
MSIHRA |
SMSIHRA |
1/4" (.25") or .6 cm |
MSIHRB |
SMSIHRB |
1/2" (.5") or 1.2 cm |
MSIHRC |
SMSIHRC |
1" or 2.5 cm |
MSIHRD |
SMSIHRD |
1 1/4" (1.25") or 3.1 cm |
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