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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.

MSI / Plessey Barcode Symbology Information

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:

Installation Instructions

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: 

  1. Click on Start, Select settings and click on Control Panel.
  2. Click on Fonts, Click on File in your main tool bar, Select Install New Font.
  3. Select the folder where you placed the barcode fonts.
  4. The fonts will appear and look like this: FontName (true type) - select the fonts you want to install and choose OK.
  5. Click Start and choose to shut down and restart your computer.
  6. The font should be active when you restart your computer.

Installing the fonts on Macintosh OS X:

  1. Drag or copy and paste the TrueType font file(s) ending in TTF to the Library/Fonts folder.
  2. To activate the fonts, restart the application - some applications may require you to restart the computer.
  3. 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):

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. Drag the decoded font files to the System - Fonts folder.
  5. Restart the application you wish to use the font with.
  6. The font will be active in the font menu of your application.
  7. 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

Specifications

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

 

MSI Code Check Digit Calculation Example

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:

  1. 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. 
  2. Multiply the new number by 2.  (796 x 2 = 1592)
  3. Add the digits of the product created in Step 2.  (1 + 5 + 9 + 2 = 17)
  4. 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. 
  5. Add the digits of the number created in Step 4. (1 + 3 + 4 = 8)
  6. Add the sums obtained in step 3 and 5.  (17 + 8 = 25)
  7. 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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