Adding Barcodes and Other Objects

To add objects such as barcodes, images, text, and TLEs to a print stream, follow these steps. For more information see the Enrichment Language Reference Guide.

  1. Create a control file. For more information, see Developing a Control File.
  2. If you are adding a barcode or text and the value should be based on data in the print stream, define a field that identifies the data. For example, if you want to create a barcode to represent the account number, define a field to contain the account number. To define a field, use the <FIELD> tag group.
  3. Decide whether you want to add the object to all outputs or just one output then do one of the following.
    • If you want to add the object to all outputs, create a standalone Add tag group in your control file.
    • If you want to add the object to a specific output, create an Add tag group in the Output tag group where you want to add the object.
  4. In the Add tag group, create an <ADDTYPE> tag to specify the type of object you want to add (2of5 barcode, PLANET Code® barcode, text, etc).
  5. In the Add tag group, create one or more <ADDPART> tags to specify the value of the object you are adding. For example, if you are adding a barcode, the tag would specify the numbers that make up the barcode.
    Note: If you are creating a MaxiCode barcode and specify <MAXICODE> with a value of 2 or 3, do not use the <ADDPART> tag to specify the value to encode. Instead, use the tags that begin with “UPS” (for example, <UPSPOSTALCODE>).
  6. (AFP, Metacode, PCL, PDF, and PostScript. print streams only)

    In the Add tag group, create a <POSITION> tag to specify the horizontal and vertical placement of the object on the page.

  7. (Multiple up AFP print streams only)

    In the Add tag group, create a <POSMULTUP> tag to specify the horizontal and vertical placement of the object on the page.

  8. (Line data only)

    If you are adding a text object (<ADDTYPE>TEXT), create a <POSLINE> tag in the Add tag group. The tag <POSLINE> specifies the horizontal and vertical placement of the text object on the page.

  9. (AFPDS print streams only)

    Use the <SMARTMCFS> tag to specify whether or not Enrichment should use the font in the MCF1 or MCF2 records when adding text for which no font was specified. This only applies to <ADDTYPE> TEXT and barcodes added with HRI text (HRI, or “human-readable interface”, is the text that appears below a barcode).

For information on additional options that you can use when adding barcodes, images, text, and TLEs, refer to the documentation on the Add tag group in the Enrichment Language Reference Guide..