wrong ascii symbol for start and stop codes in code 128

[Holger-Will]

As per Wikipedia the the start and stop symbols for code 128 are as follows:

Start Code A: Ð / ø
Start Code B: Ñ / ù
Start Code C: Ò / ú
Stop Code: Ó / û

you use the non stardards complient symbols:

, [ 103, "11010000100", "code.StartCodeA", ["Ë"], false]
, [ 104, "11010010000", "code.StartCodeB", ["Ì"], false]
, [ 105, "11010011100", "code.StartCodeC", ["Í"], false]
, [null, "1100011101011", "code.stoppattern", ["Î"], false]

theses symbols are reserved as switch codes for switching between A,B and C encoding.
I am the author of a (explicitly standaards complient) code 128 encoder (https://github.com/Holger-Will/code-128-encoder). And am getting complaints about my encoder not working with your font.

[graphicore]

Sorry, but you write:

As per Wikipedia

then

explicitly standaards complient

Do you imply that Wikipedia is the standard? There are other 128 encoders that work with the fonts, here are their encodings.

• http://www.idautomation.com/barcode-fonts/code-128/user-manual.html
• http://www.jtbarton.com/Barcodes/Code128.aspx

Unfortunately Wikipedia has collisions with these others and it doesn't cite the source of it's encoding table, so I don't know why it should be preferred.

Also talking about standards:

Ð, ø, Ñ, ù, Ò, ú, Ó, û are all Unicode characters and their meanings in the Unicode-Standard are:

• Ð: LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL ETH
• ø: LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH STROKE
• Ñ: LATIN CAPITAL LETTER N WITH TILDE
• ù: LATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH GRAVE
• Ò: LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH GRAVE
• ú: LATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH ACUTE
• Ó: LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH ACUTE
• û: LATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH CIRCUMFLEX

I'd be more than happy to have encodings for START CODE A, START CODE B, START CODE C, START CODE, and the rest of the unclear CODE 128 symbols standardized somewhere, but it seems it isn't, at least not publicly available. Wikipedia is not a standards body, I'm afraid, and it is in dissent with other non-standard definitions.

[graphicore]

cc @davelab6

[Holger-Will]

You are probably right. At least for me Wikipedia as a community based source has a higher value than single sources on private websites, but in the end that does not mean much ;-) . The USS-128 spec does not define a symbol or rather byte mapping.

One possible source could still be DIN EN 799. Unfortunately EN Specifications are not publicly available and i'm not willing to spend 70€ just to check...

In the Wikipedia table the cited source is "Common/Barcodesoft" In my font i'm using both. for example the Start A code is given as

103	Start Code A	208 / 248	Ð / ø	11010000100	211412

So i have Characters Ð and ø or bytes 208 and 248 map to 11010000100. At least the "Common" mapping clashes with the mapping you use in your font. Using both mappings in one font is impossible...

One solution would be to use the "Barcodesoft" mapping (Bytes 240 and above). If you could add these mappings to your font, it would be compatible with what you have right now and with the "Barcodesoft" mapping. I would switch my encoder to use the "Barcodesoft" mapping as well, and my font already has these mappings build in. That would ensure the highest compatibility... what do you think?

aside

Ð, ø, Ñ, ù, Ò, ú, Ó, û are all Unicode characters

they might also be Unicode characters, but first and foremost these are just the character representations of bytes 200 and above in extended ascii interpreted as latin-1 as per ISO-8859-1. ISO 8859-1 is the common 8-bit character encoding used by the X Window System, and most Internet standards used it before Unicode.(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_ASCII#ISO_8859_and_proprietary_adaptations)

[Holger-Will]

On a side note, what is listed as "common" mapping in wikipedia, is not the most common mapping. After a bit of research, it seem the mapping you use is the most common one. It might be appropriate to alter the wikipedia table to use that mapping besides the barcodesoaft mapping instead of what is listed as "common" there...

[davelab6]

It might be appropriate to alter the wikipedia table

Please do!

[Holger-Will]

ok, i will care about the wikipedia table.

[davelab6]

I suggest this can be closed

[Holger-Will]

fine with me, please go ahead and close this...

[Holger-Will]

finally got around changing the wikipedia page and my encoder...

[traut21]

Could someone explain to me please: What is a "Barcodesoft" mapping and where does it come from? The wikipedia table names it, but it does not give any source.

As written here above, Start Code C has the value 105, hex 69 and has the output 211232 (██_█__███__).

That's the Code 128 definition, isn't it? So why don't you just stick to the hex value %x69?

Of course you might put over that some kind of random (!?) character mapping. But where do those numbers 208 / 248 and unicode characters Ð / ø come from? Why two source characters for one definition? I feel that this is just some application "crap", which is not part ot the code definition, but some extra layer someone used for better handling, even using special compromises for certain characters that can not be displayed on Windows systems.

A mapping table like that should be kept completely separate from the barcode definition, shouldn't it?

Personally, I'm more interested in how to achieve a certain character, such as
1: from Code 128A hex 11 or from Code 128B hex 11
x: from Code 128B hex 58
À: from Code 128A: FNC4/hex 40
à: from Code 128A: FNC4/Shift B/hex 40

I do not understand yet what FNC 4 and Shift A from Code 128B will do. Do you know?