Swiss QR Bill for .NET

Open-source .NET library to generate Swiss QR bills (jointly developed with the Java version).

Try it yourself and create a QR bill. The code for this demonstration (Angular UI and RESTful service) can be found on GitHub as well.

Introduction

The Swiss QR bill is the new QR code based payment format that started on 30 June, 2020. The old payment slip will no longer be accepted after 30 September 2022.

The new payment slip will be sent electronically in most cases. But it can still be printed at the bottom of an invoice or added to the invoice on a separate sheet. The payer scans the QR code with his/her mobile banking app to initiate the payment. The payment just needs to be confirmed.

If the invoicing party adds structured bill information (VAT rates, payment conditions etc.) to the QR bill, the payer can automate booking in accounts payable. The invoicing party can also automate the accounts receivable processing as the payment includes all relevant data including a reference number. The Swiss QR bill is convenient for the payer and payee.

More examples can be found in the Wiki

Features

The Swiss QR bill library:

• generates QR bills as PDF, SVG and PNG files
• generates payment slip (105mm by 210mm), A4 sheets or QR code only
• multilingual: German, French, Italian, English
• validates the invoice data and provides detailed validation information
• adds or retrieves structured bill information (according to Swico S1)
• parses the invoice data embedded in the QR code
• is easy to use (see example below)
• is small and fast
• is free – even for commecial use (MIT License)
• is built for .NET Standard 2.0, i.e. it runs with .NET Core 2.0 or higher, .NET Framework 4.6.1 or higher, Mono 5.4 or higher, Universal Windows Platform 10.0.16299 or higher, Xamarin etc.
• core library is light-weight and has a single dependency: Net.Codecrete.QrCodeGenerator
• enhanced version uses SkiaSharp for PNG file generation
• available as a NuGet packages: core library (named Codecrete.SwissQRBill.Core) and enhanced version (named Codecrete.SwissQRBill.Generator)

Getting started

1. Create a new Visual Studio project for .NET Core 2.x (File > New > Project... / Visual C# > .NET Core > Console App (.NET Core))

2. Add the library via NuGet:

   Either via Project > Manage NuGet Packages... / Browse / search for qrbill / Install

   Or by running a command in the Package Manager Console

Install-Package Codecrete.SwissQRBill.Generator -Version 3.0.2

3. Add the code:

using Codecrete.SwissQRBill.Generator;
using System;
using System.IO;

namespace Codecrete.SwissQRBill.Examples.Basic
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            // Setup bill data
            Bill bill = new Bill
            {
                // creditor data
                Account = "CH4431999123000889012",
                Creditor = new Address
                {
                    Name = "Robert Schneider AG",
                    AddressLine1 = "Rue du Lac 1268/2/22",
                    AddressLine2 = "2501 Biel",
                    CountryCode = "CH"
                },

                // payment data
                Amount = 199.95m,
                Currency = "CHF",
                
                // debtor data
                Debtor = new Address
                {
                    Name = "Pia-Maria Rutschmann-Schnyder",
                    AddressLine1 = "Grosse Marktgasse 28",
                    AddressLine2 = "9400 Rorschach",
                    CountryCode = "CH"
                },

                // more payment data
                Reference = "210000000003139471430009017",
                UnstructuredMessage = "Abonnement für 2020",


                // output format
                Format = new BillFormat
                {
                    Language = Language.DE,
                    GraphicsFormat = GraphicsFormat.SVG,
                    OutputSize = OutputSize.QrBillOnly
                }
            };

            // Generate QR bill
            byte[] svg = QRBill.Generate(bill);

            // Save generated SVG file
            const string path = "qrbill.svg";
            File.WriteAllBytes(path, svg);
            Console.WriteLine($"QR bill saved at { Path.GetFullPath(path) }");
        }
    }
}

4. Run it

API documention

See DocFX API Documentation

PNG generation

PNG generation requires a raster graphics library. Starting with .NET 6, the System.Drawing classes have become a Windows-only technology and standard .NET no longer supports raster graphics out-of-the-box. With this library, you have several options:

• If you do not need PNG generation, you can use the light-weight core library: Codecrete.SwissQRBill.Core.
• If you need PNG generation, you can use the enhanced version: Codecrete.SwissQRBill.Generator. It uses SkiaSharp as a platform independent raster graphics library. Note that on Linux, SkiaSharp depends on native libraries that might not be installed on your machine. The easiest solution is to add the NuGet package SkiaSharp.NativeAssets.Linux.NoDependencies to your project.
• If you are on Windows and prefer to use the System.Drawing classes, you can use the light-weight core library Codecrete.SwissQRBill.Core and then add the classes in the SystemDrawing folder of the WindowsForms example. Call PngCanvasFactory.Register() at the start of your program to enable PNG generation. For more information, see example's README

Note on strong-naming / assembly signature: The latest version of SkiaSharp (version 2.80.3) has an invalid signature. Thus, the assembly cannot be loaded in an environment requiring a signature / strong-naming. To work around it, use the NuGet Package Manager and selectively downgrade SkiaSharp to version 2.80.2. This only works with Codecrete.SwissQRBill.Generator 3.0.2 and later.

PDF generation

To generate QR bills as PDF files, this library uses its own, minimal PDF generator that requires no further dependencies and comes with the same permissive license as the rest of this library.

If you are already using iText or PDFsharp, then have a look at the respective examples:

• iText: https://github.com/manuelbl/SwissQRBill.NET/tree/master/Examples/iText
• PDFsharp: https://github.com/manuelbl/SwissQRBill.NET/tree/master/Examples/PDFsharp

These examples also support adding a QR bill to an existing PDF document.

Code examples

This library comes with multiple code examples:

• Basic: A basic example showing how to generate a QR bill.

• WindowsForms: An extensive example showing how to use this library in a Windows Forms application (display of QR bills, printing, working with the clipboard). Even if you do not use Windows Forms, you might be interested in the code for generating Metafiles/EMF files or copying to the clipboard.

• WindowsPresentationFoundation: An example for Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) applications. It shows how to display and print QR bills.

• iText: Example showing how to generate PDFs using the iText library, including how to add a QR bill to an existing PDF document.

• PDFsharp: Example showing how to generate PDFs using the PDFsharp library, including how to add a QR bill to an existing PDF document.

More information

This library is the .NET version of Swiss QR Bill. There is also a Java version with the same features. More information about both libraries can be found in the Wiki.

Other programming languages

If you are looking for a library for yet another programming language or for a library with professional services, you might want to check out Services & Tools on MoneyToday.ch.