Create Barcodes within Microsoft Access 2003 using Barcode ActiveX

A video demonstration on using TALtech's Barcode ActiveX control with Microsoft Access.

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Closed Caption:

the Tal barcode activex control is a
software component that is designed to
make it easy for programmers and
database developers to add
high-resolution barcode printing
capabilities to their own applications
and then distribute their applications
to other users without having to pay any
additional license fees the Tal barcode
activex control can be used with any
application that supports activex
components including microsoft visual
studio internet explorer HTML documents
and Microsoft Office applications like
Word Excel and access this video is
designed to show how to use the Tal
barcode activex control to print barcode
labels from a microsoft access database
to demonstrate i will first run
microsoft access and open a database
that I created earlier it contains a
table named products that I filled with
some sample data that i want printed
onto barcode labels the products table
that i created contains two data fields
named barcode number and product name
the first step to create the labels is
to select the report section in the
database window and click the new button
when i do this axis will display window
containing options for how to create the
report along with a list box where i can
select the table or query containing the
data that i want printed on the report i
will first click on the label wizard
option and then select the table named
products when i click the ok button
access opens the label wizard or i can
select the type of labels that I want to
use in this example I will select the
avery 5160 three labels which are two
inches tall and four inches wide
all of the labels listed in the wizard
our standard labels that you can
purchase at any office supply store and
use in any laser or inkjet printer when
i click the next button access we'll ask
me to specify the phone attributes for
the text and the labels i will leave the
default values and click the next button
the next step is to select the data
fields from the products table that I
want to appear as text labels in this
example I will highlight the field named
product name and click the arrow button
to move the field onto the prototype
label now that i did not add the barcode
number field onto the label i will add
the barcode data later on after I click
the next button access we'll ask me how
to sort the data being printed on the
labels in this example I'll leave the
default settings and click the next
button in the final window i will select
modify the label design so i can add the
bar codes using the report designer i
enter a name for the report and
click the finish button when i do this
access we'll open the report designer
window and display the report that was
created by the label wizard to add the
barcodes i will first open the view menu
and select the tool box option the
toolbox contains several built-in
components like text boxes buttons and
image boxes that i can place directly on
the reports surface if you hover your
mouse over the very last button in the
toolbox you'll see that it reads more
controls and if you click on this button
and menu will appear containing a list
of all of the activex components that
you have installed in your system
I will scroll down the list and
highlight the one named tal VAR CD ocx
this is the Tal barcode activex control
i will then single click my mouse inside
the report at the location where I want
to place the upper left corner of the
bar code control a sample bar code that
appears in the report to configure the
control to work the way i want i will
click on the properties button in the
access toolbar to display the properties
window for the Tal barcode activex
control the properties window contains
all of the settings and options for
whatever component you have selected in
the report
the first property that I'm going to set
is the control source property
this tells the barcode activex control
where to get the data that i want
encoded in the bar codes if i click on
the drop-down list next to control
source property i will see a list of all
the data fields in the table the report
is based on in this case I will select
the barcode number field so that the
barcodes and the report will
automatically obtain the data to encode
from this field next I will change the
symbology property to be c code 128 this
will cause the control to generate code
128 barcodes i will also change the bar
height property to 750 thousands of an
inch so that the barcodes will be three
quarters of an inch tall to make the
labels look a little nicer
I will Center align the text field I
then close the label design window
choosing yes to save the changes that I
made to the label design when I
double-click on the report to run it
my barcode labels are produced exactly
as I want with the barcodes encoding the
data from the barcode number field in
the products table along with the
product name field appearing neatly
centered above the bar codes all that I
have to do now is load my printer with
avery 5160 three labels and print the
report as you can see adding bar codes
to access database reports is extremely
easy with the Tal barcode activex
control also because the control creates
the barcodes is
resolution vector images your bar codes
will print perfectly no matter what
printer you use