Talk:Code 128

message: what sort of information density can you get with code 128?  Could I print 'War and Peace' on a single page? Funkyj 21:38, 15 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Not by a long way.  If you wanted to do something like that, you'd go to a 2 dimensional barcode, and even then a reasonable target would be to get the text on a form onto a 2D barcode that occupied 1/3 of the form.  For dense print like a novel (leaving aside whether W&P is denser than most) I think you'd get a less favourable ratio. Midgley 11:15, 26 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Information Density 

message: I've added two links that are very useful for people that want to create their own codes, namely C routines for checksum calculation and the actual bit pattern (which in this format can't be found elsewhere on the net). Unfortunately someone keeps deleting those links. I'm reverting the page again. 17:28 BST 24. Oct. 2006
:Please refer to the Talk:European Article Number page for the relevant discussion. --Millbrooky 16:52, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  External links 

message: This sentence needs clarifying:
"One error in 2-5 million reads with a checksum using 6.6 wide (2 dots wide) using the 300 dpi printer on the thinnest line of the barcode"  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.183.18.156 (talk) 00:48, 18 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Clarify a sentence. 

message: Does ISO/IEC 15417:2007 further replace GS1-128?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Crammer101 (talk • contribs) 15:52, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  ISO/IEC 15417:2007 

message: Finding the optimal Code 128 encoding of an input is not trivial. Perhaps a link to Dynamic programming would be in order?--89.132.129.111 (talk) 19:44, 6 April 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Optimal encoding 

message: Looking for info about barcode readers able to understand the FNC4 special code, that allows the inclusion of character that are not included is ascii set, I haven't found anything That would need a citation reference of source.--Sucoplus (talk) 13:39, 23 May 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Character set encoding 

message: The article mentions Code 128 may be used for pallet and shipping labeling, but I am interested in how widespread, and what other uses this coding is used for. Is it exclusively for shipping, or is it more broadly used?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.255.88.155 (talk) 21:14, 30 January 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Uses 

message: The article indicates, "if the check digit's value is lesser than 95 then the ASCII value is obtained by adding 32 to the check digit's value; else the ASCII value is obtained adding 105."
However, based on what I see in my documentation, the rule is: "if the check digit's value is lesser than 96 then the ASCII value is obtained by adding 32 to the check digit's value; else the ASCII value is obtained adding 65."  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 13.13.137.1 (talk) 15:27, 25 July 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Check digit 

message: The two illustrations on this page are both meant to show an encoded Wikipedia word, however the second image (the one with indicators showing the various parts) has the sequence "Start-B FNC1 Wikipedia", while the one at the top is "Start-B Wikipedia".  This is slightly confusing if anyone tries to use the image to understand the encoding table, as the article text further down says the FNC1 will be followed by a numeric AI, which the example does not obey.  Both barcodes scan fine though.  Not sure if this is important, or what to do, but it wasnt clear for readers beyond a cursory review.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.167.218.250 (talk) 01:55, 28 September 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Illustrations different 

message: Besides A, B, C there is Code128 Auto. The explaination is "Automatically switch between the different code sets and performs characters optimization 
". But how to do characters optimization?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 220.255.2.133 (talk) 02:42, 22 November 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Code 128 Auto allows for switching between different encodings for greater efficiency - in this case, by starting in Code C, the "2012" can be encoded with just two characters, whereas "2012" takes four in Code B. As for the differing Wikipedia barcodes, one of them appears to include an FNC 1 code before the W.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.9.31.12 (talk) 15:22, 17 February 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Code128 Auto 

message: Is there somewhere the original Font True Type (.ttf File) of Code 128 to download?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.45.150.17 (talk) 15:57, 11 July 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Where to find the Font True Type? 

message: The "characters" column in the encoding table is IMHO a bit misleading, since the mapping of special codes 95-106 and 0 to characters is completely dependent on the font designer. 
I know at least two fonts which use other mappings, and none which uses the mapping described here.
If I find the time I'll try a new paragraph on creating codes with fonts...
212.14.81.92 (talk) 08:29, 29 November 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Using fonts to create Code 128 barcodes 

message: "It can encode all 128 characters of ASCII"
Can it? The table only shows 107 code128 characters, from ASCII 32 (space) upwards. Before that it's all control codes, rather than actual "characters." 212.9.31.12 (talk) 15:16, 17 February 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: Never mind! The control codes are available in code 128A.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.9.31.12 (talk) 15:18, 17 February 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  128 characters in ASCII? 

message: The purported Wikipedia barcode (:File:Barcode diagram.svg) is incorrect. Code 128 is the symbology. A Code 128 symbol that starts with FNC1 is an EAN-128 that must use application identifiers. The Wikipedia barcode does not use application identifiers. It should delete the FNC1 (preferred) or it should wrap "Wikipedia" with a suitable application identifier (there isn't one except for the 9x series (private information)). Glrx (talk) 18:25, 31 May 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Dubious 

message: With 3 bars and 3 "spaces" of width 1...4 pixels and total symbol width of 11 pixels I found 216 different codes. But only one half of them is used, e.g. 10101111000 (widths 111143) is used, but 10101110000 (widthds 111134) is not used. Why? The answer is not found in the article. :-/ --RokerHRO (talk) 09:23, 1 October 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: The article states, "Each symbol in the barcode is composed of three bars and three spaces. Each bar or space is 1, 2, 3 or 4 units wide, the sum of the widths of bars must be even (4, 6 or 8 units), the sum of the widths of the spaces must be odd (3, 5 or 7 units), and total 11 units per symbol." The unused code you offer does not follow that rule. Glrx (talk) 17:02, 29 October 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Why only 108 codes instead of 216 possible codes? 

message: what is listed as "common" mapping isn't common at all. in fact i did not find any font that uses this mapping.
as per discussion with guys from the google fonts team as well as the librefont guys (see https://github.com/graphicore/librebarcode/issues/9 ) , we should change the common codes to the ones most commonly found. i will go ahead and do so while preserving the old codes as "uncommon".  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Holger Wil (talk • contribs) 09:55, 23 November 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  ascii code mapping 

message: Πως φτιαχνονται οι δυαδικες μπαρες 62.74.11.217 (talk) 17:48, 12 January 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Πως δημιουργω μπαρες για e-συνταγες 

message: نبننینبنیو 204.18.167.220 (talk) 12:38, 17 May 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  ۱۲فت غب ر 

message: Thanks so much 204.18.167.220 (talk) 12:39, 17 May 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  تثرترل 

message: The FNC1 through FNC3 are shown in the table Code 128#Bar code widths but FNC4 is notably not anywhere to be found in that table, despite it being mentioned several times elsewhere in this article. Can somebody who has knowledge of how to encode FNC4 in code 128 please add this code to the table? Benhut1 (talk) 18:57, 29 June 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: Oops. I just realized it is shown in the table, but is referred to differently there. In the table it's shown as "FNC 4" with a space between the C and the 4. Elsewhere in the article it's referred to as "FNC4" without that space. That's why when I did ctrl+f in my browser to search text on the page, it was unable to find it in the table, because I was typing "FNC4" in the browser's text search function, rather than "FNC 4". Benhut1 (talk) 19:04, 29 June 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  How do you encode an FNC4 symbol? 

message: Does anyone understand the table below section bar code widths? I'm afraid that it merges just too much information, without actually explaining its contents. It does offer a very analytic description, but it fails to visualize that properly. Wouldn't it be better to split the contents of that table for what they aim at, but instead provide some actual visual display - such as Pattern "11000111010" as  "██___███_█_". It fails to explain the columns "128B" and "128C", it has a merged column "Font position" with subcolumns for "Common/Uncommon/Barcodesoft", it merges values and codes and more, without explanation. I feel this info should be split to at least two separate tables. --Traut (talk) 09:41, 22 November 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Bar code widths table, Code A/B/C 

message: Please help me to understand the special functions. 
How does Shift work?
* From 128A you may call FNC4+Shift B to call the lower case diacritics, from à (Latin-1 hex E0) to þ (hex FE)?
* From 128A can you call "Shift B" only, or is that for "Shift" too, creating a-z?
* From 128B, what does Shift A do? Does this require FNC4+Shift A? Which are the valid codes for the ±hex 80 operation by FNC4? The opposite way around FNC4 seems to be valid for 161-223 (hex A0-DF) only. So what does FNC4 do from 128B?
* The Latin-1 symbols ÷ (F7) and ÿ (FF) are not available?
* Extended Latin-1 control (hex 80 to 9F) is both undefined and not available?
I guess the answers are hidden deep within ISO/IEC 15417:2007... --Traut (talk) 14:43, 22 November 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Shift A, Shift B