FastReport .Net is a full-featured Windows Forms, ASP.NET and MVC report analysis solution. Using FastReport .NET can create .NET reports independent of applications. At the same time, FastReport .Net supports 14 languages such as Chinese and English. It can make your products truly international.
In the previous article of the Fastreport User Manual, we shared the two-dimensional barcode Swiss QR. This article mainly shares Aztec codes, another variant of the two-dimensional barcode QR codes, hoping to help you.
Aztec codes
Aztec codes are a type of QR codes. Aztec is the name of a Central American Indian tribe. If you look closely at the code, in the center of it you can notice a square that looks like an Aztec pyramid if you look at it from above. This is a special target from which you can determine the center of the code and its orientation.
Aztec Code combines the best ideas of 2D barcodes: MaxiCode, SuperCode, CodeOne, DataMatrix, DotCode and PDF417. Despite the patent, this development is already in the public domain. The encoding standard is described in ISO/IEC 24778:2008.
The size of the code depends on the amount of information encoded. For example, a minimum size of 15x15 pixels allows you to encode 6 bytes, i.e. 12 letters or 13 numbers. The maximum size is 151x151 pixels, allowing to encode 1914 bytes, 3067 letters or 3832 numbers.
Note that the codes are available in two display formats: Compact, where a symbol with a target consists of two squares, and Full-Range, where a symbol with a target consists of three squares. The choice of format depends on the amount of data to encode.
The advantage of this type of encoding over other encodings is the ability to read the code from any orientation. Even mirrored, the code is easy to read. This is achieved by using navigation markers.
Use a target at the center of the code to read information even from distorted or stretched images.
Thanks to the Reed-Solomon encoding algorithm, the Aztec code can also be read in partially damaged cases. In this case, redundancy is built into the code specifically. The percentage of redundant code can be adjusted from 5% to 95%. In this way, it is possible to provide a very high resistance to read errors.
The layer-by-layer structure of the code makes it possible to increase the capacity of storing information by increasing the coding area.
All these advantages make the Aztec code very attractive in transport networks, for example as electronic tickets in air and rail transport. In some countries it is used for government documents. Like other high-density codes, Aztec codes are popular in business, logistics, manufacturing, and pharmaceuticals.
Compared with QR code, Aztec code has a higher record density and does not require fields around the code. Also, the minimum size of Aztec code is 15x15, while QR code is 21x21.
To form Aztec Code in fastreport.net, select the object Barcode BarcodeIcon on the Components palette of the report designer. Select Aztec from the drop-down list:
Double-click the added barcode to open the editor:
Here you can choose a template to encode your information. In addition to the Swiss language, other languages can be used in Aztec code. For example, website address:
In the end, the code looks like this:
