Programming Codes
T480
Programmer’s Guide
Page
118
Rev A
100-14362
Data Matrix barcodes are fixed sizes and depending on how the data compresses, two
different strings with the same character count may print different size barcodes. It is
possible to select a minimum barcode size and unused data locations will be filled with
pad data.
Data Matrix Commands
There are two version of the command, one is null terminated and the other allows a
length to be specified (Note that the length is a two byte field as the symbol may contain
more than 256 characters.
Function
Data Matrix
ASCII
[ESC] b <28>{information} [NUL]
Hexadecimal
1BH 62H <28>{information} [NUL]
Decimal
<27> <98> <28>{information} [NUL]
Function
Data Matrix
ASCII
[ESC] b <27><nL><nH><d
1
> … <d
n
>
Hexadecimal
1BH 62H <27><nL><nH><d
1
> … <d
n
>
Decimal
<27> <98> <27><nL><nH><d
1
> … <d
n
>
Note
: The normal Select barcode Width and Select Barcode height
commands do not affect Data matrix barcodes. The rules governing how
the barcode is printed do not allow variations in the aspect ratios. There
are Data Matrix control commands that will allow some control over how
the barcode is printed.
[ESC] b <28>TransAct Technologies Inc. 20 Bomax Drive,
Ithaca New York[NUL]
Figure 37 Data Matrix Example
Testing Data Matrix barcodes
There is a special reference symbol that is useful for control testing. It is a 16 x 16 ECC
200 symbol and can be printed which encodes the data “30Q324343430794<OQQ”. As
shown in the figure below. This reference symbol has a region of parallel bars and
spaces which can be linearly scanned and then evaluated for print growth using the
edge-measurement methodologies of ISO/IEC 15416.
Figure 38
ECC 200 reference symbol encoding "30Q324343430794<OQQ"
Refer to the ISO/IEC 16022:2006 standard for more information.
