It may seem tedious to learn and implement a new web application technique, but generating a barcode will save you time in the long run. Learning how to create and use barcodes will help your business reduce liability and increase accuracy. It also takes significantly less time compared to entering data by hand.
Generating a barcode is easier than you may think with C#. You can customize barcodes and export them as an image with barcode generating software. Continue reading for a step-by-step guide on how to generate barcode images in C#.
How to Generate Barcode Images in C#
You can create excellent quality barcode images quickly and integrate them seamlessly in C#. Utilizing the C# programming language benefits any web application and Windows users. You’ll start by downloading a barcode library to generate barcode c#.
Once you install a barcode generator that’s compatible with C#, you can add barcode functionality to a .NET framework. This starts by rendering a simple barcode with a short amount of code.
Rendering a Barcode
If you’re using IronBarcode as your barcode library, you only need a couple of lines of code. This will contain numerical and text code to specify the value and barcode format:
- // Generate a Simple BarCode image and save as PNG
- //using IronBarCode;
- GeneratedBarcode MyBarCode = IronBarCode.BarcodeWriter.CreateBarcode (“https://ironsoftware.com/csharp/barcode”, BarcodeWriterEncoding.Code128);
- MyBarCode.SaveAsPng(“MyBarCode.png”);
- // This line opens the image in your default image viewer
- System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(“MyBarCode.png”);
This takes advantage of the IronBarCode.BarcodeWriterEncoding Enum. You can then save it as an image with System.Drawing.Image. The final line of code allows you to access the barcode PNG and visualize it for yourself.
Customizing Your Barcode
If you wish to take your barcode to the next level, you can easily customize it. You can add annotations, add margins, change the color, set the font, and more. Here are some examples of added code that will customize your barcode:
- MyBarCode.AddAnnotationTextAboveBarcode(“Product URL:”);
- MyBarCode.AddBarcodeValueTextBelowBarcode();
- MyBarCode.SetMargins(100);
- MyBarCode.ChangeBarCodeColor(Color.Purple);\
You can also make your barcode a QR code:
var MyBarCode = IronBarCode.BarcodeWriter.CreateBarcode(“https://ironsoftware.com/csharp/barcode”, BarcodeWriterEncoding.QRCode);
It may also be beneficial to use a Fluent API to create a single line of code. This makes your code more fluent and easier to read. Use the following code that chains method calls:
- //using IronBarCode;
- //using System.Drawing;
- // Fluent API for Barcode Image generation.
- string MyValue = “https://ironsoftware.com/csharp/barcode”;
- Bitmap BarcodeBmp = IronBarCode.BarcodeWriter.CreateBarcode(MyValue, BarcodeEncoding.PDF417).ResizeTo(300,200).SetMargins(100).ToBitmap();
More Tutorials
There are several barcode generators available. Check out these GitHub Repositories for more lessons and barcode library’s that utilize C#:
Create and Generate
Implementing barcodes with your products will certainly make your business more efficient. All it takes is a barcode library and a few lines of code to learn how to generate barcode images in C#.
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