VB .NET Integration With DLL


TestFontVB is a VB (.NET 2 or onwards) project that demonstrates the integration of the ConnectCode DLL with  Visual Basic . The source code for TestFontVB is provided in the download below and requires Visual Studio 2005 or later to compile. For the barcodes to be properly displayed, the trial version of ConnectCode Barcode Font Pack has to be installed .

The following is a screenshot of the sample in Vista.



Download

Download the TestFontVB.zip executable and source code.

The ConnectCode Barcode Fonts DLL and the source for the TestFontVB sample are free to use and can be compiled and distributed with users' applications as long as they are being used with any one of the registered barcode font packs. Redistribution of ConnectCode's fonts will, however, require a Distribution or Unlimited Distribution License.

Steps for integrating the DLL into your VB .NET Project

1) Make sure the namespace System.Runtime.InteropServices is imported into your project

Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices

2) Copy the DLLImport statements for connectcodefont.dll into your project.

3) Make calls to the DLL to encode the input data. For example

Dim inputstr As String
Dim outputstr As System.Text.StringBuilder
inputstr = "12345678"
Encode_Code39(inputstr, 0, outputstr, outputstr.Capacity)

The result will be stored in the outputstr variable. 

4) Set the font of the outputstr to the appropriate barcode font. For example, if you are using Encode_Code39, then the font to choose should be CCode39_S3. (If you are developing with the Trial version of ConnectCode Font Pack, the font to choose would be CCCode39_S3_Trial instead)

The TestFontVB sample includes all the above steps in a short and easy to understand program.

Note that the barcodes generated with the Trial version of ConnectCode Font Pack will have horizontal lines across them.