Barcode on Mainframe
in [Cobol]
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From: glen herrmannsfeldt on 12 May 2010 13:55 In comp.lang.pl1 SkippyPB <swiegand(a)nospam.neo.rr.com> wrote: (snip, I wrote) >>> I don't believe that is is a normal output form for any form >>> of COBOL or PL/I. You could easily write PDF, Postscript, or >>> one of many other graphical languages to form printable barcodes. >>Sure it is. Anything doable in PDF or Postscript is doable in >> COBOL (but not the reverse). > Absolutely. I wrote a bar code generator in COBOL for a statement > program on the mainframe back in the mid 80's. To be more explicit, you can't directly write barcodes from either PL/I or COBOL. That is, there is no OUTPUT BARCODE or PUT BARCODE statement. You can write out code in another language, PCL, PDF, Postscript, HPGL, etc., that will generate barcodes when sent to the appropriate device. With enough demand, barcode could be added to some language. As this is the PL/I group, I will note that early PL/I had support for I/O of the then current pound/shilling/pence system used in England. It seems rare for a compiled language to have support for even simple graphs as part of the language or its standard library. Many "interpreted" languages, such as R, or Mathematica, have graphics as part of the basic language. R, for example, has support for postscript and pdf, among others, where the routines for generating those output formats are part of the standard system. One specifies what one wants to draw, and the system generates the appropriate output. Even so, I don't remember barcodes as being standard, but it wouldn't be hard to do given graphical primitives. Graphical libaries are commonly used with languages such as Fortran, C, and PL/I, but they are not, as far as I know, part of the base language or associated library. -- glen
From: Richard on 12 May 2010 17:32 On May 12, 7:14 am, Jessica Colman <jessica.col...(a)augustakom.net> wrote: > Hi everyone, > > a customer asked, if there is a possibiliy to generate barcodes on a > mainframe with pl/1 or cobol. I noticed a thread here in 2004 but it > didn't come to an end. Does anyone have an idea? I wrote Cobol code more than 20 years ago to print barcodes on various printers: OKI matrix printers ML84,321,521,721 and HP PCL laser or clones; in UPC and code39 simply by having a table of the patterns for each character and converting these into graphics control codes for the printer. The code is still in use but is gradually being replaced as I move clients to merging data into Postscript templates to produce laser documents and PDFs for emailing. Originally the code was printing adhesive labels for production and despatch (to stick on the parcels) but was added to packing slips so that a barcode reader could be used at despatch. These days the product and despatch labels are done on Zebra thermal transfer printers with a ZPL template. If it labels that you want then Zebra printers (or similar) are what is needed and Cobol is suitable and easy.
From: Shmuel Metz on 12 May 2010 06:22 In <hscabb$p8h$1(a)news.m-online.net>, on 05/11/2010 at 09:14 PM, Jessica Colman <jessica.colman(a)augustakom.net> said: >a customer asked, if there is a possibiliy to generate barcodes on a >mainframe with pl/1 or cobol. Of course. The real questions are What printers do you want to use? What fonts are you licensed for? What software are you licensed for? Depending on the answers, the task ranges from impossible to trivial. At most shops it would be somewhere on the trivial side. -- Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz, SysProg and JOAT <http://patriot.net/~shmuel> Unsolicited bulk E-mail subject to legal action. I reserve the right to publicly post or ridicule any abusive E-mail. Reply to domain Patriot dot net user shmuel+news to contact me. Do not reply to spamtrap(a)library.lspace.org
From: robin on 12 May 2010 22:15 "glen herrmannsfeldt" <gah(a)ugcs.caltech.edu> wrote in message news:hseq3b$o2d$1(a)speranza.aioe.org... | In comp.lang.pl1 SkippyPB <swiegand(a)nospam.neo.rr.com> wrote: | (snip, I wrote) | | >>> I don't believe that is is a normal output form for any form | >>> of COBOL or PL/I. You could easily write PDF, Postscript, or | >>> one of many other graphical languages to form printable barcodes. | | >>Sure it is. Anything doable in PDF or Postscript is doable in | >> COBOL (but not the reverse). | | > Absolutely. I wrote a bar code generator in COBOL for a statement | > program on the mainframe back in the mid 80's. | | To be more explicit, you can't directly write barcodes from either | PL/I or COBOL. That is, there is no OUTPUT BARCODE or | PUT BARCODE statement. PL/I statements for producing bar codes are PUT EDIT and WRITE. Using an appropriate printer (e.g., laser printer or impact dot mattrix printer -- as i said a few days ago) with an installed bar code font (as I said a few days ago) the bar codes are produced. | You can write out code in another | language, PCL, PDF, Postscript, HPGL, etc., that will generate | barcodes when sent to the appropriate device. None of that's necessary. | With enough demand, barcode could be added to some language. | | As this is the PL/I group, I will note that early PL/I had | support for I/O of the then current pound/shilling/pence system | used in England. And other countries including New Zealand and Australia, to mention a few.
From: HeyBub on 13 May 2010 08:15
Richard wrote: > > If it labels that you want then Zebra printers (or similar) are what > is needed and Cobol is suitable and easy. Same idea. Zebra printers have the smarts to translate characters into graphics. "Fonts" have the smarts, whether on a mainframe or PC, to translate characters into itty-bitty dots on a suitable printer. |