I let it slide for too long but now, Barcode4J 2.0 is finally available. Since the last alpha release I’ve been able to fix a number of bugs in DataMatrix and PDF417. As a last-minute addition I’ve added support for the USPS Intelligent Mail Barcode of which you can see an example below.
There’s also a detailed list of changes for this release.
The title says it all. I was quite surprised when I was approached last month. Reminds me to find time for the final 2.0 release…
Here’s the Project of the Month page.
Barcode4J 2.0 alpha 1 is now released. In the release notes I’m asking for feedback on the new functionality. I hope I’ll get a lot of good feedback (positive or negative) so I can soon do a final 2.0 release.
Thunderhead has kindly sponsored an implementation of the DataMatrix barcode symbology (ISO/IEC 16022:2000(E)) for Barcode4J. This is now the second 2D symbology I was able to add to the codebase. Although it’s not a complete implementation of the spec, all the important features are implemented. The restrictions (such as lack of structured append and ECI functionality) will be documented in detail on the Barcode4J website.
Since the specification is quite complex, it could be that there may still be a bug hidden somewhere, so I’d be very grateful for some feedback. The Barcode4J release is almost ready. Stay tuned!
Today, I’ve uploaded a new barcode type for Barcode4J: the Royal Mail Customer Barcode (CBC). It’s a kind of “four-state” barcode. There are others like that, for example the Australian variant which uses Reed Solomon error correction instead of a simple checksum like Royal Mail. It should be easy to implement the Australian variant by just handling the checksum differently.
Next on the list for Barcode4J is finishing the DataMatrix implementation I’ve started a while ago. Looks like I can get enough new features together to release Barcode4J 2.0 by the end of the year.
Today, I was curious about the start times of .NET binaries created from Java sources using IKVM. I took the opportunity to add IKVM compilation (kvmc) to Barcode4J’s build.
If I create a shell script that runs Barcode4J’s command-line (PDF417 barcodes as EPS files) interface 20 times, I get the following times:
So, how does it look like if I do the loop in Java code and create 500 barcodes in one call?
Looks like JVM startup time isn’t so bad compared to .NET. But I don’t know how much overhead IKVM brings into the picture.
(I’ve taken all timings multiple times and have rounded the averages to 50ms. Operating System: WinXP SP2, .NET Framework 2.0. Machine: Custom-built AMD Athlon 64 3200+)
