custom_create_PDF: Make barcodes and print labels

Description

Input a vector or data frame of ID codes to produce a PDF of barcode labels that can then be printed. The PDF setup is for the ULINE 1.75" * 0.5" WEATHER RESISTANT LABEL for laser printer; item # S-19297 (uline.ca). See details for how to format text labels properly.

Usage

custom_create_PDF(
  user = FALSE,
  Labels = NULL,
  name = "LabelsOut",
  type = "matrix",
  ErrCorr = "H",
  Fsz = 12,
  Across = TRUE,
  ERows = 0,
  ECols = 0,
  trunc = TRUE,
  numrow = 20,
  numcol = 4,
  page_width = 8.5,
  page_height = 11,
  width_margin = 0.25,
  height_margin = 0.5,
  label_width = NA,
  label_height = NA,
  x_space = 0,
  y_space = 0.5,
  alt_text = NULL,
  replace_label = FALSE,
  denote = c("\n(", ")")
)
qrcode_make(Labels, ErrCorr)
code_128_make(Labels)
code_128_make2(Labels)

Arguments

user

logical. Run function using interactive mode (prompts user for parameter values) Default is FALSE

Labels

vector or data frame object containing label names (i.e. unique ID codes) with either UTF-8 or ASCII encoding.

name

character. Name of the PDF output file. Default is "LabelsOut". A file named name.pdf will be saved to the working directory by default. Use "dirname/name" to produce a file called name.pdf in the dirname directory.

type

character. Choice of "linear" for code 128, or "linear2" for extended code 128, or "matrix" for QR code (i.e. 2D barcode) labels. Default is "matrix".

ErrCorr

error correction value for matrix labels only. Level of damage from low to high: "L", "M", "Q", "H". Default is "H". See details for explanation of values.

Fsz

numerical. Sets font size in points. Longer ID codes may be shrunk to fit if truncation is not used for matrix labels. Default font size is 5. ID codes are also shrunk automatically to fit on the label if actual size is bigger than label dimensions.

Across

logical. When TRUE, print labels across rows, left to right. When FALSE, print labels down columns, top to bottom. Default is TRUE.

ERows

number of rows to skip. Default is 0. Example: setting ERows to 6 will begin printing at row 7. ERows and ECols are useful for printing on partially-used label sheets.

ECols

number of columns to skip. Default is 0. Example: setting ECols to 2 will put the first label at column 3. ERows and ECols are useful for printing on partially-used label sheets.

trunc

logical. Text is broken into multiple lines for longer ID codes, to prevent printing off of the label area. Default is TRUE. If trunc = FALSE, and text is larger than the physical label, the text will be shrunk down automatically.

numrow

numerical. Number of rows per page. Default is 20.

numcol

numerical. Number of columns per page. Default is 4.

page_width

numerical. Width of page (in inches). Default is set to 8.5.

page_height

numerical. Height of page (in inches). Default is set to 11.

width_margin

numerical. The width margin of the page (in inches). Default is 0.25.

height_margin

numerical. The height margin of the page (in inches). Default is 0.5.

label_width

numerical. The width of label (in inches). Will be calculated as (page_width - 2 * width_margin)/numcol if label_width is set as NULL.

label_height

numerical. The height of the label (in inches). Will be calculated as (page_height - 2 * height_margin)/numrow if label_height is set as NULL.

x_space

numerical. A value between 0 and 1. This sets the distance between the QR code and text of each label. Only applies when type = "matrix". Default is 0.

y_space

numerical. The height position of the text on the physical label as a proportion of the label height. Only applies when type = "matrix". A value between 0 and 1. Default is 0.5.

alt_text

vector containing alternative names that are printed along with Labels BUT ARE NOT ENCODED in the barcode image. Use with caution!

replace_label

logical. Replace label text with alt_text. Generated barcode will contain more information than text label. Use with caution!

denote

character (prefix) or vector of length 2 (prefix, suffix). Denotes alt_text that is not encoded in the barcode image. Default is brackets before and after ().

Value

a PDF file containing QR-coded labels, saved to the default directory.

Details

qrcode_make is the helper function for generating a QR code matrix. code_128_make is the helper function for generating a linear barcode according to code 128 set B. code_128_make2 is the extended helper function for generating a linear barcode according to code 128 set B, all Latin-1 characters, set C and partially A. custom_create_PDF is the main function which sets page layout, and creates the PDF file.

Correction levels for QR codes refer to the level of damage a label can tolerate before the label become unreadable by a scanner (L = Low (7%), M = Medium (15%), Q = Quantile (25%), H = High (30%)). So a label with L correction can lose up to at most 7 while a H label can lose up to 30 can be printed at smaller sizes compared to H codes.

The escape characters \n and \s (and the hex equivalents \x0A and \x20 can be used to format text labels. Tab character \t (\x09) does not work for QR codes and should be replaced by a number of space characters. See the package vignette for examples.

If ECol or ERow is greater than numcol and numrow, the labels will be printed starting on the second page.

Examples

Run this code

# NOT RUN {
## this is the same examples used with create_PDF
## data frame
example_vector <- as.data.frame(c("ao1", "a02", "a03"))

# }
# NOT RUN {
## run with default options
## pdf file will be "example.pdf" saved into a temp directory
temp_file <- tempfile()

custom_create_PDF(Labels = example_vector, name = temp_file)

## view example output from temp folder
system2("open", paste0(temp_file, ".pdf"))
# }
# NOT RUN {
## run interactively. Overrides default pdf options
if(interactive()){
    custom_create_PDF(user = TRUE, Labels = example_vector)
}

# }
# NOT RUN {
## run using a data frame, automatically choosing the "label" column
example_df <- data.frame("level1" = c("a1", "a2"), "label" = c("a1-b1",
 "a1-b2"), "level2" = c("b1", "b1"))

custom_create_PDF(user = FALSE, Labels = example_df, name = file.path(tempdir(), 
 "example_2"))
 
# }
# NOT RUN {
## run using an unnamed data frame
example_df <- data.frame(c("a1", "a2"), c("a1-b1", "a1-b2"), c("b1", "b1"))
## specify column from data frame
custom_create_PDF(user = FALSE, Labels = example_df[,2], name = file.path(tempdir(), "example_3"))
# }
# NOT RUN {
## create linear (code128) label rather than matrix (2D/QR) labels
example_df <- data.frame(c("a1", "a2"), c("a1-b1", "a1-b2"), c("b1", "b1"))
## specify column from data frame
custom_create_PDF(user = FALSE, Labels = example_df, name = file.path(tempdir(),
"example_4", type = "linear"))
# }
# NOT RUN {
## Include text for the user that is NOT encoded into the barcode image
## Excluded text is denoted with brackets by default
example_df <- data.frame(ID = floor(runif(3) * 10000), name = c("A", "B", "C"),
 dob = c("1/1/2020", "12/6/2001", "2/8/1986"))
 
## linear (1d) barcodes with custom denote parameter
custom_create_PDF(Labels = example_df$ID, alt_text = paste(example_df$name,
 example_df$dob), type = "linear", denote=".")
# }