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EAN 13

This topic describes how to insert a barcode control of the EAN 13 symbology (code type) into a report. In addition, it gives a short description of the EAN 13 code type. To learn more about barcodes in XtraReports, see the Barcodes Overview topic.

EAN-13, based upon the UPC-A standard, was implemented by the International Article Numbering Association (EAN) in Europe. Now, the GS1 organization is responsible for the maintainance of barcode standards (refer to GS1 Homepage for more information.)

The EAN-13 barcode contains 13 digits, no letters or other characters. The first two or three digits represents the country. The leading zero actually signifies the USA, and UPC-A coding. The last digit is the "check digit", the checksum. The check digit is calculated using the first twelve figures when the barcode is constructed. So, for the correct EAN-13 code, you should specify only the first 12 digits.

The recommended dimensions are shown in the picture. The standard allows magnification up to 200 %, and reduction of up to 80 % of the recommended size.

There should be two quiet zones before and after the barcode. They provide reliable operation of the barcode scanner. The quiet zone recommended length is 3.63 mm for the left zone and 2.31 mm for the right zone.

The are no properties specific to the EAN 13 barcode type.

Note
The control does not verify the length of the assigned character string specified by the XRControl.Text value. It is the developer's responsibility to check that the passed string contains no more than 12 digits (the control calculates the last 13th digit automatically). If the number of digits is less than 12, the leading zeroes are added to the resulting barcode.

See also