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Cover image for ColdFusion Wrapper for Zint Barcode Generator
James Moberg
James Moberg

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ColdFusion Wrapper for Zint Barcode Generator

I referenced Zint Barcode Generator in a post from 2020 and included a very basic command line syntax for a QR code. Zint is able to generate 50 different barcode formats and I haven't found a java library that is capable of supporting the same formats or outputting files as BMP, EPS, GIF, PCX, TIF, EMF, PNG or SVG. (NOTE: I prefer to save as SVG and then use the static file when generating PDFs using WKHTMLTOPDF.)

There is a java port of Zint called OkapiBarcode. It's actively maintained, but looks like it requires more effort when building barcodes, requires the use of constants and doesn't appear to have any documentation beyond a couple of basic examples.

A project that I'm currently working on needs QR codes for the ticketing service. Normally, I'd use QRCode.js as it works with my CF_WKHTMLTOPDF custom tag if JavascriptDelay is configured for a second or two, but I'm not sure how reliable this would be when generating multiple pages that each contain a QR code. (NOTE: The built-in CFHTMLtoPDF tag doesn't support a javascript delay.)

In my quest to create a "more perfect DRY world" for myself, I decided to expand our existing logic that generates a command line string. Support for other features has been added and it triggers the executable and returns results. I've also made some tweaks to allow an entire configuration to be passed as a single options argument.

Here's sample CFML syntax to generate a basic QR code in SVG format. Enjoy!

options = [
    "filePath": "D:\www\this-is-a-test.svg"
    ,"data": "This is a test"
    ,"exePath": "C:\zint\zint.exe"
];
zintData = request.generateZint(options=options);

if (zintData.success){
    writeoutput('<img src="/this-is-a-test.svg" style="width:250px; height:auto;">');
} else {
    writedump(var=zintData.errors, label="Zint errors");
}

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Source Code

https://gist.github.com/JamoCA/fbbd2599102216448ada8e9f85d40b9c

<cfscript>
/**
* generateZint UDF
* @displayname generateZint
* @Dependency Requires Zint executable from https://zint.org.uk/
* @Dependency_Documentation https://zint.org.uk/manual/chapter/4
* @author James Moberg http://sunstarmedia.com, @sunstarmedia
* @version 1
* @lastUpdate 10/30/2024 16:00 Pacific
* @gist https://gist.github.com/JamoCA/fbbd2599102216448ada8e9f85d40b9c
* @blog https://dev.to/gamesover/coldfusion-wrapper-for-zint-barcode-generator-15mc
* @twitter https://x.com/gamesover/status/1851768390760960101
* @LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jamesmoberg_coldfusion-activity-7257534479445962752-aeoL
* @param String filepath The path and file name to use when storing the generated file. (These params can also be defined in "options".)
* @param String barcodeType The barcode type. Normally a integer, but also accepts "QR". (https://zint.org.uk/manual/chapter/4#selecting-barcode-type)
* @param String data The data to encode.
* @param String exePath The filepath to the Zint executable.
* @param struct options All of the configuration data. Some very basic defaults are used if nothing is passed.
*/
struct function generateZint(string filepath="", string barcodeType=58, string data="", string exePath="", struct options={}) {
local.timestart = gettickcount();
local.response = [
"success": false
,"duration": 0
,"filePath": ""
,"cmd": ""
,"output": ""
,"errors": []
];
local.options = duplicate(arguments.options);
// reset some primary values if found in options & validate
if (local.options.keyexists("exePath")){
arguments.exePath = local.options.exePath;
structdelete(local.options, "exePath");
}
if (!fileexists(arguments.exePath)){
arrayappend(local.response.errors, "exePath is required.");
}
if (local.options.keyexists("o")){
arguments.filePath = local.options.o;
structdelete(local.options, "o");
}else if (local.options.keyexists("filePath")){
arguments.filePath = local.options.filePath;
structdelete(local.options, "filePath");
}
if (!len(arguments.filepath)){
arrayappend(local.response.errors, "filePath is required.");
}
if (local.options.keyexists("b")){
arguments.barcodeType = local.options.b;
structdelete(local.options, "b");
} else if (local.options.keyexists("barcodeType")){
arguments.barcodeType = local.options.barcodeType;
structdelete(local.options, "barcodeType");
}
arguments.barcodeType = (arguments.barcodeType eq "qr") ? 58 : arguments.barcodeType;
if (!val(arguments.barcodeType)){
arrayappend(local.response.errors, "barcodeType is required.");
}
if (local.options.keyexists("d")){
arguments.data = local.options.d;
structdelete(local.options, "d");
} else if (local.options.keyexists("data")){
arguments.data = local.options.data;
structdelete(local.options, "data");
}
if (!issimplevalue(arguments.data) || !len(arguments.data)){
arrayappend(local.response.errors, "data is required.");
}
// populate options with some default setting (if empty)
if (!structcount(local.options)){
// if QR code, set default options for barcode type 58
if (arguments.barcodeType eq 58){
local.options = [
"scale": javacast("int", 12)
,"fg": javacast("string", "000000")
,"bg": "ffffff"
,"nobackground": true
,"whitesp": javacast("int", 2)
,"vwhitesp": javacast("int", 2)
];
// default scale
} else {
local.options = [
"scale": javacast("int", 5)
];
}
}
local.cmd = [
"-o ""#arguments.filePath#"""
,"-b #javacast("int", val(arguments.barcodeType))#"
];
if (structcount(local.options)){
for (local.p in local.options){
local.v = trim(local.options[local.p]);
if (refindnocase("^([0-9A-Fa-f]{6}|[0-9A-Fa-f]{8})$", local.v)){
local.v = javacast("string", local.v); // hex
} else if (isvalid("integer", local.v)) {
local.v = javacast("int", local.v); // integers
} else if (refind(local.v, "[:space:]")){
local.v = """#local.v#"""; // values with spaces
}
if (local.p eq "nobackground"){
if (isvalid("boolean", local.v) && local.v){
arrayappend(local.cmd, "--nobackground");
}
} else if (len(local.p) gt 1){
local.s = len(trim(local.v)) ? "--#local.p#=#local.v#" : "--#local.p#";
arrayappend(local.cmd, local.s);
} else if (len(local.p) eq 1){
local.s = len(trim(local.v)) ? "-#local.p# #local.v#" : "-#local.p#";
arrayappend(local.cmd, local.s);
}
}
}
arrayappend(local.cmd, "-d ""#replace(arguments.data, """", "\""", "all")#""");
local.response["cmd"] = arraytolist(local.cmd, " ");
if (!arraylen(local.response.errors)){
cfexecute(name="#arguments.exePath#", arguments="#local.response.cmd#", timeout="90", variable="local.response.output");
local.response.success = fileexists(arguments.filePath);
local.response.filePath = fileexists(arguments.filePath) ? arguments.filePath : "";
}
local.response.duration = javacast("int", gettickcount() - local.timestart);
return local.response;
}
/* Example
testImageName = "this-is-a-test.svg";
options = [
"filePath": "D:\www\#testImageName#"
,"data": "This is a test"
,"exePath": "C:\zint\zint.exe"
];
zintData = request.generateZint(options=options);
writeoutput('<img src="/#testImageName#" style="width:250px; height:auto;">');
writedump(var=zintData, label="zintData");
*/
</cfscript>
view raw zint.cfm hosted with ❤ by GitHub

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Top comments (1)

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programmerraja profile image
Boopathi

This is a great solution for generating barcodes in ColdFusion! The ability to control the output format and integrate with WKHTMLTOPDF is incredibly useful. I'm definitely going to give this a try in my next project.

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