require 5.004; =head1 NAME Barcode::Code128 - Generate CODE 128 bar codes =head1 SYNOPSIS use Barcode::Code128; $code = new Barcode::Code128; =head1 REQUIRES Perl 5.004, Carp, Exporter, GD (optional) =head1 EXPORTS By default, nothing. However there are a number of constants that represent special characters used in the CODE 128 symbology that you may wish to include. For example if you are using the EAN-128 or UCC-128 code, the string to encode begins with the FNC1 character. To encode the EAN-128 string "00 0 0012345 555555555 8", you would do the following: use Barcode::Code128 'FNC1'; $code = new Barcode::Code128; $code->text(FNC1.'00000123455555555558'); To have this module export one or more of these characters, specify them on the C statement or use the special token ':all' instead to include all of them. Examples: use Barcode::Code128 qw(FNC1 FNC2 FNC3 FNC4 Shift); use Barcode::Code128 qw(:all); Here is the complete list of the exportable characters. They are assigned to high-order ASCII characters purely arbitrarily for the purposes of this module; the values used do not reflect any part of the CODE 128 standard. B: Using the C, C, C, C, C, C, and C codes may cause your barcodes to be invalid, and be rejected by scanners. They are inserted automatically as needed by this module. CodeA 0xf4 CodeB 0xf5 CodeC 0xf6 FNC1 0xf7 FNC2 0xf8 FNC3 0xf9 FNC4 0xfa Shift 0xfb StartA 0xfc StartB 0xfd StartC 0xfe Stop 0xff =head1 DESCRIPTION Barcode::Code128 generates bar codes using the CODE 128 symbology. It can generate images in PNG or GIF format using the GD package, or it can generate a text string representing the barcode that you can render using some other technology if desired. The intended use of this module is to create a web page with a bar code on it, which can then be printed out and faxed or mailed to someone who will scan the bar code. The application which spurred its creation was an expense report tool, where the employee submitting the report would print out the web page and staple the receipts to it, and the Accounts Payable clerk would scan the bar code to indicate that the receipts were received. The default settings for this module produce a large image that can safely be FAXed several times and still scanned easily. If this requirement is not important you can generate smaller image using optional parameters, described below. If you wish to generate images with this module you must also have the GD.pm module (written by Lincoln Stein, and available from CPAN) installed. Version 1.20 or higher of GD generates a PNG file, due to issues with the GIF patent. If you want to create a GIF, you must use version 1.19 or earlier of GD. However, most browsers have no trouble with PNG files. If the GD module is not present, you can still use the module, but you will not be able to use its functions for generating images. You can use the barcode() method to get a string of "#" and " " (hash and space) characters, and use your own image-generating routine with that as input. To use the the GD module, you will need to install it along with this module. You can obtain it from the CPAN (Comprehensive Perl Archive Network) repository of your choice under the directory C. Visit http://www.cpan.org/ for more information about CPAN. The GD home page is: http://stein.cshl.org/WWW/software/GD/GD.html =head1 METHODS =over 4 =cut package Barcode::Code128; use strict; use vars qw($GD_TYPE $VERSION %CODE_CHARS %CODE @ENCODING @EXPORT_OK %EXPORT_TAGS %FUNC_CHARS @ISA %OPTIONS); use constant CodeA => chr(0xf4); use constant CodeB => chr(0xf5); use constant CodeC => chr(0xf6); use constant FNC1 => chr(0xf7); use constant FNC2 => chr(0xf8); use constant FNC3 => chr(0xf9); use constant FNC4 => chr(0xfa); use constant Shift => chr(0xfb); use constant StartA => chr(0xfc); use constant StartB => chr(0xfd); use constant StartC => chr(0xfe); use constant Stop => chr(0xff); use Carp; use Exporter; # Try to load GD. If it succeeds, set $GD_TYPE accordingly. BEGIN { $GD_TYPE = undef; eval { require GD && GD->import() }; $GD_TYPE = ($GD::VERSION > 1.20 ? 'png' : 'gif') unless $@; } %OPTIONS = ( width => undef, height => undef, border => 2, scale => 2, font => 'large', show_text => 1, font_margin => 2, top_margin => 0, bottom_margin => 0, left_margin => 0, right_margin => 0, padding => 20, font_align => 'left', transparent_text => (defined $GD_TYPE && $GD_TYPE eq 'gif' ? 1 : 0), ); @EXPORT_OK = qw(CodeA CodeB CodeC FNC1 FNC2 FNC3 FNC4 Shift StartA StartB StartC Stop); %EXPORT_TAGS = (all => \@EXPORT_OK); @ISA = qw(Exporter); # Version information $VERSION = '2.01'; @ENCODING = qw(11011001100 11001101100 11001100110 10010011000 10010001100 10001001100 10011001000 10011000100 10001100100 11001001000 11001000100 11000100100 10110011100 10011011100 10011001110 10111001100 10011101100 10011100110 11001110010 11001011100 11001001110 11011100100 11001110100 11101101110 11101001100 11100101100 11100100110 11101100100 11100110100 11100110010 11011011000 11011000110 11000110110 10100011000 10001011000 10001000110 10110001000 10001101000 10001100010 11010001000 11000101000 11000100010 10110111000 10110001110 10001101110 10111011000 10111000110 10001110110 11101110110 11010001110 11000101110 11011101000 11011100010 11011101110 11101011000 11101000110 11100010110 11101101000 11101100010 11100011010 11101111010 11001000010 11110001010 10100110000 10100001100 10010110000 10010000110 10000101100 10000100110 10110010000 10110000100 10011010000 10011000010 10000110100 10000110010 11000010010 11001010000 11110111010 11000010100 10001111010 10100111100 10010111100 10010011110 10111100100 10011110100 10011110010 11110100100 11110010100 11110010010 11011011110 11011110110 11110110110 10101111000 10100011110 10001011110 10111101000 10111100010 11110101000 11110100010 10111011110 10111101110 11101011110 11110101110 11010000100 11010010000 11010011100 1100011101011); %CODE_CHARS = ( A => [ (map { chr($_) } 040..0137, 000..037), FNC3, FNC2, Shift, CodeC, CodeB, FNC4, FNC1, StartA, StartB, StartC, Stop ], B => [ (map { chr($_) } 040..0177), FNC3, FNC2, Shift, CodeC, FNC4, CodeA, FNC1, StartA, StartB, StartC, Stop ], C => [ ("00".."99"), CodeB, CodeA, FNC1, StartA, StartB, StartC, Stop ]); # Provide string equivalents to the constants %FUNC_CHARS = ('CodeA' => CodeA, 'CodeB' => CodeB, 'CodeC' => CodeC, 'FNC1' => FNC1, 'FNC2' => FNC2, 'FNC3' => FNC3, 'FNC4' => FNC4, 'Shift' => Shift, 'StartA' => StartA, 'StartB' => StartB, 'StartC' => StartC, 'Stop' => Stop ); # Convert the above into a 2-dimensional hash %CODE = ( A => { map { $CODE_CHARS{A}[$_] => $_ } 0..106 }, B => { map { $CODE_CHARS{B}[$_] => $_ } 0..106 }, C => { map { $CODE_CHARS{C}[$_] => $_ } 0..106 } ); ##---------------------------------------------------------------------------- =item new Usage: $object = new Barcode::Code128 Creates a new barcode object. =cut sub new { my $type = shift; my $self = bless { @_ }, $type; $self->{encoded} ||= []; $self->{text} ||= ''; $self; } =item option Sets or retreives various options. If called with only one parameter, retrieves the value for that parameter. If called with more than one parameter, treats the parameters as name/value pairs and sets those option values accordingly. If called with no parameters, returns a hash consisting of the values of all the options (hash ref in scalar context). When an option has not been set, its default value is returned. You can also set or retrieve any of these options by using it as a method name. For example, to set the value of the padding option, you can use either of these: $barcode->padding(10); $barcode->option("padding", 10); The valid options, and the default value and meaning of each, are: width undef Width of the image (*) height undef Height of the image (*) border 2 Size of the black border around the barcode scale 2 How many pixels for the smallest barcode stripe font "large" Font (**) for the text at the bottom show_text 1 True/False: display the text at the bottom? font_margin 2 Pixels above, below, and to left of the text font_align "left" Align the text ("left", "right", or "center") transparent_text 1/0(***) True/False: use transparent background for text? top_margin 0 No. of pixels above the barcode bottom_margin 0 No. of pixels below the barcode (& text) left_margin 0 No. of pixels to the left of the barcode right_margin 0 No. of pixels to the right of the barcode padding 20 Size of whitespace before & after barcode * Width and height are the default values for the $x and $y arguments to the png, gif, or gd_image method (q.v.) ** Font may be one of the following: "giant", "large", "medium", "small", or "tiny". Or, it may be any valid GD font name, such as "gdMediumFont". *** The "transparent_text" option is "1" (true) by default for GIF output, but "0" (false) for PNG. This is because PNG transparency is not supported well by many viewing software The background color is grey (#CCCCCC) when not transparent. =cut sub AUTOLOAD { my($self, @args) = @_; use vars qw($AUTOLOAD); (my $opt = lc $AUTOLOAD) =~ s/^.*:://; return if $opt eq 'destroy'; $self->option($opt, @args); } sub option { my $self = shift; my $class = ref $self; # do this so others can inherit from us my $defaults; { no strict 'refs'; $defaults = \%{$class.'::OPTIONS'}; } if (!@_) { my %all; while (my($opt, $def_value) = each %$defaults) { if (exists $self->{OPTIONS}{$opt}) { $all{$opt} = $self->{OPTIONS}{$opt}; } else { $all{$opt} = $def_value; } } wantarray ? %all : \%all; } elsif (@_ == 1) { # return requested value my $opt = shift; croak "Unrecognized option ($opt) for $class" unless exists $defaults->{$opt}; if (exists $self->{OPTIONS}{$opt}) { return $self->{OPTIONS}{$opt}; } else { return $defaults->{$opt}; } } else { my $count = 0; while(my($opt, $value) = splice(@_, 0, 2)) { croak "Unrecognized option ($opt) for $class" unless exists $defaults->{$opt}; $self->{OPTIONS}{$opt} = $value; $count++; } return $count; } } ##---------------------------------------------------------------------------- =item gif =item png =item gd_image Usage: $object->png($text) $object->png($text, $x, $y) $object->png($text, { options... }) $object->gif($text) # for old versions of GD only $object->gif($text, $x, $y) $object->gif($text, { options... }) $object->gd_image($text) $object->gd_image($text, $x, $y) $object->gd_image($text, { options... }) These methods generate an image using the GD module. The gd_image() method returns a GD object, which is useful if you want to do additional processing to it using the GD object methods. The other two create actual images. NOTE: GIF files require an old version of GD, and so you probably are not able to create them - see below. The gif() and png() methods are wrappers around gd_image() that create the GD object and then run the corresponding GD method to create output that can be displayed or saved to a file. Note that only one of these two methods will work, depending on which version of GD you have - see below. The return value from gif() or png() is a binary file, so if you are working on an operating system (e.g. Microsoft Windows) that makes a distinction between text and binary files be sure to call binmode(FILEHANDLE) before writing the image to it, or the file may get corrupted. Example: open(PNG, ">code128.png") or die "Can't write code128.png: $!\n"; binmode(PNG); print PNG $object->png("CODE 128"); close(PNG); If you have GD version 1.20 or newer, the PNG file format is the only allowed option. Conversely if you have GD version prior to 1.20, then the GIF format is the only option. Check the $object->image_format() method to find out which you have (q.v.). Note: All of the arguments to this function are optional. If you have previously specified C<$text> to the C, C, or C methods, you do not need to specify it again. The C<$x> and C<$y> variables specify the size of the barcode within the image in pixels. If size(s) are not specified, they will be set to the minimum size, which is the length of the barcode plus 40 pixels horizontally, and 15% of the length of the barcode vertically. See also the $object->width() and $object->height() methods for another way of specifying this. If instead of specifying $x and $y, you pass a reference to a hash of name/value pairs, these will be used as the options, overriding anything set using the $object->option() (or width/height) method (q.v.). However, this will not set the options so any future barcodes using the same object will revert to the option list of the object. If you want to set the options permanently use the option, width, and/or height methods instead. =cut sub gd_image { my($self, $text, $x, $y) = @_; my %opts; if (ref($x) && !defined($y)) { %opts = ($self->option, %$x); $x = $opts{width}; $y = $opts{height}; } else { %opts = $self->option; $opts{width} = $x if $x; $opts{height} = $y if $y; } croak "The gd_image() method of Barcode::Code128 requires the GD module" unless $GD_TYPE; my $scale = $opts{scale}; croak "Scale ($scale) must be a positive integer" unless $scale > 0 && int($scale) == $scale; my $border = $opts{border}; croak "Border ($border) must be a positive integer or zero" unless $border >= 0 && int($border) == $border; $border *= $scale; $x ||= $opts{width}; $y ||= $opts{height}; my($font, $font_margin, $font_height, $font_width) = (undef, 0, 0, 0); if ($opts{show_text}) { $font = $opts{font}; my %fontTable = (giant => 'gdGiantFont', large => 'gdLargeFont', medium => 'gdMediumBoldFont', small => 'gdSmallFont', tiny => 'gdTinyFont'); $font = $fontTable{$font} if exists $fontTable{$font}; croak "Invalid font $font" unless GD->can($font); $font = eval "GD->$font"; die $@ if $@; $font_margin = $opts{font_margin}; $font_height = $font->height + $font_margin * 2; $font_width = $font->width; } my($lm, $rm, $tm, $bm) = map { $opts{$_."_margin"} } qw(left right top bottom); my @barcode = split //, $self->barcode($text); my $n = scalar(@barcode); # width of string my $min_x = ($n + $opts{padding}) * $scale + 2 * $border; my $min_y = $n * $scale * 0.15 + 2 * $border; # 15% of width in pixels $x ||= $min_x; $y ||= $min_y; croak "Image width $x is too small for bar code" if $x < $min_x; croak "Image height $y is too small for bar code" if $y < $min_y; my $image = new GD::Image($x + $lm + $rm, $y + $tm + $bm + $font_height) or croak "Unable to create $x x $y image"; my $grey = $image->colorAllocate(0xCC, 0xCC, 0xCC); my $white = $image->colorAllocate(0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF); my $black = $image->colorAllocate(0x00, 0x00, 0x00); my $red = $image->colorAllocate(0xFF, 0x00, 0x00); $image->transparent($grey) if $opts{transparent_text}; if ($border) { $image->rectangle($lm, $tm, $lm+$x-1, $tm+$y-1, $black); $image->rectangle($lm+$border, $tm+$border, $lm+$x-$border-1, $tm+$y-$border-1, $black); $image->fill($lm+1, $tm+1, $black); } else { $image->rectangle($lm, $tm, $lm+$x-1, $tm+$y-1, $white); } $image->fill($lm+$border+1, $tm+$border+1, $white); for (my $i = 0; $i < $n; ++$i) { next unless $barcode[$i] eq '#'; my $pos = $x/2 - $n * ($scale/2) + $i * $scale; $image->rectangle($lm+$pos, $tm+$border, $lm+$pos+$scale-1, $tm+$y-$border-1, $black); $image->fill($lm+$pos+1, $tm+$border+1, $black) if $scale > 2; } if (defined $font) { my ($font_x,$font_y); if ($opts{font_align} eq "center") { $font_x = int(($x+$lm+$rm-($font_width*length $self->{text}))/2); } elsif ($opts{font_align} eq "right") { $font_x = $x +$lm-($font_width * length $self->{text}); } else { # Assume left $font_x = $lm+$font_margin; } $font_y = $tm+$y+$font_margin; $image->string($font, $font_x, $font_y, $self->{text}, $black) } return $image; } sub gif { my($self, $text, $x, $y, $scale) = @_; croak "The gif() method of Barcode::Code128 requires the GD module" unless $GD_TYPE; croak "The gif() method of Barcode::Code128 requires version less than 1.20 of GD" unless defined $GD_TYPE && $GD_TYPE eq 'gif'; my $image = $self->gd_image($text, $x, $y, $scale); return $image->gif(); } sub png { my($self, $text, $x, $y, $scale) = @_; croak "The png() method of Barcode::Code128 requires the GD module" unless $GD_TYPE; croak "The png() method of Barcode::Code128 requires at least version 1.20 of GD" unless defined $GD_TYPE && $GD_TYPE eq 'png'; my $image = $self->gd_image($text, $x, $y, $scale); return $image->png(); } ##---------------------------------------------------------------------------- =item barcode Usage: $object->barcode($text) Computes the bar code for the specified text. The result will be a string of '#' and space characters representing the dark and light bands of the bar code. You can use this if you have an alternate printing system besides using GD to create the images. Note: The C<$text> parameter is optional. If you have previously specified C<$text> to the C or C methods, you do not need to specify it again. =cut sub barcode { my($self, $text) = @_; $self->encode($text) if defined $text; my @encoded = @{ $self->{encoded} }; croak "No encoded text found" unless @encoded; join '', map { $_ = $ENCODING[$_]; tr/01/ \#/; $_ } @encoded; } ###--------------------------------------------------------------------------- =back =head2 Housekeeping Functions The rest of the methods defined here are only for internal use, or if you really know what you are doing. Some of them may be useful to authors of classes that inherit from this one, or may be overridden by subclasses. If you just want to use this module to generate bar codes, you can stop reading here. =over 4 =cut ##---------------------------------------------------------------------------- =item encode Usage: $object->encode $object->encode($text) $object->encode($text, $preferred_code) Do the encoding. If C<$text> is supplied, will automatically call the text() method to set that as the text value first. If C<$preferred_code> is supplied, will try that code first. Otherwise, the codes will be tried in the following manner: 1. If it is possible to use Code C for any of the text, use that for as much of it as possible. 2. Check how many characters would be converted using codes A or B, and use that code to convert them. If the amount is equal, code A is used. 3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 until the text string has been completely encoded. =cut sub encode { my($self, $text, $preferred_code) = @_; $self->text($text) if defined $text; croak "No text defined" unless defined($text = $self->text); croak "Invalid preferred code ``$preferred_code''" if defined $preferred_code && !exists $CODE{$preferred_code}; # Reset internal variables my $encoded = $self->{encoded} = []; $self->{code} = undef; my $sanity = 0; while(length $text) { confess "Sanity Check Overflow" if $sanity++ > 1000; my @chars; if ($preferred_code && (@chars = _encodable($preferred_code, $text))) { $self->start($preferred_code); push @$encoded, map { $CODE{$preferred_code}{$_} } @chars; } elsif (@chars = _encodable('C', $text)) { $self->start('C'); push @$encoded, map { $CODE{C}{$_} } @chars; } else { my %x = map { $_ => [ _encodable($_, $text) ] } qw(A B); my $code = (@{$x{A}} >= @{$x{B}} ? 'A' : 'B'); # prefer A if equal $self->start($code); @chars = @{ $x{$code} }; push @$encoded, map { $CODE{$code}{$_} } @chars; } croak "Unable to find encoding for ``$text''" unless @chars; substr($text, 0, length join '', @chars) = ''; } $self->stop; wantarray ? @$encoded : $encoded; } ##---------------------------------------------------------------------------- =item text Usage: $object->text($text) $text = $object->text Set or retrieve the text for this barcode. This will be called automatically by encode() or barcode() so typically this will not be used directly by the user. =cut sub text { my($self, $text) = @_; $self->{text} = $text if defined $text; $self->{text}; } ##---------------------------------------------------------------------------- =item start Usage: $object->start($code) If the code (see code()) is already defined, then adds the CodeA, CodeB, or CodeC character as appropriate to the encoded message inside the object. Typically for internal use only. =cut sub start { my($self, $new_code) = @_; my $old_code = $self->code; if (defined $old_code) { my $func = $FUNC_CHARS{"Code$new_code"} or confess "Unable to switch from ``$old_code'' to ``$new_code''"; push @{ $self->{encoded} }, $CODE{$old_code}{$func}; } else { my $func = $FUNC_CHARS{"Start$new_code"} or confess "Unable to start with ``$new_code''"; @{ $self->{encoded} } = $CODE{$new_code}{$func}; } $self->code($new_code); } ##---------------------------------------------------------------------------- =item stop Usage: $object->stop() Computes the check character and appends it along with the Stop character, to the encoded string. Typically for internal use only. =cut sub stop { my($self) = @_; my $sum = $self->{encoded}[0]; for (my $i = 1; $i < @{ $self->{encoded} }; ++$i) { $sum += $i * $self->{encoded}[$i]; } my $stop = Stop; push @{ $self->{encoded} }, ($sum % 103), $CODE{C}{$stop}; } ##---------------------------------------------------------------------------- =item code Usage: $object->code($code) $code = $object->code Set or retrieve the code for this barcode. C<$code> may be 'A', 'B', or 'C'. Typically for internal use only. Not particularly meaningful unless called during the middle of encoding. =cut sub code { my($self, $new_code) = @_; if (defined $new_code) { $new_code = uc $new_code; croak "Unknown code ``$new_code'' (should be A, B, or C)" unless $new_code eq 'A' || $new_code eq 'B' || $new_code eq 'C'; $self->{code} = $new_code; } $self->{code}; } ##---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ## _encodable($code, $string) ## ## Internal use only. Returns array of characters from $string that ## can be encoded using the specified $code (A B or C). Note: not an ## object-oriented method. sub _encodable { my($code, $string) = @_; my @chars; while (length $string) { my $old = $string; push @chars, $1 while($code eq 'C' && $string =~ s/^(\d\d)//); my $char; while(defined($char = substr($string, 0, 1))) { last if $code ne 'C' && $string =~ /^\d\d\d\d\d\d/; last unless exists $CODE{$code}{$char}; push @chars, $char; $string =~ s/^\Q$char\E//; } last if $old eq $string; # stop if no more changes made to $string } @chars; } =back =head1 CLASS VARIABLES None. =head1 DIAGNOSTICS =over 4 =item Unrecognized option ($opt) for $class The specified option is not valid for the module. C<$class> should be "Barcode::Code128" but if it has been inherited into another module, that module will show instead. C<$opt> is the attempted option. =item The gd_image() method of Barcode::Code128 requires the GD module To call the C, C, or C methods, the GD module must be present. This module is used to create the actual image. Without it, you can only use the C method. =item Scale must be a positive integer The scale factor for the C, C, or C methods must be a positive integer. =item Border ($border) must be a positive integer or zero The border option cannot be a fractional or negative number. =item Invalid font $font The specified font is not valid. Note that this is tested using GD->can(), and so any subroutine in GD.pm will pass this test - but only the fonts will actually work. See the GD module documentation for more. =item Image width $x is too small for bar code You have specified an image width that does not allow enough space for the bar code to be displayed. The minimum allowable is the size of the bar code itself plus 40 pixels. If in doubt, just omit the width value when calling C, C, or C and it will use the minimum. =item Image height $y is too small for bar code You have specified an image height that does not allow enough space for the bar code to be displayed. The minimum allowable is 15% of the width of the bar code. If in doubt, just omit the height value when calling C, C, or C and it will use the minimum. =item Unable to create $x x $y image An error occurred when initializing a GD::Image object for the specified size. Perhaps C<$x> and C<$y> are too large for memory? =item The gif() method of Barcode::Code128 requires the GD module =item The gif() method of Barcode::Code128 requires version less than 1.20 of GD =item The png() method of Barcode::Code128 requires the GD module =item The png() method of Barcode::Code128 requires at least version 1.20 of GD These errors indicate that the GD module, or the correct version of the GD module for this method, was not present. You need to install GD version 1.20 or greater to create PNG files, or a version of GD less than 1.20 to create GIF files. =item No encoded text found This message from C typically means that there was no text message supplied either during the current method call or in a previous method call on the same object. This error occurs when you are trying to create a barcode by calling one of C, C, C, or C without having specified the text to be encoded. =item No text defined This message from C typically means that there was no text message supplied either during the current method call or in a previous method call on the same object. =item Invalid preferred code ``$preferred_code'' This error means C was called with the C<$preferred_code> optional parameter but it was not one of ``A'', ``B'', or ``C''. =item Sanity Check Overflow This is a serious error in C that indicates a serious problem attempting to encode the requested message. This means that an infinite loop was generated. If you get this error please contact the author. =item Unable to find encoding for ``$text'' Part or all of the message could not be encoded. This may mean that the message contained characters not encodable in the CODE 128 character set, such as a character with an ASCII value higher than 127 (except the special control characters defined in this module). =item Unable to switch from ``$old_code'' to ``$new_code'' This is a serious error in C that indicates a serious problem occurred when switching between the codes (A, B, or C) of CODE 128. If you get this error please contact the author. =item Unable to start with ``$new_code'' This is a serious error in C that indicates a serious problem occurred when starting encoding in one of the codes (A, B, or C) of CODE 128. If you get this error please contact the author. =item Unknown code ``$new_code'' (should be A, B, or C) This is a serious error in C that indicates an invalid argument was supplied. Only the codes (A, B, or C) of CODE 128 may be supplied here. If you get this error please contact the author. =back =head1 BUGS At least some Web browsers do not seem to handle PNG files with transparent backgrounds correctly. As a result, the default for PNG is to generate barcodes without transparent backgrounds - the background is grey instead. =head1 AUTHOR William R. Ward, wrw@bayview.com =head1 SEE ALSO perl(1), GD =cut 1;