The component is used to create the RSS-14 (Reduce Space Symbology) barcode symbols, including RSS-14 (Standard), RSS-14 Truncated, RSS-14 Stacked, and RSS-14 Stacked Omnidirectional. It's defined in the pRss14 unit.
RSS-14 is a continuous linear symbology capable encoding the full GS1 14-digit EAN.UCC item identification number (Global Trade Item Numbers, GTINs). The first digit represents the Indicator digit to indicate packaging level. The following twelve digits are the GS1 Company Prefix and the Item Reference. The last digit represents the Check Digit. A leading Application Identifier (01) is implied and is not encoded in the symbol.
There are four styles (versions) of RSS-14 symbols, as described in following list:
Standard: The standard style RSS-14 barcode symbol encodes the full 14-digit EAN.UCC item identification (Global Trade Item Numbers, GTINs) in a symbol that can be omnidirectionally scanned by suitably configured point-of-sale laser scanners.
Truncated: RSS-14 Truncated is structured and encoded in the same way as the standard RSS-14 format, except its height is reduced to a 13 modules minimum. It may be used for small items, instead of RSS Limited. It may also be used when the four-column 2D component is desired in order to minimize the height of an EAN.UCC Composite symbol.
RSS-14 Truncated is designed to be read by scanners such as wands, handheld lasers, and linear and 2D imagers. It cannot be read efficiently by omnidirectional flat-bed and presentation scanners.
Stacked: RSS-14 Stacked is an RSS-14 Truncated two-row format. It may be used for small items instead of RSS Limited when the available space is too narrow for RSS Limited. Moreover, the narrower width of RSS-14 Stacked might allow for a larger module width and potentially higher print quality. However, RSS Limited or RSS-14 Truncated should be used in preference to the stacked format whenever space permits without reducing module width, as they are easier to scan with a wand or linear scanner.
RSS-14 Stacked is designed to be read by scanners such as wands, handheld lasers, and linear and 2D imagers. It cannot be read efficiently by omnidirectional flat-bed and presentation scanners.
Stacked Omnidirectional: RSS-14 Stacked Omnidirectional is a full height RSS-14 two-row format. It can be used instead of RSS-14 for omnidirectional scanning applications where the different aspect ratio is needed.
You can use the Style property to specify which style will be used. It can be one of these values: rsStandard, rsTruncated, rsStacked, and rsStackedOmnidirectional, corresponding to the Standard, Truncated, Stacked, and Stacked Omnidirectional styls. They are defined in the pRss14 unit.
RSS-14 (Standard): Normally, the overall size of this format is 96 modules wide by a minimum of 33 modules high. You can use the TotalHeight property to specify the height for an RSS-14 (Standard) symbol, in modules.
RSS-14 Truncated: Normally, the overall size of this format is 96 modules wide by a minimum of 13 modules high. You can use the TotalHeight property to specify the height for an RSS-14 Truncated symbol, in modules.
RSS-14 Stacked: Normally, the top row is 5 modules high and the bottom row is 7 modules high with a 1 module (minimum) high separator pattern between the two rows. So the overall size of this format is 50 modules wide by 13 modules high. You can use the SeparatorRowHeight property to specify the height of separator pattern between the two rows, in modules. And use the TotalHeight property to specify the total height for an RSS-14 Stacked symbol, in modules. the height of separator pattern is included in the total height.
RSS-14 Stacked Omnidirectional: Normally, Each row is 33 modules high minimum with a 3 modules high separator pattern between the two rows. So the overall size of this format is 50 modules wide by 69 modules high minimum. You can use the SeparatorRowHeight property to specify the height of separator pattern between the two rows, in modules. And use the TotalHeight property to specify the total height for an RSS-14 Stacked Omnidirectional symbol, in modules. the height of separator pattern is included in the total height.
If both the Link2D and Show2DSeparator properties are set to Ture, a contiguous separator pattern is represented and its minimum height is 1 module (the pattern height can be specified by the SeparatorRowHeight property). In this case, the height of the RSS-14 symbol will be reached to increase the contiguous separator pattern height.
No quiet zones is required outside the bounds of the RSS-14 symbol. The first and last elements may appear wider than one module without affecting the symbol if the adjacent background area is the same color. So the minimum values of LeadingQuietZone, TrailingQuietZone, TopQuietZone, and BottomQuietZone properties are equal to 0.
All styles of RSS-14 symbols have a check digit, it is a form of redundancy check used for error detection. It consists of a single numeric character computed from the other character in the EAN.UCC item identification number.
If the AutoCheckDigit property is set to false, the check digit shall be included in the barcode text. Otherwise, It wii be appended automatically by the component, so the check digit isn't required in the barcode text.
All styles of RSS-14 symbologies encode the full GS1 14-digit EAN.UCC item identification number (Global Trade Item Numbers, GTINs) in a symbol, including a leading indicator digit, 12 data characters (GS1 Company Prefix and the Item Reference), and a check digit. Note, A leading Application Identifier (01) is implied and is not encoded in the symbol, so it isn't required in the barcode text.
If the AutoCheckDigit property is set to false, the check digit shall be included in the barcode text, so the length of barcode text shall is 14 numeric characters, and the last numeric character in the barcode text is the check digit.
If the AutoCheckDigit property is set to true, the check digit will be appended automatically by the component, so the length of barcode text shall is 13 numeric characters, and the check digit isn't required in the barcode text.
Any styles of an RSS-14 barcode symbol can be used together with a CC-A or CC-B barcode symbol to create the EAN.UCC composite symbol. Only a 4-column CC-A or a 4-column CC-B symbol can be used together with an RSS-14 (Standard) or an RSS-14 Truncated symbol. Only a 3-column CC-A or a 3-column CC-B symbol can be used together with an RSS-14 Stacked or an RSS-14 Stacked Omnidirectional symbol.
If you use it together with a CC-A or a CC-B component that's from another components package, the Link2D property should be set to true in order to denote the RSS-14 symbol is used as the linear component in an EAN.UCC composite symbol. In this case, the Show2DSeparator property specifies whether to represent the contiguous separator pattern between the RSS-14 linear and the 2D components in the EAN.UCC composite symbol.
If you use it together with the TBarcode2D_CCA or TBarcode2D_CCB 2D barcode component that's in this 2D Barcode VCL Components package, it can be used as the Linear property's value of the 2D barcode component to create the EAN.UCC composite symbols. In such case, only the Barcode, Data (only for Delphi/C++ Builder 2009 or later), AutoCheckDigit, Style, TotalHeight, and SeparatorRowHeight properties are useful, the value of other properties will be ignored and they will be set automatically depending on the settings of the 2D barcode component (the Link2D and Show2DSeparator properties will be set to true automatically). The number of columns of the TBarcode2D_CCA or TBarcode2D_CCB 2D barcode component will be changed automatically depending on the value of the Style property. In addition, the Image property should not be normally set, the Image property's value of the 2D component will be used.
See also the "How to generate the EAN.UCC composite barcode symbol".
See diagram:
(*): The Data property, OnInvalidDataLength and OnInvalidDataChar events are available only for the Delphi/C++ Builder 2009 or later.