Add Healthcare Barcodes

You can configure primary, secondary, and combined barcodes that comply with the UPN specification for the Health Industry Bar Code (HIBC) Supplier Labeling Standard by using Loftware Enterprise™ SP. This standard is intended for use with products distributed in the healthcare industry.

For more information about encoding HIBC barcodes, see the The Health Industry Bar Code (HIBC) Supplier Labeling Standard listed in External Links.

To add barcodes that comply with the HIBC standard to a label template, use the following procedure.

1. Click Label Design  and open a label template or create a new label template.
2. Add either a primary barcode and optionally a secondary barcode, or else a combined barcode. The HIBC Supplier Labeling Standard considers a secondary barcode to be optional. If using a 2D symbology, either use only a primary barcode or else use a combined barcode.

   For each barcode, do the following.

   1. From the Insert tab, click and drag Barcode to the label canvas.
   2. In the Create New Barcode box, one of the following symbologies and drag it to the Label pane: Code 128, Code 39 (not Full ASCII), Aztec, DataMatrix, MicroPDF417, or QR Code.
   3. In the Properties pane, change the Field Name to a meaningful name, such as PrimaryBarcode, SecondaryBarcode, or CombinedBarcode.
   4. Configure the Max Chars to meet or exceed the length of the data. In addition to the data to be entered, you must allow space for the flag character and the check character. For a Combined barcode, you must also allow space for a separator character.
   5. If using Code 39 or Code 128, set Check Digit to None so that you can configure and use it separately.
   6. If using Code 39 or Code 128, set Human Readable to None so that you can configure it separately.
   7. If using Code 39, for Ratio select 3.0:1.
   8. Configure other fields as appropriate, leaving the Data Ref field blank.
3. Add a Variable Text field for the human readable text for each barcode. For each barcode, do the following.
   1. To create human readable text for the barcode, from the Insert tab, click Variable Text, and drag it to the Label pane.
   2. In the Properties pane, change the Field Name to a meaningful name, such as PrimaryText, SecondaryText, or CombinedText.
   3. Configure the Chars Per Line to meet or exceed the length of the data. In addition to the to be data entered, you must allow space for the flag character, check character, and two asterisks (denoting the beginning and end of the human readable text). For a Combined barcode, you must also allow space for a separator character.
   4. Configure other fields as appropriate, leaving the Data Ref field blank.
4. For each input that you want to be entered by the Data Provider, create and configure a Prompt (which will be automatically associated with a Data Entry data source and a Data Ref). You do not need to create a Prompt for any component of the barcode data that is static.

   These inputs, defined by the HIBC standard, include some or all of the following.

   Input	Field Name
   Labeler Identification Code	LIC
   Product or Catalog Number	PCN
   Unit of Measure Identifier	UM
   Reference Identifier	RefId
   Quantity	Quantity
   Expiration Date	ExpDate
   Lot/Batch or Serial Number	Lot

   For each input that you want to include, do the following.

   1. To create a Prompt, in the Text list in the Insert tab, click and drag a Prompt to the Form view. A Data Entry data source is created.
   2. For each field in the Form view, click the field to select it, and in the Properties pane change the Field Name to a meaningful name and the Prompt to the text that should be displayed to Data Providers. Either use the Field Names suggested in the preceding table, or else change the Formulas in the following steps to incorporate the Field Names that you chose.
   3. Leave the Data Ref field blank.
   4. Select an Entry Type and Character Mask for each input as appropriate.
   5. Configure Chars Per Line for each input to meet or exceed the length of the data to be entered.
5. Create Formula data sources to support each barcode. Leave the Data Ref field for the Formula data source blank. For any component of the barcode data that is static, you can replace the Data Ref shown in the formula below (such as {/Body/LIC}) with the appropriate text enclosed in quotation marks (such as "A123").

   Description	Data Source Name	Formula
   Primary barcode data except for check digit	Pri_Base	"+" + {/Body/LIC} + {/Body/PCN} + {/Body/UM}
   Primary check digit	Pri_Check	Mod43({/Pri_Base})
   Secondary barcode data except for check digit	Sec_Base	"+" + {/Body/RefId} + {/Body/Quantity} + {/Body/ExpDate} + {/Body/Lot} + {/Pri_Check}
   Secondary check digit	Sec_Check	Mod43({/Sec_Base})
   Combined barcode data, part 1	Com_Base1	"+" + {/Body/LIC} + {/Body/PCN} + {/Body/UM} + "/"
   Combined barcode data, part 2, except for check digit	Com_Base2	{/Body/RefId} + {/Body/Quantity} + {/Body/ExpDate} + {/Body/Lot}
   Combined check digit	Com_Check	Mod43({/Com_Base1} + {/Com_Base2})

6. Create a Formula data source for each barcode. Leave the Data Ref field for the Formula data source blank.

   Description	Data Source Name	Formula
   Primary barcode data	Pri_Barcode	{/Pri_Base} + {/Pri_Check}
   Secondary barcode data	Sec_Barcode	{/Sec_Base} + {/Sec_Check}
   Combined barcode data	Com_Barcode	{/Com_Base1} + {/Com_Base2} + {/Com_Check}

7. For each barcode, click and drag the formula to be associated with that barcode, and drop it onto that barcode in the Label pane. This populates the Data Ref field for the barcode.
8. Create a Formula data source for the human readable text for each barcode. These formulas enclose the data in asterisks and replace any check digit that is a space with an underscore, as specified by the HIBC standard. Leave the Data Ref field for the Formula data source blank.

   Description	Data Source Name	Formula
   Human readable text for Primary barcode	Pri_Text	"*" + {/Pri_Base} + ({/Pri_Check}.rtrim(" ")).rpad("_",1) + "*"
   Human readable text for Secondary barcode	Sec_Text	"*" + {/Sec_Base} + ({/Sec_Check}.rtrim(" ")).rpad("_",1) + "*"
   Human readable text, line 1, for Combined barcode	Com_Text1	"*" + {/Com_Base1}
   Human readable text, line 2, for Combined barcode	Com_Text2	{/Com_Base2} + ({/Com_Check}.rtrim(" ")).rpad("_",1) + "*"

9. For each barcode, click and drag the formula to be associated with the human readable text, and drop it onto the appropriate Variable Text field in the Label pane. This populates the Data Ref field for the human readable text.