Zoner Barcode Studio 2

Trial Version

Question: What happens when the trial runs out? Do I Iose my barcodes?

Answer: The program simply refuses to start until you enter your registration code. Anything you've exported to a format accessible by programs other than Zoner Barcode Studio will still be accessible, but you will not be able to open your Zoner Barcode Studio's barcode-list (ZBL) files, as they are only accessible in this program.

Question: Do I need to make a second download when I buy?

Answer: No - just enter the registration number and you have a full version.

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Installation/Uninstallation, Crash Errors

Question: During uninstallation, an error message appeared stating that MSIEXEC caused an illegal operation.

Answer: The most common source of installation and uninstallation problems is errors in Microsoft Windows Installer - a Microsoft program that supports installers and uninstallers during their work. We recommend that you download the latest version of Microsoft Windows Installer from Download.com or any other download site that provides it. Also make sure, during uninstallation, to disable the Windows Active Desktop and as many programs running in the background as possible (anti-virus programs, Instant Messaging clients, etc.), as these can interfere with the uninstaller.

Question: I can't run the program at all! When I try, the error message "Load IPLib error" "Unable to find address of "iplColorMedianFilter" Function" appears.

Answer: This problem is caused by conflicts between versions of ipl.dll. Please contact Zoner support and we will e-mail you a file that solves this problem.

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How do I...?

Question: Vector export sounds nice, but I'm working with a program that only accepts BMP files... monochrome BMP files. I see Zoner Barcode Studio can't produce these. Any suggestions?

Answer: Sure. Use a program with batch conversion commands to convert the BMP files produced by Zoner Barcode Studio to monochrome bitmaps. One such program is Zoner Media Explorer 3, included with the freeware Zoner Draw 3 (available on the zoner.com website). If you want a more advanced program, you might try the free CLASSIC version of Zoner Media Explorer 5 (also available on the zoner.com website).

Question: How do I auto-generate a sequence of barcodes with the same prefix, etc.?

Answer: Use the sequence generator for this.

Question: How do I export barcode data as text instead of as images?

Answer: Use XML export for this, then use an XML processing tool to access the data, or strip the tags and convert the file to, for example, CSV. We realize that both of these approaches are not always practical, and a CSV export for Zoner Barcode Studio is in the works.

Question: How do I make sure that the correct/most efficient subset of Code 128 is being used?

Answer: You don't have to – the program does this automatically, based on the type of data you enter.

Question: How do I enter an "X" in an ISBN number by hand? It won't let me.

Answer: Use a capital X rather than a small x.

Question: How do I export my barcodes to a single vector file? Zoner Barcode Studio doesn't give me enough flexibility for my particular printing needs, and export to multiple files isn't practical for me - for example, I don't have a program that lets me easily import multiple files.

Answer: Export to ZMF meets this need. The ZMF format is only used by Zoner Draw 4, a trialware program also from Zoner, Inc. However, its trial period is also 30 days, so you may well be able to meet your needs in this time (even if you don't find you like the program so much that you want to buy it). Zoner Draw 4 supports export to more universal formats as well, so you can use it to create printouts usable even after the trial period runs out.

Question: How do I create a barcode that breaks the limits of its symbology's specification?

Answer: You can't – during the design of the program, it was decided that programming in a capability that is useful so rarely was not worth the effort (which would have meant throwing out other, more useful features). However, in some cases, you can use the program creatively to "cheat" and get around this. Specifically, if you want human-readable text that's not allowed by the program (either because the specification allows no human-readable text at all, or e.g. the program requires a checksum, but you don't want to use one), and the specification allows not including human-readable text, then you can turn off human-readable text, place the contents of the Name field below the barcode using the second tab of the program preferences dialog, thus using the Name field in place of human-readable text. Because the name field is not automatically filled in with the barcode data as you enter barcodes in Zoner Barcode Studio, you may want to use the capabilities of e.g. Microsoft Excel to make this process easier.

Question: How can I preserve barcodes' original order when importing them? Zoner Barcode Studio is sorting them by their barcode number!

Answer: You can't, directly... but you can, as long as you don't need to use the Name field in Zoner Barcode Studio for anything else. Here's an example of how to do this with Microsoft Excel:

Take an empty column in your source worksheet and title it (fill in the column's first row) so that you can remember which one it is during import.
Type "1" in the second row in the column.
Type "2" in the third row in the column.
Select these two cells.
Click the bottom right corner of the cell with the "2" in it.
Drag downwards all the way down to the last cell neighboring one with barcode data in it. If you accidentally stop before you reach the last cell, just select the last and second-to-last filled cells and then repeat this step.
Now save the worksheet and import it into Zoner Barcode Studio.
During the last import step, bind the column you just created to Zoner Barcode Studio's Name field.

Congratulations! You can now use sorting by the Name field as the equivalent of sorting by the data's original order.

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Printing and Scanning Problems

Question: I created a barcode in Zoner Barcode Studio and printed it out... but I can't scan it in.

Answer: First make sure that you've done everything possible to maximize its print quality. There is a separate section on printing barcodes in this help file, which describes common printing problems and their solutions. If your printer has a low print resolution (DPI), you can use optimization for that printer's DPI. If you are pasting barcodes into another application and printing from there, we can recommend the tips in the section on pasting barcodes into other programs. (You can easily test if the pasting process is causing the trouble by printing the barcode from Zoner Barcode Studio.) Last but not least, make sure that the scanner you are using supports the given barcode type.

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Import Problems

Question: The "Import from Database...." command is grayed.

Answer: Make sure that the file ZBSODBC.DLL exists in the folder where Zoner Barcode Studio was installed. If not, re-install the program. If this file is in the Zoner Barcode Studio folder, then the problem is with the ODBC drivers (an group of drivers that is fundamental for work with databases) on your computer; most likely, they are not installed properly. In this case, re-installing them should help.

Question: I'm trying to import a database, but import is stopping with an error message: "Could not find installable ISAM".

Answer: The ISAM DLL files on your computer are either missing or damaged, and thus need to be reinstalled. Please visit Microsoft's website for details on how to fix this problem.

Question: I'm trying to import a database, but certain tables won't import - their import stops with the error "Expected xx parameters."

Answer: Most likely, some of the views in the database are defined as SQL queries with parameters that Zoner Barcode Studio does not support.

Question: The first row of what I'm importing is not being imported!

Answer: When importing e.g. columns from Microsoft Excel, the first row in the column is treated as its title. It is used to identify the column in the Import from Database wizard, and is not (and cannot be) treated as data. If you have a large number of data sources whose columns immediately start with data, you can use a macro or other batch processing to add a non-data row at the start of the column. You can contact our support line for help with this if necessary.

Question: I'm getting a period and a zero after the numbers I import from Excel. How do I get rid of these?

Answer: This is caused by a problem in the Excel ODBC driver, but you can fix it using a setting in the Database Import wizard: the Truncate to Integer checkbox in the Floating point numbers section of the wizard's last step, Bind Columns to Barcode Data.

Question: Numbers that I'm exporting from Excel only produce zeros in Zoner Barcode Studio! What's wrong?

Answer: Most likely the cells you are importing from Excel have been assigned the "text" format in Excel. We should note here one very confusing aspect of Excel: If you have set the "text" format for a cell, Excel will consider what you type there to be text, even if you type numbers - and even if you later redefine the cell as a number cell!

Select (highlight) all of the numbers in Excel that you intend to import into Zoner Barcode Studio.
Use the Copy command in the Edit menu.
Click the Windows Start button.
Click the Run... command in Windows' Start Menu.
Type "notepad" and press Enter.
Use the Paste command in Notepad's Edit menu.
Use the Select All command in Notepad's Edit menu.
Use the Copy command in Notepad's Edit menu.
Use the Paste command in Excel's Edit menu to paste over what you originally entered.

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Export Problems

Question: I'm trying to open a WMF file in Microsoft Word, but all I get is a bunch of strange characters.

Answer: To insert an image from a file into a document in Microsoft Word, do not use the Open... command - use the Insert | Image | From File... command instead. The rest of the process is the same as for opening a file.

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Clipboard Troubles

Question: My barcodes are severely damaged when I copy and paste them – so much so that they are unscannable.

Answer: This is a problem caused by two unpleasant traits of some applications: they automatically use EMF-format images if these are in the Clipboard, and they cannot properly handle EMF. The solution in short: use the target application's Paste As... command to paste in another format, or tell Zoner Barcode Studio not to send EMF to the Clipboard.

Question: I'm having troubles with text becoming clipped when I copy and paste to any vector format – even WMF.

Answer: Some applications do not know how to handle text objects in WMF and EMF properly, and do not take the text into account when dimensioning imported WMF/EMF images. To solve this problem, take the following steps:

Use the Program Preferences... command in Zoner Barcode Studio's Options menu.
Check the Store Text as Curves in WMF and EMF checkbox.

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XML Export

Question: I'm having one of the following problems:

The XML-related commands simply aren't working, or
When I try to access XML commands, an error message relating to MSXML.DLL.

Answer: Zoner Barcode Studio uses Microsoft XML libraries that are a standard component of Internet Explorer versions 4.0 and higher. If this file is not installed on your computer, you will need to install Internet Explorer or an update of it. Or not... an independent installation of MSXML is available for free through Microsoft's website.

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General Questions

Question: Is work in this program based on barcode fonts?

Answer: No - the principle of operation is entirely different: barcodes are created as vector-graphics images.

Question: Can I create US National Drug Code barcodes with Zoner Barcode Studio?

Answer: Certainly; these are just a subset of UPC-A.

Question: It's adding numbers that I'm not typing!

Answer: These are check characters - digits added at the end of barcodes to reduce the risk of incorrect scanning. (Some symbologies even require check characters.) Whenever a check character is required or even allowed by a symbology, Zoner Barcode Studio adds it automatically; this behavior cannot be turned off.

Question: When I change my barcode's size, the program keeps changing it back!

Answer: Make sure the settings you want are legal for the given specification. There is a wealth of detailed information on symbologies' specifications available on the Internet, but before going to the trouble to check there, you would do well to check the section in this help file regarding the code type you're using - the restriction in question may be mentioned there.

Question: Where can I find a table of ASCII codes, e.g. control codes, to help me create content for Code 128?

Answer: As of this writing, you can find such a list at (among other places) the address www.asciitable.com. A search for "ascii code table" on a Web search engine will easily find such a list if the above-mentioned address is no longer active.

Question: I'm trying to create ISBN barcodes, but I can't enter my Bowker price code in the "price code" field... it's grayed out and seems too short for five digits.

Answer: Use the 5-digit "Add-on" field for entering such price codes. Zoner Barcode Studio's "Price Code" field is only used in ISSN numbers. (ISSN's and ISBN's share essentially the same interface in Zoner Barcode Studio for simplicity's sake.) The "Add-on" field is not called "price code" in Zoner Barcode Studio primarily because it is also used in other ways. Be sure that the first digit is correct for the currency in question - 0 or 1 for GBP, 3 for AUD, 4 for NZD, 5 for USD, and 6 for CAD. As far as we can determine, books priced at 99.99 currency units or higher receive the currency code plus 9999, e.g. 5999 for 100+ US Dollars.

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