The GS1 Barcode Engine is a native C library that supports the generation of GS1 barcode symbols and processing of GS1 Application Identifier data. It includes bindings for C# .NET and demonstration console and desktop applications.
The supported symbologies are:
- GS1 DataBar family
- GS1-128
- UPC and EAN
- 2D Composite Components are supported for each of the above.
- Data Matrix (including GS1 DataMatrix)
- QR Code (including GS1 QR Code)
The library is a robust barcode generation and GS1 data processing implementation that is intended to be integrated into the widest variety of settings.
This project includes:
- A native C library that can be vendored into third-party code or compiled for use as a shared library (Linux / MacOS / BSD) or dynamic-link library (Windows).
- An example console application whose code demonstrates how to use the native library to generate barcode symbols.
- A C# .NET wrapper class that provides an object interface to the native library from managed code, using Platform Invoke (P/Invoke).
- An example desktop application using Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) that demonstrates how to use the C# .NET wrapper to access the native library.
Copyright (c) 2000-2021 GS1 AISBL
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this library except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at:
http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.
The C library API is fully documented in the docs/ directory and is available online here: https://gs1.github.io/gs1-barcode-engine/
Instructions for getting started with the console application are provided in the Console Application User Guide.
Instructions for getting started with the desktop application are provided in the Desktop Application User Guide.
The library is provided with full source and also in the form of a pre-built library (portable DLL) along with associated development headers (.h) and linker (.lib) files.
Pre-built assets are available here:
https://github.com/gs1/gs1-barcode-engine/releases/latest
The license is permissive allowing for the source code to be vendored into an application codebase (Open Source or proprietary) or for the pre-built shared library to be redistributed with an application.
This repository contains:
| Directory | Purpose |
|---|---|
| src/c-lib | Source for the native C library ("The library"), unit tests, fuzzers and demo console application |
| docs | Documentation for the public API of the native C library |
| src/dotnet-lib | C# .NET wrappers that provide a managed code interface to the native library using P/Invoke |
| src/dotnet-app | A demo C# .NET desktop application (WPF) that uses the wrappers and native library |
The library, wrappers, demonstration console application and demonstration desktop application can be rebuilt on Windows using MSVC.
The project contains a solution file (.sln) compatible with recent versions of Microsoft Visual Studio. In the Visual Studio Installer you will need to ensure that MSVC is installed by selecting the "C++ workload" and that a recent .NET Core SDK is available.
Alternatively, all components can be built from the command line by opening a
Developer Command Prompt, cloning this repository, changing to the src
directory and building the solution using:
msbuild /p:Configuration=release gs1encoders.sln
The library and demonstration console application can be rebuilt on any Linux or MacOS system that has a C compiler (such as GCC or Clang).
To build using the default compiler change into the src/c-lib directory and run:
make
A specific compiler can be chosen by setting the CC argument for example:
make CC=gcc
make CC=clang
There are a number of other targets that are useful for library development purposes:
make test [SANITIZE=yes] # Run the unit test suite, optionally building using LLVM sanitizers
make fuzzer # Build fuzzers for exercising the individual encoders. Requires LLVM libfuzzer.
A demonstration console application is provided in the form of an .EXE file compatible with modern 64-bit Windows operating systems and as a .bin file compatible with 64-bit Linux operating systems. There are no installation dependencies and the file can be run from any location on the file system.
The most recent version of the console application can be downloaded from here.
For Windows systems download the asset named
gs1encoders-windows-console-app.zip. For Linux systems download the asset
named gs1encoders-linux.bin. In the event of issues with antivirus software
consult the note in the
User Guide.
The pre-built application requires that the Visual C++ Redistributable 2019 (32 bit) is installed: https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/downloads/#microsoft-visual-c-redistributable-for-visual-studio-2019
A demonstration desktop application is provided in the form of an .EXE file compatible with modern 64-bit Windows operating systems and a recent .NET Framework.
The most recent version of the desktop application can be downloaded from here.
For Windows systems download the asset named gs1encoders-windows-gui-app.zip. In
the event of issues with antivirus software consult the note in the
User Guide.
The pre-built application requires that the .NET Core 3.1 Desktop Runtime - Windows x86 is installed: https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet/3.1/runtime