Professional Information of GS1-128 Barcode Symbology
Brief Introduction of GS1-128/EAN-128 & recommended barcode library for ASP.NET, Winforms, Word and Excel
GS1-128 Barcode Introduction
GS1-128, is a high-density, discrete linear barcode which is employs application standard of GS1 implementation within Code 128 barcode.
GS1-128 is also known as EAN-128, UCC-128, USS-128, GS1 128 and GTIN-128. It is able to encode high density data including all 128 ASCII characters and widely used in retail and shipping management systems. GS1-128 is able to handle distinguished information since it utilizes a series of Application Identifiers. For example, AI 00 indicates the Serial Shipping Container Code, 21 indicates the Serial Number, 310y means the data encoded is related to Product Net Weight in Kg etc.
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GS1-128 Valid Character Set
- Standard ASCII characters
- Extended ASCII characters
GS1-128 Code set A, B and C
GS1-128 has 3 code set A, B and C and the code set could be changed using code set character A, B, C or shift characters.
Code set A: GS1-128 code set A includes of the upper case alphanumeric characters (A to Z), punctuation, and symbology elements. It could encodes 7 special characters from character values 96 to 102.
Code set B: GS1-128 code set B includes of all of the upper case alphanumeric characters, punctuation, characters and the lowercase alphabetic characters. It is capable of encoding 7 special characters from character values 96 to 102.
Code set C: GS1-128 code set C includes 3 special characters from character values 100to 102 and 100 digit pairs from 00 to 99. Numeric data will be encoded as a pair of the digits.
GS1-128 Structure
GS1-128 provides a high degree of security and distinguished GS1 system strings from other linear barcodes. It is composed of the parts below:
- A leading Quiet Zone. It includes the Start (A, B, or C) and FNC1. The Start Character (A, B, or C) defines the corresponding code set to be used to start the symbol. It helps EAN-128 to be distinguished from generalized Code 128.
- Encoding data itself: The data encoded in GS1-128 should include the Application Identifier encoded in character set A, B, or C.
- A Symbol Check Character. It should be included as the last symbol character before the Stop Character. The check character is mandatory however will not be shown in the human readable interpretation.
- The Stop Character
- A trailing Quiet Zone. From left to right of the GS1-128, the width of the Quiet Zone should be at least 10x.