QR code Alignment

[CPCjosh]

I'm using 7.1p1c and have the QR Barcode rule generating a QR based off of a personalized URL that we have in the data. The problem is since the QR size is based off of the pURL, it's vertical location in it's box changes based on the pURL's length.

Now I've tried all sorts of changes to try and get it to "center" vertically. The basic vertical alignment for text just is not working. Also defining the QR size to specifics doesn't help either.

 

Has anyone figured out how to get fusion to generate a dynamic length field QR and have it look reasonably positioned? Our clients are lenient but this looks ridiculous for some of the records.

 

Any ideas?

[Dan Korn]

Setting the vertical alignment in the text frame seems to be working fine for me.

 

As for the symbol size (format) of the barcode, that's a minimum size, not a maximum. The barcode will always expand as needed to contain the data. But you can set the format to a larger number to make all the barcodes come out the same size, by making smaller ones larger. With a few tweaks, I'm sure you can get this to work. Feel free to post the job if you want more specific suggestions.

 

That said, we are investigating improved QR barcode functionality, to generate images which can be aligned and scaled in image frames, instead of text, for a future release of FusionPro.

[CPCjosh]

Thanks for taking the time Dan. However, I don't understand how what you're suggesting solves the problem. I have a fixed framesize of 1.2" and the field that the QR is generated from is a URL that shifts dramatically in length. Even if I set the frame to align vertically in the center it fails to do so. It jogs to the top a bit. Regardless of the format(symbol) size the situation is the same. Making that value anything but "automatic" simply results in a larger version of what is occurring already. That which is to say I have a variable QR size that is anything but centered in its box. I don't see it working like you're suggesting.

 

Here are some images of what I am experiencing(Symbol Size)21x21 font size 8 (to make sure the largest fits) What You'll see below is the largest and smallest records set to Center vertically and also Bottom aligned.

http://img850.imageshack.us/i/picture1de.png/

http://img854.imageshack.us/i/picture2qg.png/

http://img861.imageshack.us/i/picture3q.png/

http://img121.imageshack.us/i/picture4db.png/

ScreenShots.zip

[Dan Korn]

Thanks for taking the time Dan. However, I don't understand how what you're suggesting solves the problem. I have a fixed framesize of 1.2" and the field that the QR is generated from is a URL that shifts dramatically in length. Even if I set the frame to align vertically in the center it fails to do so. It jogs to the top a bit.

From your pictures, it looks to me like the vertical alignment is working fine. If you set it to bottom, it goes to the bottom. It's not an exact alignment because it's text, and it goes by lines, not pixels.

 

I would simply make the text box a lot larger and set its fill color to None (possibly with an empty frame filled with White behind it). Then the slight variation in alignment won't be significant.

Regardless of the format(symbol) size the situation is the same. Making that value anything but "automatic" simply results in a larger version of what is occurring already. That which is to say I have a variable QR size that is anything but centered in its box. I don't see it working like you're suggesting.

 

Here are some images of what I am experiencing(Symbol Size)21x21 font size 8 (to make sure the largest fits)

Okay, so if you set the size to 21x21, then all the barcodes will come out the same size, right? That's exactly what I meant by, "You can set the format to a larger number to make all the barcodes come out the same size, by making smaller ones larger."

[CPCjosh]

From your pictures, it looks to me like the vertical alignment is working fine. If you set it to bottom, it goes to the bottom. It's not an exact alignment because it's text, and it goes by lines, not pixels.

 

I would simply make the text box a lot larger and set its fill color to None (possibly with an empty frame filled with White behind it). Then the slight variation in alignment won't be significant.

 

Okay, so if you set the size to 21x21, then all the barcodes will come out the same size, right? That's exactly what I meant by, "You can set the format to a larger number to make all the barcodes come out the same size, by making smaller ones larger."

 

I thought about the "fake white box" behind it, But that doesn't seem to really solve much because there is such a shift in the size and if I can't get it to truly center vertically, then I'm no better off.

 

The last bit of what you said about the specifying the size to "make them all come out the same size" doesn't work that way at all (unless I haven't set it large enough and reached the proper threshold: however that defeats the purpose of making them fit in the designated space if I can't use the appropriate size.) It's obvious that they are still changes in dimensions because of the length of the URL. This part doesn't make any sense to me since I can go and generate a thousand QR images on a website and have them all come out the same ratio. Granted that's what I'm trying to avoid because linking a thousand images is a pain when I don't have to do so.

 

So it sounds like what you're saying is "This is how it works" and there isn't an issue?

[Dan Korn]

I thought about the "fake white box" behind it, But that doesn't seem to really solve much because there is such a shift in the size and if I can't get it to truly center vertically, then I'm no better off.

What I'm saying is that you CAN get it to center vertically by making the text box larger.

The last bit of what you said about the specifying the size to "make them all come out the same size" doesn't work that way at all (unless I haven't set it large enough and reached the proper threshold: however that defeats the purpose of making them fit in the designated space if I can't use the appropriate size.)

Yes, you haven't set it large enough to reach the proper threshold where they're all the same size.

 

And I don't understand how making the barcode larger defeats the purpose of making them fit the designated space. You still need to adjust things so that the largest barcode fits anyway, right? So make them all that size.

It's obvious that they are still changes in dimensions because of the length of the URL. This part doesn't make any sense to me since I can go and generate a thousand QR images on a website and have them all come out the same ratio.

I'm not sure what you mean. All QR barcodes are the same ratio (square), but they're not all the same size.

 

You're saying that there's a website which takes varying length URLs and makes them all into barcodes of the same size? If that's true, then they're probably doing what I suggested, and making them all larger. Or maybe there's some other trick I'm not aware of. Can you share the link to the site?

So it sounds like what you're saying is "This is how it works" and there isn't an issue?

What I'm saying is "This is how it works, and this is how you I think you can accomplish what you need within those parameters."

[CPCjosh]

Dan thanks for the suggestions.

 

What I meant was that I can't afford to make it any larger of a QR because the largest field already is maxing out the size of the frame space at its current format size. If I increase the format size, then the largest instance of the URL/QR only gets larger. Thus rendering the QR too big for the placement.

 

BTW: I have just tried the "White Box Behind" technique and it seems to work better because having the actual QR frame at a larger size seems to utilize the vertical centering much better. Thanks.

 

Thanks again.

[Dan Korn]

What I meant was that I can't afford to make it any larger of a QR because the largest field already is maxing out the size of the frame space at its current format size. If I increase the format size, then the largest instance of the URL/QR only gets larger. Thus rendering the QR too big for the placement.

Okay, that's a different problem than the issue of how you align the barcode. You'll need to do something else to restrict the size. You can adjust the point size, as well as the error correction level, so that the barcode for your longest URL still fits.

 

Where are these URLs coming from? The ultimate solution may be to restrict the length of the URLs being encoded in the first place, such as by using a URL shortening service such as tinyurl.com or bit.ly.

[CPCjosh]

Thanks. The current setup is definitely acceptable in appearance. A bit of a work around with the double-size frame to make it center vertically, but looks much better.

 

I have the current setup as Format 33 and font size 8. If I jump to the next symbol size then it gets way too big for the current design.

 

The URLs are being generated by our licensed MindFire setup. I'm not the guy that handles this process so I don't know if there's an easy way to batch shorten them.