How to print vector barcodes with WPF in a console app or Windows Service with C# or VB.NET

Requirements

  Neodynamic Barcode Professional 4.0 for WPF (or greater)
  Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 (or greater)
  Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 or Visual Basic 2010 Express or Visual C# 2010 Express

In this guide you will learn how to print vector-based barcodes inside a Console App or Windows Service by using Neodynamic Barcode Professional for WPF.
Taking advantage on the printing features of WPF which is very powerful and easy to use, you can print barcode documents or labels in scenarios where the classic GDI+ (System.Drawing.Printing.PrintDocument class) is not supported like Windows Services. Although the source code in this guide is for Console Apps, you can easily port it to a Windows Service project.

This guide provides two printing scenarios. The first one is for printing a single page document featuring a Code 39 barcode while the second one is for printing a multipage document with a list of products. The products are in a XML file including id, name and price and a Code 128 barcode is generated for each product ID. Please note that although we have used simple linear barcodes Code 39 and Code 128 in this guide, you could use any of the barcode standards included in Barcode Professional for WPF like EAN-13, UPC-A, GS1-128, USPS Intelligent Mail Barcode as well as 2D symbologies like Data Matrix, QR Code, Aztec Code, PDF 417, etc. (More info about all supported barcode symbologies in Barcode Professional for WPF)

Please follow up these steps:

• Download and install latest version of Neodynamic Barcode Professional for WPF
• Open Visual Studio and create a new Console Application project
• Add a new Class item to your project and name it SinglePageDocBarcode
  
  This class will print a single page with a Code 39 barcode encoding part of a random GUID. It is very straightforward but will provide you a basic code if you are in such printing scenario.
  
  
  
  
  

  VB

  
  Imports System.Printing
  Imports System.Windows.Xps
  Imports System.Windows.Media
  Imports System.Globalization
  Imports System.Windows
   
  Public Class SinglePageDocBarcode
   
      Public Shared Sub Print()
          Dim server As New LocalPrintServer()
          Dim queue As PrintQueue = server.DefaultPrintQueue
          Dim ticket As PrintTicket = queue.DefaultPrintTicket
          Dim writer As XpsDocumentWriter = PrintQueue.CreateXpsDocumentWriter(queue)
          writer.Write(CreateVisual(ticket), ticket)
      End Sub
   
      Private Shared Function CreateVisual(ByVal ticket As PrintTicket) As Visual
          Dim width As Double = ticket.PageMediaSize.Width.Value
          Dim height As Double = ticket.PageMediaSize.Height.Value
          Const inch As Double = 96
   
          Dim visual As New DrawingVisual()
          Using dc As DrawingContext = visual.RenderOpen()
              'Draw a sample text
              dc.DrawText(New FormattedText("Sample Barcode in WPF", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, FlowDirection.LeftToRight, New Typeface(New FontFamily("Arial"), FontStyles.Normal, FontWeights.Bold, FontStretches.Normal), 14, Brushes.Black), New Point(0.5 * inch, 0.5 * inch))
   
              'Draw a barcode
              Dim bc As New Neodynamic.WPF.BarcodeBuilder()
              bc.BarcodeUnit = Neodynamic.WPF.BarcodeUnit.Inch
              bc.Symbology = Neodynamic.WPF.Symbology.Code39
              bc.Extended = True
              bc.AddChecksum = False
              bc.Code = Guid.NewGuid().ToString().ToUpper().Replace("-", "").Substring(0, 16)
              bc.BarWidth = 1 / inch
              bc.BarHeight = 0.75
              bc.QuietZone = New Thickness(0, 0.1, 0, 0.1)
              bc.FontSize = 12
              'locate the barcode drawing by using TranslateTransform
              dc.PushTransform(New TranslateTransform(0.5 * inch, inch))
   
              dc.DrawDrawing(bc.GetBarcodeDrawing())
   
          End Using
   
   
          Return visual
      End Function
   
  End Class       

  C#

  
  using System;
  using System.Windows.Media;
  using System.Printing;
  using System.Windows;
  using System.Windows.Xps;
  using System.Globalization;
   
  namespace WPFBarcodePrintConsoleCS
  {
      class SinglePageDocBarcode
      {
   
          public static void Print()
          {
              LocalPrintServer server = new LocalPrintServer();
              PrintQueue queue = server.DefaultPrintQueue;
              PrintTicket ticket = queue.DefaultPrintTicket;
              XpsDocumentWriter writer = PrintQueue.CreateXpsDocumentWriter(queue);
              writer.Write(CreateVisual(ticket), ticket);
          }
   
          private static Visual CreateVisual(PrintTicket ticket)
          {
              double width = ticket.PageMediaSize.Width.Value;
              double height = ticket.PageMediaSize.Height.Value;
              const double inch = 96;
   
              DrawingVisual visual = new DrawingVisual();
              using (DrawingContext dc = visual.RenderOpen())
              {
                  //Draw a sample text
                  dc.DrawText(new FormattedText("Sample Barcode in WPF",
                      CultureInfo.InvariantCulture,
                       FlowDirection.LeftToRight,
                       new Typeface(new FontFamily("Arial"), FontStyles.Normal, FontWeights.Bold, FontStretches.Normal),
                       14,
                       Brushes.Black), new Point(0.5 * inch, 0.5 * inch));
   
                  //Draw a barcode
                  Neodynamic.WPF.BarcodeBuilder bc = new Neodynamic.WPF.BarcodeBuilder();
                  bc.BarcodeUnit = Neodynamic.WPF.BarcodeUnit.Inch;
                  bc.Symbology = Neodynamic.WPF.Symbology.Code39;
                  bc.Extended = true;
                  bc.AddChecksum = false;
                  bc.Code = Guid.NewGuid().ToString().ToUpper().Replace("-", "").Substring(0, 16);
                  bc.BarWidth = 1 / inch;
                  bc.BarHeight = 0.75;
                  bc.QuietZone = new Thickness(0, 0.1, 0, 0.1);
                  bc.FontSize = 12;
                  //locate the barcode drawing by using TranslateTransform
                  dc.PushTransform(new TranslateTransform(0.5 * inch, inch));
   
                  dc.DrawDrawing(bc.GetBarcodeDrawing());
   
              }
   
              return visual;
          }
   
      }
  }               

• Add a new Class item to your project and name it MultiPageDocBarcode
  
  This class is a bit more complex than the first one but easily to follow up. In this code the idea is to get Product info (ID, Name and Price) from an XML file and generated a multi page doc featuring a product list with a Code 128 barcode encoding the product ID. The sheet of paper is configured for US Letter size (8.5 inch x 11 inch) and will hold 10 product items per sheet. The class code has the following parts:
  • CreateProductItem method asks for product info and generate a Canvas object with a Code 128 vector drawing barcode generated by Barcode Professional for WPF encoding the product ID and 2 TextBlock objects for drawing the name and price of the specified product.
  • CreatePage method just creates a new FixedPage object with the US Letter size on demand based on the number of products to be printed.
  • CreateDocument method generates a FixedDocument (i.e. the multi page doc) creating as many as pages based on the data source i.e. a DataTable containing all product items got from the xml sample file.
  • Print method just open the xml sample file, get the product info into a DataTable and pass it to the CreateDocument which is then printed out using WPF Printing classes.
  
  
  

  VB

  
  Imports System.Printing
  Imports System.Windows.Xps
  Imports System.Windows.Media
  Imports System.Globalization
  Imports System.Windows
  Imports System.Windows.Controls
  Imports System.Windows.Documents
  Imports System.Windows.Markup
   
  Public Class MultiPageDocBarcode
   
      Const INCH As Double = 96
   
      'US letter size in INCH
      Const PAPER_WIDTH As Double = 11
      Const PAPER_HEIGHT As Double = 8.5
      Const PAPER_MARGIN As Double = 0.5
   
      Const NUM_OF_PROD_PER_SHEET As Double = 10
   
   
      Private Shared Function CreateProductItem(ByVal id As String, ByVal name As String, ByVal price As String) As Canvas
          'Create a product canvas for placing text and barcode of the product
          Dim c As New Canvas()
          c.Width = (PAPER_WIDTH - 2 * PAPER_MARGIN) * INCH
          c.Height = (PAPER_HEIGHT / NUM_OF_PROD_PER_SHEET) * INCH
   
          'create barcode for product id
          Dim bc As New Neodynamic.WPF.BarcodeProfessional()
          bc.BarcodeUnit = Neodynamic.WPF.BarcodeUnit.Inch
          bc.Symbology = Neodynamic.WPF.Symbology.Code128
          bc.Code = id
          bc.BarWidth = 1 / INCH
          bc.BarHeight = 0.5
          bc.QuietZone = New Thickness(0, 0, 0, 0.1)
          bc.FontSize = 12
   
          'create textblocks for product info
          Dim txtProdName As New TextBlock()
          txtProdName.Text = name
          txtProdName.FontSize = 24
          txtProdName.SetValue(Canvas.LeftProperty, 2 * INCH)
   
          Dim txtProdPrice As New TextBlock()
          txtProdPrice.Text = "Retail Price: " + price
          txtProdPrice.FontSize = 20
          txtProdPrice.SetValue(Canvas.LeftProperty, 2 * INCH)
          txtProdPrice.SetValue(Canvas.TopProperty, 0.5 * INCH)
   
          'add elements to the canvas
          c.Children.Add(bc)
          c.Children.Add(txtProdName)
          c.Children.Add(txtProdPrice)
   
          Return c
      End Function
   
   
      Private Shared Function CreatePage() As FixedPage
          'Create new page
          Dim page As New FixedPage()
          'Set background
          page.Background = Brushes.White
          'Set page size (Letter size)
          page.Width = PAPER_WIDTH * INCH
          page.Height = PAPER_HEIGHT * INCH
          Return page
      End Function
   
   
      Private Shared Function CreateDocument(ByVal data As DataTable) As FixedDocument
   
          'Create new document
          Dim doc As New FixedDocument()
          'Set page size
          doc.DocumentPaginator.PageSize = New Size(PAPER_WIDTH * INCH, PAPER_HEIGHT * INCH)
   
          'Number of records
          Dim count As Double = data.Rows.Count
   
          If (count > 0) Then
   
              'Determine number of pages to generate
              Dim pageCount As Double = Math.Ceiling(count / NUM_OF_PROD_PER_SHEET)
   
              Dim dataIndex As Integer = 0
              Dim currentRow As Integer = 0
   
              Dim prodId As String
              Dim prodName As String
              Dim prodPrice As String
              Dim prodCanvas As Canvas
   
              Dim i As Integer = 0
              Dim j As Integer = 0
   
              For i = 0 To i < pageCount
   
                  'Create page
                  Dim page As New PageContent()
                  Dim fixedPage As FixedPage = CreatePage()
                  'Create labels
                  For j = 0 To j < NUM_OF_PROD_PER_SHEET
   
                      If (j Mod NUM_OF_PROD_PER_SHEET = 0) Then
                          currentRow = 0
                      Else
                          currentRow += 1
                      End If
   
                      If (dataIndex < count) Then
                          'Get data from DataTable
                          prodId = data.Rows(dataIndex)("ProdId").ToString
                          prodName = data.Rows(dataIndex)("ProdName").ToString
                          prodPrice = data.Rows(dataIndex)("ProdPrice").ToString
                          'Create individual product 'label'
                          prodCanvas = CreateProductItem(prodId, prodName, prodPrice)
   
                          'Set product label location
                          fixedPage.SetLeft(prodCanvas, PAPER_MARGIN * INCH)
                          fixedPage.SetTop(prodCanvas, PAPER_MARGIN * INCH + currentRow * prodCanvas.Height)
   
                          'Add label object to page
                          fixedPage.Children.Add(prodCanvas)
   
                          dataIndex += 1
                      End If
                  Next
   
                  'Invoke Measure(), Arrange() and UpdateLayout() for drawing
                  fixedPage.Measure(New Size(PAPER_WIDTH * 96, PAPER_HEIGHT * 96))
                  fixedPage.Arrange(New Rect(New Point(), New Size(PAPER_WIDTH * 96, PAPER_HEIGHT * 96)))
                  fixedPage.UpdateLayout()
   
                  DirectCast(page, IAddChild).AddChild(fixedPage)
   
                  doc.Pages.Add(page)
              Next
   
          End If
   
          Return doc
   
      End Function
   
   
      Public Shared Sub Print()
   
          'get data from xml file
          Dim xmlFile As String = "c:\temp\NorthwindProducts.xml"
          Dim ds As New DataSet()
          ds.ReadXml(xmlFile)
   
          'print
          Dim server As New LocalPrintServer()
          Dim queue As PrintQueue = server.DefaultPrintQueue
          Dim ticket As PrintTicket = queue.DefaultPrintTicket
          Dim writer As XpsDocumentWriter = PrintQueue.CreateXpsDocumentWriter(queue)
          writer.Write(CreateDocument(ds.Tables(0)), ticket)
   
      End Sub
   
  End Class       

  C#

  
  using System;
  using System.Windows.Media;
  using System.Printing;
  using System.Windows;
  using System.Windows.Xps;
  using System.Globalization;
  using System.Windows.Controls;
  using System.Windows.Documents;
  using System.Data;
  using System.Windows.Markup;
  using System.IO;
  using System.Reflection;
   
  namespace WPFBarcodePrintConsoleCS
  {
      class MultiPageDocBarcode
      {
   
          const double INCH = 96;
   
          //US letter size in INCH
          const double PAPER_WIDTH = 11; 
          const double PAPER_HEIGHT = 8.5;
          const double PAPER_MARGIN = 0.5;
   
          const double NUM_OF_PROD_PER_SHEET = 10;
   
          private static Canvas CreateProductItem(string id, string name, string price)
          {
              //Create a product canvas for placing text and barcode of the product
              Canvas c = new Canvas();
              c.Width = (PAPER_WIDTH - 2 * PAPER_MARGIN) * INCH;
              c.Height = (PAPER_HEIGHT / NUM_OF_PROD_PER_SHEET) * INCH;
   
              //create barcode for product id
              Neodynamic.WPF.BarcodeProfessional bc = new Neodynamic.WPF.BarcodeProfessional();
              bc.BarcodeUnit = Neodynamic.WPF.BarcodeUnit.Inch;
              bc.Symbology = Neodynamic.WPF.Symbology.Code128;
              bc.Code = id;
              bc.BarWidth = 1 / INCH;
              bc.BarHeight = 0.5;
              bc.QuietZone = new Thickness(0, 0, 0, 0.1);
              bc.FontSize = 12;            
   
              //create textblocks for product info
              TextBlock txtProdName = new TextBlock();
              txtProdName.Text = name;
              txtProdName.FontSize = 24;
              txtProdName.SetValue(Canvas.LeftProperty, 2 * INCH);
   
              TextBlock txtProdPrice = new TextBlock();
              txtProdPrice.Text = "Retail Price: " + price;
              txtProdPrice.FontSize = 20;
              txtProdPrice.SetValue(Canvas.LeftProperty, 2 * INCH);
              txtProdPrice.SetValue(Canvas.TopProperty, 0.5 * INCH);
   
              //add elements to the canvas
              c.Children.Add(bc);
              c.Children.Add(txtProdName);
              c.Children.Add(txtProdPrice);
   
              return c;
          }
   
   
          private static FixedPage CreatePage()
          {
              //Create new page
              FixedPage page = new FixedPage();
              //Set background
              page.Background = Brushes.White;
              //Set page size (Letter size)
              page.Width = PAPER_WIDTH * INCH;
              page.Height = PAPER_HEIGHT * INCH;
              return page;
          }
   
   
          private static FixedDocument CreateDocument(DataTable data)
          {
              //Create new document
              FixedDocument doc = new FixedDocument();
              //Set page size
              doc.DocumentPaginator.PageSize = new Size(PAPER_WIDTH * INCH, PAPER_HEIGHT * INCH);
   
              //Number of records
              double count = (double)data.Rows.Count;
   
              if (count > 0)
              {
                  //Determine number of pages to generate
                  double pageCount = Math.Ceiling(count / NUM_OF_PROD_PER_SHEET);
   
                  int dataIndex = 0;
                  int currentRow = 0;
   
                  string prodId;
                  string prodName;
                  string prodPrice;
                  Canvas prodCanvas;
   
                  for (int i = 0; i < pageCount; i++)
                  {
                      //Create page
                      PageContent page = new PageContent();
                      FixedPage fixedPage = CreatePage();
                      //Create labels
                      for (int j = 0; j < NUM_OF_PROD_PER_SHEET; j++)
                      {
                          if (j % NUM_OF_PROD_PER_SHEET == 0)
                          {
                              currentRow = 0;
                          }
                          else
                          {
                              currentRow++;
                          }
   
   
                          if (dataIndex < count)
                          {
                              //Get data from DataTable
                              prodId = (string)data.Rows[dataIndex]["ProdId"];
                              prodName = (string)data.Rows[dataIndex]["ProdName"];
                              prodPrice = (string)data.Rows[dataIndex]["ProdPrice"];
                              //Create individual product 'label'
                              prodCanvas = CreateProductItem(prodId, prodName, prodPrice);
   
                              //Set product label location
                              FixedPage.SetLeft(prodCanvas, PAPER_MARGIN * INCH);
                              FixedPage.SetTop(prodCanvas, PAPER_MARGIN * INCH + currentRow * prodCanvas.Height);
   
                              //Add label object to page
                              fixedPage.Children.Add(prodCanvas);
   
                              dataIndex++;
                          }
                      }
   
                      //Invoke Measure(), Arrange() and UpdateLayout() for drawing
                      fixedPage.Measure(new Size(PAPER_WIDTH * 96, PAPER_HEIGHT * 96));
                      fixedPage.Arrange(new Rect(new Point(), new Size(PAPER_WIDTH * 96, PAPER_HEIGHT * 96)));
                      fixedPage.UpdateLayout();
                      
                      ((IAddChild)page).AddChild(fixedPage);
   
                      doc.Pages.Add(page);
                  }
              }
   
              return doc;
          }
   
   
          public static void Print()
          {
              //get data from xml file
              string xmlFile = @"c:\temp\NorthwindProducts.xml";
              DataSet ds = new DataSet();
              ds.ReadXml(xmlFile);
              
              //print
              LocalPrintServer server = new LocalPrintServer();
              PrintQueue queue = server.DefaultPrintQueue;
              PrintTicket ticket = queue.DefaultPrintTicket;
              XpsDocumentWriter writer = PrintQueue.CreateXpsDocumentWriter(queue);
              writer.Write(CreateDocument(ds.Tables[0]), ticket);
          }
   
      }
   
  }               

• Finally, open the created Module1.vb OR Program.cs class and paste the following code. This is a simple menu allowing the user to select which printing scenario to process.

  VB

  
  Module Module1
   
      Sub Main()
   
          Dim done As Boolean = False
   
          Do
              Console.WriteLine("Neodynamic Barcode Pro for WPF")
              Console.WriteLine("WPF Barcode Printing in Console or Windows Services")
              Console.WriteLine("===================================================\n\n")
              Console.WriteLine("Select one of the following:\n")
              Console.WriteLine("1 -> For printing a single page with a barcode")
              Console.WriteLine("2 -> For printing a multipage doc with barcodes\n")
              Console.Write("Enter Your selection (0 to exit): ")
              Dim userSelect As String = Console.ReadLine()
              Dim iSel As Integer
   
              Try
                  iSel = Integer.Parse(userSelect)
              Catch
                  Console.Clear()
                  Continue Do
              End Try
   
              If iSel = 0 Then
                  done = True
              ElseIf iSel = 1 Then
                  Console.WriteLine("Printing a single page with a barcode...")
                  SinglePageDocBarcode.Print()
              ElseIf iSel = 2 Then
                  Console.WriteLine("Printing a multipage doc with barcodes...")
                  MultiPageDocBarcode.Print()
              Else
                  Console.Clear()
                  Continue Do
              End If
   
              Console.WriteLine()
          Loop While Not (done)
   
      End Sub
   
  End Module      

  C#

  
  using System;
   
  namespace WPFBarcodePrintConsoleCS
  {
      class Program
      {
          [STAThread]
          static void Main(string[] args)
          {
   
              bool done = false;
   
              do
              {
                  Console.WriteLine("Neodynamic Barcode Pro for WPF");
                  Console.WriteLine("WPF Barcode Printing in Console or Windows Services");
                  Console.WriteLine("===================================================\n\n");
                  Console.WriteLine("Select one of the following:\n");
                  Console.WriteLine("1 -> For printing a single page with a barcode");
                  Console.WriteLine("2 -> For printing a multipage doc with barcodes\n");
                  Console.Write("Enter Your selection (0 to exit): ");
                  string userSelect = Console.ReadLine();
                  int iSel;
                  try
                  {
                      iSel = int.Parse(userSelect);
                  }
                  catch
                  {
                      Console.Clear();
                      continue;
                  }
                  switch (iSel)
                  {
                      case 0:
                          done = true;
                          break;
                      case 1:
                          Console.WriteLine("Printing a single page with a barcode...");
                          SinglePageDocBarcode.Print();
                          break;
                      case 2:
                          Console.WriteLine("Printing a multipage doc with barcodes...");
                          MultiPageDocBarcode.Print();
                          break;    
                      default:
                          Console.Clear();
                          continue;                        
                  }
                  Console.WriteLine();
              } while (!done);
              
          }
          
      }
  }               

• That's it. Run the project and test it.

Sample Files Download

Here are the VB.NET and C# versions of this sample. Please download the zip file and extract it.

• The XML file which must be placed in your machine under c:\temp folder: NorthwindProducts.xml (4 KB)
• For Visual Basic.NET: WPFBarcodePrintConsoleVB.zip (274 KB)
• For Visual C#.NET: WPFBarcodePrintConsoleCS.zip (241 KB)

Remember to download and install Barcode Professional for WPF in order to reproduce this sample demo.