read 1D barcode (code 128) direct from a pdf file

Question

Hi,

Has anyone experience with a tool (it can be also a commercial one) which can extract barcodes direct from a pdf file? The most tools I have seen can read barcodes only from images.

Thanks

Answer 1

Well, important question:

Is the barcode in a "barcode" PDF form field? If so, pretty much any PDF form capable library can do the trick. PDF barcode form fields are just text form fields with an appearance stream to display the barcode. The text value of the barcode however is exactly the data you would be looking for (and hence wouldn't need to care about the appearance stream).

If not and the barcode is on a scanned PDF (and hence in an image internally), you could use something like:

• Ghostscript http://www.ghostscript.com
• FoxIt http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/sdk/
• QuickPDF http://www.quickpdf.org/

to convert each page in the PDF to an image. (The list of PDF rasterizers above are under very different licensing terms, but IMHO in decreasing order of quality and maturity.) Then use one of the many barcode image libraries on the image as a whole.