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A barcode is a series of vertical bars having known widths placed in sequence at fixed positions. Hence it is also possible to create barcodes by simply creating and positioning graphic elements that have the dimensions of the needed vertical bars.
![[Note]](../../imagedata/note.png) | Note |
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Creating barcodes from scratch is not recommended and should only be used if your desktop publishing package does not support either the DFdiscover plug-in for FrameMaker® or barcode images created by DFbarcode. |
The DFdiscover barcode across the top of each CRF is used to automatically route incoming documents to a specific study database. Proper barcoding is integral to the success of the automated DFdiscover processing, and as such it must be done with care.
A horizontal rectangle .06 inch in width and 7.5 inch in length, referred to as the CRF registration bar, must be positioned near the top of the page, above the barcodes. Its upper-left corner must be 0.5" down and 0.5" in from the upper-left corner of each printed CRF. This line is used to distinguish the top of the page (from the bottom) and also serves as an origin for the barcode.
The barcode itself encodes the study number and the plate number, and optionally, the visit number. The study number is represented by an 8-item barcode while the plate and sequence numbers are 9-item barcodes.
If you are not able to import TIFF files into your desktop publishing package, you may be able to create the barcodes from individual graphic elements within the desktop publishing package you use. In this case you will need to read and follow these specifications.
To construct the barcode for a number:
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Determine the binary representation of the number. The binary number must be padded with leading zeroes if necessary to make the number of digits match the number of bars in the barcode (8 bars for study number, 9 otherwise).
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Each
1within the binary number is represented by a black bar .12" wide while each0is represented by a black bar .04" wide. Each bar is .25" high.
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Bars are aligned at their left edges on .25" intervals. The first bar on the left is positioned with its upper-left corner exactly .5" right and .125" down from the upper-left corner of the top of the CRF registration bar. The remaining bars are positioned from left to right on .25" intervals with no gaps.
Example 4.1. Barcode for Study 139, Plate 070, Visit 001
The binary representations for study number 139, plate 70, visit 1 are 10001011, 001000110, and 000000001 respectively, which translates to the following bar widths (in inches) placed from left to right on the page: .12 .04 .04 .04 .12 .04 .12 .12 .04 .04 .12 .04 .04 .04 .12 .12 .04 .04 .04 .04 .04 .04 .04 .04 .04 .12. The barcode has the following appearance.
The text labels DFdiscover #,
Plate #, and Visit #
are arbitrary. Use whatever seems most appropriate for your study.
The creation and positioning of text labels must also be done with text or
graphic elements.
Each text label must be followed by the numeric value of the barcode that it represents. These labels must be spaced 0.125" below the bottom of the barcode. The first label should be left-justified with the first bar, the second label with the 9th bar, and the third label with the 18th bar.
In cases where the visit number is the first data field and hence is not part of the barcode, the last nine bars are omitted from the barcode.
