Barcodes

Barcodes are additional pieces of data that can be attached to individual assets in the Storage. Any barcode field consists of a barcode name and its value.

TNI supports both linear and two-dimensional barcodes of the following types: EAN-8, EAN-13, 2/5 Interleaved, Code 39, Code 93, Code 128, QR, Datamatrix, and PDF417.

Creating and managing barcodes

Barcode functionality is similar to Common Fields.

To create and manage barcodes, switch to the last tab of the program and select Barcodes

Use the left column to assign a name and type to the barcode, then specify a value in the right column.

To create a new barcode, clickAdd.

If you hover the mouse cursor over any barcode field, the  button to delete the item appears on the right.

To rename a barcode, double-click its name.

You can select several nodes in the Network tree to change the values of their barcode(s) simultaneously. If multiple nodes are selected and their values for the same barcode are different, a Different values label will appear in place of the value. To replace these values with the same value, click this label and set a new, common value.

An unlimited number of barcodes can be assigned to a single device.

Asset barcodes can also be added automatically, generated from a template. This functionality is similar to the Inventory number generator.

Open Storage properties and create your own template, following the tips therein. Barcodes will be automatically generated for new devices after activating the appropriate setting.

Printing and exporting barcodes

TNI provides several ways to print and export barcodes:

  • From rightmost tab then Barcodes . Hover over the barcode’s value and click the arrow with the drop-down menu. This allows you to view the selected barcode and export it to PNG.
  • Context menu option in the network tree allows to quickly export all barcodes for a group or selected asset to PNG.
  • The Viewer and Reports tab allows not only to export but also to print barcodes or their values (select the Full or Brief printable report). Export to various formats is available.

Searching for assets by barcode

The main purpose of barcodes is to serve as an identifier for quickly finding various assets in the network tree. A special search mode is provided for this.

To change the search mode, click the small arrow button on the left side of the search field above the network tree.

You can enter the barcode value manually or speed up the process by connecting an external hardware or software scanner.

When searching, assets can be either simply highlighted or immediately selected for processing in the network tree. You can select the preferred behavior in Options Barcodes . Here, you can also assign a hotkey for a quick search.

General information on barcodes and their limitations

EAN-8

Allowed characters: numeric values only (0-9)
Length: 7
Features: cannot be shorter than 7 characters, missing characters are filled with “0”; when generated, an additional check character is added

EAN-13
Allowed characters: numeric values only (0-9)
Length: 13
Features: cannot be shorter than 13 characters, missing characters are filled with “0”; when generated, an additional check character is added

2 of 5 Interleaved

Allowed characters: numeric values only (0-9)
Length: 32
Features: the number of characters must be even, the missing character will be filled with “0”

Code 39
Allowed characters: numeric values (0-9); uppercase Latin characters (A-Z); a few other symbols ( – . $ / + %) and space
Length: 24

Code 93
Allowed characters: numeric values (0-9); uppercase Latin characters (A-Z); a few other symbols ( – . $ / + %) and space
Length: 37

Code 128
Allowed characters: numeric values (0-9); Latin characters (A-Z; a-z); special symbols ( ! ” # $ % & ‘ ( ) * + , – . / : ; < = > ? @ [ \ ] ^ _ ` { | } ~ )
Length: 64

QR
Allowed characters: any UTF-8 characters
Length: 1024

Data Matrix
Allowed characters: any UTF-8 characters
Length: 512

PDF417
Allowed characters: any UTF-8 characters
Length: 512

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