pdf417 unreadable by banking apps

Question

Hi,We are generating a PDF417 barcode with the Syncfusion.Pdf.Barcode (Pdf417Barcode) module on invoices generated by our app with the info for the payment.In testing I have found out that every one of the bank mobile apps is having trouble reading the generated code.Even some mobile barcode scanning apps have problems with it.One of the android mobile scanner apps (QR Scanner) has the ability to generate the bar code from the text scanned and I can see there are differences in the visual appearance of the code.The barcode generated by QR Scanner is easily scanned by bank apps.The settings I've set are as follows:Size (300,100)XDimension 5Error Level6I am attaching a word document with both barcodes.Attachment: PDF417_TEST_b56828ff.zip

Igor · Accepted Answer

For anyone searching for a resolution of the problem I have switched to ZXing.NET for the creation of PDF417 barcode.Easy to implement and working fine together with Syncfusion DocIO

Gowthamraj Kumar · Answer

Hi Igor, 

Thank you for using Syncfusion products. 
  
We have tried to reproduce the reported issue in our end, but it is working properly. We have created a sample and generate the PDF417 barcode, it generates and read the barcode text in mobile app correctly. We were not able to reproduce the issue and we have shared the sample with output document for your reference. Kindly please run the sample in your end and let us know the result. 

Sample: https://www.syncfusion.com/downloads/support/forum/160467/ze/BarcodeSampleWF1328240234  

Please refer to the below link for more information, 
UG: https://help.syncfusion.com/file-formats/pdf/working-with-barcode#adding-a-two-dimensional-barcode-to-a-pdf-document  

If still you are facing an same issue, kindly provide more details such as input text, complete code snippet, mobile app details, modified sample or product version to reproduce the issue in our end. So, that it will be helpful for us to analyze and assist you further on this. 

Regards, 
Gowthamraj K

Igor · Answer

Hi,I have used your sample with the data provided for bank payment, but their app cannot decode it.In
 the meantime I have sent an email to the bank helpdesk with the barcode
 attached for them to look into and answer to us why is their app unable
 to read it.This is all new to me, but one thing I noticed is
 that the PDF417 barcode generated with you software is different from 
PDF417 barcode generated from other apps.Your barcode has 5 
distinct columns, while the barcode generated with other (online) 
generators has eight, not so distinct columns.You can try for yourself https://www.free-barcode-generator.net/pdf417/What is the reason for that?Can I set some settings to get it to have eight columns also?The data I entered is:HRVHUB30HRK000000000031875ATLANT PUTNIČKA AGENCIJA D.O.O.Šetalište kralja Zvonimira 3920000 DubrovnikATLANT putnička agencija d.o.o.Šetalište kralja Zvonimira 3920000 DubrovnikHR3824840080000000000HR11220-0-10073COSTPlaćanje računa: 1007-AT-1

Gowthamraj Kumar · Answer

Hi igor, 

Thank you for sharing the details. 

Currently, we are checking the reported issue with provided details in our end and we will update the further details on December 15th 2020. 

Regards, 
Gowthamraj K

Gowthamraj Kumar · Answer

Hi Igor, 

Thank you for your patience. 

We were able to reproduce the reported barcode reading issue in our end. Currently, we are validating on this and we will update the further details on December 17th 2020. 

Regards, 
Gowthamraj K

Gowthamraj Kumar · Answer

Hi Igor, 
 




In the meantime I have sent an email to the bank helpdesk with the barcode attached for them to look into and answer to us why is their app unable to read it. 
This is all new to me, but one thing I noticed is that the PDF417 barcode generated with you software is different from PDF417 barcode generated from other apps. 


On our further analysis, we do not have support to encode this Unicode characters while creating the Pdf417Barcode in our pdf library. We have internally using UTF8 encoding to convert string to byte. In our implementation, we have encoding this characters based on this UTF8 encoding. 



Can I set some settings to get it to have eight columns also? 

We do not have any API to set the columns while creating the Pdf417Barcode. The columns count changed based on the input data. 


Regards, 
Gowthamraj K

Amos Smith · Answer

It'relevant information for me thank you for sharing

Igor · Answer

Amos,Glad the info was useful for you.Cheers,Igor

In the meantime I have sent an email to the bank helpdesk with the barcode attached for them to look into and answer to us why is their app unable to read it. This is all new to me, but one thing I noticed is that the PDF417 barcode generated with you software is different from PDF417 barcode generated from other apps.	On our further analysis, we do not have support to encode this Unicode characters while creating the Pdf417Barcode in our pdf library. We have internally using UTF8 encoding to convert string to byte. In our implementation, we have encoding this characters based on this UTF8 encoding.
Can I set some settings to get it to have eight columns also?	We do not have any API to set the columns while creating the Pdf417Barcode. The columns count changed based on the input data.