Generate DataMatrix Barcode from Your .NET Application

Data Matrix barcode has several advantages over 1D barcodes such as:

• Contains more character even alphanumeric.
  
• Has square form for easier layout on printout.
• Digital camera friendly even using your old cellphone camera.
• Redundant information, you can scan 75% area of the barcode only for scanning.
• A little bit omni scan direction.
  

Too bad my trusted DevExpress XtraReport XRBarcode doesn't have this symbology. Since I can't wait for DevExpress to implement Data Matrix so I decided to find open source solutions. Thanks God, I found external link on Data Matrix Wiki page for iec16022sharp an open source .NET Data Matrix generator library. Since I use VB.NET, I built the iec16022sharp assembly and use it by adding a reference to it. I am glad that iec16022sharp usage is very easy.
Here is my iec16022sharp usage snippet:

...
Imports IEC16022Sharp
...
   Dim aReport As New RptBarcode
   Dim aDataMatrix As New DataMatrix(BindSrcMaster.GetDataValue("BarcodeNum").ToString.Trim)

   HierarchyRefreshDataRow(BindSrcMaster.GetDataRow)
   With aReport
       .CallingForm = Me
       .PbDataMatrix.Image = DMImgUtility.SimpleResizeBmp(aDataMatrix.Image, 6, 0)
       .QueryLoad(Application.StartupPath + "\CustomReport\Barcode.xml", BindSrcMaster)
       .ShowPreview()
   End With
...

The only functions I called from this library is a DataMatrix constructor and a static function DMImgUtility.SimpleResizeBmp. From the DataMatrix constructor I already have a small DataMatrix barcode. For enlarging the generated DataMatrix I just called the SimpleResizeBmp for enlarging it six times with zero pixel border. Hope my post give you an idea on using DataMatrix. Thank you.