Is it possible to crate a qr Code with FNC1 Type to build it as a QR CODE GS-1 Type?

[chavito706]

Is it possible to crate a qr Code with FNC1 Type to build it as a QR CODE GS-1 Type?

Originally posted by @msWP in #483

[KONTRAKTKILLER]

It is possible, im using this Nuget for my own GS1-QR-Code Generator. You have to write the files for a String to GS1-String conversion yourself tho....

[codebude]

As @KONTRAKTKILLER said (and as far as my understanding of the GS1 codes reaches), it should be possible as the GS1 QR codes technically are regular QR codes. So QRCoder can render the graphic. But to make it a valid GS1 code the payload, that you encode, must be GS1 compliant. For this task QRCoder can't help you at the moment.

@KONTRAKTKILLER do you mind sharing your "string to GS1" encoder? Or can you help out with any type of reference/documentation? Then we maybe can implement it as a new PayloadGenerator.

See: https://github.com/codebude/QRCoder/blob/master/QRCoder/PayloadGenerator.cs
And
https://github.com/codebude/QRCoder/wiki/Advanced-usage---Payload-generators

[mvanderelsen]

@codebude we implemented a GS1 Digital Link payload builder see https://github.com/Evebury/Evebury.Gs1.DigitalLink in the readme we referred to your package for the actual rendering. Maybe you could draw some inspiration from there? Though I doubt such logic should be included in a QR Payload generator.

GS1 Digital Link documentation links:
https://ref.gs1.org/ai/
https://www.gs1.org/docs/Digital-Link/GS1_Digital_link_Standard_i1.1.1.pdf

Offtopic we sometimes render to EPS (3.0) Maybe this is something to include in your lib? Shall I make a fork?

        public string GetEps() 
        {
      
            StringBuilder sb = new();
            sb.Append("%!PS-Adobe-3.0 EPSF-3.0\n");
            sb.Append("%%Creator:QRCoder\n");
            sb.Append("%%Title: QRCode\n");
            sb.Append($"%%CreationDate: {DateTime.Now.ToString("s")}\n");
            sb.Append($"%%BoundingBox: 0 0  {Size} {Size}\n");
            sb.Append("%%PageOrigin:0 0\n");
            sb.Append("%%BeginBody\n");

            sb.AppendLine("0 0 0 0 setcmykcolor");
            DrawRectangle(sb, new Rectangle(0, 0, Size, Size));
            sb.AppendLine("0 0 0 1 setcmykcolor");
            List<Rectangle> rectangles = GetRectangles();
            foreach (Rectangle rectangle in rectangles) 
            {
                DrawRectangle(sb, rectangle);
            }

            sb.Append("%%EndBody\n");
            sb.Append("grestore\nshowpage\n");
            sb.Append("%%EOF\n");
            return sb.ToString();
        }

        private static void DrawRectangle(StringBuilder sb, Rectangle rectangle) 
        {
            sb.AppendLine("newpath");
            sb.AppendLine($"{rectangle.X} {rectangle.Y} moveto");
            sb.AppendLine($"{rectangle.X + rectangle.Width} {rectangle.Y} lineto");
            sb.AppendLine($"{rectangle.X + rectangle.Width} {rectangle.Y + rectangle.Height} lineto");
            sb.AppendLine($"{rectangle.X} {rectangle.Y + rectangle.Height} lineto");
            sb.AppendLine("closepath");
            sb.AppendLine("fill");
        }

Kind regards, Martijn

[codebude]

Hi @mvanderelsen thanks for your input and the offer to send in a PR. Meanwhile I'm no longer the maintainer of this project. I handed it over to @Shane32 . So I guess Shane will pick-up your topics.

[Shane32]

Again, thanks for the contribution offer! In this case I think PostscriptQRCode.GetGraphic accepts a Boolean indicating if it should return a EPS file versus a postscript file. Have you tried that?

I’m not offhand familiar with GS-1 so I’ll read up on it more later.

[mvanderelsen]

@Shane32 Oops I did not notice the eps support. However when I tried to open the eps generated by PostscriptQRCode eps = true it failed to open in Illustrator CS3. It maybe legacy but eps version 3.0 should open in all CS versions and for a QRCode only a minimal set of features is needed. But I might have made a mistake?

 using (QRCodeData data = QRCodeGenerator.GenerateQrCode(link.Uri, QRCodeGenerator.ECCLevel.Q))
 {
     using (PostscriptQRCode eps = new(data))
     {
         string qrCode = eps.GetGraphic(10, true);
         //save your graphic
         using (FileStream fs = File.OpenWrite(@"PATH\qrcode.eps"))
         {
             using (StreamWriter sw = new(fs)) 
             {
                 sw.Write(qrCode);
             }
         }
     }
 }

GS1: The documentation is quite extensive and it took us writing loads of code to rectify and simplify. If you would want any pointers I'll be glad to help.

Thank you for your answer,
Kind regards Martijn

[Shane32]

I'll check it out. Probably an issue with the implementation. I have Adobe Illustrator, and between that and your working code, I should be able to push a fix. Thanks!

[Shane32]

@mvanderelsen PR #694 has a potential fix. Do you want to test it on your end before I merge and release it as a new version? I'm attaching the generated test file; perhaps you can at least see if it opens in Illustrator CS3 for me. Thanks!

PostscriptQRCodeRendererTests.can_render_postscript_qrcode.zip

[Shane32]

@mvanderelsen I've made additional compatibility changes. Please check this file in Illustrator CS3 if you would - thanks!

PostscriptQRCodeRendererTests.can_render_postscript_qrcode.zip

[Shane32]

Note that it opens fine in Adobe Illustrator 2026, but the older version is probably much more strict in its requirements.