Monterey Barcode Creator 3.3: Release Notes

Dec. 27, 2006

Revision History
Revision 3.3Dec. 27, 2006
Release Notes for Barcode Creator 3.3
Revision 3.0April, 2005
Release Notes for Barcode Creator 3.0

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. What's New?
3. Installation and Upgrade Notes
3.1. Installation
3.2. Manifest
3.3. Minimum System Requirements
3.4. Version Compatibility
4. Recent Changes in version 3.3
5. Changes in previous releases
5.1. Version 3.0
6. Known Problems and Workarounds

1. Introduction

This document contains the release notes for Monterey Barcode Creator version 3.3. The following sections describe the release in detail and provide late-breaking updates or other information that supplements the main documentation. This is the second full release of the product. The version 3.3 is a bug fix release with several major feature enhancements.

Monterey Barcode Creator is an easy-to-use program that lets anyone draw and print barcode labels. One does not have to know barcode terms in order to create quality barcodes.

The software comes with the following feature hightlights:

  • The program supports most linear barcode formats, including Code 39, UPC-A, UPC-E, EAN-13, EAN-8, Code 93, Code128, UCC/EAN-128, Codabar, POSTNET, Royal Mail, HIBC and Interleaved 2 of 5.

  • The program exports the barcode images to a variety of graphics formats, including BMP, JPEG, GIF, PNG, TIF, WMF and EMF.

  • The program provides more than two dozen properties that allow users to get the barcode they desired.

  • The program does not only create barcode images; it also creates human readable and comment. In addition, it allows flexible placement of these elements.

  • The program has a built-in label database with more than 1,500 widely used label paper templates.

  • Started from version 3.3, the program now supports batch printing from a number sequence or a data file.

  • The program can act as an OLE server to embed itself into a Microsoft Office document. This method produces better quality barcodes than pasting a metafile or bitmap image.

  • Property BarWidthReduction has been removed because this property does not work well with laser printers.

2. What's New?

Monterey Barcode Creator 3.0 was first released in April, 2005. In December 2006 we released a major update, version 3.3. Comparing with earlier versions, version 3.3 has several feature enhancements:

  • OLE server support. The program can now act as an OLE server to feed Microsoft Office document and support other OLE-aware document eding programs.

  • Batch printing. Batch printing from a number sequence or a data file is now supported.

  • Bug fixes. Several encoding defects and minor issues have been fixed.

3. Installation and Upgrade Notes

3.1. Installation

To install Barcode Creator 3.3, simply click on the installer EXE. If you have a previous version installed on your computer, it will replace the old version. The installation process is straightforward.

3.2. Manifest

This release consists of the following items:

  • Release notes (this file)

  • Core component FireBird2.exe (executable) and MrvBarDLL.dll.

  • Barcode Creator 3.3 User Manual, in PDF and HtmlHelp formats.

  • Sample barcode files

  • License agreement

3.3. Minimum System Requirements

  • 800 MHz Pentium processor

  • 256 MB Memory

  • 10MB Free disk space

  • Windows 2000, Windows XP or above

3.4. Version Compatibility

Barcode files saved in eariler 3.x versions should be read by this version. However, the reverse does not hold true. To accommodate the new OLE feature, the file format has undergone several changes.

4. Recent Changes in version 3.3

The following issues discovered after the last release have been addressed:

  1. MITS320 - The registration code appeared incorrectly when pasting into the Registration Box. Fixed in version 3.3.

  2. MITS317 - The program creates incorrect Code128 barcodes on some patterns. An example is LT-36231. The barcodes were readable; however the data read is not the one encoded. Fixed in version 3.3.

  3. MITS169 - Toolbars and Properties Window do not synchronize on boolean properties. For example, after the human readable button on the toolbar is unchecked, the ShowHRText property still displays True. Fixed in version 3.3.

  4. MITS148 - Foreground and background colors do not synchronize with the barcode properties when the barcode is loaded into the program at the first time. Fixed in version 3.3.

  5. MITS143 - The human readable text of HIBC barcodes do not have the required “+” prefix. Fixed in version 3.3.

  6. MITS113 - The program complained when ISBN data contain spaces when creating Bookland barcode. In some countries, spaces are used to separate parts in an ISBN code. Fixed in version 3.3.

  7. MITS111 - Some patterns in Royal Mail are incorrect. Fixed in version 3.3.

  8. MITS96 - Font properties do not synchronize between the ones on the Toolbar and the ones appearing on the Properties Window. Fixed in version 3.3.

  9. MITS74 - Minor issues with About dialog. The build was incorrectly spelled as buid. Fixed in version 3.3.

  10. MITS58 - No visual feedback were given when the user entered the correct registration information. Fixed in version 3.3.

  11. MITS49 - Human readable text disappeared when the barcode was rotated counterclockwize 90 degrees and the text alignment is set to mbxAlignRight. Fixed in version 3.3.

  12. MITS24 - The program shows no warning when the label used is too small to hold the whole barcode. Fixed in version 3.3.

  13. MITS9 - The program does not encode extended ASCII characters in Code128. Fixed in version 3.3.

5. Changes in previous releases

5.1. Version 3.0

Version 3.0 is the first release of Montery Barcode Creator which was based on Barcode ActiveX encoding engine. After the first release, total 6 minor bug fixes were released prior to 3.3 release.

6. Known Problems and Workarounds

  • MITS276 - HIBC barcodes do not display checksum character when ShowcheckDigit is FALSE. Per HIBC standard, the checksum should appear in the human readable line. Our product adds checksum; however, it adds the checksum character at the human readable line only when ShowCheckDigit is TRUE. To conform to the standard, when you create HIBC barcodes, you should set ShowCheckDigit to TRUE.