Make barcodes and print labels

Input vector or data.frame of ID codes to produce a PDF of QR codes which can be printed. This is a wrapper function for custom_create_PDF. See details of custom_create_PDF on how to format text labels if needed.

Usage

create_PDF(
  user = FALSE,
  Labels = NULL,
  name = "LabelsOut",
  type = "matrix",
  ErrCorr = "H",
  Fsz = 12,
  ...
)

Arguments

user

logical. Run function using interactive mode (prompts user for parameter values) Default is FALSE

Labels

vector or data frame object containing label names (i.e. unique ID codes) with either UTF-8 or ASCII encoding.

name

character. Name of the PDF output file. Default is "LabelsOut". A file named name.pdf will be saved to the working directory by default. Use "dirname/name" to produce a file called name.pdf in the dirname directory.

type

character. Choice of "linear" for code 128, "linear2" for extended code 128, "matrix" for QR code (i.e. 2D barcode) with text to the right, or "matrix2" for QR code with text above or below, depending on y_space value (0 = below, 1 = above).

ErrCorr

error correction value for matrix labels only. Level of damage from low to high: "L", "M", "Q", "H". Default is "H". See details for explanation of values.

Fsz

numerical. Sets font size in points. Longer ID codes may be shrunk to fit if truncation is not used for matrix labels. Default font size is 5. ID codes are also shrunk automatically to fit on the label if actual size is bigger than label dimensions.

...

advanced arguments to modify the PDF layout. See custom_create_PDF for arguments. The advanced options can be accessed interactively with user = TRUE and then entering TRUE when prompted to modify advanced options.

Value

a PDF file containing QR-coded labels, saved to the default directory.

Details

The default PDF setup is for ULINE 1.75" * 0.5" WEATHER RESISTANT LABEL for laser printer; item # S-19297 (uline.ca). The page format can be modified using the ... (advanced arguments) for other label types.

See also

custom_create_PDF

Examples

## data frame
example_vector <- as.data.frame(c("ao1", "a02", "a03"))

if (FALSE) {
## run with default options
## pdf file will be "example.pdf" saved into a temp directory

temp_file <- tempfile()

create_PDF(Labels = example_vector, name = temp_file)

## view example output from temp folder
system2("open", paste0(temp_file, ".pdf"))
}

## run interactively. Overrides default pdf options
if(interactive()){
    create_PDF(user = TRUE, Labels = example_vector)
}

if (FALSE) {
## run using a data frame, automatically choosing the "label" column
example_df <- data.frame("level1" = c("a1", "a2"), "label" = c("a1-b1",
"a1-b2"), "level2" = c("b1", "b1"))
create_PDF(user = FALSE, Labels = example_df, name = file.path(tempdir(), "example_2"))
}

if (FALSE) {
## run using an unnamed data frame
example_df <- data.frame(c("a1", "a2"), c("a1-b1", "a1-b2"), c("b1", "b1"))
## specify column from data frame
create_PDF(user = FALSE, Labels = example_df[,2], name = file.path(tempdir(), "example_3"))
}
if (FALSE) {
## create linear (code128) label rather than matrix (2D/QR) labels
example_df <- data.frame(c("a1", "a2"), c("a1-b1", "a1-b2"), c("b1", "b1"))
## specify column from data frame
create_PDF(user = FALSE, Labels = example_df, name = file.path(tempdir(),
"example_4", type = "linear"))
}