Barcode Generation through PDFs

Clappia enables the generation of barcodes dynamically in PDFs created through the Print Settings feature. Barcodes are auto-generated using the values from specific fields configured in the app.

• If you would like to know how to set up PDFs, check out this help guide: Dynamic Printing‍
• For instructions on inserting images into your PDFs from submissions dynamically, click here: Dynamic Printing of Images.
• For generating QR codes instead of barcodes, check out this guide: QR Code Generation through PDFs.

Help Video

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Use Cases for Barcode Generation in PDFs

• Order Management – Generate barcodes with Order IDs for easier tracking and processing.
  
  
• Employee Management – Create barcodes for Employee IDs for attendance, ID cards, or asset tracking.
  
  
• Product Catalogues – Embed Product IDs as barcodes for inventory management and quick lookups.
  
  
• Incident Reporting – Tag Incident IDs with barcodes for report tracking.
  
  
• Visitor Management – Generate visitor codes for secure check-ins.
  
  
• Event Ticketing – Add barcodes for ticket validation at event entries.
  
  
• Logistics and Shipping – Embed Tracking Numbers in barcodes for fast scanning at multiple checkpoints.
  
  

How to Generate Barcodes in PDFs

We will take an example of an Incident Reporting app that uses an "Incident ID" field to generate unique IDs for every submission.

Add Fields to Create an App

In Design App, add fields necessary to create your app. In this example, we have added the "Incident ID" field to ensure each submission is uniquely identified. This field will be used to generate the barcode.

Go to Print Settings

• Under Design App, go to the Configuration tab, click on Print Settings.
  
  
• A right panel will appear, click on Add print template to create a new PDF or edit an existing PDF template.
  
  
• Click on the pencil icon next to the desired print template.
  
  
• A pop-up window will appear where you can design the template. Use variables to pull values from the app dynamically wherever necessary (by typing @ followed by the field name).

Insert a Barcode

While editing the PDF template, when barcodes need to be inserted, click on the Insert Barcode from Submissions icon (barcode icon) in the toolbar.

A popup window will appear.

In the popup window:

• Click on the Select Field Name to Insert dropdown.
  
  
• Choose the field (in this example, Incident ID) that you want to use to generate the barcode.

• The variable for the selected field will appear in the template.

• Click on Save, to save the final template.

Note: A Bar code can only be generated from a single field at a time. It cannot embed multiple field values directly. However, you can work around this by using a ‘Calculations & logic’ block to combine field values together and embed that field into the Bar code.

Multiple Bar codes can be embedded in a single print template.

Adjust the QR Code Size and Placement

In the popup window, you can modify:

• Padding: Adjust the spacing around the barcode.
  
  
• Width: Set how wide the barcode should appear in the PDF.
  
  
• Barcode Format: By default, it is set to CODE 128, which is widely supported and recommended. You can change it to another format if needed.

Once done, click on Save.

Barcode for Copyable Sections

If you are using a copyable section in your app (e.g., multiple employee entries), you can generate a barcode from a field in a particular copied section.

In the popup window:

• Select the field under Select Field Name to Insert dropdown.
  
  
• Enter the section index under Insert Section Index (e.g., 1 for a field in section 1, 2 for a field in section 2, etc).
  
  

This ensures that each repeated section (such as each employee entry) will have its corresponding barcode generated dynamically.

For example if there is an app for employee mis with copyable sections;

• Section 1 → Barcode for Employee 1
  
  
• Section 2 → Barcode for Employee 2
  
  
• Section 3 → Barcode for Employee 3
  
  

You will have to insert and configure each barcode separately for each section index.

Viewing and Scanning the Barcode in Submissions

Once configured, the barcode will automatically appear in the PDF template.

• Open the Submissions tab in the app.
  
  
• Click on a submission and a right panel will appear.
  
  
• Click on the PDF icon at the top to open the print preview.
  
  

A print preview will appear where you can view or download the submission along with the generated barcode(s).

Scan the Barcode:
Scanning the barcode will display the value of the selected field (e.g., the Incident ID, Employee ID, Order ID, etc.)

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Example Use Case

In an Incident Reporting app:

• The Incident ID field is captured for every submission.
  
  
• The barcode generated for the Incident ID allows for easy tagging, report verification, and streamlined tracking.

The configured barcodes will appear alongside other details in the PDF like text fields, captured images, signatures, and more.