I've written a small, quick and dirty postscript script to generate 40
asset labels in a matrix; with the postscriptbarcode generating a
barcode in the middle of the label.

So far by various means - I've been able to:
* generate a label outline and assign it as a form function (not sure
of correct name...)
* Generate a logo and assign it as a form function
* Write text to the appropriate spots in the label
* Convert a number to a string and concatenate with a string prefix
(which includes the ^104 Code 128 B identity digit)
* Get postscriptbarcode to generate a Code 128 B barcode for the above
concatenated string

However, apart from the Ghostscript errors which I'll try to sort out
latter - which are caused by my logo conversion (long story) that only
confuses Ghostscript and prolongs the time the printer processes the
page.  I cannot for the life of me - work out how to display leading
zeros in the above number converted to a string.

For example - I have the script counting from 1 to 40.  So I need the
string representation of the number to be 0000000001 instead of 1.  In
some languages you have printf operators but I cannot find anything
equivalent for postscript so far.  The quick solution I have so far is
to define the AssetNum as 1000000001 as this works - but it isn't as
neat as I'd like.  However, if it is too cumbersome then I might be
able to modify the original requirements to include the initial
position 1.

Can anyone suggest where I can go to find the appropriate
information?  Or does someone know where I could find a suitable
function?  If there is a postscript operator that I've missed - then
please point me in the correct direction and apologies in advance.

My small, quick and dirty code looks something like this:

....8<...........

% Routine from http://www.tinaja.com/glib/strconv.pdf
/mergestr {
        2 copy length exch length add string dup dup
        4 3 roll 4 index length exch putinterval 3 1 roll exch
        0 exch putinterval
        }
def

/AssetNum 1 def

1 1 10 {
        1 1 4 {
                1 1 scale

                LabelOutline execform

                /Helvetica findfont 15 scalefont setfont
                78.5 770 moveto (Asset) show
                /Helvetica findfont 8.5 scalefont setfont
                84 759 moveto (Training Centre) show
                /Helvetica findfont 4 scalefont setfont
                153.5 719 moveto (v0.1) show

                /barcodetxt (^104UK) AssetNum 10 string cvs mergestr def

                gsave
                47 732 translate
                0.6 0.6 scale
                0 0 moveto barcodetxt (includetext height=0.5  textsize=16
textxalign=center textfont=Helvetica textxoffset=-1 textyoffset=2)
code128 barcode
                grestore

                Logo execform

                /AssetNum AssetNum 1 add def
                129 0 translate
        } for
        -516 -72.5 translate

Heady

Hi Heady,

It's nice to see an example use of PostScript forms on this list -
thanks for including the code.

If you are willing and happy to do so, would you be prepared to send a
version of your finished script that is suitable for including in the
example scripts section of the repository?
http://postscriptbarcode.googlecode.com/svn/scripts/

(000000000000) 12 string copy dup NUM 10 12 string cvrs dup length 12
exch sub exch putinterval

This is an efficient technique that does not require the use of
ephemeral variables - obviously you need to replace the string of
zeros and the instances of "12" with the appropriate level of padding.

It is easier to understand when written as follows:

(000000000000)  % Define the padding field
12 string copy dup  % Persist a new working instance of this into
which we will insert the number
NUM 10 12 string cvrs  % Convert the given NUM into the equivalent
base 10 string, up to the length of the field width
dup length  % Find the actual length of the string of NUM
12 exch sub  % Subtract this length from the field width to find the
required level of padding, the offset
exch putinterval  % Place the string into the working instance of the
field at this offset position

It is fairly easy to wrap this into a function, but I'll leave that as
an exercise for the reader ;-)

Hope this helps,

Tez

Well the result of the reader exercise was:

% Routine from http://groups.google.com/group/postscriptbarcode/
% Convert num to str and pad leading zeros: num num2str -> (000000num)
% Note: must change (00..00) & 10 for different str length
/num2padstr {
        (0000000000) 10 string copy dup
        3 2 roll 10 10 string cvrs dup length
        10 exch sub exch putinterval
        }
def

And can be called by:

/barcodetxt (text) AssetNum num2padstr mergestr def

Heady

On Mar 7, 1:06 am, "Terry Burton" <t...@terryburton.co.uk> wrote:

% Routine from http://groups.google.com/group/postscriptbarcode/
% Convert num to str and pad leading zeros: num num2padstr ->
(0000num)
% Note: must change (00..00) & 10 for different str length
% Note: numbase:  10 for dec; 16 for hex
/num2padstr {
        /numbase 16 def
        (0000000000) 10 string copy dup
        3 2 roll numbase 10 string cvrs dup length
        10 exch sub exch putinterval
        }
def

Called by:

/AssetNum 1 def
/barcodetxt (^104txt) AssetNum num2padstr mergestr def
0 0 moveto barcodetxt (includetext height=0.5  textsize=16
textxalign=center textfont=Helvetica textxoffset=-1 textyoffset=2)
code128 barcode

Heady