Hidden Barcode Secrets in Dynamics AX 2012

/ Kurt Hatlevik

The utilization of barcoding and barcode readers has transformed business efficiencies of an incredible number of businesses both large and small. Simple still effective, the bar code as an invention has made itself indispensable only by the multi-faceted advantages that it is offers to the user through the entire barcoding spectrum. Some of the killer advantages of these marvelous invention is.

1: Speed plus Accuracy

A really good information entry operator could enter a Twelve digit number (including product code one example is) on his PDA in approximately 4-5 seconds, but the average could well be more like 7 just a few seconds or more. The same operation in case performed with a bar code scanner would take just one flick in the wrist, less than a second. The use of the bar code scanners is unmatched to use ability to plough through significant volumes of these operations effortlessly. While an information entry operator will make keyboard errors whenever he types with data, the chances of a new barcode reader giving wrong output is actually nonexistent tending almost for you to zero. For all simple purposes, accuracy is exact, every time this barcode reader creates its flowing movements over the barcode.

2: Implementation Ease

You decide you need to start using barcodes to your products but are uneasy that you have never completed it before? Fear not, to get in 10-20 minutes of energy that scenario could possibly get reversed. The use of barcode readers is almost childishly uncomplicated with no prerequisite intended for usage. Not only can any individual do it, but they are able to do it quickly in addition for the learning curve of using barcodes is extremely steep and brief.

3: Bang for the dollar

If you could get information quickly in addition to accurately, it could exclusively mean a tighter provide chain and well-knit company processes based on these records. With superior information and facts, you can take excellent business decisions that increase shareholder benefit. Imagine what disastrous consequences incorrect info could have on your organization! A vast collection of bar code scanners and barcode code reader usage data has revealed that the investment made in this technology pays back in as short a time as 6 to 10 months ? Way faster in comparison with most modern technologies of which attempt to improve the approach we take to conduct our enterprise. Thus the bar code genre is one the place that the customer truly may get good value for money and high return on investment.

But there is more.

Did you know that Dynamics AX 2012 do have a complete platform for building barcode enabled functionality? Dynamics AX is already using this in several places to give us some idea of how it can be used. A EAN128 barcode label often looks like this.

One of the places where the use has been taken to the extent is in the arrival journal.

Here there is a field for scanning EAN128/UCC128 barcodes. The great thing about EAN128, is that is the barcode can contain multiple information. So in the example, I have included pallet/SSCC and itemId, and when is it scanned, the system will automatically fill in the fields for me :

To give you an insight, I have created the following job-code that shows how to use the barcode classes:

This will generate the following infolog:

In my example above in the item arrival journal, I just took the Barcode HR, then removed the (), and pasted it into the arrival journal, and then the decoding happened, and the fields where automatically filled in.

Out of the box, Dynamics AX can decode the following application identifiers of EAN128:
(00) SSCC – PalletID. The item arrival journal will also create the pallet ID in DAX
(01)+(02) EAN – Itembarcode, that will then identify itemid + product dimensions
(10) Batch
(21) Serial number
(30) Quantity –

But do not despair if you feel something is missing. Microsoft has made it easy for us to extend the number of application identifiers, that we can fetch out of a EAN128 barcode. Take a look at \class\BarcodeEAN128 .classDeclaration(): for other EAN128 application identifiers see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GS1-128

For more information about the barcode foundation in AX 2012, take a look at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/barcode.aspx

I also want to add that the To-Increase WM&D solution are using this technology several places, and I know that the functionality will be extended as the solution goes forward. The WM&D solution uses integration to BarTender to produce the labels, but Dynamics AX do have capability to print barcodes.

Source : http://www.ezinetoparticles.com/3-very-advantages-of-barcoding-and-bar-code-scanners/

30 thoughts on “Hidden Barcode Secrets in Dynamics AX 2012”

  1. Hello Kurt,
    If a product has multiple barcodes for the same unit, 1 old and the other new, how can we find out the last date each barcode scanned?
    Thanks.

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    • Ho Clare. If you have retail, then the last time a barcode was used is available on the retail transactions. Other than that there are barcodes on sales and purchase orders, but theese are just fetched when creating the transaction.

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      • Hello Kurt. As a user I would like to know the field that can be personalized to get this information. For example:
        Product Barcode Date last scanned
        ABC Candy 11111 1-1-18
        ABC Candy 12121 1-6-18

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  2. Hi Kurt,
    Have you ever encountered this scenario?
    I’ve created a barcode mask for a price & weight embedded barcode using the characters v to represent price and w to represent quantity, a prefix of 99 and a 7-digit product segment (R is mask character in this setup). Setup for a barcode should be 99RRRRRRRVVVVVWWWWW

    When I go to create the barcode on the released item, I keep getting an error saying the character v (and then w, when I remove the price segment from the barcode mask) in the barcode mask is invalid.

    If I simply key in the barcode into the form using the same barcode setup, 9912345670000000000, AX accepts the barcode, and when entered into the POS, performs correctly. This happens both in 2012R3 and D365?

    I’ve tried various combinations of letters to define the mask characters for price and quantity, all of which return the same error when I try to generate the barcode (and again, all of which work correctly when I type in the barcode manually on the released item)

    Any ideas what the issue could be, or do you think I may have uncovered a bug here?

    Thanks

    Julian

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    • Hi. We have experienced that a item barcode needs to be present for the barcode masking to work. Also make sure that the R is the actual item number, and that you have this as a item barcode. We are using barcode mask 28IIIIIIIQQQQ (I= product, Q = Quantity), For this to work, we needed to also have a itembarcode of 2387032000009 (23=prefix, 8703320 = the product and 0000 = just zero’s, 9=controldigit. I also suggest that you create a Microsoft support request on this.

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  3. Hello Kurt,
    Do you know if this is also available in D365fFO? Is the class available or there is a new way. I’m currently working on a customization to enable barcode parse and wanted to see if those AIs are available and can be extended to be used in the scenario we want using GS1-128 barcode.
    Thank You!

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  4. Kurt, thank you for the really great and clear article!
    I also ran into this one: http://ax.docentric.com/barcodes-microsoft-dynamics-ax/
    It helped me understand that encoding in AX barcode classes is actually needed only because SSRS prints barcodes using barcode fonts. Also, it clarified the difference between a barcode symbology and an application standard (e.g. EAN128 and GS1-128) you described here in the article.
    Best Regards

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  6. Hello Kurt, do you know if integration is possible between assets and scanning technology? I know we can integrate scanning with inventory but, am looking for an asset to scanner integration in AX2012 R3 CU9

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  7. Hi Kurt,

    What is the purpose of the (Item) GTIN Codes form? From what I’ve seen it looks like it’s essentially a duplication (subset) of the information in the Item Barcodes Form.
    Why would an Item GTIN record be needed if you already have a barcode record for an item?

    Thanks,
    Todd

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    • The GTIN codes/form is used in the RFID features, and is only numeric. When I implement barcodes, I never use this table/feature.

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  8. Hello Kurt,

    I want to have itemId + quantity in one barcode, I entered the barcode like “01M00013050”
    so I was thinking it would give me the item number “M0001” and Quantity “50” but it did not.
    What am I missing?
    Thanks ahead

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      • I wrote a job as you have above, put there the ItemId and corresponding palletid. Then I copied the info result and pasted it in item arrival, removed the parentheses and press tab/enter but no results where given in item number and pallet Id fields

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  9. Hello Kurt. Do you know if there are 2D barcode already in use with RF-Smart and Axapta 2012 R2, instead of working with code 128 ( )? If yes, how is the performance?
    Thanks a lot!

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    • Hi Sergio. You have to ask RF-Smart about that, but the Quick Response (QR) Code was the earliest 2D barcode. It was designed to be a bump up from its predecessor, the 1D barcode, because it can contain more information(The capacity of QR Code is up to 7000 digits or 4000 characters). While not technically open source, the inventor of the QR Code and owner of the QR Code trademark, DENSO, has allowed the patents for the code to be freely available to the public.

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  11. hi there
    am new to AX 2012 r2, the company that is implementing the software for our company claims there are a lot of problems regarding the bar code generation directly from ax, so they have made an external tool to generate bar code , these problems as they claim that i cannot print site specific , or warehouse quantities, i cant integrate the expiry date in the bar code label. and that i cannot exceed the length of 14 digits in the bar code, else the scanners won’t be able to read them .

    any suggestions

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  12. Hi Kurt,
    Thanks for sharing Information..The article is very good. One of our client is using Barcode at the time of procuring as well as sales. We are implementing AX 2012 without retail. Can u please share information or refer any documents of how to use Bar code in ax 2012 or setups needed.. Thanks a lot in advance

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  13. Hello Kurt,

    Its nice article.but i am bit new in this area shall i know where shall i fins this araival journal. and how ax interacts with bar-code reader to update the ax database. shall we use aif web services to consume external devices like barcode reader? if you breif these it will be very very helpful to me.

    Thanks in advance.

    Hara

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    • Hi Lyka. If you look into AX 2012, the barcode can be 80 characters. But if you are using standards like GS1-128, you will often use standards like GTIN, EAN-14 and EAN-13. They have a fixed length of 14 or 13 characters. PalletID/SSCC(Serialized Shipping Container Code) is 18 characters. take a look at http://www.gs1.org/ for more information on GS1.

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  16. Is it possible to display barcode for each finished good item serial number (serial number tracking at the BoM level). In the invoice and pack slip we can display the serial number. likewise, can we display barcode next to serial number (serial is unique for each quantity)

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