In This Article

EAN-13

EAN-13 is a linear symbology, based on the original 12-digit Universal Product Code (UPC) system developed in North America.

EAN-13 bar codes are used worldwide for marking retail goods.

Screenshot

A sample of this symbology

The 13 character value is divided into four parts: system code, manufacturer code, product code, and check digit.

Symbology Characteristics

The following table gives an overview of the characteristics of the symbology.

Item Details
Implementation Class Ean13Symbology
Base Class LinearBarCodeSymbology
Related ValidationRule Class Ean13ValidationRule
Encodable Characters Number characters.
Supports Checksum Yes. This symbology implementation auto-calculates and inserts a check digit.
Has Special Start/Stop Characters No.
Fixed Length Requirements The value must be 12 characters with a 13th character, the check digit, automatically calculated and added by the symbology.

Important Members

This symbology has these important members:

Member Description
Background Property Gets or sets the Brush to use for rendering the background.
BarHeight Property Gets or sets the desired height of the bars.
BarWidthRatio Property Gets or sets the width ratio of wide lines to narrow lines.
DisplayName Property Gets the display name of the symbology.
DisplayValue Property Gets or sets the value that is displayed if ValueDisplayStyle is not None.
Foreground Property Gets or sets the Brush to use for rendering the foreground.
MeasureDesiredSize Method Measures the desired size of the symbology, based on the specified available size.
MinBarHeightWidthRatio Property Gets or sets the minimum ratio that the height of the bar code must be in relation to its width.
QuietZoneThickness Property Gets or sets the Thickness of the quiet zone.
Render Method Renders the symbology to the specified DrawingContext.
ToBitmap Method Creates a BitmapSource based on the contents of the symbology.
ValidateValue Method Validates that the symbology can parse the specified value.
Value Property Gets or sets the value to encode in the bar code.
ValueDisplayStyle Property Gets or sets a LinearBarCodeValueDisplayStyle that indicates how the value should rendered.
ValueIntrusionOffset Property Gets or sets the distance that the Value text intrudes into the bar code when ValueDisplayStyle is not None.

Sample XAML

This sample XAML code shows how to create a BarCode using this symbology.

<barCode:BarCode>
	<barCode:Ean13Symbology Value="003600029145" />
</barCode:BarCode>