Datamatrix

The DataMatrix barcode was created by the CiMatrix company. Every DataMatrix is composed of two solid adjacent borders in an "L" shape (called the "finder pattern") and two other borders consisting of alternating dark and light "cells" or modules (called the "timing pattern"). Symbol sizes vary from 8×8 to 144×144. The DataMatrix is used to mark small products.

Data Matrix symbols are rectangular in shape and usually square, they are made of cells: little elements that represent individual bits.

The bar-code contains error correction codes so the bar-code can be read even if it is partially damaged. There are two main versions of this barcode: the first version is called ECC-000 or ECC-140. The second version is described as ECC-200 version, and uses the Reed-Solomon method for error correction. In Stimulsoft Reports the second version of this bar-code is used.

The bar-code consist of black and white square elements, which are joined into square or rectangular regions. Symbol sizes vary from 8×8 to 144×144. All available combinations of sizes is shown on the table below:

Bar-code size	Length, bites	Bar-code size	Length, bites
10 × 10	3	32 × 32	62
12 × 12	5	36 × 36	86
8 × 18	5	40 × 40	114
14 × 14	8	44 × 44	144
8 × 32	10	48 × 48	174
16 × 16	12	52 × 52	204
12 × 26	16	64 × 64	280
18 × 18	18	72 × 72	368
20 × 20	22	80 × 80	456
12 × 36	22	88 × 88	576
22 × 22	30	96 × 96	696
16 × 36	32	104 × 104	816
24 × 24	36	120 × 120	1050
26 × 26	44	132 × 132	1304
16 × 48	49	144 × 144	1558

The bar-code size can be set using the MatrixSize property. If this property is used to specify the specific size of the bar-code, then the barcode will be of that fixed size. If this property is set to Automatic (the default), then the minimal size that is necessary to encode the data will be selected from the list. There are 6 types of the bar-code. If it is required to get a square bar-code in the Automatic mode, then the UseRectangularSymbols property should be set to false (the default). If the property is set to true, then square and rectangular forms are used.

There are several modes of data encoding. Which is used depends on the type of the encoded information. Each mode allows encoding their own set of characters and their own rate of compression.

Encoding mode	Valid symbols	Bits per symbol
ASCII	ASCII character 0 to 127 ASCII character 128 to 255 ASCII numeric	8 16 4
C40	Upper-case alphanumeric Lower-case letters and punctuation	5,33 10,66
TEXT	Lower-case alphanumeric Upper-case letters and punctuation	5,33 10,66
X12	ANSI X12	5,33
EDIFACT	ASCII character 32 to 94	6
BASE 256	ASCII character 0 to 255	8

The ASCII is the universal mode of data encoding (the default). It allows encoding any characters, but pairs of digits are compressed the best and the ASCII values (128-255) are compressed the worst.