| DDE Command | Function / Description |
|---|---|
| [APPEXIT] | Removes B-Coder Pro from memory. |
| [APPMINIMIZE] | Minimizes the B-Coder Pro window to an icon. |
| [APPNORMAL] | Opens the B-Coder Pro window to normal size. |
| [BEEP] | Causes B-Coder Pro to beep one short beep. |
| [NEW] | Resets B-Coder Pro to its default settings. |
| [OPENCONFIG( filename)] | Opens a B-Coder Pro configuration file with the specified filename. |
| [SAVECONFIG( filename)] | Saves the current configuration to disk with the specified filename. |
| [SAVECONFIG] | Saves the current configuration to disk with the most recently used configuration file name. |
| [READMSGFILE( filename)] | Reads in the contents of the specified file as a barcode message. |
| [OPENMSGFILE( filename)] | Opens the specified file containing multiple barcode messages. |
| [CLOSEMSGFILE] | Closes any open barcode message file. |
| [SAVEBARCODE( filename)] | Saves the current barcode symbol to disk with the specified filename. |
| [SAVEBARCODE] | Saves the current barcode symbol to disk with the most recently specified filename. |
| [BUILD/COPY] | Generates a barcode and copies it to clipboard. |
| [PASTE] | Pastes text from the clipboard into the barcode message |
| [PASTE/BUILD/COPY] | Pastes text into the barcode message and generates a barcode |
| [BARCODE= text] | Generates a barcode using the supplied text and copies it to clipboard. The text argument specifies the barcode message. |
| [PASTECOMMENT] | Pastes text from the clipboard into the comment line |
| [COPYMESSAGE] | Copies the Barcode Message text to the clipboard |
| [COPYCOMMENT] | Copies the Comment Line text to the clipboard |
| [MESSAGE= ‘text’, n,…] | Changes the barcode message to the supplied text or ASCII values. The text must conform to the rules for the chosen symbology. Note: Text must be supplied as quoted strings using single quotes and control codes must be supplied as ASCII values. Text and control codes may be combined with individual elements separated by commas. Ex. [Message=‘Test’,13,10] changes the barcode message to the word Test followed bya carriage return (ASCII 13) and a line feed (ASCII 10). |
| [SUPPLEMENT= ‘text’] | Changes UPC/EAN supplemental to the supplied text. Note: Text must consist of either a two or five digit number and must be supplied as a quoted string using single quotes. Ex. [Supplement=‘12345’] changes the UPC/EAN supplemental message to 12345. |
| [COMMENT= text] | Changes comment text to the supplied text. Note: Unlike the MESSAGE= and SUPPLEMENT= commands, text must not be supplied in quotes |
| [BARWIDTH= n] | Changes the value for the narrow bar width to n. |
| [BARHEIGHT= n] | Changes the value for the barcode height to n. |
| [MAGNIFY= n] | Changes the UPC/EAN magnification factor to n |
| [RATIO=n] | Changes the Narrow To Wide Element Ratio to n |
| [CLIPFORMAT=WMF] | Sets the clipboard format to Windows Metafile. |
| [CLIPFORMAT=BMP] | Sets the clipboard format to Windows Bitmap. |
| [CLIPFORMAT=DIB] | Sets the clipboard format to Device Independent Bitmap. |
| [CLIPFORMAT=ALL] | Sets the clipboard format to all of the above. |
| [CODE39] | Selects Code 39 as default symbology. |
| [CODE39FULLASCII] | Selects Code 39 Full ASCII as default symbology. |
| [CODABAR] | Selects CodaBar as default symbology. |
| [CODE93] | Selects Code 93 as default symbology. |
| [CODE128] | Selects Code 128 as default symbology. |
| [UPCA] | Selects UPC-A as default symbology. |
| [UPCE] | Selects UPC-E as default symbology. |
| [EAN8] | Selects EAN-8 as default symbology. |
| [EAN13] | Selects EAN-13 as default symbology. |
| [I2OF5] | Selects Interleaved 2 of 5 as default symbology. |
| [D2OF5] | Selects Discrete 2 of 5 as default symbology. |
| [EAN/UCC128] | Selects EAN/UCC 128 as default symbology. |
| [PDF417] | Selects PDF417 as default symbology. |
| [POSTNET], [ZIP] | Selects POSTNET as default symbology. |
| [BPO] | Selects BPO 4 State Code as default symbology. |
| [INCPREAMBLE=text] | Sets the Message Preamble to text for Incrementally Numbered barcode messages. |
| [INCPOSTAMBLE=text] | Sets the Message Postamble to text for Incrementally Numbered barcode messages. |
| [INCSTART= n] | Sets the starting number to n for Incrementally Numbered barcode messages. |
| [INCVALUE= n] | Sets the Increment Value to n for Incrementally Numbered barcodes. |
| [INCWIDTH= n] | Sets the width of the incremented number for Incrementally Numbered barcodes. |
| [INCENABLE] | Enables Incremental Numbering. |
| [INCDISABLE] | Disables Incremental Numbering. |
| [INCMESSAGE] | Causes B-Coder Pro to apply incremental numbering to the barcode message. |
| [INCSUPPLEMENT] | Causes B-Coder Pro to apply incremental numbering to the UPC/EAN supplemental message. |
| [NEXT] | Advances to the next message in a series when incremental numbering is enabled or when a barcode message file is open. |
| [PREV], [PREVIOUS] | Backs up one message in a series when incremental numbering is enabled or when a barcode message file is open. |
| [TEXT=ON] | Enables human readable text in barcodes. |
| [TEXT=OFF] | Disables human readable text in barcodes. |
| [TEXTABOVE=ON] | Prints human readable text above all barcodes. |
| [TEXTABOVE=OFF] | Prints human readable text below barcodes. |
| [COMMENTABOVE=ON] | Prints comment text above all barcodes. |
| [COMMENTABOVE=OFF] | Prints comment text below all barcodes. |
| [QUIETZONES=ON] | Enables automatic Quiet Zones around all barcodes. |
| [QUIETZONES=OFF] | Disables automatic Quiet Zones around all barcodes. |
| [CODE39CHECK=ON] | Enables Code 39 Check character for Code 39 barcodes. |
| [CODE39CHECK=OFF] | Disables Code 39 Check character for Code 39 barcodes. |
| [I2of5Check=On] | Enables Interleaved 2 of 5 Check Digit Generation |
| [I2of5Check=Off] | Disables Interleaved 2 of 5 Check Digit Generation |
| [BarReduction= n%] | Sets the Bar Width Reduction factor to n%. (-75 to 75 percent) |
| [HORIZONTAL] | Sets the symbol orientation to horizontal. |
| [VERTDOWN] | Sets the symbol orientation to Vertical rotated 90 degrees i.e. reading from top to bottom. |
| [VERTUP] | Sets the symbol orientation to Vertical rotated 270 degrees i.e. reading from bottom to top. |
| [MESSAGEWARNINGS=ON] | Enables invalid message warnings. |
| [MESSAGEWARNINGS=OFF] | Disables invalid message warnings. |
| [PRINTWARNINGS=ON] | Enables printer resolution warnings. |
| [PRINTWARNINGS=OFF] | Disables printer resolution warnings. |
| [FIXDRIVER=ON] | Enables fixing of display or printer driver incompatibilities. |
| [FIXDRIVER=OFF] | Disables fixing of display or printer driver incompatibilities. |
| [BEARERBARS=ON] | Enables printing of Bearer Bars with a symbol. |
| [BEARERBARS=OFF] | Disables printing of Bearer Bars with a symbol. |
| [INCHES] | Sets the measurement units to Inches/Mils |
| [METRIC] | Sets the measurement units to Metric |
| [DOTS] | Sets the measurement units to Printer Dots |
| [FONTNAME=font] | Sets the measurement units to Printer Dots |
| [FONTSIZE=n] | Sets the font size to n points. |
| [FONTSCALING=ON] | Enables Automatic Font Scaling. |
| [FONTSCALING=OFF] | Disables Automatic Font Scaling. |
| [FONTREGULAR] | Sets the font style to Regular |
| [FONTBOLD] | Sets the font style to Bold |
| [FONTITALIC] | Sets the font style to Italic |
| [FONTBOLDITALIC] | Sets the font style to Bold Italic |
| [FONTCOLOR= colorname] | Sets the font color to colorname. 16 valid color names are available: Black, Maroon, Green, Olive, Navy, Purple, Teal, Gray, Silver, Red, Lime, Yellow, Blue, Fuschia, Aqua and White. |
| [FORECOLOR= colorname] | Sets the Foreground color to colorname. |
| [BACKCOLOR= colorname] | Sets the Background color to colorname. |
| [FONTCOLORRGB= r, g, b] | Sets the font color to the specified RGB color values.(Red Green & Blue i.e. r,g & b may range from 0 to 255) |
| [FORECOLORRGB= r, g, b] | Sets the foreground color to the specified RGB color. |
| [BACKCOLORRGB= r, g, b] | Sets the background color to the specified RGB color. |
| [TRANSPARENT] | Sets the background color to transparent. |
| [UNDERLINE=ON] | Enables text underlining. |
| [UNDERLINE=OFF] | Disables text underlining. |
| [STRIKEOUT=ON] | Enables text strikeout. |
| [STRIKEOUT=OFF] | Disables text strikeout. |
| [HORIZONTALDPI= n] | Sets the printer Horizontal Dots Per Inch value to n. |
| [VERTICALDPI= n] | Sets the printer Vertical Dots Per Inch value to n. |
| [DisplayASCII] | Switches the display character set to ASCII. |
| [DisplayANSI] | Switches the display character set to ANSI. |
| [PDFSET=DisplaySet] | Sets the character set used to generate PDF symbols to the same character set used to display text on screen. |
| [PDFSET=ASCII] | Sets the PDF417 character set to ASCII. |
| [PDFSET=ANSI] | Sets the PDF417 character set to ANSI. |
| [PDFMODULEWIDTH= n] | Sets the Module Width for PDF417 to n using the currently selected measurement units. |
| [PDFMODULEHEIGHT= n] | Sets the Module Height for PDF417 to n using the currently selected measurement units. |
| [PDFMODE=AUTOEBN] | Sets the PDF417 data compression mode to Automatic (EXC, Binary and Numeric modes auto select) i.e. maximum compression. |
| [PDFMODE=AUTOEB] | Sets the PDF417 data compression mode to Automatic (EXC and Binary modes auto select). Switching to Numeric mode is disabled. |
| [PDFMODE=EXC] | Sets the PDF417 compression mode to EXC. |
| [PDFMODE=BIN] | Sets the PDF417 compression mode to Binary. |
| [PDFMODE=NUM] | Sets the PDF417 compression mode to Numeric. |
| [PDFCODEWORDS=ON] | Enables display of generated PDF417 code words. |
| [PDFCODEWORDS=OFF] | Disables display of generated PDF417 code words. |
| [PDFSECURITY=AUTO] | Sets the PDF417 security level to Auto |
| [PDFOVERHEAD= n] | Sets the percentage of PDF417 data security overhead when the PDF417 security level is set to Auto. n = the percentage of the symbol area to be used for error correction overhead. |
| [PDFSECURITY= n] | Sets the PDF417 security level to n. (0-8) |
| [PDFMAXROWS= n] | Sets the maximum number of data rows for PDF417 symbols to n. The value for n may range from 3-90. |
| [PDFMAXCOLS= n] | Sets the maximum number of data codeword columns for PDF417 symbols to n. The value n may range from 3-30 |
| [PDFASPECT= n] | Sets the PDF417 symbol aspect ratio to n. |
| [TRUNCATEDPDF=ON] | Enables generation of truncated PDF417 symbols. |
| [TRUNCATEDPDF=OFF] | Disables generation of truncated PDF417 symbols. |
Macros, add-ins, and DDE
B-Coder Pro DDE commands
Look up the DDE commands other Windows programs can send to B-Coder Pro to create, save, and copy barcodes automatically.
B-Coder Pro supports a complete set of DDE commands that can be issued by other Windows programs allowing them to completely take control over all B-Coder Pro functions. When you initiate a DDE link to B-Coder Pro use the DDE Application Name B-Coder and the DDE Topic SYSTEM. (No DDE Item is necessary). The following is a list of all DDE commands that can be issued to B-Coder Pro.
Note: All DDE commands must be enclosed in square brackets.
Last modified on November 3, 2026