The properties for the bar code element are very similar to those for the other elements:
One of the differences is the Generation type:
In this select box you specify if the bar code should be static text or dynamic content from the XML source and whether it should be based on a barcode font or SVG graphics. The advantage of SVG graphics is the clearer display of the bar code and the scalability with hardly any loss of quality. Bar codes depend on the text you enter; so EAN-13 e.g. requires 13 digits. In case SVG graphics are used, the checksum number will be calculated automatically if you did not enter it or the XML source contains only 12 digits in this example. The "missing" checksum number will not be added to the number but XSLfast will produce a correct bar code with it.
Please note: Font based bar codes have become more and more obsolete, and are now supported in XSLfast only for compatibility reasons with previous versions of XSLfast. Please use SVG based bar codes everywhere you need bar codes; SVG bar codes are recognized correctly with bar code scanners. Unlike that, most common bar code fonts like EAN-13 may not work well with bar code scanners.
Another difference is the function Module when you work with SVG bar codes. This indicates the current size of the bar code, depending on the height. Setting the value to 0.5 the bar code is half the size, setting it to 2.0 it will be twice the size.