Technical Article: Image and Barcode Placeholder Merging

Images and barcodes can be merged in the same way like merge fields in a reporting template. An image or barcode placeholder is added at design-time to the template and merged with data from files, databases or memory.

Image Placeholder Objects

An image object can be added to the template with a given name. The data column must contain either the binary image data as a byte array, an object of type System.Drawing.Image, a file name, a hex or Base64 encoded string. These options cover most typical image representations in databases.

Merged images are scaled up or down to match the width of the placeholder image in the template. The following screenshot shows a placeholder image and the Object Data Source context menu:

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The same dialog like for merge fields is opened and you can choose the specific data column that contains the image data:

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After the template is merged, the image is scaled to match the placeholder image size:

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Merging Barcodes

Analogically with images, barcodes are inserted as a placeholder. You define the type, barcode text length, size and position in your template at design-time in order to merge data dynamically.

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