This in-development tutorial outlines how to create secure barcodes that include hidden text so that the hidden characters are not available in the scanned output, but can be interpreted by the intended application or IDAutomation’s Barcode Scanner ASCII String Decoder.
Barcodes with hidden data can be created using the IDAutomation Barcode Label Software Pro. Specifically, the formula of “ID “& L# & Base2(L#,28) was used to encode hidden ASCII text in a barcode. When scanned, an application that can tell ASCII 28 and 29 apart can decode the ID to verify a correct barcode. The encoded data in Label 5 would be ID5<29><28><29> which is easily encoded in the Code 128 or Data Matrix barcode symbology. When this barcode is scanned with a barcode scanner, the data read in a word processor or text editor would be only ID5.