Objective-C Requires Chilkat v11.7.0+

QR Code with Non-English Text (UTF-8 and ECI)

See more QR Code Examples

Demonstrates text outside ASCII. QrCode always stores text as UTF-8 bytes, which is what phones expect. A QR code can also say so explicitly with an ECI header: setting encoding.eci to 26 declares the bytes to be UTF-8, for readers that would otherwise assume another character set. The header costs a little space, and a few older readers do not understand it, so it is off by default. Objective-C

#import <CkoStringBuilder.h>
#import <CkoJsonObject.h>
#import <CkoFormats.h>

BOOL success = NO;

//  This example requires the Chilkat API to have been previously unlocked.
//  See Global Unlock Sample for sample code.

//  The text is "Gruesse aus Muenchen" written with u-umlaut and sharp s.  It is given here with
//  JSON escapes only so that this source is plain ASCII.  Decode turns the escapes into characters.
CkoStringBuilder *sbText = [[CkoStringBuilder alloc] init];
[sbText Append: @"Gr\u00fc\u00dfe aus M\u00fcnchen"];
[sbText Decode: @"json" charset: @"utf-8"];

CkoJsonObject *json = [[CkoJsonObject alloc] init];
[json UpdateSb: @"payload.text" sb: sbText];
[json UpdateString: @"output.path" value: @"qa_output/qr_utf8.png"];
[json UpdateBool: @"output.overwrite" value: YES];
[json UpdateString: @"output.return" value: @"none"];

CkoFormats *fmt = [[CkoFormats alloc] init];
CkoJsonObject *jsonOut = [[CkoJsonObject alloc] init];
success = [fmt QrCode: @"generate" jsonIn: json jsonOut: jsonOut];
if (success == NO) {
    NSLog(@"%@",fmt.LastErrorText);
    return;
}

//  17 characters, three of which take two bytes in UTF-8.
NSLog(@"%@%d",@"characters: ",[sbText.Length intValue]);
NSLog(@"%@%d",@"bytes encoded: ",[[jsonOut IntOf: @"symbols[0].payloadBytes"] intValue]);
NSLog(@"%@%d",@"ECI header: ",[jsonOut HasMember: @"symbols[0].selectedEncoding.eci"]);

//  Without an ECI header (qa_output/qr_utf8.png):

//  

//  The same text with an ECI header declaring UTF-8.
[json UpdateInt: @"encoding.eci" value: [NSNumber numberWithInt: 26]];
[json UpdateString: @"output.path" value: @"qa_output/qr_utf8_eci.png"];
success = [fmt QrCode: @"generate" jsonIn: json jsonOut: jsonOut];
if (success == NO) {
    NSLog(@"%@",fmt.LastErrorText);
    return;
}

NSLog(@"%@%d%@%d",@"with encoding.eci = 26, ECI header: ",[jsonOut HasMember: @"symbols[0].selectedEncoding.eci"],@", value ",[[jsonOut IntOf: @"symbols[0].selectedEncoding.eci"] intValue]);

//  With the ECI header (qa_output/qr_utf8_eci.png).  Both scan as the same text:

//  

//  Sample output:

//  characters: 17
//  bytes encoded: 20
//  ECI header: False
//  with encoding.eci = 26, ECI header: True, value 26