PowerBuilder 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. PowerBuilder

integer li_rc
long li_Success
oleobject loo_SbText
oleobject loo_Json
oleobject loo_Fmt
oleobject loo_JsonOut

li_Success = 0

//  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.
loo_SbText = create oleobject
li_rc = loo_SbText.ConnectToNewObject("Chilkat.StringBuilder")
if li_rc < 0 then
    destroy loo_SbText
    MessageBox("Error","Connecting to COM object failed")
    return
end if
loo_SbText.Append("Gr\u00fc\u00dfe aus M\u00fcnchen")
loo_SbText.Decode("json","utf-8")

loo_Json = create oleobject
li_rc = loo_Json.ConnectToNewObject("Chilkat.JsonObject")

loo_Json.UpdateSb("payload.text",loo_SbText)
loo_Json.UpdateString("output.path","qa_output/qr_utf8.png")
loo_Json.UpdateBool("output.overwrite",1)
loo_Json.UpdateString("output.return","none")

loo_Fmt = create oleobject
li_rc = loo_Fmt.ConnectToNewObject("Chilkat.Formats")

loo_JsonOut = create oleobject
li_rc = loo_JsonOut.ConnectToNewObject("Chilkat.JsonObject")

li_Success = loo_Fmt.QrCode("generate",loo_Json,loo_JsonOut)
if li_Success = 0 then
    Write-Debug loo_Fmt.LastErrorText
    destroy loo_SbText
    destroy loo_Json
    destroy loo_Fmt
    destroy loo_JsonOut
    return
end if

//  17 characters, three of which take two bytes in UTF-8.
Write-Debug "characters: " + string(loo_SbText.Length)
Write-Debug "bytes encoded: " + string(loo_JsonOut.IntOf("symbols[0].payloadBytes"))
Write-Debug "ECI header: " + string(loo_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.
loo_Json.UpdateInt("encoding.eci",26)
loo_Json.UpdateString("output.path","qa_output/qr_utf8_eci.png")
li_Success = loo_Fmt.QrCode("generate",loo_Json,loo_JsonOut)
if li_Success = 0 then
    Write-Debug loo_Fmt.LastErrorText
    destroy loo_SbText
    destroy loo_Json
    destroy loo_Fmt
    destroy loo_JsonOut
    return
end if

Write-Debug "with encoding.eci = 26, ECI header: " + string(loo_JsonOut.HasMember("symbols[0].selectedEncoding.eci")) + ", value " + string(loo_JsonOut.IntOf("symbols[0].selectedEncoding.eci"))

//  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


destroy loo_SbText
destroy loo_Json
destroy loo_Fmt
destroy loo_JsonOut