PowerShell 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. PowerShell

Add-Type -Path "C:\chilkat\ChilkatDotNet47-x64\ChilkatDotNet47.dll"

$success = $false

#  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.
$sbText = New-Object Chilkat.StringBuilder
$sbText.Append("Gr\u00fc\u00dfe aus M\u00fcnchen")
$sbText.Decode("json","utf-8")

$json = New-Object Chilkat.JsonObject
$json.UpdateSb("payload.text",$sbText)
$json.UpdateString("output.path","qa_output/qr_utf8.png")
$json.UpdateBool("output.overwrite",$true)
$json.UpdateString("output.return","none")

$fmt = New-Object Chilkat.Formats
$jsonOut = New-Object Chilkat.JsonObject
$success = $fmt.QrCode("generate",$json,$jsonOut)
if ($success -eq $false) {
    $($fmt.LastErrorText)
    exit
}

#  17 characters, three of which take two bytes in UTF-8.
$("characters: " + $sbText.Length)
$("bytes encoded: " + $jsonOut.IntOf("symbols[0].payloadBytes"))
$("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",26)
$json.UpdateString("output.path","qa_output/qr_utf8_eci.png")
$success = $fmt.QrCode("generate",$json,$jsonOut)
if ($success -eq $false) {
    $($fmt.LastErrorText)
    exit
}

$("with encoding.eci = 26, ECI header: " + $jsonOut.HasMember("symbols[0].selectedEncoding.eci") + ", value " + $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