Xbase++ 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. Xbase++

LOCAL nSuccess
LOCAL oSbText
LOCAL oJson
LOCAL oFmt
LOCAL oJsonOut

nSuccess := 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.
oSbText := CreateObject("Chilkat.StringBuilder")
oSbText:Append("Gr\u00fc\u00dfe aus M\u00fcnchen")
oSbText:Decode("json", "utf-8")

oJson := CreateObject("Chilkat.JsonObject")
oJson:UpdateSb("payload.text", oSbText)
oJson:UpdateString("output.path", "qa_output/qr_utf8.png")
oJson:UpdateBool("output.overwrite", 1)
oJson:UpdateString("output.return", "none")

oFmt := CreateObject("Chilkat.Formats")
oJsonOut := CreateObject("Chilkat.JsonObject")
nSuccess := oFmt:QrCode("generate", oJson, oJsonOut)
IF (nSuccess == 0)
    ? oFmt:LastErrorText
    oSbText:destroy()
    oJson:destroy()
    oFmt:destroy()
    oJsonOut:destroy()
    RETURN
ENDIF

//  17 characters, three of which take two bytes in UTF-8.
? "characters: " + Str(oSbText:Length)
? "bytes encoded: " + Str(oJsonOut:IntOf("symbols[0].payloadBytes"))
? "ECI header: " + Str(oJsonOut:HasMember("symbols[0].selectedEncoding.eci"))

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

//  

//  The same text with an ECI header declaring UTF-8.
oJson:UpdateInt("encoding.eci", 26)
oJson:UpdateString("output.path", "qa_output/qr_utf8_eci.png")
nSuccess := oFmt:QrCode("generate", oJson, oJsonOut)
IF (nSuccess == 0)
    ? oFmt:LastErrorText
    oSbText:destroy()
    oJson:destroy()
    oFmt:destroy()
    oJsonOut:destroy()
    RETURN
ENDIF

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

oSbText:destroy()
oJson:destroy()
oFmt:destroy()
oJsonOut:destroy()