Overview

When designing a BarTender document, you create objects to display data on your printed item. For example, a text field or barcode is considered an object. Each object can contain one or more data sources.  BarTender can populate objects from a variety of sources, including local and global databases, external files, object values, Visual Basic scripts, printer code templates, a system or printer clock and embedded data.

In this video, you will learn how to add data sources to BarTender and connect them to objects on your document.

For more information on data sources, refer to the Data Source Property Page topic in the BarTender help system.

Data Source Types

As you can see in the video above, you have the option to create different types of data sources. Each type has unique options for formatting and transforming the data. 

The available data source types are:

• Embedded data
• Clock 
• Database field
• External file
• Print job field
• Global data field
• Visual Basic script
• Printer code template field

Multiple Data Sources in an Object

When you initially add an object to your BarTender document, the selected object will contain a single data source with sample data. The default value can easily be modified. You can also append (or "concatenate") other data sources to the default data source. The total number of data sources that can be concatenated in a single barcode, encoder, or text object depends solely on the number of characters that will fit on the template.

The example below shows the use of 3 separate data sources within one object:

• Date
• Database field
• Serializing number

Creating an Additional Data Source in an Object

1. Right-click on the object and select Properties from the context menu to open the object’s Properties dialog.

1. In the left Navigation Pane, select Data Sources.
2. Click the "New Data Source" icon to open the New Data Source Wizard.