Overview

vCard is a file format standard for electronic business cards. vCards are often attached to e-mail messages, but can be exchanged in other ways, such as Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), on the World Wide Web, instant messaging or through QR code. They can contain name and address information, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, URLs, logos, photographs, and audio clips.

vCard Format

The following is an example of what to expect in a full line that codes a V-Card into a QR code.

BEGIN:VCARD«CR»«LF»N:Support;Tech«CR»«LF»ORG:Seagull Scientific«CR»«LF»TITLE:Tier 1«CR»«LF»TEL:1-425-641-1408«CR»«LF»EMAIL:techsupport@seagullscientific.com«CR»«LF»URL:www.seagullscientific.com«CR»«LF»ADR:15325 SE 30th Place, Suite 100 Bellevue, WA 98007-6597 USA«CR»«LF»END:VCARD

This example might look a tad intimidating but it was placed there to give you a broad idea of what you should be looking at when you are coding a V-Card. Here are the components of the same block that have been pieced out.

• Beginning – BEGIN:VCARD
• Version – VERSION:4.0
• Name – N:LastName;FirstName
• Organization – ORG:CompanyName
• Title – TITLE:Occupation
• Telephone – TEL:425-641-1408
• Email – EMAIL:youremail@domain.com
• URL – URL:www.website.com
• Address – ADR:Street, City, State, Zip
• Ending – END:VCARD

Note that after every subject there is a carriage return («CR») and a line feed («LF»). This is a very important part that allows scanners to read the V-Card correctly.

All vCards begin with BEGIN:VCARD and end with END:VCARD. All vCards must contain the VERSION property, which specifies the vCard version. VERSION must come immediately after BEGIN, except in the vCard 2.1 standard, which allows it to be anywhere in the vCard. Otherwise, properties can be defined in any order.

You can find more information about vCard and additional properties that you can use here.

Creating the QR Code

1. Create a new BarTender document.
2. Click Create -> Barcode -> Select More Bar Codes… -> find and select QR Code
3. Click on your label where you would like to place the barcode.
4. Right click the barcode and go to Properties. Select the 12345678 below Data Sources.
5. Delete sample the text in Embedded data.
6. Start coding your V-Card based off the information above.
7. To input the «CR» and «LF» characters click the Ω symbol on the right of the Embedded data box and click the tab Control Characters. There you will find the CR and LF control characters.