Xojo Plugin 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. Xojo Plugin

Dim success As Boolean
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.
Dim sbText As New Chilkat.StringBuilder
success = sbText.Append("Gr\u00fc\u00dfe aus M\u00fcnchen")
success = sbText.Decode("json","utf-8")

Dim json As New Chilkat.JsonObject
success = json.UpdateSb("payload.text",sbText)
success = json.UpdateString("output.path","qa_output/qr_utf8.png")
success = json.UpdateBool("output.overwrite",True)
success = json.UpdateString("output.return","none")

Dim fmt As New Chilkat.Formats
Dim jsonOut As New Chilkat.JsonObject
success = fmt.QrCode("generate",json,jsonOut)
If (success = False) Then
    System.DebugLog(fmt.LastErrorText)
    Return
End If

//  17 characters, three of which take two bytes in UTF-8.
System.DebugLog("characters: " + Str(sbText.Length))
System.DebugLog("bytes encoded: " + Str(jsonOut.IntOf("symbols[0].payloadBytes")))
System.DebugLog("ECI header: " + Str(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.
success = json.UpdateInt("encoding.eci",26)
success = json.UpdateString("output.path","qa_output/qr_utf8_eci.png")
success = fmt.QrCode("generate",json,jsonOut)
If (success = False) Then
    System.DebugLog(fmt.LastErrorText)
    Return
End If

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