#lang scribble/doc
@; THIS FILE IS GENERATED
@(require scribble/manual)
@(require (for-label (planet neil/postnet:1:=1)))
@(require (for-label racket))
@title[#:version "0.4"]{@bold{postnet}: USPS POSTNET Barcode Encoding in Racket}
@author{Neil Van Dyke}


License: @seclink["Legal" #:underline? #f]{LGPL 3} @(hspace 1) Web: @link["http://www.neilvandyke.org/racket-postnet/" #:underline? #f]{http://www.neilvandyke.org/racket-postnet/}

@defmodule[(planet neil/postnet:1:=1)]

      

@section{Introduction}


      

This @bold{postnet} Racket library can be used to generate the United States Postal Service POSTNET barcode binary pattern, as described in Chapter 4 of USPS Publication 25, ``Designing Letter and Reply Mail,'' dated 2003-06. This library supports ZIP, ZIP+4, and DBPC codes.


      

The generated binary representation is a Racket list of boolean values. Separate code must be written to render this representation to a particular printing devices.


    
      

@section{Encoding}


      

There are several procedures for encoding POSTNET from various input representations.  It is suspected that most applications will encode from a string representation, using @tt{string->postnet}.


      

@defproc[ (digit-list->postnet (digits any/c)) any/c]{
          

Yields a POSTNET encoding of a list of digit numbers.  For example:


          

@SCHEMEBLOCK[
(digit-list->postnet '(1 2 3 4 5))
==>
(#t #f #f #f #t #t #f #f #t #f #t #f #f #t #t #f
 #f #t #f #f #t #f #t #f #t #f #f #t #f #t #f #t)
]


        }

      

@defproc[ (char-list->postnet (chars any/c)) any/c]{
          

Yields a POSTNET encoding of a list of characters.  For example:


          

@SCHEMEBLOCK[
(char-list->postnet '(#\1 #\2 #\3 #\4 #\5))
==>
(#t #f #f #f #t #t #f #f #t #f #t #f #f #t #t #f
 #f #t #f #f #t #f #t #f #t #f #f #t #f #t #f #t)
]


        }

      

@defproc[ (string->postnet (str any/c)) any/c]{
          

Yields a POSTNET encoding of a string.  For example:


          

@SCHEMEBLOCK[
(string->postnet "12345-6789 01")
==>
(#t #f #f #f #t #t #f #f #t #f #t #f #f #t #t #f
 #f #t #f #f #t #f #t #f #t #f #f #t #t #f #f #t
 #f #f #f #t #t #f #f #t #f #t #f #t #f #f #t #t
 #f #f #f #f #f #f #t #t #f #t #f #f #t #t)
]


        }

    
      

@section{Debugging}


      

Although this package does not render POSTNET for OCR use, for debugging purposes, the @tt{postnet->debug-string} procedure can be used to approximate the barcode visually, using ASCII characters.


      

@defproc[ (postnet->debug-string (postnet any/c)) any/c]{
          

Yields a string visual approximation of a POSTNET encoding.  For example:


          

@SCHEMEBLOCK[
(postnet->debug-string (string->postnet "12345"))
==> "|...||..|.|..||..|..|.|.|..|.|.|"
]


        }

    
      

@section{History}


      

@itemize[

@item{Version 0.4 --- 2011-08-22 -- PLaneT @tt{(1 1)}
            

Changed references to Scheme to Racket.  Changed URL.


          }


@item{Version 0.3 --- 2009-03-03 -- PLaneT @tt{(1 0)}
            

Licensed changed to LGPL 3.  Converted to author's new Scheme administration system.  Previous version was erroneously in planet as package @tt{postnet-planet.plt}.


          }


@item{Version 0.2 --- 2005-07-12
            

Added Testeez tests.  Minor documentation changes.


          }


@item{Version 0.1 --- 2004-04-14
            

Wrote as a diversion over dinner.


          }



]


    

@section[#:tag "Legal"]{Legal}



Copyright (c) 2004--2011 Neil Van Dyke.  This program is Free Software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License (LGPL 3), or (at your option) any later version.  This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but without any warranty; without even the implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.  See http://www.gnu.org/licenses/ for details.  For other licenses and consulting, please contact the author.



@italic{@smaller{Standard Documentation Format Note: The API
signatures in this documentation are likely incorrect in some regards, such as
indicating type @tt{any/c} for things that are not, and not indicating when
arguments are optional.  This is due to a transitioning from the Texinfo
documentation format to Scribble, which the author intends to finish
someday.}}