After some of the most frustrating Pan graphics glitches I have ever experienced, I finally got my UPC symbols to work. Problems included Pan changing colors of objects when ungrouping, giving false object dimensions, not aligning correctly, not spacing correctly, and changing object sizes when ungrouping objects. I would think that after 10 years someone besides me would have had these same problems and reported them. I have lost product sales and huge amounts of my time because Pan X no longer supports many of the features that enabled my business to succeed. I’m glad I stopped programming for other companies as they would have sued me for damages when their files stopped working and paralyzed their business. Pan X is not a corporate quality application for custom programming as the programmer cannot control the user interface.
Several users have asked why I don’t get a bar code font. UPC symbols are not fonts. They are comprised of a Left Guard, Center Guard and Right Guard with different designs for left side numbers and right side numbers. This way UPC Symbols scan frontwards, backwards, and upside down. The other issue is that companies pay for UPC numbers up front and then pay an annual renewal fee. A font would allow counterfeit numbers which is not allowed.
One of my previous businesses was called FasTrak Barcode Systems. We tested bar codes for Honeywell, McDonnell Douglas, Hughes, Rolls Royce, Boeing, Rohr, etc. I say that as a opening for the statement that it is very clear that you are extremely limited in your understanding of how bar codes are created, how they work, and their limitations. Let it just be said that essentially everything you said about bar codes is incorrect.
As for Panorama, your understanding of Panorama’s limitations are also incorrect. I say that from a perspective of having used Panorama for over 40 years successfully. I have worked with Getty Oil, Disney, and other large companies and they have not ever felt that Panorama was anything but amazing.
A UPC/EAN barcode is a simple graphical representation of a 12-digit (base-10) code plus check-digit. Any such monochrome vector graphic can easily be represented by a glyph, or sequence of glyphs, in a font. You just need a suitable algorithm to calculate the necessary character code sequence in your chosen barcode font to represent your UPC code, which will begin and end with the characters representing the guards. These are commonly available as spreadsheet macros but might need careful reverse-engineering to make a Panorama function.
It’s the 13-digit number that is unique and subject to a one-off or annual payment. Anyone can make a graphical barcode from a UPC code (e.g. the ISBN of a book), whether or not it belongs to them, either by copying the number into an online barcode generator and downloading the resulting EPS/PDF/TIFF/PNG graphic or, if it’s necessary to automate the process, using a barcode font in conjunction with the appropriate character-encoding function, or by assembling rectangles of different sizes in the correct order as you have been doing.