bramp.net :: LaTeX QR Based Business Card

LaTeX QR Based Business Card

2010-02-13 00:45:26 6 Comments

I recently found this blog which shows a business card with a QR card. I thought I'd create a business card with LaTeX with a similar QR code. I took a LaTeX template from here, found out about the pst-barcode pacakge, learnt the MECARD format, and combined them to make this:

My QR Business Card

I doubt I'll print this card, but just in case you want to make a similar one, here is the LaTeX source:

\documentclass[11pt,a4paper]{memoir}

\setstocksize{55mm}{85mm} % UK Stock size
\setpagecc{55mm}{85mm}{*}
\settypeblocksize{45mm}{75mm}{*}
\setulmargins{5mm}{*}{*}
\setlrmargins{5mm}{*}{*}

\setheadfoot{0.1pt}{0.1pt}
\setheaderspaces{1pt}{*}{*}
\checkandfixthelayout[fixed]

\pagestyle{empty}

\usepackage{pstricks}
\usepackage{pst-barcode}

\begin{document}
    %\pagecolor[cmyk]{.22,.36,.51,.08}%
    \begin{Spacing}{0.75}%
    \noindent
    \textbf{Andrew~Brampton~Ph.D.}\\
    \rule{75mm}{1mm}\\
    \begin{minipage}[t]{30mm}
        \vspace{-1mm}%
        \begin{pspicture}(30mm,30mm)
            % The MECARD format is used to exchange contact information. More information at:
            % http://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/english/service/imode/make/content/barcode/function/application/addressbook/index.html
            \psbarcode{MECARD:N:Brampton,Andrew;EMAIL:a.bramptonATlancs.ac.uk;URL:http://bramp.net;;}{eclevel=L width=1.181 height=1.181}{qrcode}
        \end{pspicture}
    \end{minipage}
    \hspace{1mm}
    \begin{minipage}[t]{42mm}
        \vspace{-1mm}%
        \begin{flushright}
        {\scriptsize
            \begin{Spacing}{1.5}%
%           \textbf{Research Associate}\\
            \textbf{Network Researcher}\\
            Computing Department\\
            Lancaster University\vspace{9mm}\\
            \end{Spacing}
        }
        {\tiny
            \textbf{email:} a.brampton AT lancs.ac.uk\\
            \textbf{web:} http://bramp.net/\\
            \vspace*{2mm}
        }
        \end{flushright}
    \end{minipage}
    \rule{75mm}{1mm}
    \end{Spacing}
\end{document}

Mark

Hello Andrew,

Thank you very much for posting this very interesting article. I have tried your code on my Mac in TeX Live 2009 and found that the following line needs to be changed if using pdflatex:

\usepackage{pst-barcode}

change to:

\usepackage{auto-pst-pdf,pst-barcode}

I would like to know how you produced your reference output as shown in your blog post since when I run your code on my computer the barcode itself gets anti-aliased and looks slightly smoothed/fuzzy around the edges of all of shapes in the barcode, which I am sure would reduce the readability and therefore success of its use.

I look forward to your thoughts.

Regards,

Mark.

2010-03-29 12:48:49

bramp

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the hint about chaning usepackage.

I don't have a Mac and have never used TeX Live on it. So I don't know why your barcode is anti-alaised. I generated my business card with MiKTeX (on Windows), which should render exactly the same as TeX Live.

I suggest you update all your LaTeX packages, and if this fails refer to the pst-barcode documentation, or email them for more advice. Perhaps try some of their test barcodes to rule out any of the extra TeX in my exampl.e

2010-04-05 21:13:21

Mike Smith

Hi Andrew

This looks really interesting.... I edit a journal which we typeset in Latex and I have been thinking a QRCode for the DOI would be good to place on the front page. I couldnt get your code to work (MikTeX 2.7) even with the modified

line under pdflatex. The packages were downloaded and installed but no QRCode shows up. Looking at the log file I get the following error:

Package auto-pst-pdf Warning:
Creation of bramp-autopp.dvi failed.
This warning occured on input line 124.
Package auto-pst-pdf Warning:
Could not create bramp-pics.pdf. Auxiliary files not deleted.
This warning occured on input line 124.

Looks like it couldn't create the QRCode image for some reason.... I tried running it under LaTeX and then viewing the DVI file. This worked fine, as did the conversion to PS. So I guess something is going wrong with auto-pst-pdf.

Any ideas for the failure at all??

cheers

mike

2010-12-24 20:18:22

Alireza

Thanks for the interesting post, could you please make some comment how can I put a png figure instead of QR, seems its tricky due to I always get errors about its size an location,

secondly, your in my case [AT] doesn't look like @ !! how did you make your @ that handsome !

2011-01-09 12:04:54

Randy Dawson

I did a cut and paste, changed usepackage as above comments, yet get this in Texworks (Miktex2.9).

any ideas gurus, I am a noob.

Package ifplatform Warning:
shell escape is disabled, so I can only detect \ifwindows.

)

! Package auto-pst-pdf Error:
"shell escape" (or "write18") is not enabled:
auto-pst-pdf will not work!

2011-10-03 07:38:10

B. J. Potter

This worked easily for me in Ubuntu Linux with TexLive. The only trick was to use latex and dvipdf to compile instead of doing one shot with pdflatex. After I figured that out and made the PDF, my phone scanned it correctly.

2011-10-03 17:24:36