How to generate Intelligent Mail® Barcode (OneCode) via PHP

Question

I have a request to provide CASS certificated addresses on a PDF document. This involves using a certified mailing address, and needs to be printed using the barcode.

How can I generate such a barcode? Might exists PHP libraries that already does this?

Answer 1

One thing to remember is that certification on a CASS-certified address expires after 95 days. This means that you will need to recertify your (or your client's) database about every three months on a minimum. Without that, you can't generate an IMB (intelligent mail barcode) because the IMB is composed of a number of elements including the 12-digit delivery point barcode.

I would imagine that you already have a place to certify your addresses, but for those who read this Stack Overflow question and don't have certified and standardized addresses, you can do a Google search and find a handful of providers.

In the interest of full disclosure, I'm the founder of SmartyStreets. We offer address verification and validation which gives back the 12-digit delivery point barcode from which the IMB is derived. I would be happy to personally answer any additional codes you have related to address verification and standardization.

Answer 2

The tc-lib-barcode (https://github.com/tecnickcom/tc-lib-barcode) PHP software library allows you to generate "IMB - Intelligent Mail Barcode - Onecode - USPS-B-3200" barcodes.

The source code is fully PSR-2 compliant and can be easily added to your PHP projects using Composer.

The original code has been ported and refactored from TCPDF and already used in billions of documents.