Changelog
*********


0.17 — 2026-07-13
=================

* Data Matrix: new "symbol_shape" option (""square"" default,
  ""rectangular"", ""auto"", also "--symbol-shape" in the CLI) adds
  the six rectangular ECC-200 sizes; ""auto"" picks the smallest-area
  symbol.

* Substantial performance improvements across all four 2D symbologies.
  Compared to 0.16 on a realistic payload corpus: typically ~2.7×
  faster for QR Code, ~2.2× for PDF417, ~1.3× for Data Matrix (rising
  to ~2.1× on large payloads), and ~4.7× for Aztec Code — where large
  payloads, which previously scaled poorly, are up to ~200× faster.

* QR Code: the frame, module-placement, mask and error-correction-
  block data is now constructed at encode time instead of being
  shipped as 200 pre-computed data files, shrinking the installed
  package by about 6 MB.

* PDF417: automatic column selection now minimises physical symbol
  area within a scanner-friendly aspect band instead of targeting a
  square symbol, producing markedly smaller, wider symbols for small
  and medium payloads.


0.16 — 2026-07-03
=================

* New "ITFEncoder" for plain Interleaved 2 of 5 and "ITF14Encoder" for
  ITF-14 (GTIN-14), with PNG / SVG / EPS output and a "pystrich itf14"
  CLI subcommand. See ITF-14.

* pyStrich now imports Pillow only when producing PNGs, and PNG
  support is offered through a "pyStrich[png]" extra; SVG, EPS, DXF
  and terminal output no longer need it at import time. Pillow remains
  installed by default in this version.

* All encoders: render methods gain "dark_hex" and "light_hex"
  keywords that recolour the modules or bars and the background
  consistently across PNG, SVG and EPS. Can also be used in the CLI "
  --dark-hex" / "--light-hex".

* Code 39, Code 128 and ITF: new "quiet_width_multiplier" keyword
  scales the quiet-zone width.


0.15 — 2026-06-26
=================

* All encoders gain "svg_dataurl" and "png_dataurl" methods that
  return the symbol as a "data:" URL string.

* QR Code: the encoder now mixes Numeric, Alphanumeric and Byte
  segments per input to shrink symbols carrying digits or uppercase
  runs.

* QR Code: "QRCodeData(encoding="shift_jis")" now triggers Kanji-mode
  segmentation under ECI 20, packing JIS X 0208 characters into 13
  bits each.

* QR Code: new "wifi_network()" classmethod helps build WiFi network
  joining QR codes.

* Data Matrix: the encoder now mixes ASCII, C40, Text and X12 segments
  per input to shrink symbols carrying uppercase, lowercase or CR-
  delimited X12 records. Payloads built with "FNC1" stay in single-
  mode ASCII as the GS1 Data Matrix spec requires.

* Data Matrix: new "force_byte_mode" keyword on "DataMatrixEncoder"
  pins the encoder to the byte-by-byte path, skipping the C40/Text/X12
  optimiser.

* Data Matrix: "iso-8859-1" payloads now emit an explicit ECI 3
  designator so heuristic decoders don't misinterpret short Upper-
  Shift sequences as another charset.

* Code 128: new "Code128Data" accepts typed "FNC1", "FNC2" and "FNC3"
  markers (GS1-128 etc.), plus "encoding="iso-8859-1"" for Latin-1
  input.

* GS1: new "GS1Fixed" / "GS1Variable" field wrappers consumed by
  "Code128Data.gs1" and "DataMatrixData.gs1" to build GS1-128 and GS1
  Data Matrix payloads without managing FNC1 separator placement by
  hand.


0.14 — 2026-05-18
=================

* New "AztecEncoder" for Aztec Code (compact and full-range), with PNG
  / SVG / EPS / DXF / terminal output and a "pystrich aztec" CLI
  subcommand. See Aztec-Code.

* New "PDF417Encoder" for the PDF417 stacked 2D symbology, with PNG /
  SVG / EPS / DXF / terminal output and a "pystrich pdf417" CLI
  subcommand. See PDF417.


0.13 — 2026-05-14
=================

* QR Code: accepts any Unicode string and picks the best encoding
  automatically (ASCII, Latin-1 or UTF-8). New "QRCodeData" exposes
  explicit charset control when you need it.

* QR Code: internal refactor to improve the encoder's spec compliance
  and to share Reed-Solomon and encoding-selection code with the Data
  Matrix module.

* Data Matrix: "TextEncoder.encode()" returns "list[int]" instead of a
  "str" of "chr()"-packed bytes.

* Data Matrix: support all 24 ECC200 square symbol sizes up to 144x144
  (1558 data codewords), with interleaved Reed-Solomon blocks for the
  larger symbols. Previously capped at 48x48 (174 codewords).

* Data Matrix: fix the bottom-right corner-module pattern for sizes
  where it was previously emitted as four zero cells, and fix pad-
  codeword randomisation to produce the correct value at the
  position-28 boundary.

* Code 128: unencodable characters now raise "PyStrichInvalidInput"
  instead of being logged and failing later with "KeyError".

* Code 39: non-ASCII input under "full_ascii=True" now raises
  "PyStrichInvalidInput" instead of an unwrapped "UnicodeEncodeError".

* Typing: the entire "pystrich" package is now checked with mypy; the
  remaining per-module "ignore_errors" overrides have been removed.


0.12 — 2026-05-09
=================

* New "pystrich" console script with a subcommand per format and PNG /
  SVG / EPS / ASCII / terminal / DXF output. See Kommandozeilen-
  Schnittstelle.

* Data Matrix: "DataMatrixData" now expects either an "encoding="
  argument or "auto_encoding=True" to be set on construction. The new
  "auto_encoding=True" flag picks the narrowest encoding.

* SVG output for QR Code and Data Matrix via new "save_svg" /
  "get_svg" methods on "QRCodeEncoder" and "DataMatrixEncoder".

* SVG output for the 1D barcodes via the same "save_svg" / "get_svg"
  methods on "Code39Encoder", "Code128Encoder" and "EAN13Encoder".

* EPS output for QR Code and Data Matrix via new "save_eps" /
  "get_eps" methods on the same classes.

* EPS output for the 1D barcodes via the same "save_eps" / "get_eps"
  methods on "Code39Encoder", "Code128Encoder" and "EAN13Encoder".

* The human-readable labels for 1D barcodes are rendered with bundled
  Courier Prime glyph outlines (SIL Open Font License).

* DXF: "get_dxf()" on "QRCodeEncoder" and "DataMatrixEncoder" now
  writes the correct "$INSUNITS" value for ""in"", ""ft"", ""mi"",
  ""cm"" and ""m"" (previously any value other than ""mm"" was
  silently treated as unspecified); you should now pass "units=None"
  if unspecified is desired.

* All vector outputs accept a "mark_shape" keyword argument
  ("MarkShape") selecting how matched cells are grouped and drawn:
  horizontal runs (the SVG / EPS default), one square mark per cell
  (the DXF default), or one filled circle per cell.

* Tests: round-trip DXF coverage for QR Code and Data Matrix -- the
  rendered DXF is read with "ezdxf", rasterised, and decoded back to
  the original string.

* New "get_terminal_art" method on "QRCodeEncoder" and
  "DataMatrixEncoder", rendering the symbol with Unicode half-block
  characters so it scans on screen. ANSI background/foreground codes
  are applied by default for readability on any terminal theme; pass
  "ansi_bg=False" for plain output.


0.11 — 2026-05-07
=================

Bemerkung:

  Erratum: the "get_dxf()" docstrings on "QRCodeEncoder" and
  "DataMatrixEncoder" stated that "inverse=True" (the default) draws
  dark modules as filled cells. In fact "inverse=True" draws the
  *light* modules; "inverse=False" draws the dark ones. Behaviour is
  unchanged -- only the description was wrong. Corrected in 0.12.

* Documentation: full Sphinx-built docs are now published at
  https://www.method-b.uk/pyStrich/docs/, covering each symbology,
  recipes and printing guidance, exception hierarchy and a reference
  index.

* DataMatrix: add explicit ""iso-8859-1"" and ""utf-8"" encodings for
  non-ASCII payloads, selectable via "DataMatrixData".

* DataMatrix: saner handling of non-ASCII input under the legacy
  ""compat"" encoding, with deprecation in favour of explicit
  encodings.

* DataMatrix: proper FNC1 support via the "FNC1" marker constant. The
  long-accepted "chr(231)" workaround for GS1 still works behind a
  "Fnc1WorkaroundCompatWarning" (see issue #13).

* QR Code: fix issue #8; certain valid strings could not generate a QR
  code.

* EAN-13 quiet zone is now 11 modules left, 7 modules right (per the
  GS1 General Specifications); previously 9 modules each side, which
  was below spec on the left.

* EAN-13: the leading digit's vertical position is now configurable
  via an "options" dict ("first_digit_y_offset"); pass "0" for a level
  baseline across all three digit groups (issue #18). The default
  preserves the classic look where the first digit is slightly higher.

* Errors: unified exception hierarchy. All pyStrich-raised errors now
  inherit from "PyStrichError".

* Public "get_pilimage" method on every encoder, returning a
  "PIL.Image.Image" directly.

* Typing: encoders and renderers now have type hints and are checked
  with mypy.

* Tests: refactored test suite to make better use of pytest, and
  extended encode/decode round-trip test coverage to Code 39, Code
  128, EAN-13 and QR Code (previously DataMatrix only).

* Confirmed compatibility with newer Pillow versions and Python 3.13.

* Drop support for Python 3.8 and 3.9. Supported versions are now
  Python 3.10 to 3.14.


0.10 — 2025-09-24
=================

* Make the DataMatrix quiet zone configurable (issue #17).

* Add Python 3.13 to the supported and tested versions (Python 3.8 to
  3.13).


0.9 — 2024-10-02
================

* Released as "Modernise".

* Add DXF rendering for 2D barcodes (Data Matrix and QR Code),
  contributed by Mike Jones (PR #7).

* Pillow >9.5 compatibility: replace deprecated "ImageFont.getsize"
  with "ImageFont.getlength".

* Drop the "distutils" dependency so pyStrich installs on Python
  3.12+.

* Switch the build system to Poetry; add a GitHub Action that builds
  and publishes releases.

* Add a CI GitHub Action that runs the test suite with "dmtx-utils"
  available.

* First automated test for Code 39: output comparison plus known-good
  examples verified with "zbarimg".

* Supported and tested on Python 3.8 to 3.12.


0.8 — 2016-07-06
================

* Fix issue #5.


0.7 — 2015-07-26
================

* Raise the Data Matrix payload limit from 44 characters to 174
  characters (or 348 digits) by supporting larger symbol sizes (issue
  #2).


0.6 — 2015-07-21
================

* Released as "This time with fonts and data".

* Remove test relying on "dmtxwrite" due to issues in the previous
  commit.


0.4 — 2015-07-19
================

* Released as "First working version on PyPI".

* Fix "setup.py" so the PyPI package is no longer broken.