Barcode support

[james beard]

I'm a bit confused.

http://doc.openxdata.org/1452 tells me there is barcode support in 1.18 onwards. Is that server version or mobile client version? It doesn't seem right for either. What do I need to to download to get a client and server that support barcode reading?

Thanks.

[Mark Gerard]

James,

Barcode support was introduced into the openxdata midlet in mforms 2.X. It has to be a typo on the doc site - sorry about that. The integration was documented on this ticket: https://trac.openxdata.org/ticket/278

To answer your question, the current server should support barcode but you would have to get the barcode specific midlet (remember that the version should be 2.5 and above) to use barcode support on the mobile. I do not think we have an official mobile client supporting barcode but you can sure check get one of the internal releases from here: http://nexus.openxdata.org/content/groups/public/org/openxdata/mforms-barcode-midlet/

The reason we have a separate barcode specific midlet is because the final jar (with barcode support) is too big to fit on most low cost mobile phones, something that negates the fact that we support low cost mobile phones. 

HTH

Mark

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[james beard]

Just what I needed to know - thanks.

Yes, I can see that bar code reading may not be compatible with using the lowest spec phones! Anyone out there with practical experience?
 
 

[Mark Gerard]

James,

I am not sure what kind of practical experience you are looking for but if it helps, we used barcode support last year (using nokia 2370 classic and C2) in Norway. A simple questionnaire was designed to capture the barcode and transmit to the server. Later on, we could download the barcode, edit it and sync it back to the server - AFAICT, this worked flawlessly...

Mark

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/openxdata-users/-/fpGHEXwMy-kJ.

[Dagmar Timler]

Hi James

I also tested the barcode on a Nokia E5 and it worked perfectly, although it did require the barcodes to be extremely large due to camera focus issues.

To implement barcode support, most of the changes were required on the mobile client. However there were a few changes necessary on the server.

#278 was for the mobile part, and the version of the mobile client with barcode support is 2.5

#801 was for the server part (to show barcode data in the "Browse Responses" screen) and that was included in the server from version 1.17

It looks like the documentation is wrong.

Please note there were subsequent minor issues with barcodes most of which have been fixed in later version. See the following:

https://trac.openxdata.org/ticket/811
https://trac.openxdata.org/ticket/854

https://trac.openxdata.org/ticket/907
https://trac.openxdata.org/ticket/908

https://trac.openxdata.org/ticket/909

https://trac.openxdata.org/ticket/910

https://trac.openxdata.org/ticket/912

https://trac.openxdata.org/ticket/913

I hope this helps

Dagmar

[james beard]

Thanks again Mark, and thanks Dagmar. Just what I wanted to know.

Now all I need to do is get my E5 (which died yesterday) fixed so I can test it!

[james beard]

OK - progress. It works for me on my E5 using server 1.29 and client 2.13 (I had a few issues with server protocol versions on the way).

But of course, I don't want to run it on an E5 but a cheaper phone. Mark - you said you used Nokia C2. There are a number of sub-models of the C2 with (very) different specs - do you recall which you used? Thanks.

[Dagmar Timler]

Hi James

Thanks for the update! Just out of curiosity - how large did your barcodes need to be?

Thanks

Dagmar

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/openxdata-users/-/ngdMyhWNqZAJ.

[Remi Andre B. Valvik]

Hi James,

As Dagmar said, thanks for the update!

The phones we are using (I work with Mark) are:

Nokia C2 (C2-01)

V 11.10 (13-05-11)

RM-721

Nokia 2730 Classic (2730c-1)

V 09.41 (02-12-09)

RM-578

Barcode scanning works fine on both devices.

Hope this helps.

Regards

Remi André B. Valvik

[Sarah Bird]

I have also used on Nokia 2710 NE which is the same as a 2700 (only with GPS), but again only with larger barcodes, maybe an inch x inch (due to lack of autofocus on camera)

Also, when I say used, I mean tested I don't mean used in production.

Best,

Bird

skype: birdsarah
email: sb...@alum.mit.edu
web: www.sarahbird.org | www.bonvaya.com

[james beard]

Thanks to all for information on phones used. I'll see if I can find a C2-01 in Kathmandu for the next stage!

Dagmar - I'm reading QR codes - ~0.5"/13mm didn't work, but ~0.9"/23mm did. Once I have a phone that we might use in production, I'll do a binary chop and see where the practical cut off is.

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[Raghu Mittal]

Hi Samson

You have asked your query as a reply to another thread which is unrelated to your query. Can you please start a new thread for your query? This way, you will be more likely to get responses from the community and also keeps the email archives clean.

Thanks

Raghu

--

[james beard]

Update on phones and barcodes.

I've realised my previous post was a bit useless. What's really important is the size of the columns and rows of the QR code. I can get both the E5 and C2-01 to read QR codes with 1mm rows and columns - the data I'm encoding then results in a QR code 21mm square. But this really is the limit, and it sometimes takes multiple attempts to get an interpretable image.

Anyone know a way of suppressing the irritating "can this application use the camera" messages?

[Remi Andre B. Valvik]

Hi James,

Thanks for the updates.

In order to completely remove the message (at least on the C2-01) you would have to buy a certificate and sign the application (which is not cheap).

The best you can do for free is (C2-01 instructions):

1. Install the application on the device.

2. Locate the application on the device and highlight it.

3. Open the "Options" menu and go to "Application access".

4. Open the "Data access" sub menu.

5. Open the "Multimedia recording" option.

6. Select "Ask first time only".

This way it will prompt for permission before you open the barcode question instead of every time, this affects all types of multimedia recording though.

Please note that there is currently a known issue with the barcode scanner where it does not lock the screen or otherwise indicate that it is working while processing the image.

So once the image has been captured, you need to wait a short amount of time before getting the results, this becomes more evident when the camera access prompt is disabled.

Hope this helps.

Regards

Remi André B. Valvik

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/openxdata-users/-/aXwuwqOEBwAJ.

[james beard]

Thanks!