Barcode scanning with fixed focus camera

[Mario Barón]

Hey guys,

I'm including Barcode scanning functionality into my app and I've noticed that it has no problems scanning codes when using an autofocus camera but when using a fixed focus camera (I'm using the Galaxy Tab 2 7" GT-P3110) the scanner doesn't seem to read codes all that well is there a way to somehow tune it or something to get a better performance out of it? from what I've read, barcode scanning with this type of device is quite tough but I've tried other apps like pic2shop (which by the looks of it also offers a free sdk for Web, iOS and Android) on the Android Market and it scans codes that Barcode Scanner can't seem to read when using my tablet. 

Oh and another question, is barcode scanning functionality available on WP8? I remember installing the Kitchen Sink demo on my Lumia 920 a while back and it just crashed when trying it.  

Thanks. 

[Shai Almog]

Hi,
no idea really. On Android we just use the standard ZXing code, I understood there are other libraries but most seem to be proprietary.

Currently barcode isn't supported on Windows Phone.

[Mario Barón]

Hey Shai, 

thanks a lot for your response, I guess if I get the time I could maybe try out other libraries and native code to see if maybe that will help improve things a bit. The pic2shop app was interesting because it seems to be a very powerful and fast scanner.

Do you have any plans to implement this functionality (as well as QR code scanning) for WP8 in a near future? also, (kind of off topic, but since we're talking about WP8) are there also plans to implement Push notifications on this platform soon?

Again, thanks a lot for your response. Keep up the great work!

[nickk...@gmail.com]

I don't know if this insight helps but a while ago I had to implement barcode scanning (for products) and most libraries I could find were poor quality on fixed focus cameras - needs very good lighting and patience to get a scan working.  On the same systems QR codes work fine but that's what they are designed for.  Zxing was as good as anything else I could afford (i.e., free) but redlaser definitely could scan product barcodes with a fixed focus camera without all the hassle needed for zxing, it was just too expensive to license for our project and the per device pricing made free apps impossible:

http://redlaser.com/developers/pricing/

Might be an option for you?

I also need QR scanning working in WP8 in CN1 so I'll keep an eye on this thread for that ;)

Cheers,

Nick