Type of Barcodes and Their Usage
scanbot.io
scanbot.io
I have a use case where users are trying to scan 2d Pharmaceutical Product barcodes (https://www.gs1.org/docs/healthcare/GS1_Healthcare_Implement...) containing lot number, expiration date, and so on. We're mostly using Realinn 6200 scanners, some bluetooth some hardwired. In my testing, the FNC1 character gets sent to my Mac as '29', and to the warehouse PCs as '↔'. They also have chromebooks in the warehouse, and as far as I can tell the Chromebooks are just dropping the FNC1 character entirely from the barcodes.
I can not figure out how to program the RL6200 scanners to replace FNC1 with another character - only to add/remove a prefix/suffix.
Is this a known issue? Do I need a different scanner which can be programmed to substitute characters? Throw out the chromebooks in favor of Windows machines?
I assume that Virtual COM works with both USB and bluetooth?
Another possibility is writing a native app that works like a shim: reading from the COM port and using APIs (e.g. SendKeys on Windows) to re-transmit the characters as keystrokes. But the most robust solution is probably a different scanner.
If so, can I ask which barcode scanner(s) you're using which does work? The easiest solution may just be to buy a different scanner.
I did also email the manufacturer - let's see if they have a solution.
Alternatively (but probably less usefully), try it on https://w3c.github.io/uievents/tools/key-event-viewer.html
I'd guess it's the scanner though, I don't think those control characters are supposed to be sent.
I'd check with your vendor to see if there is a barcode that you can scan to toggle the function code transmit, this is what I did with Honeywell anyway.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligent_Mail_barcode
I only recently learned it can encode a specific mailbox:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delivery_point
(I was trying to figure out how a letter got delivered to an address in GA when the handwritten address was for somewhere in WA. Somehow the barcode did not match the handwritten address at all. It got delivered to the address specified in the bar code - https://ibb.co/Y04q78V)
Both DataMatrix and QR codes have similar performance in all manners in my limited testing. Are there any clear advantages to one over the other, or am I bikeshedding myself?
IIRC though, DataMatrix is technically licensed, not open, so if that's a concern for you you may want to be careful.
An example with QR Code, I made "prefilled" email templates using the mailto: protocol, so let's say you want to report an issue regarding a specific piece of hardware in the office, you can scan the Tech Support QR code and it will prefill the email to send to our tech support email with all its information (hostname, serial number, model, location, etc) and then the client can fill up a small description of the problem before sending. I only do this for hardware that doesn't leave the premises, on laptops I just put a CODE-128 barcode that contains the hostname (also written in plaintext) below the display, and another one on the lid to make the process of taking an inventory quickly when someone is working at their desktop using a docking station with the lid closed.
It saves us some back and forth with our users.
It's a bit of work, but once you have your template it's fairly easy to automate the generation.
I’ve tried a few different rolls from Amazon and the stuff gets stuck on objects and won’t peel off. Is there a supplier that sells the kind of label rolls that will peel off without sticking? What are the terms I should be using to describe this kind of paper? I feel like I’m fumbling around with my language describing this problem.
(Or not conflicting the UX with existing purposes of QR on whatever you're inventorying, such as manufacturer/brand's consumer engagement on packaging or the products themselves. "No, not that QR, a different one, somewhere else.")
I've always thought of Wiegand as a 1-d barcode because the displaced wires are just a way of achieving "contrast" and clocking, basically. But I could see the argument breaking down into semantics.
I'm never quite sure why some businesses choose to implement these non-standard solutions. Is it a form of vendor lock in? Do they just want something with less of a digital-brutalism aesthetic? Is it an attempt at security through obscurity? All of the above?
The article is only half right about laser scanners and the ability to read 2d codes. In principle it wouldn't be too hard to engineer a laser pattern / data matrix pattern that works. The trivial solution is to just make the laser run in scan lines like an old analog TV, but then the person doing the scan needs to be annoyingly precise in how they point the scanner at the data. If digital cameras and image processing weren't dirt cheap, there would still be visible spectrum 2d data encodings.
Microsoft did something like that: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/project/high-capaci...
I wonder why it is not used in major banking applications. I have manually copypasted IBAN numbers from friends so many times it gets old. I guess scan with a visual check that the numbers are correct before adding account could provide a boost in usability.
Maybe it is not done on purpose so that easier alternatives (like Paylib) are used instead, which may incur a fee while IBAN transferts are free.
The problem with IBAN transfers compared to Paypal, Sofortüberweisung, Klarna and friends is that the merchant doesn't get instant notification of the payment. SEPA instant payments exist, but usually cost the customer ~0.50€-2€ and a lot of the banks, particularly those whose tech stacks are fossilized mainframes, don't support them [0].
And even if the merchant's bank accepts SEPA IP, there is another problem - unlike Paypal and other processors, there are no "callbacks" from the bank to the merchant, the merchant's shop system would need the credentials for online banking to poll, and obviously it's not a great idea to put the main banking credential into the biggest target for hacker attacks a company has.
[0] https://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/finanzen/instant-paymen...
The reason they are rightly opposed is that they favor and push mobile dependency, witch means that you must own a smartphone to do something, sure that's not technically true, but that's practically true for most users. The real reason why are not widespread is people inertia in adopting anything new respect of their routine though.
Personally I found FAR easier if just both people and institution known how to damn use computers at a basic level like: "if you want some money please include immediately copy-pastable full information in clear text instead of crappy heavyweight docs that regularly lack some information".
For instance: get a France or Italian electricity bill, a gazillion of information presents, but try to find the damn address of the bill so if you have two or more houses you immediately identify it... In most case you can find written very little somewhere, sometimes is not present at all. Equally when you read an email. That's for company's side. For customer's side the same most call a callcenter "hy, I'm john, calling about something strange in your last bill". Even better: some companies add refs: .... to their communication, you call the call center, give the ref they do not know what to do because since almost no one use them no one have added a damn search by ref in their CRM/ERP/* UI.
Even worse: we have mandatory OpenBank APIs for institutions but not for customers. As a result instead of easily manage your finances with the comfort of a personal client for all banks, institutions etc auto-updated via feeds you need to login (with absurd procedures, that frequently mandate crappy mobile crapplications) to a gazillion of different sites and no easy way to concentrate your information.
Usually on the top left of first page there is "Dati Fornitura", with the address where energy is provided:
https://www.servizioelettriconazionale.it/content/dam/sen/he...
Maybe it depends on the specific energy supplier?
The address is in the left-hand block, under the section called "Lieu de consommation":
https://prix-elec.com/sites/prix-elec.com/files/2020-04/fact...
That's for EDF though, other providers might show it in a less obvious way I guess.
I generally agree with your comment though.
Btw, don't you have IBANs that you frequently send money to saved in your 'address book'? The banks here have offered such functionality since forever (even before IBAN existed)
To generate all kinds of barcodes, check out https://barcode.tec-it.com/en . It's a demo for their SDK and it's really handy.
By default they use 8 colors or 3 bits per cell instead of the 1 bit per cell of most black and white codes, but can go up to 64 colors per cell (6 bits). The format also seems to be a bit more flexible and offers MUCH larger code sizes than QR at present. The goal as I recall was to store biometric or ID data locally rather than being forced to hold just a URL. It's also patent-free.
I searched but couldn't seen any mention of it let alone a putative image of a 3D barcode, what it looked like, how it be used, the need for it.