Call a QR code app

[hkalmbach]

Hello,

is it possible to call a barode app from a web form procedure with a button click?
The QR-Code app is an app to read barcodes. Normally this app starts the camera, allows to scan a barcode, interprets the code and puts the code to the clipboard, calls an url coded in a QR code or does some other action.
What I want to reach, is to call the barcode app, read the code (in my case a simple 1-d barcode) and get the number it contains into a Variable or a Session Value.
In the moment I am using an app called QR Code reader for Android from google play store.

Thanks for every help.

Cheers
Heinz

[Bruce]

Can the Bar Code reader do anything with the number after it reads it?
I mean, can you program it to call a URL or something?

It sounds to me like this question is more about the barcode program than the web server program...

cheers
Bruce

[hkalmbach]

Hi Bruce,
I don't mean a barcode reader as a additional device. I want to use the camera of a smart phone or a tablet to read 1-dimensional barcodes.
To do this you normally have an app on the device which calls the camera, makes a picture and interprets the code on the picture.
What happens afterwards depends on the app. Some apps just copy the result to the clipboard others directly call an URL or something else.

What I want to do is to read a barcode in a normal web form and put the code into a input field. The barcode contains only a number (perhaps from a machine or a spare part). With this number I go to the database and fetch the correct record. The handling should be to press a button on the form, this calls the app to read and interpret the barcode, close the app and be able to get the number from the clipboard of the device or on some other way to put it into a input field of the form.

In the case where the user has a barcode reader as extra device (connected via USB) I already use this and it works. Here the software of the USB barcode reader puts the number it read into the keyboard queue and in this way it directly goes into the input field of the form.

But it would be better to be able to use the camera which is already in the device.

Cheers
Heinz

[Bruce]

so you're thinking either a Javascript widget in the web page to decipher the barcode, or perhaps a server-side bit of code to analyze the image to extract the barcode value?

and then once you have the value, either way, you can then drive the app forward from there?

cheers
Bruce

[Bruce]

I've done a bit of research and the JavaScript approach looks do'able.

[hkalmbach]

Hi Bruce,
sorry I lost the focus on this subject, too much different things...

In the end, the value of the barcode should be placed in a variable of the web form and I would like to place code there to look in the database for the correct record belonging to this code.
In some way it should behave like a lookup field where you enter manually the value and the webform checks the value in the database and fetches the other values like description...

Cheers
Heinz

[Bruce]

so, just to be clear, the JavaScript approach looks do'able, but that's not to say _I'm_ going to be doing it. Anyone can do it....

cheers
Bruce