Agentry camera barcode scanner settings

[Former Member]

Hi all,

I'm working on SAP Work Manager application on Android devices.

My problem is that scanner functionality in Android devices (correct me If I am wrong :-)) is available only via camera scan...

Camera scan is really inaccurate, it is not so easy to scan a bar-code: you have to move the device up and down to focus it and pray... Bar-code is often not recognized! Do someone have any hint?

When camera scan interface starts, clicking on 'Menu' soft key, a "Settings" button appear; clicking on it cause Agentry client to dump... Is there any way to set camera settings (via configuration file, for example)? Outside SAP Work Manager application, other Bar-code Scanner apps on the same device are more accurate (for example, classic Android "Barcode Scanner" application).

I see also that SMP 3.0 SP07 SDK includes OpenScan SDK as a new feature. Is this the real solution to the problem? Is this the only way to use a bar-code scanner device instead of Camera? Is this functionality supposed to be included in standard Work Manager application version sometime in the future?

Thanks so much to everyone,

BR,

Manuel

[bill_froelich · Accepted solution]

Manuel,

Yes the SMP3 Agentry Andorid clients includes camera scanning by default (using ZXing library for reading of the barcode image to a decoded value).  As you indicated, this has it's own challenges but is the only universal method on the device.

SMP 3 SDK SP07 does introduce the Open Scan SDK to allow customer to substitute in either a different library for camera scanning (ZBar, Redlaser, etc) or to integrate with a true barcode / rfid / nfc reader.  This will involve obtaining the necessary API/SDK for the device / reader and integrating it through Open Scan into the Agentry client.

Open Scan was introduced specifically so customers would not have to rely on the Engineering team to provide a scanning solution for your specific device.  I do not anticipate there will be any additional out of the box scanners supported moving forward primarily due to the licensing and distribution challenges involved with 3rd party APIs.  Using OpenScan is the way to take this forward yourself in a much quicker time frame.

--Bill

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Bill,

what you said is clear, thank you (even If I've to study documentation to understand how to develop my own scanning module)!

Do you know if it is possible to set some settings to camera scanning?

For example, using external application "Barcode Scanner" with my Android device, I could change some settings (disabling Auto-focus, scanning area size, etc.) and the scan accuracy was better!

Thanks a lot,

Manuel

[bill_froelich · Accepted solution]

That will depend on the library/SDK/API being used.  For example, one thing behind the move to OpenScan was the desire to replace ZXing with Zbar on iOS.  However due to licensing we were not able to bundle it in the base Agentry client so OpenScan was developed to allow customers to swap out / in whatever library they wanted to use.

You would have to research what options ZXing or Zbar provided in terms of settings that you might be able to tweak for better results.  Having a well lit barcode certainty did improve scanning what I was testing with way back.

--Bill

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hello, Bill--

is there any documents that capture the steps required to rebuild the dll for the 3rd party scanners? or just ZBar/OpenScan scenario?

Cheers

Fouad

[bill_froelich · Accepted solution]

Fouad,

Please create a Discussion marked as a Question.  Not only so others may benefit from your solution once it is found, but also because you will have more folks looking to provide a solution when your issue has the greater visibility of a Discussion.  Also suggest that you visit the Getting Started link at the top right of each SCN page for help with creating a good Discussion.

--Bill