Four Js Development Tools Forum

The Genero BDL documentation indicates we can scan bar-codes of various types (testing with GMI / iOS) and although successful with some bar-codes, I cannot get it to read PDF417 (a drivers license 2D barcode) using ui.Interface.frontCall("mobile", "scanBarCode",   [], [code, type] ).

Documentation http://4js.com/online_documentation/fjs-fgl-manual-html/#c_fgl_frontcall_mobile_scanbarcode.html indicates that PDF417 is a type returned from the frontcall so I assumed it was supported.  There is also a note, in the documentation : "On iOS devices, the barcode reader used by GMI is "ZBar". For more details, see http://zbar.sourceforge.net".  In reading on the ZBAR site, it's not clear if ZBar supports PDF 417. 

Am I missing something or is there an alternative?


Platform:  Genero Mobile iOS (GMI)
BDL:        3.00.06

Hello Warren

Indeed our GMI implementation rely on zbar and according to some discussion on Stackoverflow (https://stackoverflow.com/questions/20258260/zbar-unable-to-scan-pdf-417-ios), PDF417 support requires some additional software. I will ask our GMI development group to evaluate that. Feel free to contact our support to follow-up this action and give your timeframe. Alternatively, you may also create your own GMI native frontcall (http://4js.com/online_documentation/fjs-fgl-manual-html/#c_fgl_frontcalls_user_ext_gmi.html) implementing this.

Olivier
Genero Projects Manager

Olivier,

Thank you for the quick reply.   We have developed modules to read the PDF 417 (e.g. Drivers License Barcode) in other iOS maps on the Cordova (aka PhoneGap) so actually have the Objective-C.  I was hoping to avoid bringing that into our Genero Mobile project as I hoped it was integrated.  If 4js would like the source to perhaps include, we can provide it.

WL

Hi Warren, after some checking it seems it is a compilation issue for ZBar on IOS. The code for supporting PDF-417 is contained , however ifdef's not set by default did prevent the compilation. It would be very helpful if you could send some test scan images with the expected results to the support.
Of course it would be interesting to know which other scanning library you used for your Cordova project to have a clue in case the zbar lib can't actually handle your codes.

Leo,

Thanks again for looking into this.  Here is a link to the Washington State DL specification with a 2D Bar code, what the license looks like and the data

http://www.dol.wa.gov/external/docs/barcodeCalibration-basic.pdf

We use this for testing,

Warren

Hi Warren,
thank you for the sample page !
It seems zbar is not able to scan PDF417, even if enabling the defines for inclusion of the PDF417 decoder nothing is detected (The developers of the IOS version must have had their reasons to exclude it...)
I went the route Prabu Arumugam suggested in http://stackoverflow.com/questions/20258260/zbar-unable-to-scan-pdf-417-ios and tried the native IOS framework which was pretty successful.
I ended up with a little custom frontcall project for GMI which can scan the sample page you sent.
Attached here.
Read the README contained inside of how to build and run it. It should build flawlessly with the current GMI1.20.13 and fgl3.00.x
Please contact the support in case of trouble.
Regards, Leo

Leo,

That worked, thank you very much.  You're little app did work and I tested on a number of Driver Licenses.   I am still having some issues integrating into my GST project (building my distro IPA) but was able to integrate it into my application and test (We just have to get more familiar with integrating Objective-C into our GST projects and we'll be all set). 

I suppose the question will be: will 4js simply integrate PDF417 bar code reading into the standard GMI or will this always need to be a custom frontcall. 

Thank you

Warren

Hi Warren, great!
We are currently working on a better/easier integration of custom frontcalls into GST.
For the standard mobile scanbarcode frontcall it seems we simply need to switch to the apple frameworks in vnext (you may try other barcodes/QR-codes with the little app , its not limited to PDF417) and remove the zbar lib from the core (which saves final executable size). We need however to make sure that no decoder previously possible disappears in this transition, so there might be issues.
Regards, Leo

As the demo page Warren mentioned disappeared I another ID having a pdf417 barcode can be found at https://github.com/googlesamples/android-vision/files/174436/Sample.FL.DL.PDF