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iOS bar code question regarding HW

 
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I am not very familiar with bar code handling so forgive me if this question is trivial one.

First, is there any difference (in terms of performance) between iphone camera and special (portable) scanner HW?
For example, is it (reasonably) acceptable to use phone camera as scanning device in store for sales transaction?

Second, what is the recommended HW for printing the bar code? Will any of regular printer be perfectly fine for printing bar code?

Thanks!

 
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I like your questions!

for 90% of use cases that I can think of the built-in barcode scanning functionality (via camera) is working just as well as a laser-based scanner would. For a sales scenario you would probably optimize the UI to keep scanning and deliver all barcodes as they are detected. AVFoundation is very fast.

For printing you would probably use a thermo-based printer because those are the cheapest for printing barcode stickers. All it needs to have is AirPrint support, so that you can print from iOS devices. I myself use a Brother QL-710W WiFi label printer. There is only one caveat: you need to thin the lines for thermo printers to combat thermal bleeding, as explained in this blog post of mine: http://www.cocoanetics.com/2014/03/printing-to-thermo-labels/

cheers

Oliver Drobnik

Cocoanetics

 
YJ Lee
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Oliver Drobnik wrote:I like your questions!

for 90% of use cases that I can think of the built-in barcode scanning functionality (via camera) is working just as well as a laser-based scanner would. For a sales scenario you would probably optimize the UI to keep scanning and deliver all barcodes as they are detected. AVFoundation is very fast.

For printing you would probably use a thermo-based printer because those are the cheapest for printing barcode stickers. All it needs to have is AirPrint support, so that you can print from iOS devices. I myself use a Brother QL-710W WiFi label printer. There is only one caveat: you need to thin the lines for thermo printers to combat thermal bleeding, as explained in this blog post of mine: http://www.cocoanetics.com/2014/03/printing-to-thermo-labels/

cheers

Oliver Drobnik

Cocoanetics



Oliver, thanks for the answers!

I went to your blog and read your post regarding the printing bar code. It has very good info for bar code novice person like me.
I am thinking about incorporating the bar code scanning capability in my app that I am developing for small non-profit organization, hence, above questions.

Thanks again for your answer! I will definitely consult your book for any help that I need for my small project.
 
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