ZBAR unable to scan PDF-417 iOS

Question

I am using Zbar for my iOS barcode scanning app but the problem is it is not detecting pdf-417 type of barcodes. I've installed ZBAR app for iPhone it is also unable to detect pdf417. But in zbar symbols structure pdf 417 is added. I also tried to enable pdf-417 explicitly by this line of code, but no luck.

     [scanner setSymbology: ZBAR_PDF417 config: ZBAR_CFG_ENABLE to: 1];

Any help?

Been trying to get this to work for days. Good to finally find out ZBar simply doesn't support it. — Declan McKenna, Jun 20 '14 at 10:30

score 4 · Answer 1 · edited May 29 '21 at 23:13

4

Zbar scanner support only some specific bar code types.

It supports bar code formats such us AN-13/UPC-A, UPC-E, EAN-8, Code 128, Code 39, Interleaved 2 of 5 and QR Code.

Refer to this site: http://zbar.sourceforge.net/

For PDF-417 bar code some separate SDK is available it seems. It will support the bar code such us Pdf417, QrCode, LicenseInfo, Code128, Code39, EAN13, EAN8, ITF, UPC and UPCE.

https://github.com/PDF417/pdf417-ios

Customize this one with the config type:

[scanner setSymbology: ZBAR_PDF417 config: ZBAR_CFG_ENABLE to: 1];

Just try with all the config type and check.

typedef enum zbar_config_e {
    ZBAR_CFG_ENABLE = 0,        /**< enable symbology/feature */
    ZBAR_CFG_ADD_CHECK,         /**< enable check digit when optional */
    ZBAR_CFG_EMIT_CHECK,        /**< return check digit when present */
    ZBAR_CFG_ASCII,             /**< enable full ASCII character set */
    ZBAR_CFG_NUM,               /**< number of boolean decoder configs */

    ZBAR_CFG_MIN_LEN = 0x20,    /**< minimum data length for valid decode */
    ZBAR_CFG_MAX_LEN,           /**< maximum data length for valid decode */

    ZBAR_CFG_UNCERTAINTY = 0x40,/**< required video consistency frames */

    ZBAR_CFG_POSITION = 0x80,   /**< enable scanner to collect position data */

    ZBAR_CFG_X_DENSITY = 0x100, /**< image scanner vertical scan density */
    ZBAR_CFG_Y_DENSITY,         /**< image scanner horizontal scan density */
} zbar_config_t;

edited May 29 '21 at 23:13

halfer

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answered Nov 28 '13 at 05:29

Ganapathy

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Yeah I've seen pdf-417 but it is not free for commercial app. And for zbar it is giving these options http://screencast.com/t/HnviRi8Q9 – souvickcse Nov 28 '13 at 05:51
2

Then sorry Zbar doesn't support. – Ganapathy Nov 28 '13 at 05:53
Yes.Is there any way I can fix this or add this functionality? – souvickcse Nov 28 '13 at 05:55
I've done that but it is not working and [scanner setSymbology:ZBAR_PDF417 config:ZBAR_CFG_ADD_CHECK to:0]; it will be [scanner setSymbology:ZBAR_PDF417 config:ZBAR_CFG_ADD_CHECK to:1]; – souvickcse Nov 28 '13 at 06:00
Yes i have already done this but it is not working. I've pointed it on my question. – souvickcse Nov 28 '13 at 06:02
[scanner setSymbology:ZBAR_PDF417 config:ZBAR_CFG_ADD_CHECK to:0]; like this .... – Ganapathy Nov 28 '13 at 06:05
No it is not working either and the value will be 1 to activate and 0 to deactivate. – souvickcse Nov 28 '13 at 06:06

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered May 14 '15 at 17:24

If you are using iOS7 or above, you don't have to rely on third-party libraries like ZBar. AVFoundation has built-in support for detecting 1D and 2D barcodes including PDF417 and QR codes using the device camera. AVMetadataMachineReadableCodeObject does the trick.

You can find working examples here and here.

ZBAR unable to scan PDF-417 iOS

2 Answers2