1

I am trying to see whether its possible to read the barcode in WPF Applications without using any 3rd party tools. We built an application using WPF and they are not willing to buy any third party devices to read the barcode. Is there any other way to read the barcode data in WPF Applications using .NET APIS?

Note: I seen examples in .NET, but most of them using Barcode reader tool. I have seen examples in Android ZXing library does that with out any tools like barcode reader or scanner.

Any ideas or thoughts is greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Ramesh

Improve this question
7
  • 3
    As 3rd party tools don't use 4th party libraries for reading the barcodes, sure it is possible. Google the barcode algorithms and implement them. You have access to the full implementation (ZXing), what more could you want? Commented Apr 11, 2013 at 21:47
  • Sorry, you mean to say its possible in WPF Applications? If yes, can you please provide me some references for me to start? Commented Apr 11, 2013 at 21:58
  • 1
    of course it is possible. after all, a barcode is an image and you can analyze it. or do you refer to communication with the barcode scanner device? In any case, WPF is .NET - your app can talk to peripherlas, it can handle images, it can do whatever you need. ZXing is a great reference with implementation of required alogorithms. Commented Apr 11, 2013 at 22:03
  • 1
    @RameshSangili, I believe that the question was really meant to be "does .NET provide barcode reader class" and not whether it is possible to read barcode with .NET app? I suggest editing the question to make it clearer. Commented Apr 11, 2013 at 22:10
  • 1
    here's the C# port of ZXing: code.google.com/p/zxing/source/browse/#svn/trunk/csharp You can start from there Commented Apr 11, 2013 at 22:12

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
3

In order to shorten the discussion in comments and possibly help other people with similar problem, I will summarize it here.

It is not clear to me whether the real question you wanted to ask is "does .NET provide barcode reader class". If so, the answer is no.

Now, since WPF application is just a normal .NET application, for sure it is possible to implement barcode reading without 3rd party libraries. All the algorithms are public, there is plenty of open source implementation which can serve as reference, and .NET provides all you need to talk to the peripherals, acquire the image and analyze it. You "just" need to code it.

E.g. there is a C# port of ZXing, so you can take a look (though it looks like automatic translation from Java, so I wouldn't expect much idiomatic C# in there).

You also mention that your customers "are not willing to buy any third party devices". I am not sure if 'devices' was meant to read 'libraries'. If so, there are open source libraries which they (or you) don't have to pay, and commercial components usually provide royalty free licenses (e.g. the first one that google showed), which means that only you have to pay the development license, but your customer doesn't even know about it.

Improve this answer
Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

2 Comments

there is no mention anywhere neither in the original question nor in this nice answer about how a windows application can know what to decode and understand. if no barcode reader can be used, at minimum a scanner or webcam must be used, or how is the software going to receive the picture to parse for the EAN code retrieval?
@DavidePiras, that was also confusing to me - especially when OP mentioned '3rd party devices'. I assumed that somehow the app receives the ready image, but just in case added that .NET also allows the communication with peripherals.

Start asking to get answers

Find the answer to your question by asking.

Ask question

Explore related questions

See similar questions with these tags.