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I'm writing application in C# (WPF, .net 4.5). I need library for decoding barcodes (EAN128, GS1, code 128, EAN13). Can anyone suggest me ready to use library (free or paid). My scanner connected by USB reads a barcode and sends string od chars (mostly numbers) and I need to decode it to separated PLU, LOT, BBD etc.
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does your bar code scanner manufacturer not have any examples to start from?
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I think what you need to do is to start looking at what is in a barcode: GS1 isn't a barcode (it's an allocation system for barcode numbers), EAN-13 only provides an Article Number, and Code128 is a transport mechanism that allows EAN128 to contain more than just numeric values. Only EAN128 contains specific fields you can decode into PLU, Serial Number, batch codes, etc. And most of them don't bother: they just contain the Article Number.
Normally what happens is that the AN is read from the barcode, and used as a lookup to your stock database to determine what type of goods it is, what price you are selling it as, and so forth.
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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I know how barcodes work. I'm working about 12 years with ERP systems that use barcodes. You're right - GS1 it's not a code - it's non-profit organization. I thought about GS1-databar.
EAN13 not only provides Article Number - it also can contain weight or price of article.
My application send string from barcode scanner and only one think I need is to get this string separated into detailed data for example batch after 10, BBD after 15/17, weight after 310x etc. I know many of AI but I need solution which knows all of possible AI and will search string from barcode and seperate data after AI. I don't want to write it from the beggining because I don't want to miss any AI etc.
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EAN13 holds only a 13-digit article number: you are thinking about EAN13+2 and EAN13+5 which are extensions to the basic EAN13 spec - and there isn't anything which says what those additional digits must be: they do not have to be weight or price.
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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We are using EAN13 that contains only 13 digits and in this 13 digits is price or weight with article number without any extra 2 or 5 digits - it's always 13 digits EAN13 code.
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If that's true - and I don't believe it for a moment - then what you are doing is probably very dangerous in commercial terms. The only values allowed in an EAN-13 standard bar code is a single Article Number, which is assigned to a comp-any for a specific product by the appropriate national body (for a charge) in order that it is unique world-wide. All POS systems read the barcode, extract the AN, and use it for a DB lookup to identify the exact product scanned, and from that same DB get the weight, price, dimensions, manufacturer and such like. None of that is directly stored in the BC - it's all DB stored and linked to the AN received from the BC.
If you are storing weights and prices in the AN, then unless you have purchased a pretty huge block of ANs from your issuing authority, then you are probably issuing items with EAN13 BCs which identify them to the real world as toothpaste, or rubber gloves, or fresh chicken portions ...
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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This's not our standard code - we have to print it because some of our clients need such EAN13 code - this code is printed on label only if our customer wants. Clients send us specification of codes which they want from us. Clients' POS systems reads it correctly.
This is just a market need.
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Then you will have to read your clients specification, because what you are doing is non-standard so we cannot tell you what parts of the code you need to extract, or how they are encoded...
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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I only wanted to show you that EAN13 can also contain weight or price because you wrote that EAN13 contains only article number. My question was about decoding string not only from EAN13 which are the easiest to do - most of all I need help with EAN128, Code128 where are many possibilities and AI.
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If it's a "custom code", then it's not EAN13 or anything else "published"; so stop referring to it in that way. Call it what it is: a custom (barcode) encoding.
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Dzilupl wrote: USB reads a barcode and sends string od chars (mostly numbers)
That's how they work. They decode the barcode and send you the string of characters. From there, you just do whatever you need to do, for example, lookup the value in a database.
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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A barcode reader is just like a keyboard. After is scans the code it decodes it and sends you like it was an input string... To try and interpret the scanned image by yourself will be a total waste of time, and a sure way to errors...
If you have to handle specific barcode formats, buy a scanner can handle it...
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Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this?
Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
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I don't want to decode image. My application send me as you wrote string readed from barcode image. I want to decode this string into separate information connected with barcodes AI's. I get string like 019123456789012331030605781516120510161128001 and I want to get it into PLU 01 - 1234567890123 then weight 3103 06000 (60,578kg), best before 15 161205 (05.12.2016) and LOT 10 161128001.
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A barcode holds continuous information and the meaning of that is decided by those who wrote it. There is no global/common decoding of such string, but only in connection to the product printed on...
I worked with barcodes where there was a separator (like comma) and also with codes without any separation...
Simply there is no on-size-for-all solution when decoding the meaning of a barcode...
Skipper: We'll fix it.
Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this?
Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
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Actually, there is, for UCC/EAN128 barcodes - I no longer have a copy, but there is an official spec which describes the barcode, which is broken into a large range of possible fields, including specific ones for price, weight, batch, production dates, serial numbers, and pretty much anything else you might want in a item identifier. The spec weighs around three Kg IIRC ... I've probably still got the Z80 assembler code to generate them from the constituent parts somewhere, but it could take months to find it! 
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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I know GS1-128 and also EPC and I worked with barcodes (as part of a project for warehouse management) - those are standards made for the paper mostly. The problem with GS1 is that it holds a lot of copyrights that makes it almost impossible to use their ideas because of the fear of infringement...
So - one may write a method to interpret GS1 or EPC, but in most cases it will not work. As today, almost every manufacturer has his own system to create codes (and barcodes from them) and it may change even for the same manufacturer from product to product...
Skipper: We'll fix it.
Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this?
Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
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You're not going to find a library for this.
It comes down to simple string manipulation. You get a code from the scanner and you have to break it down into the parts you need. There's nothing magical about this.
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You are saying you get a string of digits (nothing to do with barcodes) and you know the structure of the information in the string. So what exactly is your problem in separating and decoding these fields?
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I don't know exactly what is the structure of the information because it can be different. For example 1 EAN128 code can contains only article number and batch, another one can contains article number with weight and batch, another can contains article with number of pieces and production date etc. There are many possibilities. AI tells what information this string contains and what I need is good algorithm that search for all possible AI and decode string into separate information. I don't want to miss any possibility.
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I know all that you send me but like I said - i don't want to miss something and I asked if anyone is using some ready solutions (also paid) that can do this decoding for me.
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If there is already a library in existence for this then Google is the place to look. If Google does not find one then you need to write your own. It's not exactly a difficult problem.
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What you're talking about is using a standardized format to non-standard uses. There isn't going to be a library for this!
If you're going to use an EAN128 code that can have differing fields from one scan to another, you MUST have another field that tells your code which field format is being used for that code. For example:
Layout ProductCode Weight
1 394857394587 12.46
Layout ProductCode Count
2 294579834759 12
Layout ProductCode DateCode Count
3 324875938457 1623 12
You're going to have to write your own library for this, both to generate the barcodes and to read them.
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If you don't know what the layout is supposed to be or how to parse this (using .Substring, for example), how can you confirm that any "library" will do what you want?
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