QR Code Scanning Under Windows 8.1

[AlexWLV]

Hello,

 

I’ve received a request from a member of academic staff to

provide a barcode scanning application of some sorts on a set of tablets

running Windows 8.1. Their intention is to add barcodes (probably QR codes) to

physical objects in a lab/classroom. On a basic level, they would like the

barcodes to hold a URL, linking students to supplementary content such as a

video tutorial or further reading. For example, a student would use the

tablet’s integrated camera to scan a QR code on a piece of equipment that links

them to a video tutorial on how to use it.

 

I have implemented something on a small scale (10 devices of

very similar hardware and OS configuration to this target area) for our library

staff using an external Bluetooth scanner (Opticon OPN-2006) but this

would neither be practical nor cost effective for the target area of ~300

tablets. Imagine trying to correctly pair those devices with a group of ~60

students!

 

What I’ve found so far:

• bcWebCam (http://www.bcwebcam.de/en/index.html)

– Not very slick and full licence is €98+VAT per device

• ZBar (http://zbar.sourceforge.net/)

– Fails to discover the camera on my test device (I’m yet to dig deeper or test on other hardware)

• OnBarcode (http://www.onbarcode.com/scanner/#howtostart)

– Geared towards developers to integrate with their own applications and doesn’t provide a simple way of acquiring the barcdoeimage

• Scandit (http://www.scandit.com/)

– Probably the most polished offering but not the simple solution I’m looking for. Also geared towards delivery as a Windows Store App which would be an added hurdle for delivery

 

 

 

 

Has anybody implemented something similar?

 

 

Can anybody recommend any good barcode/QR code scanning utilities that would use an integrated camera?

Note that this needs to be something easily deployed (not a Windows Store freebie/ad-riddled hobby app). Something simple to scan>beep>read a URL from a QR code and open it.

 

Regards,

 

Alex

[LeMarchand]

Not tried any of them, but there are some online readers.