1. Quick Start

This guide will show you the minimum required steps to include enioka Scan in your application. It assumes that you already have a configured Android Studio project.

This guide will only go over the minimal code. For a more in-depth guide for each use case, check the API reference.

1.1. Add the required dependencies

In order to use enioka Scan, you need to add the corresponding dependency to your build.gradle.

repositories {
    mavenCentral()
}
dependencies {
    implementation 'com.enioka.scanner:enioka-scan-core:3.0.0:aar'
}

Additional device-specific dependencies are required to enable support for actual scanners. You can check the library dependencies and compatibility matrix for a detailed overview.

1.2. Using the library

There are different ways to use the library, depending on where it has to be used. And in any ways, the library does not hide its low-level objects which are an always available fallback. Most scanner capabilities are exposed through the Scanner API, though the default behavior of the ScannerServiceApi API ought to be enough for simply receiving scanned data.

1.2.1. Using enioka Scan in an activity

The simplest way to use enioka Scan is to extend the provided ScannerCompatActivity activity:

import com.enioka.scanner.activities.ScannerCompatActivity;

public class MyScanningActivity extends ScannerCompatActivity {
}

This creates an activity with a very simple layout, which displays status messages from the scanners as well as scanning results and some utility buttons: triggers for the scanner, a toggle for illumination, a beep trigger, a trigger to the camera scanner and a trigger to show scanner logs.

If the camera scanner SDK is included (com.enioka.scanner.sdk.camera), the default camera layout and view will also be available inside the activity.

To use your own layouts with this activity, you can follow this guide.

Finally, note that inside the activity code there are a few hooks that can be overloaded - these are public or protected methods, with full javadoc. Of notice are:

  • onData(List<Barcode> data)

  • onStatusChanged(Scanner, ScannerStatusCallback.Status)

See also

1.2.2. Using enioka Scan outside of an activity

The library exposes a service which can be bound as any other bound service. ScannerCompatActivity actually uses this service to handle scanner connexions, and you are free to use it directly in your application.

enioka Scan provides a helper class that reduces the boilerplate code required to bind the service to your application class:

public class App extends Application {
    ScannerServiceBinderHelper serviceBinder;

    @Override
    public void onCreate() {
        super.onCreate();
        serviceBinder = ScannerServiceBinderHelper.bind(this); // a second overload exists with a configuration Bundle.
    }
    
    // You may then call service methods directly
    public void myMethod() {
        serviceBinder.getScannerService().registerClient(/* ... */);
    }
}

It is then possible to use the ScannerServiceApi instance to access the different endpoints of the service. The most interesting one is registerClient() which hooks scanning callbacks and scanner/provider discovery notifications to a class implementing the ScannerClient interface such as a custom activity.

Please remember to unbind the service when it is not needed anymore, as for any other service. This will often be in “onDestroy” hooks. Also, as this is a bound service, it is destroyed whenever it has no bound clients left. Many applications actually bind the service on startup onto the application context to be sure it is never destroyed and therefore is very quick to bind from anywhere, but this depends on the use-case and is not compulsory at all.

Finally, there are a few Intent Extra properties which can be set to control the behaviour of the service such as filters used in the scanner search. These can be found as static strings inside the ScannerServiceApi interface, and methods in the ScannerSearchOptions class help converting search parameters to and from those intent extras.

See also

1.3. Using the camera

Warning

When there is no laser scanner available, or when a button is clicked, the ScannerCompatActivity activity will fallback to using the device camera (if any) to scan barcodes. This leverages two different barcode scanning libraries, ZBar and ZXing in recent versions. It is compatible both with very old Camera APIs as well as more recent Camera 2 APIs. It tries to set the best camera parameters for barcode scanning, including dynamically setting the camera resolution according to the processing speed of the device. As a result, it may take a few dozen seconds to reach the most suitable settings on first startup - the resolution is then stored and reused on subsequent initialisations.

The camera scanner can actually be used easily inside your own activities without any links with the rest of the library (no need to use the scanner service, etc) by just adding the CameraBarcodeScanView to your layouts, and then registering a callback on this view using CameraBarcodeScanView.setResultHandler. Other APIs are available to enable the torch or pause scanning. You can also use the CameraProvider class to get a camera instance and control it, including the main functionalities of the camera scanner.

The provided Camera activity will display a target rectangle, which can be moved or tapped to change or refresh the autofocus area.

See also