Re: New mBarcode release on its way
 

Sorry, you were right about the update.
Thanks :)

Re: New mBarcode release on its way
 

Is it possible to get support to microsoft tag also: http://tag.microsoft.com/consumer/index.aspx

Re: New mBarcode release on its way
 

There are two possibilities - see if the authors of either libdmtx or libzbar are looking to add decoders for this type of barcode (as these are what we use at the backend) or if there's an open-source decoder lurking somewhere I can plumb it in assuming it doesn't require too much CPU and screw everything else up ;)

Re: New mBarcode release on its way
 

Just like goddamn microsoft to go their own way with a proprietary format.

Re: New mBarcode release on its way
 

Maybe through a collaboration with the lfocus developer.

Re: New mBarcode release on its way
 

Hi

I have noticed that it sometimes fails to recognise 2D barcodes even when absolutely crystal clear with perfect lighting/contrast - rotating the camera or subject sometimes helps but not always, anyway , just as i'm about to give up and move the camera away it suddenly seems to recognise it, and from a really blurred mess of an image which i really struggle to believe it could decipher anything from, yet the code is correct.

Is it possible that it has previously recognised it but failed to notify the gui somehow and that when it becomes so blurred it really cant tell what it is that it gives up it then shows the code along side a messy image.

Is the image shown definitely the one the code was derived from? - if so its pretty incredible what it can do!

Re: New mBarcode release on its way
 

There shouldn't be any way for the decoder to decode something and the UI not be told, so the problem is not there.

What might be happening is that the pipeline is forked, where the camera itself it at the root and one branch goes off to display on the screen, and the other is piped through the libzbar and libdmtx decoders (implemented as gstreamer elements) one after the other.

Now the framerate is higher than the decoder rate, so some of the frames displayed on the display branch will simply be dropped by the decoder branch until the decoders have finished processing their current frame.

So to answer that question, no, the frame shown is not necessarily the one decoded, but there shouldn't be much lag (though there is more lag on dmtx than on QR codes as the libdmtx decoder is slower).

Speaking about decoding from blurry images, the QR code decoder really is rather good at this, better than the 1D code decoder certainly.

Re: New mBarcode release on its way
 

I'm actually seeing this myself from time to time. When I think about it, this might be a problem caused by the constant autofocusing, although I remember having seen this some time ago as well. Maybe we should wait until the previous image has been decoded before calling autofocus again, just to make sure it does not get called again and again when the autofocus is temporarily causing the image to be out of focus?

Or would it be better to wait for the autofocus' success signal before calling the decoders at all? A simple way would be to set a "bool readyForDecode" to true whenever the autofocus callback returns with success and to false whenever autofocus is initiated?

Re: New mBarcode release on its way
 

If you already know what the product is (ie you have it in front of you) why would you need this app to find out what it is?
I'm not knocking it as a fair number find it useful but I am not sure of it's use

Re: New mBarcode release on its way
 

There are several good ways to use the barcode: Automatically start a search where the article can be bought next to your location with less price. Search online stores, find similar articles "is this available in another color?".

Also the QR-code can be used for many things. Urls, VCards, maybe some time for our ovi store (like android does).

Re: New mBarcode release on its way
 

The use is a bit limited since we don't have too many plugins developed for the application yet. For the moment you may do this with regular barcodes (1D):
- Look them up on the web to see if any other stores have them in stock for a lower price. Currently this is only possible through search engines, but we (or other developers) will try to scrape this information from shops like for instance Amazon automatically.
- Share your opinion using Informed Individual (alpha).
- Get others' opinions using Informed Individual (alpha).
With QR codes and datamatrix codes:
- See what the code contains.
- Open it up in the browser if it is an URL.
- Add a contact if it's a VCard (probably in the next version)
+ more to come

The reason one would often like to find out what the product really is (as in it's full name) could be to do more searches for info about the product without having to type it in manually. It's just a way of doing things a bit faster and making it more convenient :)

Re: New mBarcode release on its way
 

Ok.
I understand more now.
So ideally, with maybe more development, you could find a product in a shop, record the barcode, and find out if any local store or online shop has it cheaper.

Re: New mBarcode release on its way
 

Yes, and reviews about the product as well. Both from Amazon, Informed Individual and other places too.

Hopefully, a lot of that functionality will be ready during this summer.

Re: New mBarcode release on its way
 

Thanks dragfly
Any idea when it will get into extras-testing or extras?

Re: New mBarcode release on its way
 

I'd like to do some finishes to the UI (at least see how a full screen scanner would be like) and fix some more bugs before we push it up to extras-testing, but I guess that it could be ready in about a month's time (no promises, though).

Re: New mBarcode release on its way
 

Interesting. I'd be tempted to set a timer so that the autofocus is only started again once the previous one has returned something (though I'll have to check the api to see if it returns an "I've timed out" message).

Re: New mBarcode release on its way
 

Actually I don't see any issues with pushing to extras-testing so that users can give it a go now (though up to dragly to say whether he's happy with the current state).

One thing we need to work out is how to avoid it then being sucked into the rating process (mainly as it annoys me to receive loads of curt messages saying why have you not done this/that/the other and still expect to be promoted. Grrr!) as it's not finished, just being put in there for people to be able to access more easily.

Re: New mBarcode release on its way
 

With "returned something" do you mean that the autofocus has returned with a callback? If so, it does already wait for that before calling the autofocus. The refocus checks a flag which is called "focusing" which is set to false whenever the autofocus returns with a state (failed, success, etc.). The state is what you see in the output when running mbarcode.

I think we should test to see if it helps to wait for the decoders to finish decoding the previous image as well (if that is possible in a smart way, given that there are two decoders).

Re: New mBarcode release on its way
 

GIven that we'd get more people testing it, I wouldn't mind at all to put it in extras-testing. It's just that I don't think it is ready for promotion yet, but we seem to agree there ;)

So if we are able to do as you say, and get it there to be tested without having people promote it yet, that would be a good idea :) I guess we won't be able to completely avoid those comments about these and those features missing, but we could probably put a disclaimer out in the app description or something similar. After all, I guess people use extras-testing because they like giving reviews as well :p

By the way, what do you see necessary before we can call it a 1.0 final release? What I can think of is this:
- finish the QR-plugin with all the features we've set place for (vCards, .install links, etc.)
- do some testing with different UI layouts and see if we could make an overlayed semi-full screen scanning (semi as in "with titlebar")
- ability to save/open images
- a better result list layout, with an option for plugins to show results before being clicked (for instance lowest price) with a user option to disable this when roaming

I'm sure there is more too, but I can't think of anything right now.

Re: New mBarcode release on its way
 

Yep, those sound like reasonable steps for 1.0, and possibly also get Python support added in.... (hmm, I seem to keep thinking I should do that and never getting round to it, I'll see what I can do [he says!])

Re: New mBarcode release on its way
 

Isn't a part of the reason of extras-testing for users to give input on what they think is missing?
You would want the final product in extras to be as useful as possible to the end user so extras-testing gives the possibility to add functionality that the original developers didn't think of.
So long as criticism is constructive it can only help the product.

Re: New mBarcode release on its way
 

Of course we welcome people adding suggestions, I just don't want people to think that as the new version of mbarcode will be in extras-testing, that we think it's ready for extras proper (as this is part of the promotion process). Actually it would be there so people can use it, add feedback, etc., without needing to enable extras-devel.

Shame we can't stop it being promoted (and show people that we don't expect it to be in its current form) and then just get feedback (but maybe we can, if I give it a thumbs down I think it then can't be promoted anyway, I'll have to have a look/ask XFade).

Re: New mBarcode release on its way
 

Sorry for taking that long to reply.

I'd like to read a QR code containing a contact (vCard, hCard, MeCard) and have the possibility to import it. A MeCard is some kind of small vCard that is used for that purpose by Apple and Android.

And they also give the possibility to export a contact as QR code, which makes exchanging contact details pretty easy. Here's a page with some information and an example: http://pthree.org/2010/01/07/qr-code...ard-and-hcard/

Re: New mBarcode release on its way
 

vCards are working now, I'll have a look at the format of the other two, and assuming I can convert them into vCards, they will also be possible to import.

Re: New mBarcode release on its way
 

I've just had a look and yes it should be possible to convert them (conversion is necessary atm rather than simple parsing as the abook headers don't like being used in a C++ program so for vCards I write them to a temp file and open that using the correct mime handler app - i.e. contacts).

With that said I don't have the time at the moment (off to the US this weekend) so if anyone fancies extending the functionality of the qrcode plugin please send in your patches.

I also note that MECARD is but one of a myriad barcode payloads from docomo. It would also be nice to parse and use more of those.

Re: New mBarcode release on its way
 

i have installed mBarcode but cant find it anywhere, how do i start the application ?

Re: New mBarcode release on its way
 

Should appear in the applications list, check it installed correctly by running "mbarcode" in the terminal.

Re: [Announce] New mBarcode release on its way
 

Just downloaded
mbarcode_1.0.0-3_armel.deb
from
http://repository.maemo.org/extras-d...ee/m/mbarcode/

It has some dependencies to libs that where not existing on my N900 and so it does not install right away, but that is no real problem for a Linux user. :-)

Then I was testing this program.
Very good work!

I tested it with
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR-Code
on a DELL LCD monitor.
Works like a charm.
Even with the distorted picture "Plakatwand mit QR-Code". :-)
It is a bit more difficult on a CRT monitor but it works.
I could even read the QR code from nology (member of this forum).
;-)

These are the applications that make a N900 a real swiss knife.

Re: New mBarcode release on its way
 

hi,

i'm using mbarcode for a while now and its a good app. But i've got a problem with the webrequest plugin. I just want to add a new page to the plugin. For example barcoo.com/mobile.

Now you have to put the Barcode in the input field on the webpage. This istn very comfortable.

But if you do so, the url will look like this: http://www.barcoo.com/mobile/extern_..._CODE&pins?EAN

so the webrequest plugin should use this link, but must change HERE_EAN_CODE. Is there a symbol, something like %EAN% to put in the link and mbarcode replace it with the read EAN?

It would be great!

Re: New mBarcode release on its way
 

hello
just add news search providers and:


h*ttp://www.barcoo.com/mobile/extern_pi_pins?brand=barcoo&m=pmb&pi=%s&pins=EAN

Re: New mBarcode release on its way
 

great! thanks!