Introduction
Specification
Demonstration
FAQs
Clients
Pricing and Ordering
Evaluation
Disclaimer
Copyright
Other SDK's
Acknowledgements
The core of the barcode decoder SDK is the Java package tasman.bars. This package identifies and reads barcodes contained within Java image instances. It provides an easy route to giving Java applications a barcode reading ability.
Alternative forms for some of the above symbology names for the benefit of search engines: Code11, Code-11, Code128, Code-128, Code32, Code-32, Code39, Code-39, Code93, Code-93, DataMatrix, i2of5, ITF, EAN13, EAN-13, EAN8, EAN-8, Micro-QR, PDF-417, PDF 417, QRCode, RM4SCC, RSS14, UPCA, UPC-A, UPCE, UPC-E.
Download bardemo5.jar (~450k), the demonstration Java application for Java SE 5.0 and later.
Alternatively, download bardemo5.zip (~450k) instead. Unzip this file to create bardemo5.jar, and install it as described below.
(Previously known as J2SE 1.3 and 1.4).
Download bardemo3.jar (~450k), the demonstration Java application for Java SE 1.3 and 1.4.
Alternatively, download bardemo3.zip (~450k) instead. Unzip this file to create bardemo3.jar, and install it as described below.
Run the application using java with the -jar option. If the current directory is the new directory created in step 1 above, and if the java executable is in the current path, then the command that runs the application is:
java -jar bardemo5.jar or java -jar bardemo3.jar
When first run, the demonstration application creates a file readme.html in the program directory created in step 1 above. This is a copy of this page. A few sample barcode image files, including those shown on this page, are also created in subdirectories of the application directory.
The above procedure makes no changes to the system beyond the creation of the new directory and its contents. To uninstall, simply delete the directory created in step 1 above.
GIF, JPEG, and PNG, for which Java has built-in support.
TIFF and other popular image formats in conjunction with the Java Advanced Imaging API.
PDF image files in conjunction with third party packages capable of creating Java images instances from the PDF files. Some such packages appear in this list.
Yes, if Java Advanced Imaging (JAI) is available to the JRE as an installed extension. If it is, then bardemo detects its presence, displays TIFFs in the Open dialog, and uses JAI to load them.
[The jar files of an installed extension are placed in <java-home>\lib\ext where <java-home> refers to the directory where the runtime software is installed (which is the top-level directory of the JRE or the jre directory in the JDK software). To make JAI available as an installed extension copy the files jai_codec.jar and jai_core.jar into this directory.]
The Open dialog supports multiple selection of files within a single directory. The toolbar options (symbologies and read directions) should be set before selecting multiple files as in this case reading begins as soon as the dialog is affirmatively closed.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
The SDK for Java SE 5.0 and later has explicit multi-processor support, as described here.
See tasman.bars.jme for the package compatible with Java ME (Java Platform, Micro Edition).
The package reports all the barcodes (of the specified symbology or symbologies) that it finds in an image. These barcodes are returned as an array. It is simple to loop through this array and just extract particular barcodes based on, for example, the position of the barcodes within the image, or the data that they encode.
Yes. Read directions are specified - one or more of right, left, up, and down - before reading an image. The package normally successfully identifies barcodes that are rotated up to 45 degrees from the specified read direction. Specify all four read directions to cope with barcodes at any orientation. (But reading in all four directions takes longer than just one direction).
Postal barcodes (e.g. Planet, Postnet, and RM4SCC) must normally be aligned within around five degrees of the horizontal or vertical.
Yes. For each barcode identified in the image, a method can be invoked which returns the read direction (right, left, up down). Two further methods return instances which identify the start and end edges of the barcode (the red lines in the diagram at right), from which it is straightforward to calculate the angular orientation of the barcode. (The green rectangle is the bounding rectangle - returned by yet another method).
Here is a list of some of the current licensees.
See www.tasman.co.uk/bars/pricing.html
Purchase of a license gives distribution rights - you do not have to purchase runtime licenses to distribute tasman.bars with your application(s).
An evaluation SDK can be supplied free of charge to companies and organizations. Request an evaluation SDK.
There is no warranty that the tasman.bars package will successfully read a barcode in an image, nor that it will not report barcodes that do not in reality exist in the image. The bardemo demonstration applications incorporate tasman.bars; potential licensees are advised to use bardemo to obtain an indication of the suitability of the package for their own applications.
The package tasman.bars and the bardemo applications
are copyright © 2001-2007 Robin Thomson trading as Tasman Software.
Tasman is a registered trademark of the above.
Use and distribution of the tasman.bars packages is restricted to licensees
of the SDK, excepting that the bardemo demonstration applications
are freely distributable in unaltered form only and as free standing applications only.
Java ME - Tasman Barcode Reader Java ME SDK
.Net - Tasman Barcode Reader .Net SDK
Data Matrix is a trademark of International Data Matrix, Inc.
Intelligent Mail is a registered trademark of the United States Postal Service.
Java is a registered trademark of Sun Microsystems Inc.
Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
bars@tasman.co.uk
This document resides at http://www.tasman.co.uk/bars/readme.html