Android barcode scanner using Zxing

How to call Zxing barcode scanner from you application using Intent? The ZXing project provides a standalone barcode reader application using Android's intent mechanism, can be called by other applications who wish to integrate barcode scanning.

If you want to integrate barcode scanning directly into your application without relying on having the separate ZXing application installed, then you can do so! It's an open source project and the code is available for free and can be downloaded at http://code.google.com/p/zxing/.You are going to add the whole ZXing project core to your app and modify as you wish. This way your app will no longer require ZXing app exist in client device.

ZXing uses phone or tablet camera to scan barcodes, QR codes or multi-format 1D/2D barcodes. So the scan result highly depends on the camera quality and resolution. ZXing has relatively fast processing speed. More importantly, it is an open source projectso you can do whatever changes you like to it!

Example source code for using Zxing barcode scanner from you application using Intent

Source for main.xml screen layout

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:orientation="vertical" 
 android:layout_gravity="center">
 <TextView 
  android:layout_width="fill_parent" 
  android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
  android:text="@string/hello"
  android:gravity="center" android:textSize="25sp"/>
 <Button android:text="Scan QR Code" android:id="@+id/scanner" 
  android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
  android:gravity="center" android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal">
 </Button>
 <Button android:text="Scan BAR Code" android:id="@+id/scanner2" 
  android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
  android:gravity="center" android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal">
 </Button>
</LinearLayout>

Source for AndroidScanner.java program for barcode scanning

package com.as400samplecode;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.ActivityNotFoundException;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.util.Log;
import android.view.Gravity;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.View.OnClickListener;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.Toast;

public class AndroidScanner extends Activity {
    /** Called when the activity is first created. */
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.main);
       
        try {
            Button scanner = (Button)findViewById(R.id.scanner);
            scanner.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {
               
                public void onClick(View v) {
                    Intent intent = new Intent("com.google.zxing.client.android.SCAN");
                    intent.putExtra("SCAN_MODE", "QR_CODE_MODE");
                    startActivityForResult(intent, 0);
                }

            });
           
            Button scanner2 = (Button)findViewById(R.id.scanner2);
            scanner2.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {
               
                public void onClick(View v) {
                    Intent intent = new Intent("com.google.zxing.client.android.SCAN");
                    intent.putExtra("SCAN_MODE", "PRODUCT_MODE");
                    startActivityForResult(intent, 0);
                }

            });
           
        } catch (ActivityNotFoundException anfe) {
            Log.e("onCreate", "Scanner Not Found", anfe);
        }
       
    }
   
    public void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent intent) {
        if (requestCode == 0) {
            if (resultCode == RESULT_OK) {
                String contents = intent.getStringExtra("SCAN_RESULT");
                String format = intent.getStringExtra("SCAN_RESULT_FORMAT");
                // Handle successful scan
                Toast toast = Toast.makeText(this, "Content:" + contents + " Format:" + format , Toast.LENGTH_LONG);
                toast.setGravity(Gravity.TOP, 25, 400);
                toast.show();
            } else if (resultCode == RESULT_CANCELED) {
                // Handle cancel
                Toast toast = Toast.makeText(this, "Scan was Cancelled!", Toast.LENGTH_LONG);
                toast.setGravity(Gravity.TOP, 25, 400);
                toast.show();
               
            }
        }
    }

}

TIP: You can make your application check for existence of the Zxing application. 

See IntentIntegrator for a possibly easier way to integrate. In particular this will handle the case where Barcode Scanner is not yet installed. Click on the link below for more details

http://code.google.com/p/zxing/source/browse/trunk/android-integration/src/com/google/zxing/integration/android/IntentIntegrator.java

Sample code from IntentIntegrator.java

private static final String PACKAGE = "com.google.zxing.client.android"; 

catch (ActivityNotFoundException e) {
      return showDownloadDialog(activity, stringTitle, stringMessage, stringButtonYes, stringButtonNo);
    }

private static AlertDialog showDownloadDialog(final Activity activity,
                                                CharSequence stringTitle,
                                                CharSequence stringMessage,
                                                CharSequence stringButtonYes,
                                                CharSequence stringButtonNo) {
    AlertDialog.Builder downloadDialog = new AlertDialog.Builder(activity);
    downloadDialog.setTitle(stringTitle);
    downloadDialog.setMessage(stringMessage);
    downloadDialog.setPositiveButton(stringButtonYes, new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
      public void onClick(DialogInterface dialogInterface, int i) {
        Uri uri = Uri.parse("market://search?q=pname:" + PACKAGE);
        Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, uri);
        try {
          activity.startActivity(intent);
        } catch (ActivityNotFoundException anfe) {
          // Hmm, market is not installed
          Log.w(TAG, "Android Market is not installed; cannot install Barcode Scanner");
        }
      }
    });
    downloadDialog.setNegativeButton(stringButtonNo, new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
      public void onClick(DialogInterface dialogInterface, int i) {}
    });
    return downloadDialog.show();
  }

More information on Zxing scanner application

According to ZXing (pronounced "zebra crossing") is an open-source, multi-format 1D/2D barcode image processing library implemented in Java, with ports to other languages. Our focus is on using the built-in camera on mobile phones to scan and decode barcodes on the device, without communicating with a server. However the project can be used to encode and decode barcodes on desktops and servers as well. We currently support these formats:

• UPC-A and UPC-E
• EAN-8 and EAN-13
• Code 39
• Code 93
• Code 128
• QR Code
• ITF
• Codabar
• RSS-14 (all variants)
• Data Matrix
• PDF 417 ('alpha' quality)
• Aztec ('alpha' quality)

To scan codabar format pass the intent extra the format as explained below

/**
* Comma-separated list of formats to scan for. The values must match the names of
* {@link com.google.zxing.BarcodeFormat}s, e.g. {@link com.google.zxing.BarcodeFormat#EAN_13}.
* Example: "EAN_13,EAN_8,QR_CODE"
*
* This overrides {@link #MODE}.
*/

public static final String FORMATS = "SCAN_FORMATS";
intent.putExtra("SCAN_FORMATS", "CODABAR");

List of barcode formats supported by ZXING

/** QR Code 2D barcode format. */
public static final BarcodeFormat QR_CODE = new BarcodeFormat("QR_CODE");

/** DataMatrix 2D barcode format. */
public static final BarcodeFormat DATA_MATRIX = new BarcodeFormat("DATA_MATRIX");

/** UPC-E 1D format. */
public static final BarcodeFormat UPC_E = new BarcodeFormat("UPC_E");

/** UPC-A 1D format. */
public static final BarcodeFormat UPC_A = new BarcodeFormat("UPC_A");

/** EAN-8 1D format. */
public static final BarcodeFormat EAN_8 = new BarcodeFormat("EAN_8");

/** EAN-13 1D format. */
public static final BarcodeFormat EAN_13 = new BarcodeFormat("EAN_13");

/** UPC/EAN extension format. Not a stand-alone format. */
public static final BarcodeFormat UPC_EAN_EXTENSION = new BarcodeFormat("UPC_EAN_EXTENSION");

/** Code 128 1D format. */
public static final BarcodeFormat CODE_128 = new BarcodeFormat("CODE_128");

/** Code 39 1D format. */
public static final BarcodeFormat CODE_39 = new BarcodeFormat("CODE_39");

/** Code 93 1D format. */
public static final BarcodeFormat CODE_93 = new BarcodeFormat("CODE_93");

/** CODABAR 1D format. */
public static final BarcodeFormat CODABAR = new BarcodeFormat("CODABAR");

/** ITF (Interleaved Two of Five) 1D format. */
public static final BarcodeFormat ITF = new BarcodeFormat("ITF");

/** RSS 14 */
public static final BarcodeFormat RSS14 = new BarcodeFormat("RSS14");

/** PDF417 format. */
public static final BarcodeFormat PDF417 = new BarcodeFormat("PDF417");

/** RSS EXPANDED */
public static final BarcodeFormat RSS_EXPANDED = new BarcodeFormat("RSS_EXPANDED");