Get Started With ID Capture

Quick overview

ID Capture provides the capability to scan personal identification documents, such as identity cards, passports or visas. In this guide you will learn step by step how to add ID Capture to your application. Roughly, the steps are:

Note

Using ID Capture at the same time as other modes (e.g. Barcode Capture or Text Capture) is currently not supported.

• Create a SDCDataCaptureContext.

• Access a SDCCamera.

• Use SDCIdCaptureSettings to configure the scan process.

• Implement an SDCIdCaptureListener to receive scan results.

• Set up SDCDataCaptureView and SDCIdCaptureOverlay to see the camera feed and the scan UI.

• Begin the scanning by adding an SDCIdCapture to SDCDataCaptureContext and starting a camera.

Prerequisites

Before starting with adding a capture mode, make sure that you have a valid Scandit Data Capture SDK license key and that you added the necessary dependencies. If you have not done that yet, check out this guide.

Note

You can retrieve your Scandit Data Capture SDK license key, by signing in to your account at ssl.scandit.com/dashboard/sign-in.

Internal dependencies

Some of the Scandit Data Capture SDK modules depend on others to work:

Module	Dependencies
ScanditCaptureCore	No dependencies
ScanditBarcodeCapture	ScanditCaptureCore
ScanditParser	No dependencies
ScanditOCR	No dependencies
ScanditTextCapture	ScanditCaptureCore ScanditTXT
ScanditIdCapture	ScanditCaptureCore ScanditIDC (VIZ documents)
ScanditIDC	No dependencies
ScanditTXT	No dependencies

Please note that your license may support only a subset of ID Capture features. If you would like to use additional features please contact us at support@scandit.com.

Show loading status with default UI

To show some feedback to the user about the loading status you have two options: use the default UI provided with the SDK or subscribe to the loading status and update your own custom UI. Let’s see how we you can show the default UI first:

Show loading status with custom UI

You can also just subscribe for the loading status of the library by simply attaching a listener like this:

Note

We suggest to serve the library files with the proper headers Content-Length and Content-Encoding if any compression is present. In case of totally missing information we will show an estimated progress

Create the Data Capture Context

The first step to add capture capabilities to your application is to create a new data capture context. The context expects a valid Scandit Data Capture SDK license key during construction.

self.context = DataCaptureContext(licenseKey: "-- ENTER YOUR SCANDIT LICENSE KEY HERE --")

Add the Camera

You need to also create the SDCCamera:

camera = Camera.default
context.setFrameSource(camera, completionHandler: nil)

let recommenededCameraSettings = IdCapture.recommendedCameraSettings
camera?.apply(recommenededCameraSettings)

Create ID Capture Settings

Use SDCIdCaptureSettings to configure the types of documents that you’d like to scan. Check SDCIdDocumentType for all the available options.

Warning

Using SDCIdDocumentTypeDLVIZ or SDCIdDocumentTypeIdCardVIZ together with any MRZ document (SDCIdDocumentTypeIdCardMRZ, SDCIdDocumentTypeVisaMRZ, SDCIdDocumentTypePassportMRZ, SDCIdDocumentTypeSwissDLMRZ) while SDCSupportedSidesFrontAndBack is enabled is currently not supported.

idCaptureSettings.supportedDocuments = [.idCardViz, .aamvaBarcode, .dlViz]

Implement the Listener

To receive scan results, implement SDCIdCaptureListener. A result is delivered as SDCCapturedId. This class contains data common for all kinds of personal identification documents. For more specific information use its non-nil result properties (for example SDCCapturedId.aamvaBarcodeResult).

extension IdCaptureViewController: IdCaptureListener {
  func idCapture(_ idCapture: IdCapture, didCaptureIn session: IdCaptureSession, frameData: FrameData) {
    let capturedId = session.newlyCapturedId

    // The recognized fields of the captured Id can vary based on the type.
    if capturedId.mrzResult != nil {
        // Handle the information extracted.
    } else if capturedId.vizResult != nil {
        // Handle the information extracted.
    } else if capturedId.aamvaBarcodeResult != nil {
        // Handle the information extracted.
    } else if capturedId.usUniformedServicesBarcodeResult != nil {
        // Handle the information extracted.
    }
  }

  func idCapture(_ idCapture: IdCapture,
                didFailWithError error: Error,
                session: IdCaptureSession,
                frameData: FrameData) {
    // Handle the error.
  }
}

Create a new ID Capture mode with the chosen settings. Then register the listener:

idCapture = IdCapture(context: context, settings: idCaptureSettings)
idCapture.addListener(self)

Use a Capture View to Visualize the Scan Process

When using the built-in camera as frame source, you will typically want to display the camera preview on the screen together with UI elements that guide the user through the capturing process. To do that, add a SDCDataCaptureView to your view hierarchy:

let captureView = DataCaptureView(for: context, frame: view.bounds)
captureView.dataCaptureContext = context
captureView.autoresizingMask = [.flexibleWidth, .flexibleHeight]
view.addSubview(captureView)

Then create an instance of SDCIdCaptureOverlay attached to the view:

let overlay = IdCaptureOverlay(idCapture: idCapture, view: captureView)

The overlay chooses the displayed UI automatically, based on the selected SDCIdCaptureSettings.

Turn on the Camera

Finally, turn on the camera to start scanning:

camera?.switch(toDesiredState: .on)

And this is it. You can now scan documents.

Capture both the front and the back side of documents

By default, when SDCIdDocumentTypeDLVIZ or SDCIdDocumentTypeIdCardVIZ are selected, Id Capture scans only the front side of documents. Sometimes however, you may be interested in extracting combined information from both the front and the back side.

Currently the combined result contains the following information: * AAMVA-compliant documents (for example US Driver’s Licenses): the human-readable front side of the document and the data encoded in the PDF417 barcode in the back; * European IDs: the human-readable sections of the front and the back side, and the data encoded in the Machine Readable Zone (MRZ); * Other documents: the human-readable section of the front and the back side (if present).

First, enable scanning of both sides of documents in SDCIdCaptureSettings:

settings.supportedDocuments = [.idCardVIZ, .dlVIZ]
settings.supportedSides = .frontAndBack

Start by scanning the front side of a document. After you receive the result in SDCIdCaptureListener, inspect SDCVizResult.isBackSideCaptureSupported. If scanning of the back side of your document is supported, flip the document and capture the back side as well. The next result that you receive is a combined result that contains the information from both sides. You may verify this by checking SDCVizResult.capturedSides. After both sides of the document are scanned, you may proceed with another document.

Sometimes, you may not be interested in scanning the back side of a document, after you completed the front scan. For example, your user may decide to cancel the process. Internally, Id Capture maintains the state of the scan, that helps it to provide better combined results. To abandon capturing the back of a document, reset this state by calling:

idCapture.reset()

Otherwise, Id Capture may assume that the front side of a new document is actually the back side of an old one, and provide you with nonsensical results.

Use ID Validate to detect fake IDs

ID Validate is a fake ID detection software. It currently supports documents that follow the Driver License/Identification Card specification by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA).

The following two verifiers are available:

• SDCAAMVAVizBarcodeComparisonVerifier: Validates the authenticity of the document by comparing the data from the VIZ and from the barcode on the back.

• SDCAAMVABarcodeVerifier: Validates the authenticity of the document by scanning the barcode on the back.

To enable ID Validate for your subscription, please reach out to support@scandit.com.

Supported documents

You can find the list of supported documents here.

What’s next?

To dive further into the Scandit Data Capture SDK we recommend the following articles:

• ScanditIdCapture