Add the SDK to Your App

This guide shows you how to add the Scandit Data Capture SDK to current existing project.

Prerequisites

  • The latest stable version of Visual Studio.

  • A Xamarin.iOS project with minimum iOS deployment target of 13.0 or higher. Or a Xamarin.Android project with target SDK version 23 (Android 6, Marshmallow) or higher.

  • A valid Scandit Data Capture SDK license key. You can sign up for a free test account at ssl.scandit.com.

Note

Android devices running the Scandit Data Capture SDK need to have a GPU or the performance will drastically decrease.

Get a License Key

  1. If you don’t have a Scandit account yet, create a free test account at ssl.scandit.com.

  2. Sign in to your account at ssl.scandit.com/sessions/new.

  3. Select “License Keys” from the left-hand menu.

  4. If you don’t have a license key for your app yet, click “Create native SDK license key” and enter the bundle ID for your project.

  5. Copy the license key.

If you have a paid subscription, please reach out to support@scandit.com if you need a new license key.

Add the SDK

The Scandit Data Capture SDK is distributed as NuGet packages.

You will always need to add the Scandit.DataCapture.Core.Xamarin package, which contains the core functionality used by the other data capture packages. In addition, depending on the data capture task, you will need a reference to:

  • Scandit.DataCapture.Barcode.Xamarin (ScanditBarcodeCapture API) if you want to use barcode-related functionality such as barcode capture or MatrixScan.

  • Scandit.DataCapture.Parser.Xamarin (ScanditParser API) if you want to parse data strings, e.g. as found in barcodes, into a set of key-value mappings.

  • Scandit.DataCapture.TextCapture.Xamarin (ScanditTextCapture API) if you want to use text recognition (OCR) functionality, often combined with barcode scanning to deliver simultaneous barcode and text capture.

You can safely remove Scandit.DataCapture.Barcode.Xamarin, Scandit.DataCapture.Parser.Xamarin, Scandit.DataCapture.TextCapture.Xamarin dependencies if you are not going to use their features.

Additional Information

  • Camera Permissions: When using the Scandit Data Capture SDK you will want to set the camera as the frame source for various capture modes. On Xamarin.Android, you have to request camera permissions in your own application before starting scanning. To see how you can achieve this, take a look at our samples: Run our Sample Apps.

Next steps

You are now ready to tackle the following guides: