Get Started With SparkScan

In this guide you will learn step by step how to add SparkScan to your application.

Roughly, the steps are:

1. Create a new Data Capture Context instance.

2. Configure the Spark Scan Mode.

3. Create the SparkScanView with the desired settings and bind it to the application’s lifecycle.

4. Register the listener to be informed when new barcodes are scanned and update your data whenever this event occurs.

1. Create a New Data Capture Context Instance

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.

DataCaptureContext dataCaptureContext = DataCaptureContext.ForLicenseKey("-- ENTER YOUR SCANDIT LICENSE KEY HERE --");

2. Configure the SparkScan Mode

The SparkScan Mode is configured through SparkScanSettings and allows you to register one or more listeners that are informed whenever a new barcode is scanned.

For this tutorial, we will set up SparkScan for scanning EAN13 codes. Change this to the correct symbologies for your use case (for example, Code 128, Code 39…).

SparkScanSettings settings = new SparkScanSettings();
HashSet<Symbology> symbologies = new HashSet<Symbology>()
{
    Symbology.Ean13Upca
};
settings.EnableSymbologies(symbologies);

Next, create a SparkScan instance with the settings initialized in the previous step:

SparkScan sparkScan = new SparkScan(settings);

3. Setup the Spark Scan View

The SparkScan built-in user interface includes the camera preview and scanning UI elements. These guide the user through the scanning process.

The SparkScanView appearance can be customized through SparkScanViewSettings.

SparkScanViewSettings viewSettings = new SparkScanViewSettings();
// setup the desired appearance settings by updating the fields in the object above

By adding a SparkScanView, the scanning interface (camera preview and scanning UI elements) will be added automatically to your application.

Add a SparkScanView to your view hierarchy:

Construct a new SparkScan view. The SparkScan view is automatically added to the provided parentView:

SparkScanView sparkScanView = SparkScanView.Create(parentView, dataCaptureContext, sparkScan, viewSettings);

Additionally, make sure to call SparkScanView.ViewWillAppear() and SparkScanView.ViewWillDisappear() in your UIViewController’s ViewWillAppear and ViewWillDisappear callbacks, to make sure that start up time is optimal and scanning is stopped when the app is going in the background.

public override void ViewWillAppear(bool animated)
{
    base.ViewWillAppear(animated);
    sparkScanView.ViewWillAppear();
}

public override void ViewWillDisappear(bool animated)
{
    base.ViewWillDisappear(animated);
    sparkScanView.ViewWillDisappear();
}

4. Register the Listener to Be Informed When a New Barcode Is Scanned

To keep track of the barcodes that have been scanned, implement the ISparkScanListener interface and register the listener to the SparkScan mode.

// Register self as a listener to monitor the spark scan session.
sparkScan.AddListener(this);

ISparkScanListener.OnBarcodeScanned() is called when a new barcode has been scanned. This result can be retrieved from the first object in the provided barcodes list: SparkScanSession.NewlyRecognizedBarcodes. Please note that this list only contains one barcode entry.

public void OnBarcodeScanned(SparkScan sparkScan, SparkScanSession session, IFrameData? data)
{
    if (session.NewlyRecognizedBarcodes.Count == 0)
    {
        return;
    }

    // Gather the recognized barcode
    Barcode barcode = session.NewlyRecognizedBarcodes[0];

    // This method is invoked from a recognition internal thread.
    // Run the specified action in the UI thread to update the internal barcode list.
    DispatchQueue.MainQueue.DispatchAsync(() =>
    {
        // Update the internal list and the UI with the barcode retrieved above
        this.latestBarcode = barcode;
    });
}

Alternatively to register ISparkScanListener interface it is possible to subscribe to corresponding events. For example:

sparkScan.BarcodeScanned += (object sender, SparkScanEventArgs args) =>
{
    if (args.Session.NewlyRecognizedBarcodes.Count == 0)
    {
        return;
    }

    // Gather the recognized barcode
    Barcode barcode = args.Session.NewlyRecognizedBarcodes[0];

    // This method is invoked from a recognition internal thread.
    // Run the specified action in the UI thread to update the internal barcode list.
    DispatchQueue.MainQueue.DispatchAsync(() =>
    {
        // Update the internal list and the UI with the barcode retrieved above
        this.latestBarcode = barcode;
    });
}

5. Scan Some Barcodes

Now that you’re up and running, go find some barcodes to scan. Don’t feel like getting up from your desk? Here’s a handy pdf of barcodes you can print out.