Get Started

The parser parses data strings, for example, as found in barcodes, into a set of key-value mappings. In this guide, you will know briefly how to use a parser and what types of parser are currently supported by Scandit. These data formats are supported: Health Industry Bar Code (HIBC), GS1 Application Identifier (AI) system, GS1 Digital Link, Swiss QR Codes, VIN Vehicle Identification Number, IATA Bar Coded Boarding Pass (BCBP), and Electronic Product Code (EPC).

More data formats will be added in future releases. Please contact us if the data format you are using is not yet supported, or you want to use the parser on a currently unsupported platform.

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 Scandit account.

First of all, include the parser module and its dependencies to your project, if any. parser has no dependency on other Scandit KMP modules, so it can be added on its own. See Modules for the exact Gradle coordinates and Swift Package products.

Create a Parser

A Parser is created for a specific ParserDataFormat, bound to your DataCaptureContext:

import com.kmp.datacapture.core.capture.DataCaptureContext
import com.kmp.datacapture.parser.Parser
import com.kmp.datacapture.parser.ParserDataFormat

val dataCaptureContext = DataCaptureContext.initialize("-- ENTER YOUR SCANDIT LICENSE KEY HERE --")
val parser = Parser.forFormat(dataCaptureContext, ParserDataFormat.GS1_AI)

If your app already initialized a context (for example for a scanning mode), reuse it via DataCaptureContext.sharedInstance instead of initializing it again.

ParserDataFormat has the following values:

• GS1_AI
• HIBC
• SWISS_QR
• VIN
• IATA_BCBP
• GS1_DIGITAL_LINK
• EPC

Parse a String

Call parseString (or parseRawData for binary payloads) with the data you want to parse, for example the data decoded from a scanned barcode:

import com.kmp.datacapture.barcode.data.Barcode
import com.kmp.datacapture.parser.ParsedData

fun parseBarcode(barcode: Barcode): ParsedData? {
    val data = barcode.data ?: return null
    return parser.parseString(data)
}

parseString and parseRawData throw on malformed input, so wrap the call accordingly:

fun parseBarcodeSafely(barcode: Barcode): ParsedData? {
    val data = barcode.data ?: return null
    return try {
        parser.parseString(data)
    } catch (e: Exception) {
        null
    }
}

Read the Parsed Fields

ParsedData exposes the parsed key-value fields, along with any parsing issues:

val fields = result.fields
val fieldsByName = result.fieldsByName
val jsonString = result.jsonString

val expiryDate = fieldsByName["EXPIRY_DATE"]?.parsed

Each ParsedField carries its name, its decoded parsed value, the rawString it was decoded from, and any warnings (ParserIssue) raised while parsing that field. Fields that raised a warning are also available separately via result.fieldsWithIssues.