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In this guide you will learn step-by-step how to add MatrixScan Pick to your application. Implementing MatrixScan Pick involves two primary elements:

  • Barcode Pick: The data capture mode that is used for scan and pick functionality.
  • A Barcode Pick View: The pre-built UI elements used to highlight items to be picked.

The general steps are:

  • Creating a new Data Capture Context instance
  • Configuring the Barcode Pick Mode
  • Setup the Barcode Pick View
  • Registering the Listener to notify about found items

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.

Create a 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 --")

Configure the Barcode Pick Mode​

The main entry point for the Barcode Pick Mode is the BarcodePick object. You can configure the supported Symbologies through its BarcodePickSettings, and set up the list of items that you want MatrixScan Pick to highlight.

Here we configure it for tracking EAN13 codes, but you should change this to the correct symbologies for your use case.

let settings = BarcodePickSettings()
settings.set(symbology: .ean13UPCA, enabled: true)

Then you have to create the product provider for the Barcode Pick mode. This provider is responsible for providing the items that should be highlighted in the AR view. Note that in this example we are using a hardcoded list of items, but in a real-world scenario, you would fetch this list from your backend.

let productDatabase: [ProductDatabaseEntry] = [
    .init(
        identifier: "product_1",
        quantity: 2,
        items: [
            "9783598215438",
            "9783598215414",
            "9783598215441",
            "9783598215412"
        ]),
    .init(
        identifier: "product_2",
        quantity: 3,
        items: [
            "9783598215471",
            "9783598215481",
            "9783598215458",
            "9783598215498",
            "9783598215421"
        ])
]

var products: Set<BarcodePickProduct> = []
productDatabase.forEach { entry in
    products.insert(.init(identifier: entry.identifier,
                        quantityToPick: entry.quantity))
}

let productProvider = BarcodePickAsyncMapperProductProvider(products: products,
                                                            providerDelegate: self)

And the product provider delegate:

extension ViewController: BarcodePickAsyncMapperProductProviderDelegate {
    func mapItems(_ items: [String], completionHandler: @escaping ([BarcodePickProductProviderCallbackItem]) -> Void) {
        var result: [BarcodePickProductProviderCallbackItem] = []
        // Use the scanned items list to retrieve the identifier of the product they belong to.
        // This should be an async query in real world scenarios if there are a lot of products/items to loop.
        items.forEach { item in
            if let product = productDatabase.first(where: { entry in
                entry.items.contains(item)
            }) {
                result.append(.init(itemData: item,
                                    productIdentifier: product.identifier))
            }
        }

        completionHandler(result)
    }
}

Then create the mode with the previously created settings:

let mode = BarcodePick(context: context,
                        settings: settings,
                        productProvider: productProvider)

Setup the BarcodePickView​

MatrixScan Pick’s built-in AR user interface includes buttons and overlays that guide the user through the scan and pick process. By adding a BarcodePickView, the scanning interface is added automatically to your application.

The BarcodePickView appearance can be customized through BarcodePickViewSettings to match your application’s look and feel. The following settings can be customized:

  • Colors of dots in augmented reality overlay
  • Enable sound and haptic alerts
  • Guidelines text
  • Showing hints
  • Finish button
  • Pause button
  • Zoom button
  • Loading Dialog
let viewSettings = BarcodePickViewSettings()
// setup the desired appearance settings by updating the fields in the object above

Next, create a BarcodePickView instance with the Data Capture Context and the settings initialized in the previous step. The BarcodePickView is automatically added to the provided parent view.

let BarcodePickView = BarcodePickView(parentView: view, context: context, BarcodePick: mode, settings: viewSettings)

Connect the BarcodePickView to the iOS view controller lifecycle. In particular, make sure to call BarcodePickView.prepareSearching() on your UIViewController’s viewWillAppear method to make sure that start up time is optimal.

override func viewWillAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
    super.viewWillAppear(animated)
    barcodePickView.start()
}

override func viewWillDisappear(_ animated: Bool) {
    super.viewWillDisappear(animated)
    barcodePickView.pause()
    if isMovingFromParent {
        barcodePickView.stop()
    }
}

And the BarcodePickViewUIDelegate:

extension ViewController: BarcodePickViewUIDelegate {
    func barcodePickViewDidTapFinishButton(_ view: BarcodePickView) {
        navigationController?.popViewController(animated: true)
    }
}

Register the Listener​

The BarcodePickView displays a Finish button next to its shutter button.

Register a BarcodePickViewListener to be notified what items have been found once the finish button is pressed.

extension ViewController: BarcodePickViewListener {
    func barcodePickViewDidStartScanning(_ view: BarcodePickView) {}

    func barcodePickViewDidFreezeScanning(_ view: BarcodePickView) {}

    func barcodePickViewDidPauseScanning(_ view: BarcodePickView) {}

    func barcodePickViewDidStopScanning(_ view: BarcodePickView) {}
}

Start Searching​

With everything configured, you can now start searching for items. This is done by calling barcodePickView.start().

override func viewDidAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
    super.viewDidAppear(animated)
    BarcodePickView.start()
}

This is the equivalent of pressing the Play button programmatically. It will start the search process, turn on the camera, and hide the item carousel.