Android Question QRCode Usage

EduardoElias

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Hi there!

I am wanting to ask about experiences of QRCode usage with software made with b4a

There is a customer that is a night club and want to use QRCode in wrist badge with a qtcode on it.

So the waitress need to read the qrcode using the smartphone.

My question is in low light situation, how the QRCode reading using the smatphone camera goes?

It needs to be quick, customer is not going to be holding he arm in possition a lot in order to read it.

If anyone has experience on this kind of scenario or suggestions I appreciate

Eduardo
 

AHilton

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While certain libraries found on this forum for reading barcodes (including QRCodes) are better than others, a QRCode is certainly the one to go with. I've found that QRCodes are the easiest, quickest and most 'forgiving' to read.

Other than that, it really comes down to the camera in the phone/tablet as to how well it will do in low-light situations, not B4A or the library used. The exact same B4A code used in 2 different devices can produce wildly different results in challenging environments.

The absolute best in low-light is to use a 1D barcode and laser scanner instead of the QRCode and camera.
 
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udg

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In a similar scenario I used customers' phones instead of wristbands to show a QR.
 
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MarkusR

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a public swimming pool here using a digital wristband, i can use to buy food or drinks use for lock and before exit i can pay at cash point.
i guess it have also a near field tag as id.
for qr code u need good light and focus.
 
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Sandman

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wouldn't a NFC tag embed in the wristband be more pratical

Absolutely. Seems there are lots and lots of alternatives on this theme on the interwebs. https://www.google.com/search?q=nfc+armband


Or perhaps a NFC sticker with the club logo?

60e0644cd4db0427f76ce5b404f54a06.jpg


If I had a nightclub I'd make an extreme effort of getting the whole getting-customers-id as super quick and painless as possible, even if it cost a little more.
 
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EduardoElias

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thanks to all about the important feedback. The major problem is that in Brazil all these technologies needs to come from other countries and our customs are way to expensive. So, a NFC tag cost 3 times more in dollars down here. A Smartphone with NFC reading is expensive and external NFC readers are not handy (big and needs to use USB)

Same thing for Barcode Reader. For fixed stations (like a Table POS) it is possible to use bluetooth reader and is not too much expensive, however the users with smartphone is difficult to carry, and will need many readers.

Saying all that QRCode is the less expensive and handy of all... if there is enough light :(
 
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Sandman

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Saying all that QRCode is the less expensive and handy of all... if there is enough light

Understood. You list a lot of good reasons to go with QR codes instead. In that case I would strongly suggest making the actual contents of the code as small as reasonably possible (which makes for fewer and larger squares) and as high error correction as possible (which probably will help compensate for low light conditions).

Here’s an online QR generator that I found that allows you to test different levels of error correction (and lots of other things that I suspect aren’t of any use to you):

QR CODE 2D BARCODE GENERATOR
https://racoindustries.com/barcodegenerator/2d/qr-code/

(If you are overly interested in how the error correction works you might find this article interesting: https://www.robertxiao.ca/hacking/ctf-writeup/mma2015-qrcode/. It’s not really needed, the QR reader does all this automatically.)
 
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Cableguy

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..., band material...!

Why not consider fluorescent materials? They would act as light intensifiers... also study the possibility of embedding some leds for "ground zero" lighting
 
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Johan Schoeman

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