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Author Topic: Barcode scanner troubleshooting Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-31-2014 01:35 PM                        I know this is in no way theatrical related but...at my day job we have several barcode scanners. I just got a new one. It works just fine, but the computer system can't find the part number in our database UNLESS I scan the item, then "backspace" out the very last digit. Our other older scanners work fine. Is there a setting I'm missing? Of course the instruction sheet is vague and unhelpful. I'm sure there's a barcode scanner expert out there!  |  IP: Logged Mitchell Dvoskin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1869 From: West Milford, NJ, USA Registered: Jan 2001 posted 10-31-2014 01:59 PM                     I am far from an expert, but the last digit is usually a check digit that is created by a mathematical formula using all the other digits. This is used to insure the scanner actually scanned correctly. As there are many different formulas for calculating check digits, I suspect that the new reader is using the wrong formula, or shouldn't be using one at all. There are probably people here who are more knowledgeable about this than I.  |  IP: Logged Marcel Birgelen Film God Posts: 3357 From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands Registered: Feb 2012 posted 10-31-2014 03:02 PM                     I think Mitchell is absolutely right. Most barcodes contain a check digit or checksum, to verify if the code was read correctly. Sometimes a simple formula like adding all previous digits and throwing away the first digit of the sum, but also much more complex schemes. Depending on your barcode system, you either use this check digit as part of your ID number or not. You do not seem to use them, so it needs to be disabled. Usually this is either a setting inside the reader itself or in the software that comes with the reader. Look for something like "Check Digit" or "Checksum".  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-31-2014 05:08 PM                        Well there is a list of functions that you can enable or disable by scanning certain barcodes. Some are disabled by default. The enabled ones are: Code 39 Code 128 EAN-13 UPC-E and the ones disabled by default are: Code bar Industrial 25 Interleaved 25 Matrix 25 Standard 25 Code 93 MSI Code 11 ....so I'm assuming I need to enable one of the disabled ones maybe? I don't see the word checksum or check digit anywhere. This scanner is made by Inateck (model BCST-20) if that helps.  |  IP: Logged Rusty Gordon Film Handler Posts: 33 From: Fairview, Tennessee USA Registered: Feb 2004 posted 10-31-2014 05:09 PM                        There will be a programming book which you can download from the manufacturer web site in a PDF. Scanning the correct programming barcode will make it scan in the same way as your existing readers. You just have to download it, print the programming pages and find the right one. There are dozens of combinations, so find a barcode to use as an example BUT NOT a programming barcode, scan it with your old scanners and program the new one to scan the same way.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-31-2014 07:28 PM                        Welll.....here is the link to the instruction manual. This is the only documentation on the website (this also came with it). Manual I have tried most of the "setup" barcodes on this sheet and so far they all give the same results -- it reads all the digits. I don't understand how I would program this scanner the same as the other ones. They're from a different manufacturer so their codes might not work....? I know we have a sheet around here somewhere that we used to program the odler ones, I'll see if I can find it. Why does this crap have to be so $&#^@!%& complicated?  |  IP: Logged Marcel Birgelen Film God Posts: 3357 From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands Registered: Feb 2012 posted 10-31-2014 10:40 PM                     Ah, some fancy newfangled thing with Bluetooth and all the works. Funny how you configure it by scanning barcodes... Maybe that's the standard way of doing it nowadays and I'm just a bit old-skool. Do you know what types of barcodes you're scanning? Maybe the thing is misinterpreting your barcodes because the format is not enabled, or it is misreading the format for something else. EAN-13, for example, one of the most used barcodes for product labeling, includes a single trailing checksum number. Usually, you can specify in either the reader or the software interfacing with the reader to either push the number or ignore it. Product numbers are usually stored in databases without the extra number.  |  IP: Logged David Buckley Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 525 From: Oxford, N. Canterbury, New Zealand Registered: Aug 2004 posted 11-01-2014 12:17 AM                        I wouldn't rate myself as an expert, but I've worked with barcodes a lot over the years. What type ("symbiology") of barcodes are you scanning? If the answer is "I don't know, they're just barcodes", photo one and post it up. There are various schemes with various types of barcodes... Also, if you capture the scanner output into Notepad, what do you get? quote: Marcel Birgelen Funny how you configure it by scanning barcodes... Maybe that's the standard way of doing it nowadays and I'm just a bit old-skool. Scanning funny barcodes out of the book has been the standard configuration method since, well, since before barcode scanners were affordable, and HP wands were what we used. So ninetys at least. Some readers could be configured serially, it was in the manuals, but I don't recall anyone actually doing that. What usually happened was there was a photocopy of the required setup codes on a single bit of paper so replacement or addional readers could be quickly configured.  |  IP: Logged Marcel Birgelen Film God Posts: 3357 From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands Registered: Feb 2012 posted 11-01-2014 05:37 AM                     I'm no real barcode expert either. And like many around us, I have encountered them several times in several forms and most of them indeed were either configurable via serial or via USB and the included software. The first generation I used, were those horrible pens you needed to swipe over the code, at exactly the right speed. Maybe some of them were also configurable by scanning codes, and I didn't know that nor did I really care . I've seen a similar (or maybe identical) problem Mike describes before though and this happened while scanning EAN-13 codes (nowadays the international standard for retail products) at a cashier. The last check digit was included in the output and as a result, the IDs didn't match with the database. The solution was disabling the check digit in the output. This all happened years ago, so memory isn't fresh. Those were Symbol scanners and they're usually pretty descent. They also specialize in those kind of products, whereas this Inateck seems to be some Chinese brand with a semi-German front, not particularly specializing on barcode readers, but on shiny accessories and peripherals. The documentation of this particular scanner can hardly be called documentation. It's a single page and the English is broken. There doesn't seem to be an option to disable check digits. So I guess the only hope is that it's misreading those codes for something else and by either enabling the correct barcode type(s) and disabling all the others, the problem is fixed.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-01-2014 08:35 PM                        quote: David Buckley What type ("symbiology") of barcodes are you scanning? If the answer is "I don't know, they're just barcodes", photo one and post it up. They are just typical UPC product barcodes like you would find on any product (at least, in the U.S.!) The format is 0-00000-00000-0. I'm not at work right now but if that's not enough info to let you know what's what, I can take a picture of one later.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-01-2014 10:27 PM                        I did scan a code into Notepad and it just gives the same numbers that are on the barcode. So bottom line, I just need to figure out how to stop it from sending the list freaking digit. I guess I will email the support address (not going to hold my breath on that one).  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-01-2014 10:37 PM                     Stupid question... Could this be a carriage return vs. linefeed issue? e.g. The device is sending only a linefeed at the end of the character string when the computer/software expects a carriage return. (Or some permutation of CR>LF, LF>CR, LF+CR or some such thing?)  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-01-2014 11:12 PM                        It does send a carriage return but I don't think that would make a difference to the software we're using. The only issue is, the software does not want the very last digit of the barcode. (Unless those two are correlated somehow?) If I scan an item on this new scanner into Notepad, it sends the whole 12-digit UPC code plus a carriage return. If I scan the same item on one of our older scanners, it sends the UPC code minus the last digit, but also with a carriage return.  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-01-2014 11:53 PM                     The scanner shouldn't need to send the check digit. Should it? Check digit = 10-MOD10[(sum of odd-position digits*3)+(sum of even-position digits)] The scanner should do that calculation, not the software. If the check digit matches the scanner's calculation, it "knows" that it has a complete scan and no longer needs that digit. If the scanner does not get the right check digit, it keeps on trying until it either gets it or until it times out or until the user aborts the scan. In any case, the check digit is inconsequential to everything except the scanner. It does not need to be passed on. I don't understand why the scanner would need to pass on the check digit unless the computer software wanted it for some silly reason. There should be a way to shut that off. Shouldn't there? (In the computer's software?) Another stupid question... Does the handset communicate directly via the computer's BlueTooth or does it need a little, USB doohickey? Is the computer's software expecting input via one or the other? Can that be altered in the software's settings?  |  IP: Logged Marcel Birgelen Film God Posts: 3357 From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands Registered: Feb 2012 posted 11-02-2014 06:58 AM                     Most of those questions have been asked before and the answers are all in the posts above. Mitchell was already right on track with his first answer. Some scanners (at least the few I worked with) allow you to enable/disable "check digits" for stuff like EAN or UPC codes. This one seemingly doesn't have that option, at least not easily located. Another route, if the scanner's behavior cannot be altered, might indeed be checking if the software can be configured to accept the input including the check digit...  |  IP: Logged

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