Barcode Reading and writing

[shehzad.rsi]

I am developing a web application that requires barcode printing and then reading using bar code scanner.

My questions are the below -

1.Can i use any bar code scanner or i need any specific one which will work with PHP?
2.How the bar code printing will be done??Do i need to use any class for it?

[smftre]

1.) as long as it can scan and convert the code to text (most work just fine)
2.) most barcode readers convert the barcode into an alphanumeric string then they append a return/line carriage to the end so as to end the code off.
You can process them quite easily once you have the code, you can send via javascript or just straight to your HTML form's input fields

[AlienDev]

PHP is almost certainly the wrong language if this needs to be fast.

You would be better writing it in C (or use an open source C application) and execute using shell_exec().

[felgall]

The server side language should be totally irrelevant since if you are using a bar code reader as input to a web page then it is simply providing the form field content instead of it being entered via the keyboard.

[shehzad.rsi]

The server side language should be totally irrelevant since if you are using a bar code reader as input to a web page then it is simply providing the form field content instead of it being entered via the keyboard.

So Felgall - you think any barcode reader should work with php? and i should go ahead with such application in php.

What do you suggest for barcode printing - what the barcode printing has to be done in the application in a certain area in the application

[shehzad.rsi]

Guys any help on this : http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/show...83#post4530183

[felgall]

So Felgall - you think any barcode reader should work with php? and i should go ahead with such application in php.

What do you suggest for barcode printing - what the barcode printing has to be done in the application in a certain area in the application

The bar code reader isn't working with PHP - it is working with the operating system of the local computer. It is just another input device that if properly configured will work just like a keyboard.

For barcode printing you just need to select and install the appropriate barcode font and then output the content using that font. Since you can't guarantee that your visitors will have the appropriate barcode font installed on their computer you can't guarantee that an HTML web page will be able to display the barcode. If you generate a PDF instead (eg using the PHP library from fpdf.org) then you can install the appropriate barcode font onto your site to work with that in generating a PDF. I know that this works because I have written PDFs generated this way that include barcodes.