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User Guide for Windows Edition - .Net

System Requirements

  • Operating systems:
    • Windows 7, 8, 10.
    • Windows Server 2003, 2008, 2008 R2, 2012.

  • Environment: Visual Studio 2008 and above.

  • Framework supported: .NET Framework 2.0, .NET Framework 4.0

Installation

To install Dynamsoft Barcode Reader Windows Edition on your development machine, you can download the SDK from the Dynamsoft website. The zip package includes a free trial license valid for 30 days.

After installation, you can find samples for supported platforms in the Samples folder under the installation folder.

Getting Started: HelloWorld

  1. Start Visual Studio and create a new Console Application in C#. Let’s name it BarcodeReadDemo_DotNet. Don’t forget to choose a supported .NET Framework edition.

  2. Add the namespace in Program.cs. 
     using Dynamsoft;
 using Dynamsoft.DBR;

    Please add Dynamsoft Barcode Reader libraries (Dynamsoft.BarcodeReader.dll and DynamsoftCommon.dll) in project references. The lib files can be found in DBR-DotNet-{version number}\DynamsoftBarcodeReader\Lib\2.0 or DBR-DotNet-{version number}\DynamsoftBarcodeReader\Lib\4.0. The folder which you should choose depends on your .NET Framework edition.

  3. Update the main function in Program.cs. 
     class Program
 {
     static void Main(string[] args)
     {
         BarcodeReader reader = new BarcodeReader("<your license key here>");
         try
         {
             TextResult[] results = reader.DecodeFile(@"<your image file full path>","");
             string outputInfo = "Total barcodes found: " + results.Length.ToString(); 
             Console.WriteLine(outputInfo);
             for(int iIndex = 0; iIndex < results.Length; ++iIndex)
             {
                 int iBarcodeIndex = iIndex + 1;
                 string builder = "Barcode " + iBarcodeIndex.ToString() + ":\r\n";
                 if (results[iIndex].BarcodeFormat != 0)
                 {
                     builder += "    Type: " + results[iIndex].BarcodeFormatString + "\r\n";
                 }
                 else
                 {
                     builder += "    Type: " + results[iIndex].BarcodeFormatString_2 + "\r\n";
                 }
                 builder += "    Value: " + results[iIndex].BarcodeText + "\r\n";
                 Console.WriteLine(builder);
             }
         }
         catch(BarcodeReaderException exp)
         {
             Console.WriteLine(exp.Message);
         }
         reader.Dispose();
     }
 }

    Please update <your image file full path> and <your license key here> in the code accordingly.

  4. Build the project and then copy x64 and x86 folders to the folder where Dynamsoft.BarcodeReader.dll and DynamsoftCommon.dll resides. In this case, it is under bin\Debug_VS2010\ folder.

  5. Run the project.

If you got the error “An exception of type ‘Dynamsoft.DBR.BarcodeReaderException’ occurred in Dynamsoft.BarcodeReader.dll” or “Failed to load module dll”, please double check if you copied x64 and x86 folders as stated in Step #4.

Decoding Methods

The SDK provides multiple decoding methods that support reading barcodes from different sources, including static images, video stream, files in memory, base64 string, bitmap, etc. Here is a list of all decoding methods:

  • DecodeFile: Reads barcodes from a specified file (BMP, JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIFF or PDF).
  • DecodeBase64String: Reads barcodes from a base64 encoded string of a file.
  • DecodeBitmap: Reads barcodes from a bitmap. When handling multi-page images, it will only decode the current page.
  • DecodeBuffer: Reads barcodes from raw buffer.
  • DecodeFileInMemory: Decodes barcodes from an image file in memory.

You can find more samples in more programming languages at Code Gallery.

Barcode Reading Settings

Calling the decoding methods directly will use the default scanning modes and it will satisfy most of the needs. The SDK also allows you to adjust the scanning settings to optimize the scanning performance for different usage scenarios.

There are two ways to change the barcode reading settings - using the PublicRuntimeSettings Struct or template. For new developers, We recommend you to start with the PublicRuntimeSettings struct; For those who are experienced with the SDK, you may use a template which is more flexible and easier to update.

Use PublicRuntimeSettings Struct to Change Settings

Here are some common scanning settings you might find helpful:

Specify Barcode Type to Read

By default, the SDK will read all the supported barcode formats except Postal Codes and Dotcode from the image. (See Product Overview for the full supported barcode list.)

If your full license only covers some barcode formats, you can use BarcodeFormatIds and BarcodeFormatIds_2 to specify the barcode format(s). Check out BarcodeFormat and BarcodeFormat_2.

For example, to enable only 1D barcode reading, you can use the following code:

//Initialize license prior to any decoding
//Replace "<Put your license key here>" with your own license
BarcodeReader reader = new BarcodeReader("<your license key here>");
PublicRuntimeSettings settings = reader.GetRuntimeSettings();
//Set the barcode format
settings.BarcodeFormatIds = (int)EnumBarcodeFormat.BF_ONED;
reader.UpdateRuntimeSettings(settings);
try
{
    //Replace "<Put the path of your file here>" with your own file path
    TextResult[] results = reader.DecodeFile(@"<your image file full path>","");
}
catch(BarcodeReaderException exp)
{
    Console.WriteLine(exp.Message);
}
reader.Dispose();

Specify maximum barcode count

By default, the SDK will read as many barcodes as it can. To increase the recognition efficiency, you can use expectedBarcodesCount to specify the maximum number of barcodes to recognize according to your scenario.

//Initialize license prior to any decoding
//Replace "<Put your license key here>" with your own license
BarcodeReader reader = new BarcodeReader("<your license key here>");
PublicRuntimeSettings settings = reader.GetRuntimeSettings();
//Set the barcode format
settings.ExpectedBarcodesCount = 1;
reader.UpdateRuntimeSettings(settings);
try
{
    //Replace "<Put the path of your file here>" with your own file path
    TextResult[] results = reader.DecodeFile(@"<your image file full path>","");
}
catch(BarcodeReaderException exp)
{
    Console.WriteLine(exp.Message);
}
reader.Dispose();

Specify a scan region

By default, the barcode reader will search the whole image for barcodes. This can lead to poor performance especially when dealing with high-resolution images. You can speed up the recognition process by restricting the scanning region.

To specify a region, you will need to define an area. The following code shows how to create a template string and define the region.

//Initialize license prior to any decoding
//Replace "<Put your license key here>" with your own license
BarcodeReader reader = new BarcodeReader("<your license key here>");
PublicRuntimeSettings settings = reader.GetRuntimeSettings();
//Set the barcode format
settings.Region.RegionBottom = 100;
settings.Region.RegionLeft = 0;
settings.Region.RegionRight = 50;
settings.Region.RegionTop = 0;
settings.Region.RegionMeasuredByPercentage = 1;
reader.UpdateRuntimeSettings(settings);
try
{
    //Replace "<Put the path of your file here>" with your own file path
    TextResult[] results = reader.DecodeFile(@"<your image file full path>","");
}
catch(BarcodeReaderException exp)
{
    Console.WriteLine(exp.Message);
}
reader.Dispose();

Use A Template to Change Settings

Besides the option of using the PublicRuntimeSettings struct, the SDK also provides InitRuntimeSettingsWithString and InitRuntimeSettingsWithFile APIs that enable you to use a template to control all the runtime settings. With a template, instead of writing many codes to modify the settings, you can manage all the runtime settings in a JSON file/string.

string errorMsg = "";
//Initialize license prior to any decoding
//Replace "<Put your license key here>" with your own license
BarcodeReader reader = new BarcodeReader("<your license key here>");
EnumErrorCode error = reader.InitRuntimeSettingsWithFile(@"<Put your file path here>", EnumConflictMode.CM_OVERWRITE, out errorMsg);
reader.OutputSettingsToFile(@"<Put your output file path here>","CurrentRuntimeSettings");
try
{
    //Replace "<Put the path of your file here>" with your own file path
    TextResult[] results = reader.DecodeFile(@"<your image file full path>","");
}
catch(BarcodeReaderException exp)
{
    Console.WriteLine(exp.Message);
}
reader.Dispose();

Below is a template for your reference. To learn more about the APIs, you can check out PublicRuntimeSettings Struct.

{
   "ImageParameter" : {
      "BarcodeFormatIds" : [ "BF_ALL" ],
      "BinarizationModes" : [
         {
            "BlockSizeX" : 0,
            "BlockSizeY" : 0,
            "EnableFillBinaryVacancy" : 1,
            "ImagePreprocessingModesIndex" : -1,
            "Mode" : "BM_LOCAL_BLOCK",
            "ThreshValueCoefficient" : 10
         }
      ],
      "DeblurLevel" : 9,
      "Description" : "",
      "ExpectedBarcodesCount" : 0,
      "GrayscaleTransformationModes" : [
         {
            "Mode" : "GTM_ORIGINAL"
         }
      ],
      "ImagePreprocessingModes" : [
         {
            "Mode" : "IPM_GENERAL"
         }
      ],
      "IntermediateResultSavingMode" : {
         "Mode" : "IRSM_MEMORY"
      },
      "IntermediateResultTypes" : [ "IRT_NO_RESULT" ],
      "MaxAlgorithmThreadCount" : 4,
      "Name" : "runtimesettings",
      "PDFRasterDPI" : 300,
      "Pages" : "",
      "RegionDefinitionNameArray" : null,
      "RegionPredetectionModes" : [
         {
            "Mode" : "RPM_GENERAL"
         }
      ],
      "ResultCoordinateType" : "RCT_PIXEL",
      "ScaleDownThreshold" : 2300,
      "TerminatePhase" : "TP_BARCODE_RECOGNIZED",
      "TextFilterModes" : [
         {
            "MinImageDimension" : 65536,
            "Mode" : "TFM_GENERAL_CONTOUR",
            "Sensitivity" : 0
         }
      ],
      "TextResultOrderModes" : [
         {
            "Mode" : "TROM_CONFIDENCE"
         },
         {
            "Mode" : "TROM_POSITION"
         },
         {
            "Mode" : "TROM_FORMAT"
         }
      ],
      "TextureDetectionModes" : [
         {
            "Mode" : "TDM_GENERAL_WIDTH_CONCENTRATION",
            "Sensitivity" : 5
         }
      ],
      "Timeout" : 10000
   },
   "Version" : "3.0"
}

How to Distribute

Distribute the following required library files with the applications using the Dynamsoft Barcode Reader SDK. The distribution files can be found under:

for .NET Framework 2.0 - 3.5: Dynamsoft.BarcodeReader.dll, DynamsoftCommon.dll, x86 and x64 folders.

These files are under DBR-DotNet-{version number}\DynamsoftBarcodeReader\Lib\2.0.

for .NET Framework 4.0 and above: Dynamsoft.BarcodeReader.dll, DynamsoftCommon.dll, x86 and x64 folders.

These files are under DBR-DotNet-{version number}\DynamsoftBarcodeReader\Lib\4.0.

How to Upgrade

From version 7.x

Replace the library

You need to replace the old assembly files with the ones in the latest version. Download the latest version here.

Update existing code

Change the namespace from:

      using Dynamsoft.Barcode;

to:

      using Dynamsoft;
      using Dynamsoft.DBR;

Upgrade the license

Your previous SDK license for version 7.x is not compatible with the version 8.x. Please contact us to upgrade your license.

After you upgraded your license to version 8.x:

  • If you were using ProductKeys, please replace the old license with the newly generated one.

  • If you were using InitLicenseFromServer to connect to Dynamsoft server for license verification, then no need to change the license key. But please make sure the device has Internet connection.

  • If you were using InitLicenseFromServer + DBR_InitLicenseFromLicenseContent to connect to Dynamsoft server once and use the SDK offline, please follow these steps to re-register the device.

  • If you were using DBR_InitLicenseFromLicenseContent to use the SDK offline, please follow these steps to re-register the device.

From version 6.x

We made some structural updates in the new version. To upgrade from 6.x to 8.x, we recommend you to review our sample code and re-write the barcode scanning module.

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