How to Add a Barcode Scanner to a Glide No-Code App

Glide is a no-code app builder which makes it easy to create apps.

Dynamsoft is a partner of Glide to provide it with the barcode scanning feature based on its barcode reading SDK.

In this article, we are going to use Glide to create a demo app which scans barcodes.

Demo video:

In the video, the app scans the ISBN barcodes of books and calculates the total count and total price of books.

What you’ll build: A Glide no-code app that scans ISBN barcodes using Dynamsoft Barcode Reader, logs each scan to a table, and uses computed columns to look up book prices and calculate totals.

Key Takeaways

  • Glide apps can integrate enterprise-grade barcode scanning via the built-in Dynamsoft Barcode Reader component — no JavaScript coding required.
  • Scanned barcodes are stored in Glide Tables and can be enriched with computed columns (relation, lookup, rollup) for real-time price lookup and aggregation.
  • A Glide Business or Enterprise plan is required to access the barcode scanner component.
  • This integration is ideal for inventory tracking, book cataloging, and retail price-check workflows built entirely in a no-code environment.

Common Developer Questions

  • How do I add a barcode scanner to a Glide app?
  • Does the Glide barcode scanner support ISBN and QR code formats?
  • How do I look up product info from a scanned barcode in Glide using computed columns?

Prerequisites

To use Dynamsoft Barcode Reader in Glide, you need:

  1. A Glide Business or Enterprise plan.
  2. A license of Dynamsoft Barcode Reader (JavaScript Edition). Get a 30-day free trial license and ask Glide’s support team to set it up. (No longer needed since 2023.10.18. Check out Glide’s Docs)

Step 1: Create a New Glide App Project

  1. Open Glide and create a new project for mobile.

    New project

  2. Choose “Glide Tables” as the data source.

    Data source

Step 2: Create a Barcode Logging Table

Create a new table with three columns: barcode, inputter and date.

New table

We are going to log barcodes into this table.

Step 3: Add a List Screen from the Barcode Table

Remove existing screens and add a new screen from the table we just created.

New screen

Choose “list” as its collection’s style and do not display the image.

Update style

Step 4: Configure the Input Form with Auto-Fill Fields

Click the add button on the upper-right corner to show the input form.

Input form

Remove the text entries for inputter and date and use the date from special values and the email from user profile values to automatically add the two values.

Input form after

Step 5: Add a Scan Barcode Button to the Form

In the input form, add a button to call the scan barcode action.

Scan barcode button

When the button is clicked, it will call the barcode scanner and save the detected barcode to the barcode column.

Step 6: Use Computed Columns for ISBN Lookup and Price Totals

We can use computed columns to make the app more useful.

  1. Create a new Books table which contains a list of ISBN barcodes of books with their price info.

    Books table

  2. In the Barcodes table, create a new computed column whose type is “relation” to match the row in the Books table by the barcode.

    Relation column

  3. In the Barcodes table, create a new computed column whose type is “lookup” to look up the price info.

    Lookup column

  4. In the Barcodes table, create a new computed column whose type is “rollup” to calculate the total price.

    Sum column

  5. In the Barcodes table, create a new computed column whose type is “rollup” to calculate the total number of barcodes.

    Count column

  6. In the screen, add fields to display the total price and barcode count.

    Fields

Common Issues and Edge Cases

  • Scanner component not appearing: The barcode scanner is only available on Glide Business or Enterprise plans. If you are on a free or Pro plan, the scanner action will not appear in the component list.
  • Barcode not recognized on first scan: Ensure the camera has adequate lighting and the barcode is fully within the viewfinder. ISBN barcodes printed on glossy book covers may require adjusting the scan angle to reduce glare.
  • Computed column lookup returns empty: Verify that the ISBN value in the Books table exactly matches the scanned barcode string (no leading zeros stripped or extra whitespace). The relation column match is case-sensitive and exact.

Online Demo

Check out the online demo to have a try.