Resources Base
DWT
’s main feature is interacting with imaging devices like scanners and cameras. In this section, we’ll look at the supported devices.
TWAIN Scanners
refer to image scanners that have drivers following the TWAIN standard.
TWAIN is an application programming interface (API) and communication protocol that regulate communication between software and digital imaging devices, such as image scanners and digital cameras.
TWAIN is supported on Microsoft Windows, Linux, and macOS X. However, based on our experience and the experience of many customers, TWAIN only works well on Windows. On Linux, SANE is the better and preferred alternative; on macOS, ICA is the better and preferred alternative.
TWAIN is actively maintained by the non-profit TWAIN Working Group. Members of the group consists of scanner vendors and imaging software vendors, including FUJITSU, Panasonic, Epson, HP, ExactCODE, LEADTOOLS, and of course, Dynamsoft.
TWAIN is the most commonly used protocol for image capturing and processing. Almost all scanners on the market come with a TWAIN driver and are supported by TWAIN applications like DWT
.
After you have installed the driver for your scanner, you can refer to the following methods to verify whether your scanner is TWAIN compliant.
[Recommended & Easiest] Take advantage of our official demo page
If you haven’t installed DWT, a dialog will show up asking you to download and install it.
If the scanner appears in the dropdown, try scanning to make sure it works correctly without any errors. Errors will appear in the message box under the viewer.
[Recommended] Use the tool called Twacker
which is developed by the TWAIN Working Group
If your device is not listed, please check if the driver is installed. Or, try running
Twacker
as admin to see if it shows up.
If scanning is successful without any errors, then your device should be TWAIN compliant. You can also try other commands to see how it works. If your scanner doesn’t work with
TWACKER
, please check your scanner model online and make sure you have installed the (latest) TWAIN driver from its manufacturer.
This list is maintained by hardware vendors and may be incomplete. In this case, try the two ways above instead.
If you don’t have a TWAIN scanner at hand to test the library. You can download and use a virtual scanner.
WIA
refers to Windows Image Acquisition, which is the still image acquisition platform in the Windows family that enables imaging/graphics applications to interact with imaging hardware and standardizes the interaction between different applications and scanners.
WIA
devices can be used by TWAIN
applications like DWT
through a TWAIN compatibility layer
. This means WIA
is not supported natively; therefore, when a device supports both TWAIN
and WIA
, TWAIN
is the better option.
By comparison, WIA
can only control a very limited set of general capabilities of the devices while TWAIN
can control all standard and even custom capabilities of the devices. Another thing is that TWAIN
has three transfer modes (Native, Memory, File), while WIA
only has two (Memory, File).
ICA Scanners
refer to image scanners that have drivers designed in accordance with the ImageCaptureCore Framework.
ICA is a framework from Apple designed to “Browse for media devices and control them programmatically from your app.”
ICA is supported on macOS X.
There are 3 ways to verify whether your scanner is ICA compliant.
[Recommended & Easiest] Take advantage of our official demo page
If you haven’t installed DWT, a dialog will show up for you to download and install it.
Try scanning to make sure it works correctly without any errors
[Recommended] Try the scanner with the ImageCapture app on macOS.
For more info, please check out the official guide.
SANE Scanners
refer to image scanners that have drivers designed in accordance with the SANE API.
SANE stands for “Scanner Access Now Easy” and is an application programming interface (API) that provides standardized access to any raster image scanner hardware.
SANE is supported on multiple Linux distributions.
As of version 16.1.1, DWT
supports SANE v1.0.25.
There are 3 ways to verify whether your scanner is SANE compliant.
[Recommended & Easiest] Take advantage of our official demo page
If you haven’t installed the SDK, a dialog will show up for you to download and install it.
Try scanning to make sure it works correctly without any errors
[Recommended] Try the scanner with the XSane app on Linux. Check out the official guide
DirectShow Cameras
refer to the cameras which can be accessed via the Microsoft DirectShow architecture. These cameras are either built into desktops / laptops or connected via USB.
[Recommended] Take advantage of our official demo page
If you haven’t installed the SDK, a dialog will show up for you to download and install it.
Try showing the video stream and try capturing a frame to see if it works without any errors
Try the camera with the Amcap app and see if it works correctly.
MediaDevices Cameras
refers to the cameras accessible via the MediaDevices interface. These cameras are either built into desktops/laptops/mobile devices, including phones and tablets, or connected via USB.
DirectShow Cameras
andMediaDevices Cameras
could refer to the same devices which can be accessed either way.
[Recommended] Take advantage of our official demo page
Open the demo page
Make sure the camera shows up in the device list
Applicable to Windows only
There are two ways to achieve this:
IfUseTwainDSM
to true
DWObject.IfUseTwainDSM = true;
var sources = DWObject.GetSourceNames();
for (var i = 0; i < sources.length; i++) {
if (sources[i].toLowerCase().indexOf('epson') != -1) {
sources.splice(i, 1);
}
}
If you are still having issues with a device after reading the above information. You can..
latest version