Scan Linear Barcode
Our standard scanner is an experimental feature. This scanner works but is not recommended for large scale use in a production environment. If you have a need for a production-quality scanner, that is capable of scanning thousands of barcodes and QR Codes, we strongly recommend using our upgraded scanner. This is a paid add-on. If you’d like more information about pricing, please reach out to hello@glideapps.com.
What are barcodes?
Barcodes represent data visually, in a way that computers can read. Barcode scanners read data incredibly quickly – eliminating manual data entry and errors.
For example, imagine you were logging the arrival of new stock items into a spreadsheet. Typically stock items have an SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) which can be very long.
If you were doing this manually, you would have to enter or find the item's SKU - e.g. ffiF11-1000985-staq-item1 and then update the stock count.
This kind of task is obviously best done by a computer, and so a barcode encodes data into a set of parallel lines.
Supported barcode types
There are many different types of barcodes but they generally fall into two types – Linear and Matrix.
At the moment, Glide can only scan linear barcodes, but we hope to support matrix codes like the QR code in future.
The types of linear barcodes we currently support are:
Code 128 - Text and numbers
Code 39 - Only numbers
Codabar - Text and numbers
GS-1 13-digit - Only numbers (encompasses UPC + EAN)
Scanning a barcode
The barcode action will write the value that is scanned to a column. Here, we've set it to the Item SKU column.
You can add the action to an image, action text, button or as part of a custom action. In the video above, we've added it to a floating button in our inventory app.
When the barcode scanner is first used, it will ask your permission to use the camera.
Step 1: align the barcode with the grey horizontal bar in the middle.
Step 2: adjust the phone until the bar turns green
Step 3: wait a second or two for the barcode reader to read the data
If the bar goes orange, the barcode reader has recognized that there is a barcode near – but you need to adjust the phone further until the barcode is stable and clearly visible.
Troubleshooting
As we mentioned above, only certain barcodes are currently supported. Please let us know if you require support for a different type of barcode.
Higher resolution cameras are obviously better. Any modern smartphone should perform fine, but cameras that are 720p resolution or below may experience issues. We're working on improving this.
You can make your own barcodes with many different services online. Here are just a few:
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