NEWSLETTER: 7-21-2005 Flicwatch Developer Newsletter
We have a Winner! Name the Newsletter Contest Completes
Some other noteworthy names that were submitted include: ScanAge, FlicQuic, Vision Scanning, CodeNews, The Scan Crowd, UpLoad, Microvision Vision, FlicFlak, Flic Newsletter, Today’s Flic, Flickers, Flic Today, The Art of Flic, Just a Flic Away, The Flic Times, Flic Wit, The Flic Clique news, The Flic Tipster, Flic News Flash, The Flic Clic, Flicknife – Cutting through the hype of barcoding. And the winner is (drumroll) - Flicwatch – submitted by Andrew Curtis of C1 Group – High Technology Consulting & Distribution - Australia. Thank you again to all who participated.
The Birdman is a flight competition for human powered flying machines held each summer in the picturesque seaside resort of Bognor Regis on England’s south coast.
If you are a current FlicMate partner and have an upcoming event you plan to attend – please let us know about it.
Flic Docking Station for Batch Mode Operation Did you know the Flic Laser Bar Code Scanner stores up to 500 bar codes in internal memory? Take advantage of this storage with the Flic Batch Mode operation and the optional Docking Station. Flic Batch Mode is a method of capturing bar code data while disconnected from a computer or mobile device. Great for gathering inventory or asset information; scan each bar code and save it for later downloading to your application. This is the simplest form of data capture without complex user screens or scan sequences. Now that you have all that data, how do you download it? If that cable always seems to disappear or fall behind the desk, use the Flic Docking Station! The docking station provides convenient and easy access to plug in your Flic Scanner for downloading data. Once the data has been sent to your application, just leave the Flic Scanner in the dock for when you need it next. No more searching for that cable or the scanner! The Docking Station can be mounted in two ways:
It’s that easy! Scan, dock, store. Get more information about the Flic Docking Station. Tell us about your application that requires additional memory beyond 500 bar codes. What happens if you connect the Flic Scanner when your application is not running? See the answer in an upcoming "You Ask, We Answer". Question: What is an SDK wrapper, how do I get one, and can it be used to wrap gifts? Answer: The Flic SDK uses a C interface to provide high level Flic interface functions. The C interface allows many different programming languages to use the functions in the DLL. The C interface is a programming “lowest common denominator,” so to speak. Some programming languages can’t directly call the DLL functions (particularly the Visual Studio.NET languages – this isn’t ideal, but that is the real world). A wrapper file provides an interface that allows the programming language to call the functions in the DLL. The wrapper also provides various conversions depending on the programming language. For example, the DLL returns a C-style string when reading the bar codes (single byte per character and null terminated). The C# wrapper reads the C-style string from the DLL and converts it to a .NET Unicode “string” object. The appropriate wrapper file is included with the demo projects for C#.NET, VB.NET, and VB6. The .NET wrappers also include Intellisense help comments. Note that these wrappers are limited in their functionality and cannot be used to wrap gifts.
Wedge software is great, but how do I natively integrate the Flic Scanner into my application? The short answer is, “Include some files and add some code – next question.” The Flic Software Development Kit (SDK) makes writing Windows applications faster and easier. You can create a low-level Flic interface using the Flic native commands. This gives you maximum control (good) but requires maximum effort (not good). With the serial commands you have to manage data buffering, assembling the date/time stamps, handle error checking and recovery, etc. You could do all this work but the SDK handles these details for you. With the SDK you can integrate scanning directly into your application and have a high level of control with a very minimal amount of work. Good control with less work – what more could you ask for? To use the SDK you need to know how to write applications in a real programming language. The SDK runs on Windows® based PC or Pocket PC computers. Microvision has demo projects for Visual Basic 6, Visual C/C++ 6, embedded Visual C (Pocket PC), Visual Basic.NET, C#.NET, or C#.NET for Compact Framework (Pocket PC). If you are writing a non-Windows application then we can recommend non-SDK programming options (perhaps that will be the subject of a future newsletter article). To integrate an SDK Flic Scanner interface into your application copy the SDK DLL file into the system directory of your target device. The actual directory varies depending on the version of Windows®. Copy the appropriate header or wrapper file into your application project directory, add that file to your project list, and then determine if you want to use Tethered Mode or Batch Mode. If using Batch Mode (most applications) then figure out if you want to use auto-download or manual download. Now you are ready to start adding bar code interface code. First, open a connection to the Flic Scanner. This normally involves trying to open the port using FlicConnectionOpen (VB6/VC6) or .ConnectionOpen (.NET). The SDK writes connection information in the system registry. If this information exists then the Open function opens that port whether or not the Flic Scanner is connected. If this information does not exist then the Open call fails. If the Open call fails (as it will when you run the application for the first time) then you must call FlicConnectionConfigure (VB6/VC6) or .ConnectionConfigure (.NET) to create the connection and the SDK saves the connection details in the registry. After opening the port you need to read the bar codes. Keep in mind that the SDK uses an internal thread that monitors the COM port and reads incoming data. The incoming Flic data is stored in an internal buffer in the DLL memory (the SDK DLL, that is). When you read bar codes using the SDK you are not reading those bar codes directly from the Flic Scanner but you are actually reading them from the SDK buffer. When using manual download mode you normally create a button or menu object that the user selects to initiate a download. When using auto-download mode you normally create a timer that reads and processes the bar code data. In both cases you use FlicGetBarCodeCount (VB6/VC6) or .GetBarCodeCount (.NET) to get the status of the COM port and read how many bar codes are buffered in the SDK memory. You do not want to try to read the bar codes while data is being received. You should either create an idle loop that waits for the data transmission to finish or simply exit the timer (you will read the data on a subsequent timer call). The SDK does not automatically delete the bar codes stored in the Flic Scanner. Your application must call FlicClearBarCodes (VB6/VC6) or .ClearBarCodes (.NET) to erase the bar codes. Your application should read the bar codes, process them, and then immediately delete them. Reading the bar codes from the SDK memory does not delete those bar codes from the Flic Scanner unless you are operating in tethered mode! Another note to remember: if you use date/timestamps do not reset the initial time value unless you delete the bar codes. It is good practice to reset the initial time value after each download to ensure that the timer in the Flic Scanner is synchronized with the system clock in your host. It is difficult to describe this process in a short article so be sure to look at the source code in one of our demo projects. These demo projects include full source code, project files, SDK files, and SDK/Technical Manual. Simply contact Flic Scanner Support to request access to our demo project download directory. Take advantage of this Special Coupon to Evaluate the Flic Scanner for your Application. Integrate the Flic Scanner into your application. Download the free SDK Check out the Compatibility Matrix. Report device compatibility issues or successes. Flic Support. Need Help?
Flic Cordless Scanner and Flicware Cordless Pro “Just wanted to let you know that we have reinstalled the Flic Scanners on the bedside computers. MUCH better, I am tickled with the redesign – you really did listen to your customer. Thank you. “ Nursing Director, Large Hospital Group. Flic SDK “Adding support for the Flic scanner into our Collectorz.com products was easier than we expected. It was a matter of hours from receiving the SDK to successfully getting bar codes transferred from the Flic Scanner to our software.” Mark-Jan Harte, Bitz & Pixelz Flic Scanner Solutions Guide – Get Listed – Amplify your Solution Microvision would like to provide customers with a Flic Scanner Solutions guide. This guide is intended to showcase software solutions that work with the Flic Scanner. Customers will be provided basic company and solution information as well as information on how to purchase or inquire about custom solutions. If you have a solution you wish for us to include please copy the fields from the profile below into an email, complete and send to Jacques_Lincoln@microvision.com. Thank you in advance.
Industries and Applications in our latest brochure are shown here. Whether or not your target market and scanning application are shown, we’d still like to know about your application. View the latest brochure. Company Profile Company Contact Name and Title Address, Phone, Email Solution Profile Software Title and Description Application Platform Native integration for Flic Scanner or application wedge software. Software URL Target Industry (e.g. Hospitality) Scanner Application (e.g. Ticket Scanning) Is a Demo Available? Did you know that the Flic Scanner was designed with Power Management in mind? First of all, the scan engine is powered by your thumb. When you depress the button, you actuate a spring loaded mirror by releasing two magnets. The mirror then revolves on a gimbal long enough for the circuitry to detect the bar code, getting the job completed, all the while preserving battery life. The Flic Scanner contains 3 AAA batteries, which will typically last 100,000 continuous scans or 24,000+ scans over 12 months. The Flic Cordless Scanner will deliver slightly fewer scans on a set of batteries due to the Bluetooth radio – 76,000+ continuous scans or 16,000 scans over 8 months. The Flic Cordless scanner uses a low power Bluetooth sniff mode to maintain the connection to the paired host computer within range. After prolonged non-use, the Cordless Scanner shuts down the Bluetooth radio to save power. You can vary the length of the timeout period and subsequently affect battery life, by using commands thru the SDK. Also, because the Flic Scanner is self-powered, it doesn’t draw any power from the host device. This means your battery in your Pocket PC, Palm, Blackberry, or Smartphone lasts longer compared to a bar code scanner that is powered by the mobile device. So, the Flic Scanner was designed for power management, its own power management as well as that of your mobile device. With all these power saving features and long battery life you may still lose power one day. If you do, you won’t lose your data – remember Flic Scanners have onboard nonvolatile memory.
The world’s most Affordable Laser Bar Code Scanner visits the World’s Most Visited Mall – Mall of America located in the Twin Cities suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. (While this is the most visited mall in the world, technically there are several larger malls, including 4 in China as well as the larger West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.)
|
The
Name the Newsletter contest has drawn to a close. Thank you
to all who submitted your clever monickers. Special Kudos to
Casey Kimura for submitting the most – 12 creative names in
all. Also, kudos to Chris Spencer of Schedeler Solutions for
showing off his impressive photoshop skills with the “My Friend Flic” submission. 
International
Bognor Birdman - 
Microsoft
Worldwide Partner Conference-Thank you to those who spent time
with us at the conference.
You Ask, We Answer by Tony Cataldo
This
Flic Scanner recently posed outside the Mall of America while attending
the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference July 8th -10th.
