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mrclarke
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April 4, 2015 at 2:24 pm
This more a question(s) than support request..
Can you tell me if there is any future plans for mobile scanning capabilities to be introduce for EE4? (like EE3). If not is this something that can be easily coded in by a developer or something? Please let me know as the mobile add-on is a must have for any modern event running now.
Thanks,
Rich
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Dean
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April 6, 2015 at 2:18 am
Hi Rich,
We have no definite plans to introduce a mobile app for EE4, though it also has not been taken off the table either.
EE4’s ticketing system uses barcode scanners, which are generally inexpensive, especially compared to mobile phones.
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mrclarke
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April 6, 2015 at 3:21 am
Hi Dean,
Thanks I was hoping for a more promising reply regarding a EE4 mobile app. You mention barcode scanners are general inexpensive, but I sure you will also agree that smart phones are more readily available and mobile than any barcode scanner.
On a separate issue how complicated would it be to have an app develop for EE4? I live in the UK and most (if not all) event/ticketing site provides mobile scanning facility, so starting without one is like using yesterdays technology to be really honest with you.
What support would you guys provide if I get an app developer to take on this task for me?
Look forward to your reply and thanks
Regards,
Rich
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Tony
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April 6, 2015 at 7:38 am
Hi Rich,
It is actually possible to scan QR-Codes (apparently also barcodes although during testing I found this to be unreliable) using the camera on a mobile device and an app that will scan the QR codes whilst emulating a keyboard.
This is not a full app integration and will not work as such, but it does allow you to scan tickets using only a mobile device.
So to explain a little, most Barcode scanners basically emulate a keyboard on your system, when you scan a barcode it simply outputs the characaters the same way a keyboard does (only much quicker). So right now EE4 has the barcode scanner add-on, which is basically an input field that the barcode scanner inputs the characters into. The Add-on then searchs for this code and checks the attendee in/out, so far that all make sense?
So what we need is an app that emulates a keyboard on your mobile device in the same way the bardcode scanner does that can also scan QR/Barcodes. I’m an android user and have found one that can be used to do just that on android, iOS does not seem to have on that would work in the same way but I may be mistaken as I can not test them.
Take a look here:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tecit.android.barcodekbd.full&hl=en_GB
(There is also a demo available HERE which has nag screens)
You can install that app, select to use it as the input keyboard on the devices, then scan tickets in almost the exact same way you would with a barcode scanner.
I’ll write up a tutorial on how to use this shortly, but it is simple to use if you are used to Androids layout.
On a separate issue how complicated would it be to have an app develop for EE4? I live in the UK and most (if not all) event/ticketing site provides mobile scanning facility, so starting without one is like using yesterdays technology to be really honest with you.
It isn’t simply just making an app to do this, but the framework behind it that would be used to communicate between the app and EE to provide a ‘full integration’ the same way the EE3 app does.
The EE3 app uses the EE3 JSON API Add-on to communicate with EE3, it is basically an interface for that Add-on in that the app issues commands and the JSON API does all the work.
Integrations such as those take a significant amount of time to develop and need to be done when the base product is finalized otherwise small changes to code have large ripple effects through the Add-ons.
What support would you guys provide if I get an app developer to take on this task for me?
We can’t really offer support for integrations we have not developed, we don’t know the code or the expected behaviour. However if you would like to discuss this further please provide details using this form:
https://eventespresso.com/rich-features/sponsor-new-features/
A member of our team will be in touch to discuss the possible options.
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mrclarke
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April 7, 2015 at 7:55 am
Hi Tony,
Just saying thanks for the very detail explanation above – much appreciated. I will try out the Android App you mentioned above it sounds like a very viable option for my needs; however if that fail I will probably reach out to you guys on the form provided to discuss my options.
Thanks
Rich
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Tony
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April 7, 2015 at 8:24 am
You are most welcome, Rich.
I’ve been heavily testing that app as I have been writing a tutorial for users to try it if it suits their use case and have found an issue with using it that I just want to make you aware of.
QR Codes work brilliantly, there’s no issue with those.
I mentioned above that Barcodes seemed unreliable, I now know the reason for this and have a fix if you would like to use them.
By default the barcode shortcode uses this code:
bgcolor=#000000 color=#ffffff
which sets the background to black and the text (and bardcode itself) to white. This is sometimes referred to as inverted barcodes. This is normally fine with physical barcode scanners, it seems not so much with the app (the library it uses has an ‘inverted’ option for some devices but it is apparently unreliable).
So in order to have most success with barcodes and that app, swap that code so the background is white, and text is black. Like so:
bgcolor=#ffffff color=#000000
I also suggest using output_type=bmp for the most cross browser compatibility, so an example of the shortcode I would use is:
[BARCODE_* w=1 h=70 fsize=18 bgcolor=#ffffff color=#000000 output_type=bmp]
Hope that helps.
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