[smallwonder77]

I want to scan a barcode...not an external one using smart tags or NFC (but one I find online using the browser) and the Help function in my Q10 provides no guidance. How can I do this?

Posted via CB10

[jaydee5799]

To surf the web on your phone and find a barcode? Is that what you are asking?? I don't know how you would do that....Let's hope someone has an idea for you!

I tried downloading a few QR code scanners on my phone but they never seem to scan the barcodes i try to use them for. Maybe someone has some suggestions? I think if you go to BBW you can scan a code using it....from the pull down at the top? I have never tried.

[AngryEdmontonian]

I want to scan a barcode...not an external one using smart tags or NFC (but one I find online using the browser) and the Help function in my Q10 provides no guidance. How can I do this?

Posted via CB10

You can do this from within the Smart Tags app( on 10.2.1). You can scan QR and regular bar codes and it gives you the option to share or "Open in" in which case you would tap "open in" and select the browser, or you can use BlackBerry world to scan QR codes by opening the BBW app and swiping down from the top, select scan, then scan your QR code. Even though you're doing it from within BBW it will still follow the instruction of the QR code, that is open a web page etc.

HAHA, I Just re-read your post and I am now understanding that you want to scan a bar code from your phone display while browsing? Not sure how to accomplish that, good luck.

[smallwonder77]

Thanks Jay Dee, Thanks Angry Edmontonian...yes, no smart tags or app world will help me. I'm hoping crackberry can help and perhaps post this answer as a help to all. It's a barcode I find on the Web, while browsing not an external one the camera scanner might pick up.

Posted via CB10

[Troy Tiscareno]

Most barcodes on the web are a number and most QR codes are a URL converted to a bar/QR code, and most of them will have the number or URL in the HTML code of that web page. For example, a barcode will usually have the number written next to it, and a QR code will usually either have the URL written next to it or a button coded to take you to the URL which you can right-click (long-press) on to copy the URL.

I would be VERY surprised if you could find a web page with a code that doesn't have the source data on the page as well, which is why no one has bothered to make some kind of an app that "reads" the codes right off the web page - it simply isn't necessary.

[smallwonder77]

Thanks Troy. In this case you're correct! A URL was provided and the web page also said, "or, if you are having problems accessing the page, just scan this barcode." So, of course I had problems with the URL and then realized the barcode couldn't help me either. Why even give users the option if our phones can't do it??!

Posted via CB10

[Troy Tiscareno]

The idea of a bar or QR code on a website is so that if you are viewing the web page on a PC, TV screen, or whatever, you can simply "scan" the code with your smartphone's camera to visit the URL on the phone's browser if you want to. One of the common uses for that is for websites that review smartphone apps. They'll often give you a URL link or button that you can click on with the PC, AND a QR code you can scan from your smartphone, if you prefer to install that way instead.

At the end of the day, though, it's just a URL.

[JerBru]

The idea of a bar or QR code on a website is so that if you are viewing the web page on a PC, TV screen, or whatever, you can simply "scan" the code with your smartphone's camera to visit the URL on the phone's browser if you want to. One of the common uses for that is for websites that review smartphone apps. They'll often give you a URL link or button that you can click on with the PC, AND a QR code you can scan from your smartphone, if you prefer to install that way instead.

At the end of the day, though, it's just a URL.

[Tornado99]

I've wondered why a QR displayed on my phone can't be read by the same system that scans a code coming from the camera. A BlackBerry developer has told me that it's the cameras own firmware and chip that processes the QR reading. It's not something app developers have access to. Seems the firmware chips for cameras have had this for many years now, well prior to how QR codes are now used frequently by smartphones. Think inventory code scanners etc.




Flicked out via Zed10

[leonalewis]

Thanks Troy. In this case you're correct! A URL was provided and the web page also said, "or, if you are having problems accessing the page, just scan this barcode." So, of course I had problems with the URL and then realized the barcode couldn't help me either. Why even give users the option if our phones can't do it??!

Posted via CB10

does it need to be update ?

[Troy Tiscareno]

I've wondered why a QR displayed on my phone can't be read by the same system that scans a code coming from the camera. A BlackBerry developer has told me that it's the cameras own firmware and chip that processes the QR reading. It's not something app developers have access to. Seems the firmware chips for cameras have had this for many years now, well prior to how QR codes are now used frequently by smartphones. Think inventory code scanners etc.

Again, virtually any web page with a bar or QR code will ALSO have the plain text, or link to the URL, on the web page that the code represents.



If you scan this bar code with a bar code scanner, you simply get the number written below the code: 65833254. There's no reason to have an app to convert the barcode to a number on the same device you are already displaying both the barcode and the number.

And, yes, if the QR code is taking you to an invalid/expired URL, then that QR code will need to be updated with the correct URL, assuming the web page in question still exists at all. Many ads/promotional pages use temporary web pages for the run of the ad campaign, and then are allowed to expire when its over, so old QR codes become dead ends.

[BionicKris]

I'm so glad this question was asked by the OP. I have run into QR codes on web pages many times and I wondered how they were supposed to be scanned by an app.
Thought it was some obvious way that I was missing. ;-)

? Lovin' BB10! ?