Ann: Ada Bar Codes project launched

Ann: Ada Bar Codes project launched

[gautier_niouzes]

---> https://sourceforge.net/projects/ada-bar-codes/

No release yet but the package is already working, with output to SVG and PDF formats, for (so far...) one bar code format. Feedback is welcome!

Re: Ann: Ada Bar Codes project launched

[Jeffrey R. Carter]

On 06/08/2018 12:13 PM, gautier_niouzes@hotmail.com wrote:
> 
> No release yet but the package is already working, with output to SVG and PDF formats, for (so far...) one bar code format. Feedback is welcome!

Interesting. I was able to easily get Gnoga to produce bar codes.

Why do you have "use Bar_Codes;" in your functions that are inside Bar_Codes?

-- 
Jeff Carter
"This school was here before you came,
and it'll be here before you go."
Horse Feathers
48

Re: Ann: Ada Bar Codes project launched

[patrick]

Hi Gautier

great project idea !

Ever thought about adding hardware support to read bar codes? You could use the gnat serial package. Most bar code readers will be USB or RS232.

Keep up the good work-Pat

Re: Ann: Ada Bar Codes project launched

[gautier_niouzes]

Le vendredi 8 juin 2018 20:23:16 UTC+2, Jeffrey R. Carter a écrit :

> Interesting. I was able to easily get Gnoga to produce bar codes.

Cool!

> Why do you have "use Bar_Codes;" in your functions that are inside Bar_Codes?

The functions were separate units before rev.#18 and I forgot to remove the use clauses (I guess GNAT GPL 2018 spots this :-) ?)...

G.

Re: Ann: Ada Bar Codes project launched

[Simon Wright]

gautier_niouzes@hotmail.com writes:

> Le vendredi 8 juin 2018 20:23:16 UTC+2, Jeffrey R. Carter a écrit :

>> Why do you have "use Bar_Codes;" in your functions that are inside
>> Bar_Codes?
>
> The functions were separate units before rev.#18 and I forgot to
> remove the use clauses (I guess GNAT GPL 2018 spots this :-) ?)...

GCC 8.1 found a lot of unnecessary use/use type's in my code.

Re: Ann: Ada Bar Codes project launched

[Jeffrey R. Carter]

On 06/09/2018 06:24 AM, gautier_niouzes@hotmail.com wrote:
> 
> The functions were separate units before rev.#18 and I forgot to remove the use clauses (I guess GNAT GPL 2018 spots this :-) ?)...

It might, but in this case it was my internal parser that noticed this.

-- 
Jeff Carter
"The men get one hot meal a day: a bowl of steam."
Take the Money and Run
145

Re: Ann: Ada Bar Codes project launched

[gautier_niouzes]

> great project idea !

Thx!

> Ever thought about adding hardware support to read bar codes? You could use the gnat serial package. Most bar code readers will be USB or RS232.

Not yet, I begin with easy things (and also the portable and deviceless parts), like displaying 1D bar codes...

But if you have a contribution around code bar readers, I could include it of course.

Re: Ann: Ada Bar Codes project launched

[Jacob Sparre Andersen]

gautier_niouzes@hotmail.com writes:

>> Ever thought about adding hardware support to read bar codes? You
>> could use the gnat serial package. Most bar code readers will be USB
>> or RS232.
>
> Not yet, I begin with easy things (and also the portable and
> deviceless parts), like displaying 1D bar codes...
>
> But if you have a contribution around code bar readers, I could
> include it of course.

Many of the bar code readers I've played with work like USB keyboards,
so just being able to accept numbers from a keyboard can be enough.

Another variant is to use a camera as a bar code reader.  I've seen it
demonstrated using HTML5/JavaScript as a front-end to a Warehouse
Management System written in Ada. ;-)

Greetings,

Jacob
-- 
"I am an old man now, and when I die and go to Heaven there are two matters
 on which I hope enlightenment. One is quantum electro-dynamics and the
 other is turbulence of fluids. About the former, I am rather optimistic."
 Sir Horace Lamb.

Re: Ann: Ada Bar Codes project launched

[gautier_niouzes]

> Another variant is to use a camera as a bar code reader.  I've seen it
> demonstrated using HTML5/JavaScript as a front-end to a Warehouse
> Management System written in Ada. ;-)

Cool - so perhaps at some time even the bar codes will be generated from the Ada program...

There are also online bar code scanners if you don't have a reader close to you (usefule for testing Ada Bar Codes):
https://online-barcode-reader.inliteresearch.com/
https://manateeworks.com/free-barcode-scanner
https://www.onlinebarcodereader.com/

Re: Ann: Ada Bar Codes project launched

[Jacob Sparre Andersen]

gautier_niouzes@hotmail.com writes:

> Cool - so perhaps at some time even the bar codes will be generated
> from the Ada program...

The Warehouse Management System prints lots of bar codes every day, but
I'm not sure if the actual conversion happens in the printer or in the
Ada code (I suspect the printer is doing it).

When you don't have a printer, which already can take a string and turn
it into a bar code, it is certainly very useful to have Ada routines for
doing it.

Greetings,

Jacob
-- 
"Any, sufficiently advanced, technology is indistinguishable from magic."

Re: Ann: Ada Bar Codes project launched

[Björn Lundin]

On 2018-06-13 13:12, Jacob Sparre Andersen wrote:
> gautier_niouzes@hotmail.com writes:
> 
>> Cool - so perhaps at some time even the bar codes will be generated
>> from the Ada program...
> 
> The Warehouse Management System prints lots of bar codes every day, but
> I'm not sure if the actual conversion happens in the printer or in the
> Ada code (I suspect the printer is doing it).

Well - it depends. Printing barcodes on a delivery note or a freight
note is the work of Ada programs (packages) (in our WMS) printing it to
a graphic document - which usually is a postscript or pdf document.

And the barcodes are indeed generated from the Ada program.

Interpreting barcodes - like GS1 - is the reverse of printing it.
And we do that too.
I am to ask if we can release those packages as GPL.
I'm not holding my breath - but I'll try to make it happen.
Eventhough you dissaprove of the API, Jacob ;-)


-- 
--
Björn