HP-41 Barcode Scanner and Generator

[gomi42]

Hello again,

I haven't been here for quite some time. I'm happy to be back.

Almost exactly 10 years ago I release the FocalComp and FocalDecomp command line tools. Both tools are now combined into one Windows application named FocalMaster.

FocalMaster got 3 new features:

1: FocalMaster can scan barcodes from image files and convert them to HP-41 FOCAL programs. Just add all images in the correct order and start the scan process.

2: FocalMaster can now create barcode to PDF (besides the already existing JPG creation). The PDF will contain all pages in one file. It is a real PDF with fully scalable grafics, not simply included bitmaps.

3: FocalMaster can display created barcodes on the screen.

FocalMaster is open source and its available here plus some instructions: github. Under Releases pick up the latest FocalMaster.zip. It contains a single executable, just run it, it doesn't need any installation. It requires a .Net 4.8 Framework installation which is default under Windows 10 and 11.

I tested the barcode scanner with all programs, printed as barcodes only, in the Wand manual. The scanner isn't perfect but works so far. Let me know what you think, let me know if you encounter unreadable barcodes.

Michael

[matalog]

Brilliant. I just happened to be working on this recently too: https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-20182.html

[vassilisprevelakis]

Hi Michael,

There is also a Java-based barcode scanner by Martin Hepperle at
http://www.mh-aerotools.de/hp/bc-reader/index.htm

Vassilis
http://www.series80.org

[vervalin]

Hi Michael,

Not sure if this is a good place to provide a "bug report". If not, please let me know. So, in a FOCAL program, if you have a few numbers in consecutive lines like this:

LBL "TEST"
0.3
0.4
0.5
END

The bar code, when scanned, yields:

LBL "TEST"
0.30,40,5
END
Not good :-(

The "work around" is obviously to insert ENTER commands between the numbers but as an "old school" "byte counter" I know every byte counts. So, this works for example:

LBL "TEST"
0.3
ENTER
0.4
ENTER
0.5
END

Thanks for a GREAT tool!!

Regards,
Paul

[gomi42]

Hi Paul,

thx for the report, I'll have a look.

Another place for reporting bugs is in gihub under Issues. I monitor both, github and this thread.

Michael

[gomi42]

Hi Paul,

that was an interesting bug. It is solved now in version 1.6. You may want to download that version here at github.

It turned out that I need to separate two numbers by a Null statement. That means you don't save memory when you omit the "Enter". But of course correct code (barcode and raw) is now created.

Michael

[vervalin]

Hi Michael

Thank you so much for this quick fix. I did some more experimenting as well and to my surprise, indeed, by adding the ENTER statements between each of the numbers, no additional bytes are used just like you said.

So, the ENTER statement just acts as a separator like the NULLS but no memory is used. I learn something new every day!!

But, like you said, now the bar code generator does not require the ENTER statement. Again thank you for this amazing tool!!!

It worked perfectly for me :-)

Paul

[gomi42]

There is a new version v1.7 available. Fix: In rare cases wrong administration data within a barcode were generated when a NULL needed to be inserted automatically.

Please download the lastest FocalMaster.zip here: FocalMaster Releases

Michael

[gomi42]

Just to let you know, I added three more barcode output formats: TIF, PNG and (probably the most existing) SVG. All bitmap formats have a white background. SVG contains just the pure barcode (vector information) without background (being transparent) and without any border.

Like the bitmap formats SVG is created in portions of pages. Each page contains 19 barcode rows. I'm still unsure whether this is the best way to go. Let me know what you need. Is it better to create a file for each single row? Or should I make that configurable?

Michael

[vervalin]

Hi Michael,

Thank you for updating this thread with new release updates. I am downloading each new version and testing it. It's great. I use this software frequently and have been creating bar code files for much of my HP 41 software.

This tool is amazing!! Thanks again!!

Paul

[gomi42]

I'd like to inform you about the new release v1.11. This version adds .emf (enhanced metafile) support as output format for barcodes.

Like SVG EMF is a vector based file format. That means you can scale both up (infinit) or down (up to a certain point) without loss of quality.

Only the current version of MS Word supports SVG import. But all versions of MS Word support EMF since ever. In case you plan to embed barcodes into MS Word prefer EMF over any bitmap format (JPG, ...). You get way better quality.

Michael

[rprosperi]

(08-21-2023 07:29 AM)gomi42 Wrote:  I'd like to inform you about the new release v1.11. This version adds .emf (enhanced metafile) support as output format for barcodes.

[snip]

There is no 1.11 release available. Maybe I checked too quickly after your post?

[gomi42]

Ups, sorry, forgot to publish the release :-( Thx for the hint. Now you'll find it.

Michael

[rprosperi]

ok, visible now.

Thanls

[gomi42]

After a long testing period version 1.12 is now available. With this version you can now scan PDF files.

PDF is a quite complex format. The FocalMaster supports the most important representations of how barcodes can be specified: 1: embedded bitmap files (like .jpg), 2: PDF native graphics. There are more ways to display barcodes in PDF but I do not plan to support them. The fallback solution is always to create screenshots and scan the screenshots. Not very handy, but it works.

Let me know how it works.

Michael

[vervalin]

Hi Michael,

I installed version 1.12 and when I try to create bar code from files I have used often on previous versions, the 1.12 version just crashes. No error messages or anything. The moment I click "Create Barcode", the window just goes away.

I am using Windows 11 and it is current with all patches and releases, etc.

If you need me to try anything, I can help with that.

For now, I am rolling back to 1.11

Regards, Paul

UPDATE: Version 1.11 works fine with the same files that I just ran on 1.12 where it failed

[vervalin]

Hello again Michael,

Well I am sorry to report that version 1.11 is also not working. Since 1.10, when I installed, 1.11, I could indeed generate the Barcode files (I use PDF - no other formats yet).

BUT, I never actually scanned one as it is 9 pages of Barcode (and just assumed it was good). So, because of the issue with 1.12, I decided to go and scan a 1.11 version of the Barcode and indeed I get good "beeps" when scanning the file but somewhere in the middle, the calculator code after it has all been scanned in, there is complete gibberish.

So, I went back to version 1.10 and scanned that exact same code and it works perfectly.

If there is anything further I can do to help isolate the problem, please let me know.

Regards, Paul

[gomi42]

Hello Paul,

I'm sorry that I missed the crash you experience. Version 1.13 fixes that problem and is already released.

I'm sorry again I don't understand the second problem. You mention you only generate PDF. And you mention that v1.10 perfectly scans the files while the new version don't. But version prior to v1.12 are not able to scan PDF files at all. I'm sure I misunderstand something here but I can't figure out what :-(

Could you send me the file(s) in question via a private message? Of course I do not publish them, just for identifying the problem.

Michael

[vervalin]

Hi Michael,

Version 1.13 appears to have fixed any previous issues. I have generated barcodes with it into the PDF format, then I printed the PDF file and then used my wand to read in the barcode lines. With version 1.13, that process now worked perfectly. But to recap my experience:

The specific issue I had with version 1.11 was not "scanning" the PDF files. I think I was not clear in explaining that. The issue was that I can generate the barcode file into the PDF format.

Then I print that PDF file.
Then I use my wand to read the barcodes back into the calculator to confirm if the barcodes are properly generated.

That is where version 1.11 caused me an issue. The wand could read each of the barcode lines and I would receive a successful "beep" from the calculator. So, the "formatting" of the barcodes was good. BUT... the "content" of the barcode on at least one line was bad.

This was repeatable and always generated bizarre and unusual lines of code into the calculator.
That is why i reverted to 1.10.

Anyway, 1.13 is working perfectly now!!! Thank you again for this great tool. I use it many times each day :-)

Regards, Paul

[vervalin]

Hi Michael,

Ok, so now I feel like I am cluttering the thread :-(

So, I have tried some additional things and I cannot explain reason for the results. But I do not think it matters now. I have used my wand to read in the barcode from version 1.11 again. This time it has worked and no erroneous lines of code are entered into the calculator.

Yesterday, I read the same sheets of barcode into two different calculators and each calculator had bad results. In one instance, the program read in could not even "pack" correctly. In the other instance, there were corrupted lines of code in the program.

But, now this third reading of the same printed PDF sheets with the wand has produced good results. In each of the three attempts, the calculator gave a successful "beep" for each line read by the wand. So, it is most certainly related to my "system" in some way as the PDF barcode printouts are clearly good.

I was not aware that this is possible to get a good "beep" but to have the program lines corrupted.

Thank you and sorry if I have created any difficulties...