Socket Mobile is a leading innovator of data capture and delivery solutions for enhanced productivity.
Capture SDK is the easiest solution for adding barcode scanning and RFID/NFC reading capability to an iOS application.
The Socket Mobile barcode scanner and contactless reader/writer are an ergonomic, fast and accurate solution to a variety of data entry scenarios.
This SDK is very easy to integrate to an application without requirement to follow a specific design architecture.
Within 10 minutes the barcode scanning or RFID/NFC reading capability can be integrated into an application.
The Capture SDK offers a built-in barcode scanner called Softscan, allowing to test and integrate the SDK even before getting a Socket Mobile scanner, using the exact same API.
More documentation can be found here.
- Quick install notes
- Capture usage
- Sample code
- Configure and connect a Socket Mobile device
- Device Notifications (Battery Level)
- SoftScan
- Closing Capture
The Capture SDK is using CocoaPods.
First, you need to install CocoaPods on your machine by following the instructions found here: https://guides.cocoapods.org/using/getting-started.html
To install the SDK to the application you need to create a file named
Podfile in the same folder as your Xcode project is located.
The content of this file should be something like this assuming the name of
your project is myProject:
target 'myProject'
pod 'SKTCapture', '~> 1.1'Once you have saved this file, from the terminal command prompt, type the
command pod install and make sure your current directory is where the Podfile
is.
This creates a workspace file. If you have Xcode open on your project, you need to close it, and re-open your project using this time the workspace file.
From there you should be able to compile without error.
VERY IMPORTANT: Supported external accessory protocols array in the application settings. In order to be able to use the Socket Mobile barcode scanners, the scanners external accessory protocol string needs to be added in the application project info in the supported external accessory protocols array.
The protocol string is com.socketmobile.chs.
If the application does not use any barcode scanner but only the contactless reader/writer (Socket Mobile D600), there is no need to specify a protocol string because the D600 uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE).
If the application does use a Socket Mobile barcode scanner it will need to be MFi whitelisted before submitting the application in the App Store. Please contact Socket Mobile in order to register the application to the whitelist. This has to be done once for the first version supporting the barcode scanner.
An AppKey is required in order to use Capture SDK.
Our sample applications do not require any registration.
The AppKey can be generated by logging in Socket Mobile developer portal and registering your application.
This registration needs the Socket Mobile developer ID, the application Bundle ID (which is case sensitive).
Now you're ready to add import SKTCapture in your main controller, and
make it derive from one of the CaptureHelperDelegate that your application
needs.
Go to the CaptureHelperDelegate source and copy paste the delegates you want to override, at minimum the onDecodedData delegate in order to be able to receive the barcode decoded data in your application.
The Capture is described in greater details in the documentation.
The recommended way of using Capture is by using CaptureHelper.
CaptureHelper can be instantiated in one of your application controllers using
its [SKTCaptureHelper sharedInstance] static member.
The chosen controller must implement one of the CaptureHelper[xxxxx]Delegate protocols in order to receive the various Capture asynchronous events.
The reference of the controller deriving from at least one of the
CaptureHelper[xxxxx]Delegate can be set by using the CaptureHelper pushDelegate method.
CaptureHelper maintains a delegates stack. The delegate on top of the stack is the one that receives the notification from Capture. So if the application has multiple views requiring the scanning feature, it can push a reference of a new view controller to the CaptureHelper delegates stack, and remove that reference when the view is no longer active.
In order to start Capture, the API for starting using Capture is the
openWithAppInfo:completionHandler method with the application information.
This open method can be called only once, in the main view controller by
example, and the CaptureHelper.sharedInstance can be used at various
place in the application code as singleton reference without the need to pass it
through various controllers.
The application information is retrieved from the Socket Mobile developer portal, by registering the application with its application ID, the developer ID. The application key is then generated and all three initialize the AppInfo required to open Capture.
The application ID is composed by the application bundle ID prefixed by the platform on which the application is designed to run.
Here is an example of such application ID: "ios:com.socketmobile.SingleEntry".
The application ID is case sensitive.
Once Capture is open, then the device arrival notification can occurs as soon as a scanner is connected to the iOS device.
The decoded data coming from the scanner can be retrieved by overriding the onDecodedData delegate.
-
Add
pod 'SKTCapture', '~>1.1'in the file Podfile located at the same level than the application .xcproj file. Make sure this file first line is giving the name of the application .xcproj file:target 'myProject'. -
Install Capture CocoaPods in the project by using the terminal and typing the following command:
pod installin the project's directory. Once the installation completes, use the application workspace in order to compile it with Capture. -
Add
Import SKTCapturein your application main controller. -
Derive your application main controller from one or more of the available CaptureHelper[xxxxx]Delegate protocols to receive the notifications the application is interested in.
-
In the appropriate controller function initializes CaptureHelper, by using the pushDelegate to specify your controller reference and by calling
CaptureHelper openWithAppInfo:completionHandlermethod to start using Capture. -
Add the implementation of the chosen CaptureHelper[xxxxx]Delegate protocols from which the controller derived to handle the various Capture asynchronous events.
Example of Podfile for SingleEntry app:
target SingleEntry
pod 'SKTCapture', '~>1.1'Example of ViewController.m for SingleEntry app:
import UIKit
import SKTCapture
class MasterViewController:
UITableViewController,
CaptureHelperDevicePresenceDelegate,
CaptureHelperDeviceManagerPresenceDelegate,
CaptureHelperDeviceDecodedDataDelegate,
CaptureHelperErrorDelegate,
CaptureHelperDevicePowerDelegate {
// Capture Helper shareInstance allows to share
// the same instance of Capture Helper with the
// entire application. That static property can
// be used in any views but it is recommended
// to open only once Capture Helper (in the main
// view controller) and pushDelegate, popDelegate
// each time a new view requiring scanning capability
// is loaded or unloaded respectively.
var captureHelper = CaptureHelper.sharedInstance
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
// Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib.
// fill out the App Info with the Bundle ID which should start by the
// platform on which the application is running and followed with the
// case sensitive application Bundle ID,
// with the Socket Mobile Portal developer ID
// and with the Application Key generated from the Socket Mobile Developer
// portal
let AppInfo = SKTAppInfo()
AppInfo.appKey = "MC0CFQD1tdTpaABkppmG+iP3dB9kolYVtwIUY8c3UmEfaPoTI3AxbPOTpNgw+fo="
AppInfo.appID = "ios:com.socketmobile.SingleEntrySwift"
AppInfo.developerID = "bb57d8e1-f911-47ba-b510-693be162686a"
// there is a stack of delegates the last push is the
// delegate active, when a new view requiring notifications from the
// scanner, then push its delegate and pop its delegate when the
// view is done
captureHelper.pushDelegate(self)
// to make all the delegates able to update the UI without the app
// having to dispatch the UI update code, set the dispatchQueue
// property to the DispatchQueue.main
captureHelper.dispatchQueue = DispatchQueue.main
// open Capture Helper only once in the application
captureHelper.openWithAppInfo(AppInfo, withCompletionHandler: { (_ result: SKTResult) in
print("Result of Capture initialization: \(result.rawValue)")
})
}
}CaptureHelper makes the application aware of a new device connection by invoking the onDeviceArrival of the protocol and, in the same way when a device disconnects, the onDeviceRemoval is invoked. A CaptureHelper device instance representing the device that is connected can be used to retrieve or set a device property.
Example of the view controller being aware of the scanner:
func didNotifyArrivalForDevice(_ device: CaptureHelperDevice, withResult result: SKTResult) {
print("Main view device arrival:\(device.deviceInfo.name!)")
}
func didNotifyRemovalForDevice(_ device: CaptureHelperDevice, withResult result: SKTResult) {
print("Main view device removal:\(device.deviceInfo.name!)")
}If the scanner triggers a scan, the decoded data can be retrieve in the protocol function onDecodedData.
Example of retrieving the decoded data received by a scanner:
func didReceiveDecodedData(_ decodedData: SKTCaptureDecodedData?, fromDevice device: CaptureHelperDevice, withResult result: SKTResult) {
if result == SKTCaptureErrors.E_NOERROR {
let rawData = decodedData?.decodedData
let rawDataSize = rawData?.count
print("Size: \(String(describing: rawDataSize))")
print("data: \(String(describing: decodedData?.decodedData))")
let string = decodedData?.stringFromDecodedData()!
print("Decoded Data \(String(describing: string))")
}
}The application can retrieve or modify the device properties by calling the
various CaptureHelperDevice get/set methods.
By example there is a method to retrieve the device friendly name:
getFriendlyNameWithCompletionHandler. The call is asynchronous and will return
immediately. The final result and the friendly name can be retrieved in the
completion handler function block.
IMPORTANT: If a property in not accessible through the available CaptureHelper methods, it is very easy to add new ones, by creating a CaptureHelper extension class and copy and paste a similar get/set method and change the property settings inside the new method.
Creating a CaptureHelper extension allows to avoid an overwrite of a modified version of CaptureHelper when updating to a more recent Capture CocoaPods.
Sample code can be found in GitHub / SocketMobile
This SDK is designed for using all of the Socket Mobile devices on the iOS platforms.
As the application developer this SDK will give you full programmatic access to a connected Socket Mobile data capture device to customize the data source (barcode symbology or RFID Tag), data support and manage device feedback messages and functions.
The API documentation for the SDK can be found here
The Socket Mobile devices are shipped by default in Basic mode which is NOT compatible with the Capture SDK.
The device can be configured to the Application mode by using the Socket Mobile Companion app.
You can also refer to the documentation for instructions without using Companion.
SUMMARY
For ALL user scenarios with the Socket Mobile device and any sample app or developed application with Capture support these steps MUST occur in order to be able to connect and communicate with the device:
- Setup the Socket Mobile device in Application (iOS) mode
- Discover and pair the Socket Mobile device from the iOS Bluetooth manager
- Verify Bluetooth connected state between iOS and the device
The Device Notifications can be configured in order to receive a notification each time one or more of those events occur:
- Battery Level change,
- Power State change,
- Buttons State change.
By default the device notifications are turned off. The recommended usage is to first check if a particular notification is turned off or on. Depending on this reading, then the application can set a specific notification to be received if it is not already set. That setting stays persistent in the Socket Mobile device across scanner shutdown. It is not recommended to set systematically a notification in the device without checking first if that setting is already correct.
For the Battery Level and Power State, it could take a long time before the state changes, so usually the initial value is read using the corresponding CaptureHelper Get method.
Last, some devices don't support some of the notification. If that's the case, an error ESKT_NOTSUPPORTED (-15) is returned when trying to set a notification that is not supported.
SoftScan feature refers to the capability of using the phone's camera in order to scan a barcode. The main purpose of integrating this feature in Capture is to provide a consistent interface to barcode readers. Whehther it is a Socket Mobile scanner, or simply the phone's camera, the application relies on the same interface, same API.
The application using the SoftScan feature needs to do 2 things differently, which Socket Mobile scanners don't require.
The first thing is to register the application main UI view to Capture so the camera overlay view can be displayed correctly by passing the UI application reference to the overlay property (kSktCapturePropIdOverlayViewDevice).
The second thing is to provide a trigger logic that starts the SoftScan scanning operation. The trigger is a Capture property (kSktCapturePropIdTriggerDevice) that exists since the first version of Capture, whereas the overlay view property has been added to support SoftScan feature.
A third property (kSktCapturePropIdSoftScanStatus) allows to enable or disable the SoftScan feature. This is a Capture property that is persistent across the life cycle of the application using it.
If the SoftScan feature is enabled, Capture will send a device arrival notification to the application referencing a SoftScan device the application can control. Once the application triggers a read, the decoded data arrives the same way with the same information than as any other Socket Mobile devices supported by Capture.
It is not recommended to close Capture because the scanner will go through reinitialization the next time Capture is open which causes a delay before being able to use the scanner.
Closing Capture does not affect power consumption, since the scanner stays connected to the iOS host anyway.
It is also worth noting that when the Socket Mobile device is connected the power consumption is really minimal, compare to establishing a connection.
If the motive of closing Capture is to not receive any decoded data from the device then the application delegate can simply be removed and the application will no longer receive any event from the scanner until it sets its delegate back again.