Barcodes

Owned by Paul Hitchcock
Last updated: May 30, 2023
7 min read

Crows Nest makes use of barcodes in various areas of the application. Different areas support different types of barcode scanners. Manifests and Inventory scanning can be done using the mobile app on iOS or Android. Manifests also supports scanners connected to a Windows PC via physical Serial (COM) port or Emulated Serial (COM) port via USB or Bluetooth. For scanning on the shop Timeclock app use a USB scanner that connects as a Keyboard wedge.

Manifests

Scanning is used on Manifests to track progress of Manifest Items. The different scan points are referred to as “Actions” and an be configured in Options. As items are scanned the action, date/time, employee, state (each action has a ‘state’ of checked or unchecked) and optionally a Container (reference to a Shipping Container in which the the item is transported) are logged. Before scanning the operator must select an Action and State, and optionally a Container. These selections can be made on-screen or by scanning a barcode.

3 of 9 barcode font requires barcodes to start and end with an asterisk. For example the complete barcode to scan an item with ID 1234 would be *I1234*. All Examples below are shown including the asterisks for 3 of 9.

The following barcode functions are available:

  • Item - Prefix of “I” followed by a Manifest Item ID. Logs an entry into the scan history for the indicated item. When using the mobile app on Android you can alternatively follow the prefix with a string value stored in the Barcode column of the Manifest item which allows you to use barcodes generated by another source.
    Example: *I1234*

  • Action - Prefix of “A” followed by an Action number. Changes the Action selection on the scanner.
    Example: *A3*

  • State - Prefix of “S” followed by 0 or 1. Changes the State selection on the scanner.
    Example: *S1*

  • Employee - Prefix of “E” followed by an Employee ID. Changes the Employee selection on the scanner (not available on the mobile app as the Employee is the currently logged in user).
    Example: *E50*

  • Container - Prefix of “C” followed by a Container ID. Changes the Container selection on the scanner.
    Example: *C199*

  • Manifest Container Scan - Scanning this barcode will add a scan to all items linked to a container for the indicated Action. A common use for this is using pallets as Containers. The format is “MCA.<ContainerID>.<ActionID>.<ActionState>” (Note: This is currently only for the desktop app, not the mobile app)

    • Example: MCA.12.1.1

    • ContainerID: ID of a Manifest Item Container

    • ActionID: Number of the Action to Scan

    • ActionState: 0 or 1 to Uncheck or Check the action (Currently only 1 is supported)

Adding Manifest Scanners

Follow these steps to add scanners to the Manifest form.

  1. Connect your scanner to a serial (COM) port per instructions from the scanner manufacturer.

  2. Open Manifests from the drop-down menu under Data->Manifests or from toolbar Manifests button.
    Note: The currently logged in user needs to have access to the Manifests form or the toolbar button will not be visible and the drop-down menu option will be greyed-out.

  3. Find the list of scanners at the top of the Manifests form. If it’s not visible, look for a link in the upper left corner that toggles the visibility of the scanner list. The link will be titled ‘Hide Scanner List’/'Show Scanner List'

  4. Right-click the list of scanners and select Add

  5. Fill in the settings to connect to the serial port configured in step 1 (see pic below). Use the description and color to distinguish between different scanners. For example you can add a physical label on the scanner with the description and/or color.

     

  6. On the list of scanners check the box in the ‘Connected’ column to turn on the connection to the scanner and start listening to the port.

  7. In the Scanner list, fill in the columns on the scanner row (i.e. Action, Employee, etc.). Test by scanning a barcode. You can view all scans collected on the Scan Log. To view the Scan Log see the tabs in the portion on the right side of the form.

Inventory

Scanning is used to locate an item in the inventory list. Currently scanning Inventory is only available on the mobile app. The barcodes do not need any special prefix and can contain either the automatically generated ID for the inventory or an external SKU. The SKU can be modified in the desktop client but can also be set using the scanner. To add an external SKU (mfg barcode) to an Inventory item using the mobile app use the following steps:

  1. Log into the mobile app and go to Inventory.

  2. Select an item, either by manually searching in the list or using a barcode.

  3. While an item is selected tap Scan

  4. Scan the external SKU

  5. Confirm that the scanned SKU should be linked to the current Inventory item.

If the SKU has already been linked to another item it will find and select that item instead of prompting the user. If you need to remove a linked SKU you can do this in the desktop client

Example Inventory barcode: *19002* or *SA80SKP* (second example is for a custom SKU which can be alphanumeric)

Timeclock

Scanning is used to select an Employee on the login screen of the desktop Timeclock app. Once an employee is selected you can also use a barcode for various other actions listed below. Using a barcode will bypass the PIN entry if Timeclock settings are configured to require a PIN.

Because the Timeclock uses a keyboard type scanner the app needs to distinguish scans from regular keyboard input. All barcodes require an extra prefix of %%. Example: %%EMP4

The following barcode functions are available:

  • Employee - Prefix of “EMP” followed by an Employee ID. Select the employee on the list of employees and bypass the PIN entry.
    Example: *%%EMP12*

  • Clock Out - Barcode of “OUT”. Will clock out the user.
    Example: *%%OUT*

  • Project - Prefix of “PRO” followed by a Project ID. When clocking into a Project, selects the Project in the list on screen if able.
    Example: *%%PRO4009*

  • Phase - Prefix of “PHA” followed by a Phase ID. When clocking into a Project, selects the Phase in the list on screen if able.
    Example: *%%PHA12009*

  • Task - Prefix of “TAS” followed by a Task ID. When clocking into a Project, selects the Task in the list on screen if able.
    Example: *%%TAS19902*

  • Default - Barcode of “DFT”. Will clock the user in without a Task, Project or Phase and will select the user’s default Department and Operation.
    Example: *%%DFT*

  • Complete - Prefix of “CMP” followed by type of item to complete and the ID of that item. Marks the indicated item as Complete.
    Example: *%%CMP.TAS.1234*

    • Current item types supported: “TAS” = Task

  • QC Code - Prefix of “QC” followed by item type, followed by item ID, followed by QC Code ID. Applies the QC code to the indicated item.
    Example: *%%QC.TAS.1234.4567*

    • Current item types supported: “TAS” = Task

  • Phase Marker - Prefix of “MRK” followed by Phase ID, followed by Marker Number. Sets the state of the indicated Marker on the indicated Phase to Checked.
    Example: *%%MRK.1234.1*

  • Receive PO - Prefix of “RCV” followed by “PO” or “ITM”, followed by an ID. When PO is used, the ID is the ID of the PO. When ITM is used, the ID is the ID of the PO Item.
    Example: *%%RCV.PO.1234*
    Example: *%%RCV.ITM.1234*

Scanners

Mobile App via Laser Scanner

When running the mobile app on an Android device from Zebra with a built in laser scanner the camera will not be displayed during scanning and scanning will be done with the laser scanner instead. We recommend the TC21/TC26 series of mobile computers from Zebra. They can be purchased with or without cellular telephone service capability and are built for warehouse use.

Mobile App via Camera

Scanning in the mobile app on other devices is done via the camera. There is a switch on screen in the app while scanning to turn the flash on while scanning to make scanning easier while in areas with poor lighting. The quality of cameras varies widely on devices so some devices will scan better than others.

Keyboard Wedge Scanner

Keyboard wedge scanners are typically connected via USB or Bluetooth and are generally very cheap. You can shop for them online. There is no setup needed because they are recognized by Windows as a keyboard automatically. Keyboard wedge scanners can be used with the Timeclock.

Serial (COM) Port Scanner

A scanner connected to a physical or emulated Serial (COM) Port allows the app to listen to all input from the scanner no matter which app is in the foreground and does not interfere with keyboard input. This works well for the Manifest where you may have on PC in your shipping department that has multiple wireless scanners on different COM ports. The app can still be used while employees are scanning without interrupting the user. One drawback of this method is that the person scanning may not be near the screen and won’t have immediate feedback that the scan was successful like they would on the mobile app. To help with this, you can configure different sounds for each possible outcome while scanning a Manifest barcode (see Manifests in Options). Connecting a PA speaker system to the PC can then broadcast the sound through the shipping area so the user can determine if the scan was successful.