Introduction

This step-by-step tutorial will guide you through how to build a complete C# console application that analyzes barcodes from an image and outputs the value, type, location and confidence to the terminal

using System;
using System.Drawing.Bitmap;
using Accusoft.BarcodeXpressSdk;

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    using (BarcodeXpress barcodeXpress = new BarcodeXpress("."))
    using (System.Drawing.Bitmap bitmap = new Bitmap("pathtoyourimage"))
    {
        // barcodeXpress.Licensing.SetSolutionName("YourSolutionName");
        // barcodeXpress.Licensing.SetSolutionKey(1234, 1234, 1234, 1234);
        // The call to SetOEMLicenseKey should only be made when using an OEM license key which begins with the value 2.0... If you do not have an OEM key this call should be skipped
        // barcodeXpress.Licensing.SetOEMLicenseKey("2.0...");

        // BarcodeType.UnknownBarcode is set to the default type for Barcode Xpress, this will detect all 1D barcodes, to detect 2D barcodes you will need to specifically set whichever BarcodeType best suits your project
        barcodeXpress.reader.BarcodeTypes = new BarcodeType[] { BarcodeType.UnknownBarcode };

        try
        {
            Result[] results = barcodeXpress.reader.Analyze(bitmap);

            Console.WriteLine(results.Length + " barcodes detected\n");

            for (int i = 0; i < results.Length; i++)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("#" + i);
                Console.WriteLine("Barcode Type: " + results[i].BarcodeName);
                Console.WriteLine("Barcode Value: " + results[i].BarcodeValue);
            }
        }
        catch (BarcodeException bxEx)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(bxEx.Message);
        }
    }
}

Create BXNetDemo

1. Open Visual Studio and create a new .NET Framework Console Application (Ensure that this is a .NET Framework Console Application and not a .NET Core Console Application), Barcode Xpress supports .NET Framework 2.0+

2. Name your project and select a location to save the project

3. Add a reference to Barcode Xpress .NET by either referencing the Barcode Xpress .NET nuget package or by adding a project reference by right clicking Dependencies and clicking Add Project Reference

4. Insert using Accusoft.BarcodeXpressSdk; to your code

5. Inside the Main method, initialize the barcodexpress instance and the System.Drawing.Bitmap instance and point the Bitmap constructor to point to the image you want to read barcodes on

   using (BarcodeXpress barcodeXpress = new BarcodeXpress("."))
   using (System.Drawing.Bitmap bitmap = new Bitmap("pathtoyourimage"))
   {
   
   }
   
   

6. If you're distributing your application and using a runtime license, calls to SetSolutionName, SetSolutionKey and SetOEMLicenseKey will need to be added. If you're evaluating or using a development license this step should be skipped

   using (BarcodeXpress barcodeXpress = new BarcodeXpress("."))
   using (System.Drawing.Bitmap bitmap = new Bitmap("pathtoyourimage"))
   {
       barcodeXpress.Licensing.SetSolutionName("YourSolutionName");
       barcodeXpress.Licensing.SetSolutionKey(1234, 1234, 1234, 1234);
       // The call to SetOEMLicenseKey should only be made when using an OEM license key which begins with the value 2.0... If you do not have an OEM key this call should be skipped
       barcodeXpress.Licensing.SetOEMLicenseKey("2.0...");
   }
   

7. Setup the barcode reader and specify which barcode types you would like to read, see the list of supported barcode types for a list of all supported options. By default this value is set to Unknown which will read all 1D barcodes

   // BarcodeType.UnknownBarcode is set to the default type for Barcode Xpress, this will detect all 1D barcodes, to detect 2D barcodes you will need to specifically set whichever BarcodeType best suits your project
   barcodeXpress.reader.BarcodeTypes = new BarcodeType[] { BarcodeType.UnknownBarcode };
   

8. Call Analyze in a try-catch block to catch any exceptions that Barcode Xpress throws

   try
   {
       Result[] results = barcodeXpress.reader.Analyze(bitmap);
   }
   catch (BarcodeException bxEx)
   {
       Console.WriteLine(bxEx.Message);
   }
   

9. Add a useful print message

   Console.WriteLine(results.Length + " barcodes found\n");
   
   for (int i = 0; i < results.Length; i++)
   {
       Console.WriteLine("#" + i);
       Console.WriteLine("Barcode Type: " + results[i].BarcodeName);
       Console.WriteLine("Barcode Value: " + results[i].BarcodeValue);
   }
   

10. Run the sample and view your results.