Getting Started with Scandit SDK for Symbian

This guide is split in three parts:

  1. The first part shows how you can integrate the SDK in your own application in 5 easy steps.
  2. The second part describes how to build the demo application that comes with the SDK.
  3. The last part contains some troubleshooting tips.

1. Integrating the SDK in your own application


1.1 Get your SDK

Create your personal account at http://account.scandit.com, get a free Development License and download the SDK (scanditsdk-devel-symbian_x.x.x.zip).


1.2 Add the SDK to your Qt/Symbian project
  1. The ZIP file you downloaded contains a folder named scanditsdk. Copy this folder into the root directory of your Qt project (where your .pro file resides).
  2. Add the lines highlighted in the following screenshot to your .pro file. If you want to copy and paste these lines, you can also find them in the scanditsdk/project_settings.txt file.

  3. Ensure that, during testing, you sign your SIS file with your developer certificate (available through Ovi Publisher Support or Symbian Signed). Also note that your UID3 cannot be auto-generated and it cannot be in the test range (0xE0000000 to 0xEFFFFFFF). You must use a UID3 that was assigned to you by Ovi Publisher Support or Symbian Signed. (The reason for this is that the Scandit SDK relies on the ReadDeviceData capability. This is a system capability that is not available to self-signed SIS files.


1.3 Add your Scandit SDK license key to your project

Download your personal license key file from http://account.scandit.com and place it in the scanditsdk/license_key folder. Your license key file is named one of the following:

  • development_license_key.txt
  • production_license_key_free_apps.txt
  • production_license_key_paid_apps.txt


1.4 Select your device type

The specifications of the cameras used in different Nokia devices vary considerably. The Scandit SDK is highly optimized for these camera types. In order to ensure a good barcode scanning performance, you need to choose a set of helper files that matches the device that you will use for scanning. There are two sets of helper files:

  1. “N8″ for Nokia N8-00
  2. “E7_C7″ for Nokia C7-00, Nokia C7 Astound and Nokia E7-00


To select one of the helper file sets, add either of the following two lines to your .pro file:

  • app_private_files.sources += scanditsdk/helper_files/N8/*
  • app_private_files.sources += scanditsdk/helper_files/E7_C7/*


Note: Do not add both lines at the same time.


1.5 Add source code to read barcodes

To let your users scan barcodes, you need to first create a QWindow. When the QWindow object is initialized, you can start the scanning process with the following few lines of code:

  // App key. Log in to your account at https://account.scandit.com to look
  // up your personal key.
  QString appKey = " ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ";

  // Enable Qt::WindowSoftkeysVisibleHint flag in QMainWindow constructor
  QWidget::setWindowFlags(windowFlags() | Qt::WindowSoftkeysVisibleHint);

  // Initialize the Scandit SDK.
  ScanditSDK* mScanditSDK = new ScanditSDK(appKey);
  setCentralWidget(mScanditSDK);

  // Connect signals and slots.
  connect(mScanditSDK, SIGNAL(barcodeScanned(QString,QString)), this,
    SLOT(barcodeScanned(QString,QString)));

This will cause the slot barcodeScanned to be invoked whenever a barcode is scanned. A possible implementation looks as follows:

  void ScanditDemo::barcodeScanned(QString code, QString symbology)
  {
    QMessageBox::information(this, "Barcode scanned", code + "(" + symbology +")");
  }


2. Building the demo application

The Scandit SDK (scanditsdk-devel-symbian_x.x.x.zip) contains a folder named demo, where you can find an example application that scans barcodes (scanditsdk-demo.pro). Before you can build this application, you need to make a few changes to the project:

  1. In scanditsdk-demo.pro, set the UID3 to a value that was assigned to you by Symbian Signed or Ovi Publisher Support and ensure that the project is signed with your developer certificate (see section 1.2). Note that you cannot self-sign the demo application.
  2. Download your license key and copy it into the scanditsdk/license_key folder (see section 1.3 for details).
  3. In scanditsdk-demo.pro, uncomment one of the two lines that contain the string “helper_files” to select the device type for which you want to build the demo (see section 1.4 for details).
  4. In scanditdemo.cpp, locate the appKey variable and change it to your personal app key.
  5. Configure the project to sign the SIS file with your developer certificate. Note that self-signing will not work (see section 1.2 for details).


3. Problems, crashes?

Please check the console output in Qt Creator. The Scandit SDK writes log messages to the console that can help you identify problems.

If you have problems with the demo application: Did you change the project settings as described above?

If your app crashes and you are using a development SDK: Does your phone have access to the internet? Your app will terminate otherwise. (Note that production versions do not have this requirement and also work without network.)