Firefox Extension: Mobile Barcoder

You just made my day with your Firefox extension. I'm looking at ways QR Codes can be used in education to link "real life" situations with information using mobile devices, and your extension is fantastic for improving access to QR Codes for this purpose. I've blogged you on my site at http://mlearning.edublogs.org/2006/09/06/qr-code-generator-extension-for-firefox/.

Well done! Can't wait to see your next version(s)! :)

I think this is just a coincidental choice of the same wordpress template as Leonard's site, I have absolutely no idea what it says on it, but there's a Taiwanese blog posting to this page.

http://people.debian.org.tw/~chihchun/2006/09/05/firefox-extension-mobile-barcoder/

People have even tagged it with del.icio.us:

http://del.icio.us/url/bbfcd4053e95009bb9e54f16f5923820

Yet another review I've managed to find:

http://smoothplanet.kaywa.com/mobile-application/ff-extension-mobile-barcoder.html

Thanks :o)

Hmmm, I think I (this post and my other, format review post) may have even been blogged (internally presumably) by Google! Now I feel special! :o)

http://big.corp.google.com/~sahuguet/mobicodes/index.html
http://big.corp.google.com/~sahuguet/mobicodes/2006/07/code-format-dilemma.html

Punit Raizada has linked here from his blog, and comments that it would be better to generate DataMatrix (Semacode) barcodes rather than QRCodes... This is one of my wishlist items, and hopefully I can make some time to adding an option to choose the format sometime soon.

http://punitraizada.blogspot.com/2006/10/firefox-extension-mobile-barcoder.html

Hey there - just having a play with the QuickMark QR Code Reader and your very excellent Firefox extension; I was wondering if you'd possibly consider providing the user with an option as to how long the barcode pops up for in a future release? The Quickmark reader sometimes has trouble recognising the data before the barcode popup disappears. :( Being able to configure this would be very handy! Thanks Duncan, keep up the great work!!! :)

Hey there - just having a play with the QuickMark QR Code Reader and your very excellent Firefox extension; I was wondering if you'd possibly consider providing the user with an option as to how long the barcode pops up for in a future release? The Quickmark reader sometimes has trouble recognising the data before the barcode popup disappears. :( Being able to configure this would be very handy! Thanks Duncan, keep up the great work!!! :)

i have used this barcoder extension,but i donn't think it is useful becouse the web site and wap site is different,the QR code which indicates current pages cann't be display in the mobile phone.
I have a suggestion about the barcode extension :
the function can do that:change the text which selected in current page into barcode,then,the mobile phone which has barcoder reader function can read the text directly from the barcode.

My English is not good,sorry ,may be you can understand what i say.

Am interested in helping programming if possible. What language? Decode when pop up? Pls contact me at email provided. Thanks

hey cool plugin, would be good if u could make it click to display.
The problem with the hover is that often my phone will take to long to decode it and it will disapear.

Still cool idea, thanks

no doubt this one adds to my list of favorite firefox extensions <the best extensions>. well eagerly waiting for the updated version as chris said me too facing same problem as my nokia phone does take some time decoding and by that time ...wuuufff.....disappeared so if you find some time makin the new extension please take care of that...just cant wait for the new one!!!!
:):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):

Duncan,

I have had lots of fun with your extension. I use your extension to visit wap sites quiet often but thats cause I have an application that can do that.

I dont know how much time you can put into this plugin, but in case you are looking into it, here is my wish list.

1) Support for Data matrix, the semacode app is free and has created a buzz as far as free use of barcodes is concerned. The ideal extension would allow me to choose the format: QR or DataMatrix.

2)If the URL belongs to a blog, can we connect to the RSS feed? I am not sure how accurate we can make this.

I am a developer myself, so if you are looking into expanding this plugin, get in touch with me and I can help.

- Awesome Plugin Dude!!!

Regards

This is pretty cool,incredibly easy to add favourites to my phone.
Just 1 minor problem,(isn't there always). Is it possible to have the code a bit further up the screen.I am trying to use it with a laptop and the the base of the phone touches the laptop so i cant get the code in the cameras view.I can get around this using the phone a bit further away with the zoom but it's a bit unreliable.(the screen won't tilt further back)

Another couple of mentions:

http://thinkabdul.com/2007/04/12/free-firefox-mobile-qrcode-barcode-extension-capture-transfer-favorites-or-long-urlsweblinks-from-web-browser-to-cell-phone-using-mobile-camera/

http://nokia-n95.net/barcodes/have-you-scanned-yet.html

Agreed, I would like to see DataMatrix supported

Open the XPI (using WinRAR) and look for mobilebarcodeOverlay.xul (it's in the Chrome folder) and edit it.

Change the line:

<tooltip id="mobilebarcode-tooltip" onpopupshowing="mobilebarcode.getBarcode()">

to:

<tooltip id="mobilebarcode-tooltip" onpopupshowing="mobilebarcode.getBarcode()" noautohide="true">

save the change and install the extension again (you may have to remove it first, I don't know as I modified the extension directly in my Firefox profile). When you restart Firefox the barcode image will remain for as long as the mouse is hovering over the status bar.

** hopefully the above code will appear okay in the comment **

Taomyn: Thanks for the tip. I'll add this to the extension as soon as I can.

No problem, I assume the latest update has included it? Thanks.

If you can at some point replace the "Barcode" in the status bar with an icon (a 3d barcode might be appropriate), it would make a huge difference as it currently uses too much real-estate.

Extreme sports mobile TV company Yamgo (www.yamgo.com) has signed a deal with Tom Horn to launch a WAP-based mobile video sharing service. Yamgo customers can create their own mobile video page and upload videos directly from their mobile phone(http://yamgo.mobi) or over the web (www.yamgo.tv). Videos can be shared with friends on any mobile network (with WAP access).

I don't know if anyone reads this, but adding semacode (Data Matrix) format should be fairly easy. There is a Data Matrix encoder in javascript for firefox at http://sohne.net/projects/semafox/ . The page itself is terribly bad, but the JS code that does the trick is very nice and clean. And of course GPL. It's at /projects/semafox/javascript/semafox.js . You may want to look at this page also: http://sohne.net/projects/semafox/formats/xhtml-css?hide=1&title=&url=http:// . As it is the actual encoding application. Oh, there is actually an extension... (just found) :) http://sohne.net/sections/downloads/

duncan,

I've often thought that it would be quite useful to have a 2d code for urls, which, like your idea, would be the general way to share them. I envision an ad page for ex., and instead of only a url, a 2d barcode representing the resource as well. Then it would be a simple matter to develop a reader for a pc, [maybe even a webcam would work, perhaps a free webservice server, to allow users to create unique codes. Perhaps It would be useful to have the ability to store created codes in this way, and a FF addin could tell users:

1. code exists for url [root]?
2. code exists for exact page
3. create code for resource
4. [my fav], dload listed links to bookmarks, tie in to bookmark here type code, make new folder, del.icio.us, etc
5. take user to request for material page, etc.

Really anything you'd want to automate could be done. Here's the real drag. Every month i spend too much time doing the thing the human brain does better than any other thing in the universe so far...determining relevance. It would be a multi million dollar baby to allow me to not have to type urls from magazine adds with one hand, holding some mag in the other. I would LOVE, [and pay], to be able to just hold a mag up to a $20 cam of some sort, and get the urls i want to peruse, [at my leisure]. I know in less than 1/10 of a sec whether something i see i of interest. Why should it take 5 minutes to get the query into my browser?

Hell, for that matter, i suppose a vendor could subscribe to a service :) i'm always thinking cash... that let them throw up a temporary url for the months advertising, and give the readers some options to get into the urls quickley. Did you ever notice that publishers haven't after all this time understood that users love ad? We just hate having to eat them on other peoples schedules. I have mags i pay for ONLY because the 1/8th page section in the back is worth 10 time the editorial content...

thanks

Free extreme sports videos always and anywhere with you. Simply type http://yamgo.mobi in your mobile phone's internet browser. Yamgo has signed a deal with Tom Horn to launch a WAP-based mobile video sharing service. Also upload and view videos over web at www.yamgo.tv. They have made it really easy to start watching your videos on phones.

A nice idea, but I think you have not thought about industry applications...

If I'm viewing a page on the web and the tool creates a QRCode for me to send that page to my mobile, I'm not going to be happy reading a web page on a mobile, unless of course you have formatted the whole site with enough CSS so that the pages render differently on my mobile.

Mobile sites and web sites always tend to be different both in design and content, and for very good reasons.

If this application could create a QRCode on the page that references an equivalent page on a mobile site then that would be cool.

A good start I have to admit, but some more work is needed.

PS. Don't slate IE browsers! The vast majority of users out there are still using them. Just because developers and coders like to use FireFox over IE makes no difference. Design and code for the mass market, not just yourself. Just looked at some stats for sites for clients we work for and the figures show that IE is still 85% usage, FireFox comes in second but only 10% with all the rest making up the numbers.

To be honest I can not understand why Microsoft have not made IE7 100% CSS compliant. Kind of shooting themselves in the foot really...

@Scott - Thanks for the comments. I would like to be able to create a barcode for a mobile version of the site being viewed, but unfortunately there are no standards (at least that I know of, that people actually use) about how to specify where the mobile site is. I would suggest (and it's probably been mentioned elsewhere by others) that sites add a meta tag to indicate the 'handheld' content.

I know I shouldn't slate IE, and I will eventually redesign this blog so it looks the same in all browsers. I did add a 'just get rid of this warning' link, which is more than I did have. When I initially designed the template I thought I'd do everything standards based for XHTML and CSS2. That wasn't the real problem for IE though, the real problem was the PNG images with transparency. It would show a grey background anywhere there was meant to be alpha blending of any kind. Anyway... Let's not let this turn into a browser flame war :o)

I've been looking for a catchy way to give my English as a second language learners mobile homework. This seems ideal. Thanks.

I can't believe it, I was just browsing and stubled upon a site for the 28 Weeks Later DVD that has a QRCode on it. That's not the exciting thing though... What's more exciting (for me at least) is that they link to my Firefox extension!

http://www.28weekslaterdvd.co.uk/QRcode/

Great extension and a quick and easy way to get URL's into my Nokia E90, although I can always bookmark them and then sync my laptop and phone!

What would be really great is the ability to save them or at least copy/paste so I can add them into document, web pages and blogs!

Keep up the great work and thanks!

Adrian, you can do all the things you mention (save the barcode image) using a generator site such as http://mobilecodes.nokia.com

The extension I've made is intended for quick transfer, and as you say, you can synchronise bookmarks, but this extension works without the need of a tool like Nokia PC Suite, and it's also cross-platform.

That is the best tool i installed in my browser! And since i can make Codes from every text (new version) i use it not only for links. Now i can mark some Text and catch it with my phones qr-code-reader and store it on the phone. Fine!

Not all visitors of my site ( www.skate-trainer.de )have Firefox and so i have to make the QR-Codes manualy for them. Is there a tool for other Browsers like Mobile Barcoder? So tell my please.

Sorry, my englisch is bad, but every one will understand this:
THNK YOU FOR THIS USEFULL APLICATION!

Scotty

Scotty: You can use one of the free barcode generators which allow you to link the generated code/picture directly.

Here is a site where you can add it to your own site.

http://www.barcodelink.net/

Really useful add-on, thanks!

Barcodes can be used to code also phone numbers. It would be great if I could
1. highlight a phone number in browser
2. the phone number would be shown as barcode
3. me cell phone would read the barcode and call to that number

At risk of sounding like a Mac Fanboi - which I most assuredly am not - I'm gonna go ahead and throw out there that I think it'd be pretty effing awesome, and relatively easy, to have an iPhone app that works in conjunction with this application.

Main screen would have two options, I suppose: parse URL from barcode, and parse phone number (if you were to take the comment above mine to heart) - both of which would invoke the camera and take a snapshot, then parse the picture to extract the barcode.

The biggest hurdles for accomplishing this, I surmise, would be a.) coding anything like this for the iPhone - which I would recommend looking into the iPhone application "collage" which is open source for seeing how to code an application that invokes the camera function, and b.) writing image-parsing code for detecting the presence of the barcode. For this, I can't really provide any pertinent links, but I know there's code out there that does far more difficult image-recognition things than parsing a high-contrast barcode. Look into the "convolution" concept - since that is, in my experience, the digital image processor's greatest tool for image manipulation/processing.

http://www.dspguide.com/ch24.htm

Anyway - excellent idea for a plugin nonetheless!! Great job, guys!

Strangely, it does not work on Vista, although does on XP. Why? Thank you.

The add-on doesn't work on Vista. Thank you.

Hey Niko, there is such application (QR reader/ parser) for iPhone available for free:
http://www.imatrix.lt/

and it's very complete and functional - only bug I've found is it does not parse some URLs (i.e. it parses www.novaprint.com but it does not parse www.novaprint.com.ar)

Hi! This is a cool add-on, but it has one flaw: really long urls (more than approximately 256 characters) are not encoded (on the mac - on windows I have not tried yet). In such a case, only an empty white square will be shown. To verify this, go to this online-shop www.otto.de and search e.g. for PS3, then click one of the pictures.

@Magnolia, I'm aware that huge links are either not displayed (as you have noticed) or are displayed as huge, probably unscannable barcodes. The next version will have TinyURL support to make sure the links are short.

www.topmobilesbank.com is a wonderful site, full of useful info on all best mobile models. Although www.latestmobilesmart.com is also informative but www,topmobilesbank.com is too best.

I got this working on Vista but for some reason had to install it twice. Anyway, it's fine. Nice app! I'm sure it'll be handy from time to time.

I've just launched a site called Barcode Posters which prints QR code posters from RSS feeds. Check it out:

http://www.barcodeposters.com/

Great plugin that does exactly what i'm looking for and in an un-obtrusive way! If there was one thing i would like to suggest from a user's perspective is sometimes you want to make use of the barcode in another way, say perhaps by putting on your web page or blog to help others get to the URL. What i was thinking would be nice is if it acted the same as now, but if you hovered over and clicked on the image itself it would copy the image to the clip board and you could then use that in your img manipulation program, email, etc right away! At the moment i think it will involve going the screenshot route which is kind of a pain.
But just a suggestion, thanks for the good work!