Re: [PHP] Magnetic Stripe Reader or Barcode to PHP
On 18 February 2010 22:42, Daevid Vincent dae...@daevid.com wrote: I'll confess that I've done almost zero research on this topic as of right now aside from pricing readers and blank cards. So we're opening a new super-club here in Seattle. One of the ideas we'd like to pursue is that people are assigned a card. This can be a magstripe card or something with a barcode. Not really sure at the moment which way to go. The idea being that when they enter, we swipe/scan their card and we can log stats (# of visits, # guests, favorite drink so the bar has it ready, enter into contest, etc.) I was thinking we setup a simple netbook with a USB reader at the front door when they pay. Then we have another back at the bar. Connect via WiFi. Have a notebook somewhere behind the scenes that runs LAMP (or a VM thereof). No internet needed. The backend database and even web/GUI stuff is of course trivial with any LAMP stack. What I don't know is how do I interface _to_ PHP from say a magstripe reader. They're dirt cheap ($50), but I assume come with zero software. http://www.kanecal.net/mag-stripe-reader-scanner.html . And there are hundreds of these gadgets out there all the same basically. I guess what I'm hoping for is some pointers, from someone who's done this sort of thing. My gut thought is something so simple, where there is some XP software (or Linux I suppose) that reads the card (and generally they only have a number encoded on them) and this is sent via a URL we define, such as http://192.168.10.100/door.php?id=123456 or http://192.168.10.100/bar.php?id=123456 etc. (ignore the security issues and all that. It's trivial to encode the parameters, plus it's a closed system with WEP/WPA/WTF). But does anyone know of such a key piece of code? Like I said, I'm not locked into magcards. It could be a barcode reader just as easily. Or fingerprint scanner, or facial recognition. In the end it's just a unique thing that maps to a unique number. I just need the FM (F*ckin' Magic -- it's a programmer term -- look it up!) that goes in between PHP and the hardware. http://daevid.com Some people, when confronted with a problem, think 'I know, I'll use XML.' Now they have two problems. -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php I used to develop EPOS (Electronic Point of Sale) s/w. As already mentioned, most scanners (barcode and magswipe) connect via the keyboard. As far as the app is concerned, the data is coming from the keyboard. You can normally program the barcode scanner to provide a prefix and a suffix to the data from the scan. This allows you to provide a source to the data. For example, if you have a web page watching for keypresses, then you want to know when the data is coming from the scanner rather than the keyboard. This allows you to do out of order processing. So, you scan 10 items, item 3 requires some additional data, but the next 7 items aren't lost because you didn't deal with item 3. The webpage can push the barcode data (AJAX maybe) to the server so they are all logged and fed back as part of the basket logic. If you have a prefix, you'll also need a suffix to tell the app that the data has finished. A similar situation exists with mag cards. A normal mag card (like your credit cards) can have up to 3 tracks of data. Normally track 2 is the interesting one and will normally consist of the following data. Start Sentinel Card Number Mid Sentinel Expiry Date Possibly other data (it was a LONG time ago since I was writing EPOS systems, so ... memory currently giving me a 404.) End Sentinel The sentinels aren't full characters, but are signals to the reader. The reader can be programmed to issue a specific character for each sentinel. So again, you can read from the mag card out of order. E.g. you can scan your club card or your credit card at the beginning of the sale and then add your items. All without touching the keyboard to change the focus of the input. This was a major enhancement for usability for our customers when I introduced this. And that was for a DOS app, not GUI or Web! If you have an account on Experts Exchange, take a look at http://www.experts-exchange.com/Internet/Web_Development/Q_24179189.html?sfQueryTermInfo=1+barcod+javascript+rquadling which was a question on using a barcode reader in a web app and I gave JS code allowing for the out of order processing I mentioned here. If you are generating your own cards, then the quickest/cheapest way is to get blank cardboard cards, print a barcode on them and then laminate them. That way you can build your own layout relatively cheaply. You also don't have to use black/white bars. For one our systems (Access control to buildings), we used infra-red detectable ink. When it was printed, we could only just see it in the right light. The scanners use a red laser and picked up the code easily. And the barcode was
Re: [PHP] Magnetic Stripe Reader or Barcode to PHP
If the scanning device hooks into the keyboard somehow it should be easy. I believe that's called a keyboard wedge. Basically, you scan and it types. My only exposure to this is using one of the old CueCat scanners to index my personal library into a php app I cobbled together. The CueCat hooked in line with the keyboard. You'd bring up the scanning page and an onload Javascript would place the cursor into the Scan ISBN Here text box. Scan the book and the input went where it was needed. I believe it also sent an enter keystroke which submitted the form. It's been a couple years since I played with it so there might have been some additional software that kicked the enter. Then you process the data as you would for any other text field submission. It worked well enough to catalog a couple thousand books in a single evening. Hope this helps Matt On Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 5:42 PM, Daevid Vincent dae...@daevid.com wrote: So we're opening a new super-club here in Seattle. One of the ideas we'd like to pursue is that people are assigned a card. This can be a magstripe card or something with a barcode. Not really sure at the moment which way to go. -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
Re: [PHP] Magnetic Stripe Reader or Barcode to PHP
The inputs are simple client side devices, lime th keyboard. I used as wasp brand barcode reader and it was configured to input the value and the tab to send it to te next field. They work well and easy to set up. Bastien Sent from my iPod On Feb 18, 2010, at 5:42 PM, Daevid Vincent dae...@daevid.com wrote: I'll confess that I've done almost zero research on this topic as of right now aside from pricing readers and blank cards. So we're opening a new super-club here in Seattle. One of the ideas we'd like to pursue is that people are assigned a card. This can be a magstripe card or something with a barcode. Not really sure at the moment which way to go. The idea being that when they enter, we swipe/scan their card and we can log stats (# of visits, # guests, favorite drink so the bar has it ready, enter into contest, etc.) I was thinking we setup a simple netbook with a USB reader at the front door when they pay. Then we have another back at the bar. Connect via WiFi. Have a notebook somewhere behind the scenes that runs LAMP (or a VM thereof). No internet needed. The backend database and even web/GUI stuff is of course trivial with any LAMP stack. What I don't know is how do I interface _to_ PHP from say a magstripe reader. They're dirt cheap ($50), but I assume come with zero software. http://www.kanecal.net/mag-stripe-reader-scanner.html . And there are hundreds of these gadgets out there all the same basically. I guess what I'm hoping for is some pointers, from someone who's done this sort of thing. My gut thought is something so simple, where there is some XP software (or Linux I suppose) that reads the card (and generally they only have a number encoded on them) and this is sent via a URL we define, such as http://192.168.10.100/door.php?id=123456 or http://192.168.10.100/bar.php?id=123456 etc. (ignore the security issues and all that. It's trivial to encode the parameters, plus it's a closed system with WEP/WPA/WTF). But does anyone know of such a key piece of code? Like I said, I'm not locked into magcards. It could be a barcode reader just as easily. Or fingerprint scanner, or facial recognition. In the end it's just a unique thing that maps to a unique number. I just need the FM (F*ckin' Magic -- it's a programmer term -- look it up!) that goes in between PHP and the hardware. http://daevid.com Some people, when confronted with a problem, think 'I know, I'll use XML.' Now they have two problems. -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
RE: [PHP] Magnetic Stripe Reader or Barcode to PHP
Bar code scanners can be setup to decode the scan code on the card and output it as text. On your incoming site, place cursor in text box, scan card, code on card is entered as text, hit enter, text field sent to database where all the F* Magic takes place. You will also need a method to create the cards and get the data into the database associated with the number. You can use Word or other text program and a bar code font to print the cards with bar-code, or use pre-printed peel and stick barcode labels to place on a card. To Initialize the card, have an new member interface where the data for the member is entered, along with their bar-coded number. There are a LARGE number of bar-code codes. Pick one of the more common that uses alphanumeric and symbols. Tips: Have a backup reader or hard wire the bar-code scanner into a power outlet. The cheaper hand held ones don't have a very good battery life. Print the number on the card under the bar code. This will help when a drink smears the bar code or it becomes unreadable. The door person can enter the number by hand. Dewey Williams -Original Message- From: Daevid Vincent [mailto:dae...@daevid.com] Sent: Thursday, February 18, 2010 5:43 PM To: php-general@lists.php.net Subject: [PHP] Magnetic Stripe Reader or Barcode to PHP I'll confess that I've done almost zero research on this topic as of right now aside from pricing readers and blank cards. So we're opening a new super-club here in Seattle. One of the ideas we'd like to pursue is that people are assigned a card. This can be a magstripe card or something with a barcode. Not really sure at the moment which way to go. The idea being that when they enter, we swipe/scan their card and we can log stats (# of visits, # guests, favorite drink so the bar has it ready, enter into contest, etc.) I was thinking we setup a simple netbook with a USB reader at the front door when they pay. Then we have another back at the bar. Connect via WiFi. Have a notebook somewhere behind the scenes that runs LAMP (or a VM thereof). No internet needed. The backend database and even web/GUI stuff is of course trivial with any LAMP stack. What I don't know is how do I interface _to_ PHP from say a magstripe reader. They're dirt cheap ($50), but I assume come with zero software. http://www.kanecal.net/mag-stripe-reader-scanner.html . And there are hundreds of these gadgets out there all the same basically. I guess what I'm hoping for is some pointers, from someone who's done this sort of thing. My gut thought is something so simple, where there is some XP software (or Linux I suppose) that reads the card (and generally they only have a number encoded on them) and this is sent via a URL we define, such as http://192.168.10.100/door.php?id=123456 or http://192.168.10.100/bar.php?id=123456 etc. (ignore the security issues and all that. It's trivial to encode the parameters, plus it's a closed system with WEP/WPA/WTF). But does anyone know of such a key piece of code? Like I said, I'm not locked into magcards. It could be a barcode reader just as easily. Or fingerprint scanner, or facial recognition. In the end it's just a unique thing that maps to a unique number. I just need the FM (F*ckin' Magic -- it's a programmer term -- look it up!) that goes in between PHP and the hardware. http://daevid.com Some people, when confronted with a problem, think 'I know, I'll use XML.' Now they have two problems. -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
Re: [PHP] Magnetic Stripe Reader or Barcode to PHP
On Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 3:42 PM, Daevid Vincent dae...@daevid.com wrote: I'll confess that I've done almost zero research on this topic as of right now aside from pricing readers and blank cards. So we're opening a new super-club here in Seattle. One of the ideas we'd like to pursue is that people are assigned a card. This can be a magstripe card or something with a barcode. Not really sure at the moment which way to go. The idea being that when they enter, we swipe/scan their card and we can log stats (# of visits, # guests, favorite drink so the bar has it ready, enter into contest, etc.) I was thinking we setup a simple netbook with a USB reader at the front door when they pay. Then we have another back at the bar. Connect via WiFi. Have a notebook somewhere behind the scenes that runs LAMP (or a VM thereof). No internet needed. The backend database and even web/GUI stuff is of course trivial with any LAMP stack. What I don't know is how do I interface _to_ PHP from say a magstripe reader. They're dirt cheap ($50), but I assume come with zero software. http://www.kanecal.net/mag-stripe-reader-scanner.html . And there are hundreds of these gadgets out there all the same basically. I guess what I'm hoping for is some pointers, from someone who's done this sort of thing. My gut thought is something so simple, where there is some XP software (or Linux I suppose) that reads the card (and generally they only have a number encoded on them) and this is sent via a URL we define, such as http://192.168.10.100/door.php?id=123456 or http://192.168.10.100/bar.php?id=123456 etc. (ignore the security issues and all that. It's trivial to encode the parameters, plus it's a closed system with WEP/WPA/WTF). But does anyone know of such a key piece of code? Like I said, I'm not locked into magcards. It could be a barcode reader just as easily. Or fingerprint scanner, or facial recognition. In the end it's just a unique thing that maps to a unique number. I just need the FM (F*ckin' Magic -- it's a programmer term -- look it up!) that goes in between PHP and the hardware. DISCLAIMER - THOU ART ABOUT TO BEHOLD A RANT ... ok, so it all started out a few years back when i started a company set out to build a wireless capture portal. we wanted to integrate with a 2-Touch POS which had 'gift cards' which were magcards. the idea was someone buys a drink, the clerk swipes the card and the customer gets a window of time on the internet. so heres the deal (on linux [likely similar on other OS' though not sure on the implementation there]). when you attach a usb card reader, barcode scanner or similar, if you have linux USB HID (HumanInputDevice) support the kernel magically uses the module to treat input from the device as keyboard input; simple right... well this only works iff you have a terminal for the output to arrive at. if you dont it goes nowhere (likely /dev/null or similar). so if you want something quick and dirty, a laptop or any box w/ a full window manager or just a terminal will capture the output. but thats for newbs (haha)... the way we rolled w/ my product was w/ a linux server, running as the local gateway w/ a full lamp stack to provide a UI for the business owner and the customers. new problem - how to capture the output of the device w/o a terminal or UI on the server. to cut to the chase we ended up developing a *user space* driver for the card reader via libusb (which is cross-platform btw). i started out trying the java wrappers, but they all sucked ass.. so ended up going w/ C. basically, we wrote a simple single threaded daemon which sits and listens for card swipes, once the card is swiped, the daemon uses the C system() function to invoke a configurable executable program (which in our case was a php script :)) and passes the captured info from the card via the shell. the code is semi-generic but frankly we stopped off where our needs did at the time. the only real limitations are: . it only provides a fraction of the info from the card (all info could be passed ideally) . it has hardcoded values for a minimag card reader (easily changed - these are just values to identify the proper hardware in the USB tree and bind to it) . single threaded - it would be nice to have a main listener thread and fork child threads to process the swipes (thats where binary from the device is converted to ascii based on the usb2.0 spec) believe it or not you can actually send 2 swipes before the first one is processed w/ a single thread if you swipe it quickly enough! . dependent on glib for some string functionality - i think it would be nice to see it have as few dependencies beyond libusb (and pthreads if ever it was threaded), though glib is quite common afaik we originally ran the software on gentoo, but it could be packaged up for pretty much any OS afaik since libusb is cross-platform. anyways, if this is interesting at all im happy to share the code. i was
