4 Tips to Make Custom Scanner App Development Easier
Barcode or QR code scanner app development can help you get exactly the custom features and functionality you need for a wide range of use cases. But this is a much more niche area than traditional web or mobile app development. That’s why we’ve taken the time to compile a quick list of tips from our engineering team on how to make sure your scanner apps work right.
Why Develop Custom Scanner Apps?
Off-the-shelf solutions have a set UI that tends to be inflexible or extremely costly to change. You might want your scanner apps to have a high-contrast color scheme, larger UI elements, more or fewer details, custom prompts, specific error messaging, or other functionality. With custom scanner app development, you can get exactly what works for your business and your team.
Let’s start with a look at tools that make it easier to develop scanner apps fast and on a budget.
#1 Choose No-Code, Low-Code Tools for Scanner App Development
Step one is choosing the framework and tools to use, since this can make or break your budget and development timeline.
Front End: Visual Builder Studio is our top pick for rapid development and deployment for all kinds of progressive web apps. The development interface is intuitive and there are plenty of features ready to plug and play. With Visual Builder Studio, we can mock up screens very quickly using elements from an extensive library from Oracle JavaScript Extensions Toolkit (JET). These tools are well-supported by Oracle, so you can rest assured that security updates and enhancements will keep coming year after year.
Back End: Since many of our clients are in the JDE ecosystem, Orchestrator is the best choice for adding logic layers and to transform data. Orchestrator is ideally suited to automating data entry and retrieval. It allows us to build even complicated workflows with little or no scripting language required. When you join the front and back end together and you have a working scanner app. What about other systems? For everyone working outside the JDE ecosystem, Visual Builder uses industry standard communication protocols to ensure compatibility with virtually any third party systems.
This approach to QR and barcode scanner app development takes weeks, not months, saving time and money. You get the same custom functionality you would get with a much more expensive traditional app development project, but in less time and at a fraction of the cost.
Want to learn more about our scanner app development services? Go here.
#2 Ensure Your Inventory Scanning App Works across Devices and Platforms
One of the most costly aspects of scanning solutions is the hardware. The other big expense is often trying to customize off-the-shelf app software to work on different devices - or even to get the functionality you need for one type of device. You want to avoid both of these expenses if possible.
With custom apps built as Progressive Web Apps (PWAs), you get apps that can access the functionality of the hardware on a variety of devices and operating systems. Using Visual Builder, you can achieve flexibility across devices, operating systems, and screen sizes so that the same app works on scanners, mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and more. Having ONE set of code also means maintenance and upgrades are simpler and less costly. Rolling out changes is also faster and cheaper since you don’t have to compile for all devices.
Note: Want to understand what makes PWAs our favorite option for barcode scanning apps? Read this blog about “The Best Way to Develop an Inventory Scanner App.”
#3 Ensure Your Scanner App Communicates Correctly with the Backend System
Simple is good, but there are some layers of rich functionality you DO want in a QR code or barcode scanning app. With a custom Scanner App you're not limited and restrained by the QR code or barcode structure of an out-of-the-box solution. You can fully customize your QR or Barcodes to contain several pieces of information to be fed into a backend system such as an ERP. From the perspective of your ERP, the data is received in the same way whether you type it in manually or use an optical scanner to do this step. The key is to ensure that the data in the barcode is input in the correct field in your backend system.
Sometimes, barcodes format data such as dates or part numbers slightly differently than the way the backend system is expecting to receive this information. For example, one of our clients had inventory codes where every item had the same 2 digit prefix. They decided to abbreviate the item codes by leaving the prefix off the printed barcodes.
But those digits STILL needed to be filled in when the inventory item data was sent from the scanner into the backend system. This meant a custom solution was needed to add that prefix onto the data before it could be accepted into the ERP. Having the ability to do smart data manipulation within the app itself is quick and easy with progressive web apps (PWAs). Note: for JDE users, it’s also a feature that can be handled on the Orchestrator side.
Need ideas? See use cases for scanning apps here.
#4 Provide Offline Capability for Scanner Apps Used on the Go
Inventory scanning and other scanning activities don’t always happen inside a warehouse with good internet or cellular connectivity. For example, dock workers might be scanning crates on a ship or in a port where an internet connection is only available once they end shift and head back into the office.
What about data syncing? Another great thing about Visual Builder Studio is that you can create scanner apps that continue to work when the device is offline and that can store and forward data as needed. Relevant existing data is cached locally on the device to allow interaction in the field. New data and updates to existing data can be added by the user throughout their workday. Once a connection is reestablished, the app pushes pending data back to the main server.
Have a use case where custom scanner app development would make a difference for productivity and accuracy in your workflows? Contact our team today.