Xamarin Phone Application w/SQLite

ZXing.Net.Mobile is a C#/.NET library that makes scanning barcodes effortless and painless for application development. Add the nuget package to the shared code project. Add this line to the OnCreate method in the MainActivity.cs located in the Android project.

ZXing.Net.Mobile.Forms.Android.Platform.Init();

Add this method to the MainActivity.cs located in the Android project.

  public override void OnRequestPermissionsResult(int requestCode, string[] permissions, Permission[] grantResults)
  {
    global::ZXing.Net.Mobile.Android.PermissionsHandler.OnRequestPermissionsResult(requestCode, permissions, grantResults);
  }

Add the camera and flashlight permission to the AndroidManifest.xml file in the Properties folder in the Android project.

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.FLASHLIGHT" />

Add this line to the FinishedLaunching method in the AppDelegate.cs located in the iOS project.

ZXing.Net.Mobile.Forms.iOS.Platform.Init();

Add the camera permission to the info.plist by adding the NSCameraUsageDescription key in the iOS project.

<key>NSCameraUsageDescription</key>
<string>Please allow access to the camera to scan barcodes</string>

Create the view that will allow the end user to scan any Barcode or Quick Read (QR) code.

scanView_OnScanResult method handles what the application does with the result of the scan. This would be where it could be tied to an API or database. Xamarin.Essentials can detect if the device is connected to the internet. If so, then a user could 'synchronize' their data with the Production server through a series of POST calls. This application stores the data locally with SQLite.

SQLite is a Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) contained in a C library that implements a small, fast, self-contained, highly-reliable, full-featured SQL database engine. SQLite is not a client–server database engine; it is built into mobile phones and computers. The source code is in the public-domain and is free for everyone to use for any purpose. Go to the Browse tab in the NuGet Package Manager to search for the sqlite-net-pcl NuGet package and add it to the unified project. Then create the class for the objects that will represent a row of a datatable.

Next create a Database class for the project. This is the CodeItemDatabase.cs file in the Data folder. Double-click the App.xaml.cs file to open it from the unified project to add the Database. This implements the Database and can now be used through LINQ or SQL statements to update the data.

Finished Product

The resulting project allows the end user to scan any code and store it to the phone. The user can choose to create, delete, or modify any record. A quick Preview option was created for each record. This project can be a starting off point to be used for an Asset Tracking Management System, Logistical Shipping, Warehouse Receiving, etc. The application could be modified to hit an API to reach a Production server and flow through the Company.