@sec-ant/barcode-detector

A Barcode Detection API polyfill that uses ZXing webassembly under the hood.

This package is now released under the name barcode-detector on the npm registry starting from version 2.0.0. The original name @sec-ant/barcode-detector will continue to be used for versions prior to 2.0.0, and will be retained solely for maintenance purposes. Eventually, it will be deprecated at an appropriate juncture.

Install

To install, run the following command:

1npm i @sec-ant/barcode-detector

Recommended Usage with Node + ESM

This package can be imported in three different ways:

Pure Module

1import { BarcodeDetector } from "@sec-ant/barcode-detector/pure";

To avoid potential namespace collisions, you can also rename the export:

1import { BarcodeDetector as BarcodeDetectorPolyfill } from "@sec-ant/barcode-detector/pure";

This approach is beneficial when you want to use a package to detect barcodes without polluting globalThis, or when your runtime already provides an implementation of the Barcode Detection API, but you still want this package to function.

Side Effects

1import "@sec-ant/barcode-detector/side-effects";

This approach is beneficial when you need a drop-in polyfill. If there's already an implementation of Barcode Detection API on globalThis, this won't take effect (type declarations will, as we cannot optionally declare types). In such cases, please use the pure module instead.

Both

1import { BarcodeDetector } from "@sec-ant/barcode-detector";

This approach combines the pure module and side effects.

Recommended Usage in Modern Browsers

For modern browsers that support ES modules, this package can be imported via the <script type="module"> tags:

1. Include side effects:

   1<!-- register -->
   2<script
   3  type="module"
   4  src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@sec-ant/barcode-detector@1.3/dist/es/side-effects.min.js"
   5></script>
   6
   7<!-- use -->
   8<script type="module">
   9  const barcodeDetector = new BarcodeDetector();
   10</script>

2. Script scoped access:

   1<script type="module">
   2  import { BarcodeDetector } from "https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@sec-ant/barcode-detector@1.3/dist/es/pure.min.js";
   3  const barcodeDetector = new BarcodeDetector();
   4</script>

3. With import maps:

   1<!-- import map -->
   2<script type="importmap">
   3  {
   4    "imports": {
   5      "@sec-ant/barcode-detector/pure": "https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@sec-ant/barcode-detector@1.3/dist/es/pure.min.js"
   6    }
   7  }
   8</script>
   9
   10<!-- script scoped access -->
   11<script type="module">
   12  import { BarcodeDetector } from "@sec-ant/barcode-detector/pure";
   13  const barcodeDetector = new BarcodeDetector();
   14</script>

Usage with Legacy Compatibility

Starting from v1.2, this package supports IIFE and CJS build outputs for use cases that require legacy compatibility.

IIFE

For legacy browsers that lack support for module type <script> tags, or for userscripts, IIFE is the preferred choice. Upon executing the IIFE script, a variable named BarcodeDetectionAPI will be registered in the global.

1<!-- 
2  IIFE pure.js registers:
3  window.BarcodeDetectionAPI.BarcodeDetector
4  window.BarcodeDetectionAPI.setZXingModuleOverrides
5  -->
6<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@sec-ant/barcode-detector@1.3/dist/iife/pure.min.js"></script>
7
8<!-- 
9  IIFE side-effects.js registers:
10  window.BarcodeDetector
11  window.BarcodeDetectionAPI.setZXingModuleOverrides
12  -->
13<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@sec-ant/barcode-detector@1.3/dist/iife/side-effects.min.js"></script>
14
15<!-- 
16  IIFE index.js registers:
17  window.BarcodeDetector
18  window.BarcodeDetectionAPI.BarcodeDetector
19  window.BarcodeDetectionAPI.setZXingModuleOverrides
20  -->
21<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@sec-ant/barcode-detector@1.3/dist/iife/index.min.js"></script>

CJS

This package can also be consumed as a commonjs package:

1. Vanilla Javascript:

   1// src/index.js
   2const { BarcodeDetector } = require("@sec-ant/barcode-detector/pure");

2. With Typescript:

   1// src/index.ts
   2import { BarcodeDetector } from "@sec-ant/barcode-detector/pure";

   tsconfig.json:

   1{
   2  "compilerOptions": {
   3    "module": "CommonJS",
   4    "moduleResolution": "Node",
   5    "skipLibCheck": true
   6  },
   7  "include": ["src"]
   8}

setZXingModuleOverrides

In addition to BarcodeDetector, this package exports another function called setZXingModuleOverrides.

This package employs Sec-ant/zxing-wasm to enable the core barcode reading functionality. As a result, a .wasm binary file is fetched at runtime. The default fetch path for this binary file is:

https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@sec-ant/zxing-wasm@<version>/dist/reader/zxing_reader.wasm

The setZXingModuleOverrides function allows you to govern where the .wasm binary is served from, thereby enabling offline use of the package, use within a local network, or within a site having strict CSP rules.

For instance, should you want to inline this .wasm file in your build output for offline usage, with the assistance of build tools, you could try:

1// src/index.ts
2import wasmFile from "../node_modules/@sec-ant/zxing-wasm/dist/reader/zxing_reader.wasm?url";
3
4import {
5  setZXingModuleOverrides,
6  BarcodeDetector,
7} from "@sec-ant/barcode-detector/pure";
8
9setZXingModuleOverrides({
10  locateFile: (path, prefix) => {
11    if (path.endsWith(".wasm")) {
12      return wasmFile;
13    }
14    return prefix + path;
15  },
16});
17
18const barcodeDetector = new BarcodeDetector();
19
20// detect barcodes
21// ...

Alternatively, the .wasm file could be copied to your dist folder to be served from your local server, without incorporating it into the output as an extensive base64 data URL.

It's noteworthy that you'll always want to choose the correct version of the .wasm file, so the APIs exported by it are exactly what the js code expects.

For more information on how to use this function, you can check the notes here and discussions here.

This function is exported from all the subpaths, including the side effects.

API

Please check the spec, MDN doc and Chromium implementation for more information.

Lifecycle Events

The BarcodeDetector provided by this package also extends class EventTarget and provides 2 lifecycle events: load and error. You can use addEventListener and removeEventListener to register and remove callback hooks on these events.

load Event

The load event, which is a CustomEvent, will be dispatched on the successful instanciation of ZXing wasm module. For advanced usage, the instanciated module is passed as the detail parameter.

1import { BarcodeDetector } from "@sec-ant/barcode-detector/pure";
2
3const barcodeDetector = new BarcodeDetector();
4
5barcodeDetector.addEventListener("load", ({ detail }) => {
6  console.log(detail); // zxing wasm module
7});

error Event

The error event, which is a CustomEvent, will be dispatched if the instanciation of ZXing wasm module is failed. An error is passed as the detail parameter.

1import { BarcodeDetector } from "@sec-ant/barcode-detector/pure";
2
3const barcodeDetector = new BarcodeDetector();
4
5barcodeDetector.addEventListener("error", ({ detail }) => {
6  console.log(detail); // an error
7});

Example

1import { BarcodeDetector } from "@sec-ant/barcode-detector/pure";
2
3const barcodeDetector: BarcodeDetector = new BarcodeDetector({
4  formats: ["qr_code"],
5});
6
7const imageFile = await fetch(
8  "https://api.qrserver.com/v1/create-qr-code/?size=150x150&data=Hello%20world!",
9).then((resp) => resp.blob());
10
11barcodeDetector.detect(imageFile).then(console.log);

License

The source code in this repository, as well as the build output, except for the parts listed below, is licensed under the MIT license.

Test samples and resources are collected from zxing-cpp/zxing-cpp, which is licensed under the Apache-2.0 license, and web-platform-tests/wpt, which is licensed under the 3-Clause BSD license.

This package has an indirect dependency on Sec-ant/zxing-wasm-build, which is licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.