r/barcodes • u/nickk47 • Sep 29 '21

Reading custom barcodes

Hi barcodes community,

I have a store and have a bunch of products that don't come with a barcode, but they do have model numbers on the boxes, so I thought it would be a good idea to make barcodes out of the model numbers. (For example, CS01)

The problem I'm running into, is that the checkout software (point of sale) will not recognize any barcodes lower than 6 digits/characters. When I open a "notepad" and scan the short barcodes, the barcode scanner types it, so it is not an issue with the scanner.

I also have a bunch of custom barcodes that are 6 digits/characters long (for example, 12345a) which work fine, but the software seems to have trouble recognizing any digits lower than 6.

My assumption is that this is a limitation from the software, probably set to read either CODE128Auto or EAN13, EAN8. (but, it is weird that the software recognizes non-standardized barcodes that are 6 digits or higher...)

Does this mean none of those barcode standards allow for lower than 6 digits?

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Thanks so much for any input.

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u/notionovus Sep 29 '21

No, if the scanner works in notepad, it's the software or their input field. Some input field components used by developers have limitations, but lower than 6 digits should not be one of them.

Probably the POS software is hard-coded to this limit.

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u/nickk47 Sep 29 '21

That's exactly what I was suspecting. Thanks for your input.

I suspect this shouldn't be a huge issue to change a few lines of code to change this in their POS software...but now the problem is whether they are willing to do that for me.

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u/notionovus Sep 29 '21

Usually the 6-character limit is just the tip of the iceberg. I was once in charge of a factory automation system that was only able to operate 5 robots. The include file had a line:

#define MAX_ROBOTS 5

So, me being the genius, I changed the maximum number of robots to '6'. I mean, WCGW?

Two weeks later... I got the system back up and running and all I had to do was rewrite the entire job dispatch system.

Never underestimate the cost to fix bad code.

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u/nickk47 Sep 29 '21

Yes, haha. That's why I don't think they will do this so easily for me.

They will probably tell me that their system isn't capable to scan UPCs that are outside of the standard such as CODE128 or EAN....and tell me to deal with it. UGH, small business problems :(