Getting Started Developing

Just Need a JAR?

If you just need a pre-built JAR file, you can always find compiled resources from the Maven release repository, including recent snapshot/nightly builds.

Download

Download the latest release, version 3.0.0 or later. Or, retrieve the latest source code from Github.

The code is organized into several subdirectories, corresponding to modules, like core/ and javase/. Within each Java-based module, there is a pom.xml file for use with Apache Maven.

Configure

A few configuration steps are needed, depending on which modules you want to build. From the directory where you unpacked or checked out the source code:

android/

The Android SDK must be installed of course. Run the tool called android and ensure that platform support for the latest Android release is installed. At the time of this writing, that's platform level 19 / Android 4.4.

Release 3.0.0 and earlier

android update project --path android

or

echo "sdk.dir=/change/this/path/to/android-sdk" > android/local.properties

Release 3.1.0 and later

export ANDROID_HOME=/change/this/path/to/android-sdk

Build

android/

Release 3.0.0 and earlier

1. Build core/ below, first
2. Run ant debug from android/ to build the Barcode Scanner application as bin/Barcode Scanner-debug.apk.

Release 3.1.0 and later

From android/, run mvn package android:apk to produce a compile .apk file in target. Use android-x.y.z-aligned.apk.

Other users will not be able to build the signed release version, but the command is: mvn -Pandroid-release -Djarsigner.storepass=... -Djarsigner.keypass=... clean package android:apk.

android-integration/

From android-integration/, run mvn package to produce compiled libraries like android-integration-x.y.z.jar in the target/ directory.

core/

From core/, run mvn -DskipTests package to product compiled libraries like core-x.y.z.jar in the target/ directory.

javase/

From javase/, run mvn package to product compiled libraries like javase-x.y.z.jar in the target/ directory.

zxingorg/

From zxingorg/, run mvn package to produce a .war in the target/ directory.

Run

Most components are libraries and are not run directly.

android/

1. Build android/
2. Connect your device via USB
3. If you already have the standard version of Barcode Scanner installed, uninstall it
4. Make sure your device is set to allow apps from untrusted sources
5. In release 3.0.0 and earlier, run ant installd to install the debug build. In release 3.1.0 and later, run mvn android:deploy.

javase/

After building, simply run this class with java from the top-level directory:

java -cp javase/target/javase-x.y.z.jar:core/target/core-x.y.z.jar com.google.zxing.client.j2se.CommandLineRunner [URL | FILE]

Path syntax is different on Windows. Here and elsewhere you will need to use ';' rather than ':' to separate classpath elements, and likely need to use the '' path separator.

Maven

core/, javase/, android-integration and zxingorg can be used directly in a Maven-based project without any download or installation. Instead, add as dependencies from groupID com.google.zxing artifactIDs core, javase, android-integration or zxingorg:

<dependencies>
  ...
  <dependency>
    <groupId>com.google.zxing</groupId>
    <artifactId>core</artifactId>
    <version>3.0.0</version>
  </dependency>
</dependencies>