Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
================================

This is the ever-growing list of answers to commonly asked questions.  Please
feel free to post you question in our `iPhone Developers forum`_ if you do not
find the information you need in this documentation.

.. _`iPhone Developers Forum`:
   http://sourceforge.net/projects/zbar/forums/forum/1072195


General
-------

This looks great...  Where can I get it?
   You can download the latest version of the SDK from
   http://zbar.sf.net/iphone


Compatibility
-------------

Which iPhone devices does this library support?
   The library works *only* with iOS devices that have an auto-focus camera.
   Currently, the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and newer devices.  The iPad 2 and iPad
   3 will also work in many cases, *iff* the barcode is printed large enough
   to achieve good focus.

Will you make it work with the iPhone 3G?
   *No* - the 3G it is not supported and is unlikely to ever be supported.

   To be fair, you *can* use the 3G to scan image files, as long as they're in
   focus (ie, *not* images taken by the built-in fixed-focus camera).  There
   is at least one application that found a use for this...

What target iOS versions does this library work with?
   iOS 4, 5 and 6 are fully supported, including the latest video streaming
   interfaces.  Since Apple has dropped support for earlier versions of iOS on
   the App Store, we recommend that you target only iOS 4 and later for reading
   barcodes.

   Note that iOS 3.1 is no longer supported; if you really think you need
   that, you should still be able to get it working...  See :doc:`compat` for
   details about iOS version fallbacks.

   In all cases you should use the latest SDK to build.

Are any private APIs in use?
   No - the binary release of the SDK does not use any private APIs.

Does this support "automatic" barcode capture?
   Yes - with recent iOS versions, the default configuration will capture
   barcodes automatically from the video stream.


Building
--------

I get "Undefined symbols" errors when I try to build?
   Most likely you did not add all of the necessary framework dependencies.
   See :doc:`tutorial` or :doc:`install` for the list of frameworks you need
   to link against.


Licensing
---------

Please refer to :doc:`licensing` for questions about licensing.


Barcodes
--------

Why do my UPC barcodes have an extra 0 at the front?
   The UPC-A_ symbology is the subset of EAN-13_ that starts with a leading 0.
   The ZBar decoder enables only EAN-13_ by default, so GTIN-13_ product codes
   are consistently reported.  You can choose to receive the 12-digit results
   instead by explicitly enabling UPC-A_.

   The :member:`~ZBarSymbol::type` property of the symbol can be used to see
   which type of barcode is reported.

   See EAN-13_ and UPC-A_ for more information.

Why does my UPC-E (short version) barcode data look completely wrong?
   UPC-E_ is a "zero compressed" version of UPC-A_; certain of the zeros are
   removed from the UPC-A_ data to generate the UPC-E_ barcode.  The ZBar
   decoder *expands* this compression by default, again to consistently report
   GTIN-13_ product codes.  You can choose to receive the compressed 8-digit
   results instead by explicitly enabling UPC-E_.

   The :member:`~ZBarSymbol::type` property of the symbol can be used to see
   which type of barcode is reported.

   See UPC-E_ for more information.

.. _GTIN-13:
.. _GTIN: http://wikipedia.org/wiki/GTIN
.. _EAN-13: http://wikipedia.org/wiki/EAN-13
.. _UPC-A: http://wikipedia.org/wiki/UPC-A
.. _UPC-E: http://wikipedia.org/wiki/UPC-E#UPC-E