I'm trying to use the barcode-plugin to generate a QR code on a business card.

First: Where can I read more about QR codes and how they work in the plugin? Like how many characters can a Variant7_41x41 code hold?

Second: What I really wan't to do, is to make a VCard-code of the kind that automatically becomes a contact on the smartphone that scans the code. But all I can figure out to use it for, is a plain text string.
I'd also like to know how to make an URL, an email, an SMS, a geo-code and so on.... (Like you can do here: QR code generator)
Is it just a certain data-structure in a string? If so, where do I find definitions for that?

Please help, since this could be an awesome feature to be able to provide to our customers!

Kind regards,

Thomas
Digital Trykkeriet A/S
Denmark

Thomas,

For the QR Code specs, you might want to Google it. However, I believe their official site is this URL:

http://www.denso-wave.com/qrcode/index-e.html

As for things like URLs and stuff, from the tests I did internally, I believe all you have to do is put an actual URL in the barcode's data. For example, if you put "http://www.google.com" as your barcode's data, when you scan it with the smartphone, it should be able to go to that site.

Regards,
Raphaël Lalonde Lefebvre

I had already googled it, off course, and I had been to denso-wave's site. I looked again, and I found the table that showed the maximum data capacity for the versions. Nice.

It sounds logical that the scanner software can recognize urls, mailto:'s and similar simple structures.
But what about a business card that's comprised of several pieces of data? I really can't find any info on it.(and I went though every page on denso-waves site.)

Thank you for the help so far.

When you say "several pieces of data", what exactly do you mean?

Thomas,

These "advanced features" are sometimes specific to the application that's being used and/or the capacities of the phone. For example, on my iPhone, one application (ShopSavvy) was able to read Geo locations, but another one (QRCode) simply displayed the string that was in it:


The business card was a different string, it started with MECARD: and then each piece of information was separated by a semicolon (;).

So basically you just need to think this through: Is the person receiving the business card really going to be able to access the information that's on the QR Code as you intended it, or is going to see a random string he'll have to decode to get the proper information? Are you going to have to *tell* him what software is compatible with your QR code?

Regardless of your decision in that matter, we can only support you on how to generate the QR code. What you put in it, you'll just have to research yourself.

Thank you!!! The "MECARD:" phrase really got me somewhere with google.

I found this guy's blog-entry:
http://fredtruman.com/how-to-create-qr-codes-using-the-mecard-format

And he links to the inventor of the MECARD format (which is a better format for automatic actions on smartphones):
Docomo's definition of MECARD

I've tried quite a few QR-code capable scanner programs, and VERY FEW of those can't react on contact info. It must be at least five years since I first saw QR codes on business cards like these. So they're not really "new" anymore. And with the boom in smartphones last year, QR codes are really coming into their own right.

I can now construct a text-string composed of the various data that the user types in (Name, company, phone, address, email etc.) and make a nice QR code with lots of functionality! :-)

Thank you!