OPL9728
About
The OPL9728 is a wireless 1D terminal scanner, and is one of Opticon's most popular products. It runs a low-level firmware, typically called the "OS", and on top of that runs an application, which essentially drives the behavior of the device and exposes a simple UI on the OPL9728's LCD screen. The application can be customized in order to change the behavior of the OPL9278, using Opticon's C-Library Kit and the Toshiba C Compiler. This allows end-users to create custom applications modeled around their barcode-driven processes, making the OPL9728 a simple and flexible solution for many business needs.
The OPL9728 is used in combination with a cradle (typically CRD9723) in order to charge the OPL9728's removable battery, transfer data serially to a host (using plain ASCII, XModem, or Opticon's NetO), and load new OS revisions and applications (using Opticon's Appload). Other types of cradles exist, including a dialup modem cradle and a GSM cradle, which OPL9728 applications can utilize with Opticon's TCP/IP Library.
FAQ
What programming languages can I use to develop embedded applications for the OPL9728?
- The C programming language only.
What functions are available to me when developing my embedded application?
- If you've installed the C-Library Kit, you should see a directory for OPL's. This contains various libraries, sample code, and demonstration applications to assist you in your development. The lib.h file in this directory contains all of the functions available to you when developing your embedded OPL9728 application. Also, if you go to the Start menu, under Program Files -> Opticon C-Library Kit, you'll see a programming help file (.chm). This contains descriptions of all the functions, return values, code demonstrating the use of the functions, and many other things. Beyond that, the standard ANSI C functions are available to you, so long as you include the proper header files in your source code.
How do I compile my application?
- You have to use the Toshiba C Compiler, which you can purchase from Opticon. Versions 1.10 and later run on all Windows OS flavors. After that has been installed (preferably before installing the C-Library Kit, as the installer for the C-Library Kit prompts you for the root path of your Toshiba C Compiler installation in order to generate correct path information for build scripts) check out some of the example applications in the OPL folder where you installed the C-Library Kit. There you'll find build scripts (m.bat or mdemo.bat) that you can use and edit for your application, which you then run from the command prompt to build your application.
How do I load my application onto the OPL9728?
- With Opticon's Appload program. You will need to enter the OS-level system menu on the device (press Up, Trigger, and Down buttons simultaneously), choose the menu option to download an application, and place the device into the cradle. Then connect the cradle to your PC, install the drivers for the cradle through Windows Driver Wizard (if the drivers are not already installed; optionally, you can find the cradle drivers on our FTP site) and launch Appload. Choose the appropriate COM port that your cradle is connected to, and then you can drag the application binary onto the Appload window to begin the install process.
How do I load a new OS (firmware) onto the OPL9728?
- Same steps as loading an application; see the FAQ item directly above this one.
Is there a debugger to debug my application?
- Unfortunately, no. Debugging is typically done through creating a log file within your application, printing information to the OPL9728's LCD screen, or some other method. Typically, applications are not of the size and complexity that this would be overly problematic.
How do I get the saved scan data off the OPL9728?
- There are a variety of methods. You can either send the data as plain ASCII text over the cradle's COM port, which would require a program or RS232 Monitor on the PC to read the incoming data and somehow save it. You can use the XModem protocol over the cradle's COM port. You can use Opticon's NetO file-transfer protocol to transfer the scan data as a flat file (typically .txt, .csv, or .dat; however you create and format the file in your embedded application), which requires NetO32 to be run on the PC. You can also beam the data wirelessly with IrDA, or build the OPL9728's TCP/IP Library into your application to transfer the data as an email, over FTP, or some other Internet protocol. There are functions and libraries available for each of these options in the C-Library Kit.
- Typically, the most popular and simple option is to use NetO.
How can I use Universal Menu Book commands to change the behavior of my OPL?
- In code, you can use the systemsetting() function to set certain settings by default. For example, if you wanted to transmit UPC-E as UPC-A, you could put the following function call in your application:
systemsetting("6P");