CueCat
Q: What is it?
A: The :CueCat[L1 ] reader reads any product/bar code and instantly transports you to the corresponding Web page for that product. It is not the same thing as a UPC, which swipes products and coupons like soup cans, and price tags, or an ISBN, which swipes magazines, books, and CDs, but it functions in the same way. NOTE: Each CueCat has a unique serial number assoicated with it that is transmitted to DC each time a scan is performed with their software.
FAQ : http://www.utexas.edu/coc/journalism/SOURCE/j331fall00/faq/cuecat.html
Michael Jacobson: Here is a simple decoder function that only works on numbers in the scan code (1st and 3rd) using the string map function.
set testscan ".C3nZC3nZC3nZDNv2DNP7CNnY.fHmc.C3z6CxTZCxnYDxb7."
string map {C3 0 CN 1 Cx 2 Ch 3 D3 4 DN 5 Dx 6 Dh 7 E3 8 EN 9\
n 0 j 1 f 2 b 3 D 4 z 5 v 6 r 7 T 8 P 9\
Z 0 Y 1 X 2 W 3 3 4 2 5 1 6 0 7 7 8 6 9} $testscanMichael Jacobson: Here is some code I wrote a while back to decode a cuecat in Tcl (and ignor the serial number). Need to to be repackage a little better but it works.
Also see TkCatScan for a GUI interface for this libarary.
package provide CueCat 1.0
namespace eval CueCat {
# make the procedures visiable
namespace export Decode Encode InvCase
# charater position array used to determine the offset (zero based!!!)
variable seq "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789+-"
#0123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123
# 1 2 3 4 5 6
proc Decode {inputstr} {
variable seq
#remove grouping if brackets get applied
regsub -all ^{ $inputstr "" inputstr
regsub -all }$ $inputstr "" inputstr
set outstr {}
foreach catstr [split $inputstr .] {
foreach {a b c d} [split $catstr ""] {
set shiftnum 0
foreach catlet "$a $b $c $d" {
# get the position of each char (zero based)
set num [string first $catlet $seq]
# shift existing data right 6 and add new data
set shiftnum [expr [expr $shiftnum <<6] | $num]
}
# now take the 24 bits and group them into 8 bit fields
set tempstr {}
for {set x 0} {$x<3} {incr x} {
# xor the data with dec 67 (aka hex 43) and get the char value
# add the char to the end of the output string
set tempstr [format %c [expr [expr $shiftnum & 255] ^ 0x43]]$tempstr
set shiftnum [expr $shiftnum >> 8]
}
append outstr $tempstr
}
# add a seperator in the string so you can use lindex command to get results
append outstr " "
}
return [string trim $outstr]
}
proc Encode {args} {
variable seq
set outstr {}
append outstr .
#remove grouping if brackets get applied
regsub -all ^{ $args "" args
regsub -all }$ $args "" args
#loop over each string set
foreach catstr $args {
#read in 3 chars at a time (need to error check this)
foreach {a(0) a(1) a(2)} [split $catstr ""] {
set totnum 0
for {set x 0} {$x<3} {incr x} {
# scanned char convert to ordinal num
scan $a($x) %c decnum
# existing number move it overs and put current num in lower 8 bit
# also xor 67 into the lower 8 bit number
set totnum [expr [expr $totnum << 8] + [expr $decnum ^ 67]]
}
set tempstr {}
for {set x 0} {$x<4} {incr x} {
#take the lower 6 bits of the totnum word and find its index in seq index list
#prepend it to the tempstr array (to get the order correctly since we are doing it backwards
set tempstr [string index $seq [expr $totnum & 0x3F]]$tempstr
#get rid of the bits just processed
set totnum [expr $totnum >> 6]
}
#append the decode 3 chars (now 4 chars) to the output string
append outstr $tempstr
}
append outstr .
}
return [string trim $outstr]
}
proc InvCase {inputstr} {
set original "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"
set inverse "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
regsub -all ^{ $inputstr "" inputstr
regsub -all }$ $inputstr "" inputstr
set outstr {}
foreach letter [split $inputstr ""] {
set num [string first $letter $original]
if {$num > -1} {
append outstr [string index $inverse $num]
} else {
append outstr $letter
}
}
return [string trim $outstr]
}
proc ISBN {args} {
# the procedure to generate ISBN check sum is to:
# take first 9 digits, and multiply the MSB by 10 the next by 9 etc
# till the last digit is mult by 2. then add all these values and mod 11
# subtract 11 from this value and add it onto the end as the ninth digit
#978013022028890000
# 0123456789
#01234567890123
regsub -all ^{ $args "" args
regsub -all }$ $args "" args
set isbnum [string range [lindex $args [expr [llength $args] -1]] 3 11]
set check 0
for {set i 0} {$i < 9} {incr i} {
set check [expr $check + [expr [string index $isbnum $i] * (10 - $i)]]
}
set numcheck [expr $check % 11]
if { $numcheck == 0} {
append isbnum "0"
} elseif { $numcheck == 1} {
append isbnum "X"
} else {
append isbnum [expr 11-$numcheck]
}
#formated return statement (not needed) but keep just in case I reimplement it
#return "[string range $isbnum 0 0]-[string range $isbnum 1 2]-[string range $isbnum 3 8]-[string range $isbnum 9 9]"
return $isbnum
}
}LV Anyone with kids have seen a variety of toys recently that capitalize on scanning bar codes and then from that data generating opponents to battle. Anyone seen any games making use of the CueCat?