Creating Barcode Reader prompts

The Barcode Reader prompt lets users scan or type an item's barcode using the device to answer a prompted report or document.

You can add a Barcode Reader prompt to a report or document by defining a prompt and setting its display style to Barcode Reader. The prompt is then displayed as a Barcode Reader when the report or document is executed, as shown below:

Some examples of how you can use the Barcode Reader prompt are:

• To spontaneously view a product's sales and inventory information.

• To view other locations where the product is stocked, as stored in your database.

• To compare the product's popularity with other products in the same category or with the same brand name.

The Barcode Reader prompt supports the following types of barcodes:

• QR code

• UPC-A

• UPC-E

• EAN-8

• EAN-13

You can do the following:

• To allow iPhone, iPad, and Android users to filter report results based on a product barcode, you can define a value prompt with the display style set to Barcode Reader.

For steps to create a value prompt, see To create a value prompt.

• To allow iPhone, iPad, and Android users to search for an item in an attribute element list, you can define an attribute element prompt with the display style set to Barcode Reader. If an item's barcode matches the scanned or typed barcode, its name is returned in the search and can be selected to answer the prompt.

For steps to create an attribute element prompt, see To create an attribute element prompt.

To support the scanning of barcodes using MicroStrategy Mobile, you must store the barcode data used in the associated prompt with a database data type that supports text data. MicroStrategy recommends using the varchar data type for your database to store the barcode data. For details about storing data in your warehouse, see the Project Design Guide.