Scanwedge/Datawedge for Motorola MC3100

Question

Recently I've received a Motorola MC3100 series device as part of development. One of my requirement was to scan barcodes. In search of APIs, I came across ScanWedge and DataWedge. I have few questions in mind, gald if someone can clear it.

1. What is the difference between Scanwedge and Datawedge? Which one is better for scanning?
2. I couldnt find any download link for Scanwedge/Datawedge. Is that free to download?

I could only find few reference online.

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks :)

Answer 1

ScanWedge and DataWedge are the same with different names. I am not sure, but it may be that one is for mobile and the other for CE. Or one name was created by motorola and the other by symbol.

If you want to have full control over when and where scanning in your application is possible, you have to use one of the Motorola SDKs (MDKs).

If the device is running Windows CE you need the platform SDK and an EMDK (http://support.symbol.com/support/searchEntry.do?languages=&rwTarget=%2FrfPlayerWidget.do&searchMode=GuidedSearch&searchString=sdk&productLine=SG_MOBILECOMPUTERS_1_1&product=SG_MC3100_1_2&document=DT_SOFTWARE_1_1&cmd=search&productFamily=&contextType=gs).

EMDK provide the API for the Barcode Scanner and other Motorola related features. There are EMDKs for .Net, C and Java.

The platform SDK provides the CE platform files as built for the MC3100 CE operating system. In contrast to Windows Mobile, Windows CE devices are totally free in OS design and so the OEM should provide a platform SDK to enable developers to do programming against this platform.