How to extract data from barcodes

Orca Scan Variables make it easy to extract data from a barcode value and move it to another field.
Orca Scan Variables make it easy to extract data from a barcode value and move it to another field.

Orca Scan Variables make it easy to extract data from a barcode value and move it to another field. Simply add a variable as a default value to one of your fields and scan a barcode. To get started:

  1. Download the Orca Scan barcode app
  2. Create a new sheet
  3. Add columns/fields for each value you want to extract
  4. Enter an Orca Variable as the default value for each field
  5. Save the changes
  6. Scan the relevant barcode to see the data extracted

How do Orca Variables work?

Orca Variables have the following structure $TYPE:PROPERTY:FORMAT

There are times when you may need to extract data from an unstructured barcode; that is barcodes that contain data that does not follow a specific standard. In such cases, you would use the $RAW variable listed below.

Orca Scan supports the following barcode standards:

GS1

Get data from a GS1 barcode using the following variables:

Variable GS1 AI Description
$GS1:SSCC 00 SSCC (Serial Shipping Container Code)
$GS1:GTIN 01 GTIN (Global Trade Item Number)
$GS1:CONTENT 02 GTIN of contained trade items
$GS1:LOT 10 Batch or lot number
$GS1:MANUFACTUREDATE 11 Production date
$GS1:DUEDATE 12 Due date
$GS1:PACKINGDATE 13 Packaging date
$GS1:BESTBEFOREDATE 15 Best before date
$GS1:SELLBYDATE 16 Sell by date
$GS1:EXPIRYDATE 17 Expiration date
$GS1:SERIAL 21 Serial number
$GS1:CPV 22 Consumer product variant
$GS1:GDTI 253 Global Document Type Identifier
$GS1:GLN 414 GLN (Global location number)
$GS1:GRAI 8003 Global Returnable Asset Identifier
$GS1:GIAI 8004 Global Individual Asset Identifier
$GS1:GSRN 8018 Global Service Relation Number
$GS1:3340 3340 Area in square metres
$GS1:AI n/a Replace AI with GS1 Application Identifier num
$GS1:ISVALID n/a True if valid GS1

Note: if the barcode scanned is not a valid GS1 barcode, no data is returned.

HIBC

Extract data from a Health Industry Bar Code (HIBC) using the following variables:

Variable Description
$HIBC:BARCODE Correctly formatted HIBC barcode
$HIBC:TYPE Concatenated, Line1 or Line2
$HIBC:LIC Labeler Identification Code
$HIBC:UOM Unit Of Measure
$HIBC:PCN Product or Catalog Number
$HIBC:EXPIRYDATE Expiry Date
$HIBC:LOT Lot number
$HIBC:QUANTITY Quantity
$HIBC:CHECK Check character
$HIBC:ISCONCATENATED True if concatenated HIBC
$HIBC:ISPRIMARY True if primary HIBC
$HIBC:ISSECONDARY True if secondary HIBC
$HIBC:ISVALID True if valid HIBC

Note: if the barcode scanned is not a valid HIBC barcode, no data is returned.

ISBT

Get data from an ISBT barcode using the following variables:

Variable Description
$ISBT:DI Device Identifier for Blood Container
$ISBT:SERIAL Serial Number
$ISBT:DIN Donation Identification Number
$ISBT:EXPIRYDATE Expiration Date
$ISBT:MANUFACTUREDATE Manufacturing Date
$ISBT:LOT Lot Number
$ISBT:ISVALID True if valid ISBT

Note: if the barcode scanned is not a valid ISBT barcode, no data is returned.

UDI

UDI barcodes can be encoded using the GS1, HIBC or ISBT barcode standard. Using the $UDI variable allows you to extract the correct data, regardless of the standard used. To get data from a UDI barcode, use the following variables:

Variable Description
$UDI:DI Device Identifier (GTIN, PCN)
$UDI:LOT Lot Number
$UDI:EXPIRYDATE Expiration Date
$UDI:SERIAL Serial Number
$UDI:PRODDATE Production/Manufacture Date
$UDI:TYPE Data structure GS1, HIBC or ISBT
$UDI:ISVALID True if valid UDI

Note: if the barcode scanned is not a valid UDI barcode, no data is returned.

FMD

Get data from an FMD barcode using the following variables:

Variable Description
$FMD:PRODUCTCODE Product Code
$FMD:SERIAL Serial Number
$FMD:LOT Lot or Batch Number
$FMD:EXPIRYDATE Expiration Date
$FMD:NHRN National Healthcare Reimbursement Number
$FMD:ISVALID True if valid FMD

Note: if the barcode scanned is not a valid FMD barcode, no data is returned.

JSON

Get values from a barcode containing JSON data:

Variable Description
$JSON:KEY Replace KEY with property name
$JSON:ISVALID True if valid JSON

Note: if the barcode scanned does not contain valid JSON, no data is returned.

CSV

Get values from a barcode that contains CSV data:

Variable Description
$CSV:ROW1 Replace 1 with row number to get full row
$CSV:ROW1COL1 Replace 1 with row and column number to get cell value

Using the following as input:

Col1,Col2,Col3,Col4
A1,B1,C1,D1
A2,B2,C2,D2
A3,B3,C3,D3

PSV

Get values from a barcode that contains Pipe Separated data:

Variable Description
$PSV:ROW1 Replace 1 with row number to get full row
$PSV:ROW1COL1 Replace 1 with row and column number to get cell value

Using the following as input:

Col1|Col2|Col3|Col4
A1|B1|C1|D1
A2|B2|C2|D2
A3|B3|C3|D3

TSV

Get values from a barcode that contains Tab Separated data:

Variable Description
$TSV:ROW1 Replace 1 with row number to get full row
$TSV:ROW1COL1 Replace 1 with row and column number to get cell value

Using the following as input:

Col1    Col2    Col3    Col4
A1    B1    C1    D1
A2    B2    C2    D2
A3    B3    C3    D3

RAW

Get data from a barcode value regardless of the format used:

Variable Description
$RAW:GET Get full value
$RAW:GET:FIRST3 Get first 3 characters
$RAW:GET:LAST3 Get last 3 characters
$RAW:GET:EX3 Get all but first 3 characters
$RAW:GET:EX-3 Get all but last 3 characters

Using the following as input:

Hello World

Formatting

The third segment of an Orca Variable is used to format the output; there are two ways to do this:

1. Dates

Convert dates into another format

Token Description Example output
DDDD Full day name Saturday
DDD 3 char day name Sat
DD Day in double-digit format 02
D Day in single-digit format 2
MMMM Full name of month January
MMM Month in 3 character format Jan
MM Month in double-digit format 03
M Month in single-digit format 3
YYYY 4 digit year 2019
YYY 3 digit year 019
YY 2 digit year 19
CC 2 digit century 20
HH 2 digit hour 03
H 1 digit hour 3
mm 2 digit minute 02
m 1 digit minute 3

Using the following GS1 barcode value as an example:

01050601301313832152888501717543172303311000327C

2. Characters

Get only a specific number or type of characters:

Prefix Description
N Numeric digit (followed by number of characters)
A Alpha character (followed by number of characters)
X Alphanumeric character (followed by number of characters)
FIRST First n characters from the left (followed by number of characters)
LAST Last n characters from the right (followed by number of characters)
EX All but n number of characters (followed by number of characters)

You must follow the prefix with a number of characters, for example:

Example Description
N3 3 numeric digits
A3 3 alpha characters
X3 3 alphanumeric characters
N..3 0 to 3 numeric digits
A..3 0 to 3 alpha characters
X..3 0 to 3 alphanumeric characters
FIRST3 First 3 characters
LAST3 Last 3 characters
EX3 All but first 3 characters
EX-3 All but last 3 characters

Using the following barcode value as an example:

Orca Scan

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