Simple demo of using the Python 2 zbar module to decode QR codes / barcodes

zbar_demo.py

#!/usr/bin/env python

''' zbar demo 

    Handles local files and URLs
    Not that PIL requires ImageMagick or GraphicsMagick to display images

    Written by PM 2Ring 2016.11.11
'''

import sys, urllib, io, zbar
from PIL import Image

def GetImage(fhandle, show=False):
    # obtain image data
    img = Image.open(fhandle).convert('L')
    if show:
        img.show()

    # wrap raw image data into a zbar object
    # image.data is a raw byte stream, i.e NO headers
    width, height = img.size
    raw = img.tobytes()
    image = zbar.Image(width, height, 'Y800', raw)
    return image

def Extract(scanner, image):
    # scan the image for barcodes
    scanner.scan(image)

    # extract results
    for symbol in image:
        # do something useful with results
        print 'Decoded', symbol.type, 'symbol', '"%s"' % symbol.data

def main():
    if len(sys.argv) < 2:
        print 'QR / barcode decoder using zbar\nUsage %s URL ...' % sys.argv[0]
        sys.exit()

    # create a reader & configure it
    scanner = zbar.ImageScanner()
    scanner.parse_config('enable')

    for url in sys.argv[1:]:
        print url
        fd = urllib.urlopen(url)

        #Wrap it so that seek works
        fhandle = io.BytesIO(fd.read())
        image = GetImage(fhandle, show=True)
        Extract(scanner, image)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()