https://github.com/cyotek/cyotek.quickscan

Simple application for scanning images with as few user-interactions as possible.
https://github.com/cyotek/cyotek.quickscan

csharp hacktoberfest wia

Last synced: about 2 months ago
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Simple application for scanning images with as few user-interactions as possible.

• Host: GitHub
• URL: https://github.com/cyotek/cyotek.quickscan
• Owner: cyotek
• License: mit
• Created: 2019-09-10T18:02:26.000Z (over 5 years ago)
• Default Branch: master
• Last Pushed: 2024-03-29T17:45:30.000Z (9 months ago)
• Last Synced: 2024-03-29T18:53:28.478Z (9 months ago)
• Topics: csharp, hacktoberfest, wia
• Language: C#
• Homepage:
• Size: 1.78 MB
• Stars: 7
• Watchers: 1
• Forks: 0
• Open Issues: 0
• Metadata Files:
  • Readme: README.md
  • Changelog: CHANGELOG.md
  • License: LICENSE.txt

Awesome Lists containing this project

README

        
# Cyotek QuickScan

> A simple application that allows for scanning resources from

> any WIA compatible scanner and automatically saving images. It

> shines at performing multiple scans without having to show a

> UI, saving large amounts of time when scanning same-sized

> items.

![A screenshot of the application in use on Windows 11, 200%

display scaling][screenshot2]

The Quick Scan utility does exactly as described - it provides a

(more) convenient work flow for scanning images from flatbed

scanners and saving them to disk with as few user interactions

as possible, with automatic saving and file name generation. It

especially shines at chain-scanning multiple images using the

same parameters.

## A note when upgrading from version 1.0

The original version of this application displayed a modal

confirmation prompt each time it had finished scanning. This

used to frustrate me endlessly, as I had a habit of having this

application on one monitor and my Quick Catalogue application on

another. During scanning I was also adding entries to the

catalogue, and the modal prompt would often rip focus away and

if I was typing out a description and didn't stop fast enough,

invariably I'd press `y` or `n` and trigger a button. Version

1.1 introduces a new "inline prompt" option which both resolves

this and has additional benefit that the image processing tools

can be used when chain scanning. The remainder of this document

assumes that inline prompting is enabled as this is the new

default. If you want to revert to the old modal message, ensure

**Inline Prompt** from the **Options** menu is unchecked.

Also note that due to a change in how the ini file is parsed,

the **Output Folder** field will need to be reset.

## Quick Start

1. Select your device from the **Device** group. Only scanners

   will be listed in this field

2. Check **Continuous** if you want to scan multiple items -

   after each scan the application will prompt how to continue

3. Select an appropriate output format from the Output Settings

   group. As JPEG is lossy and GIF limited, neither of these

   formats are recommended - I stick with TIFF, although this

   has significant overhead with file size.

4. (Optional) If using JPEG as the output, set the **Quality**

   as appropriate. Larger values equate to larger file sizes,

   although JPG files should still be smaller than PNG

5. Set the output **Folder**

6. (Optional) Set the base **File name** (without an extension).

   If you leave this blank, the current date and time will be

   used

7. Ensure the **Use Counter** option is set. When this option is

   used, an incrementing number is automatically appended to

   output file names

8. Ensure the **Auto Save** option is set. When this option is

   used, after an image is scanned, it is automatically saved

   using the configured output settings, and the counter

   incremented. If this option isn't set, you can still manually

   save the image - but this tool is all about reducing the

   clicks

9. Click **Scan**, or press _F5_ to initiate the WIA scanning

   dialogue. When you have defined the attributes of the image

   to scan, performed the preview and defined the scan size,

   click **Scan** to scan the image and close the WIA dialogue.

   I always recommend choosing **Custom Settings** and setting

   the DPI to the maximum as the default profiles use quite a

   low value. Note that depending on the image size and DPI,

   values greater than 600 may result in corrupt images.

10. After the image has been scanned and saved, the continuation

   bar will prompt how to progress

      * Choose **Yes** to repeat the scan using the same

        parameters (see known issues below). This is the best

        option when scanning multiple items of the same size and

        resolution

      * Choose **Yes, Customise** to re-open the preview

        dialogue. This is best used when you are doing

        continuous scanning, but the size of the item being

        scanned is different to the previous scan

      * Choose **No** to cancel the scan loop

11. (Optional) Before choosing an option from the continuation

    bar, you can use the imaging tools to manipulate the image

    in basic ways. After performing flip or rotation actions,

    click **Save** to save the image - this will act the same

    way as the automatic save, so a new file name will be

    generated and the counter incremented (if these features are

    enabled)

## A note for Windows 10 users

I do most of my scanning on Windows 11, but recently when using

Windows 10, I was irked to find focus kept getting stolen from

the application I was entering data into back to Quick Scan

(which is why I put in the inline feature to begin with!).

Version 1.3 introduces a new per-machine "Show Progress" option

that controls if the progress dialog whilst scanning is

displayed. While this is useful for avoiding having Quick Scan

take focus when you're working in another application, it has

the following caveats:

1. As far as I know it isn't possible to get the progress

   programmatically, so there isn't an inline progress bar

2. In a similar fashion to the above, there isn't a way to

   cancel a scan either

## Other Features

* Copy - copies the current image to the Windows Clipboard.

* Paste - pastes an image from the Windows Clipboard which can

  then be manipulated and saved as if it were any other scan.

* Maximise Scan Window setting - this experimental setting

  attempts to maximise the WIA scan dialogue, which may be

  useful for selecting accurate scan regions as the default

  preview is very small.

* Auto Select Custom setting - this experimental setting

  attempts to set the WIA dialogue to "Custom Settings" by

  default, thus saving a click. I always have to click this

  button as the other options use pre-defined DPIs that can't be

  changed.

## Known Issues

* This is only a slight step above an internal tool, so UX may

  not be great and error handling certainly isn't. Please report

  any problems so I can continue to improve this tool.

* ~~If you have multiple scanners, make sure you select the

  device you want to use first before clicking **Scan**. WIA

  will always prompt for a device when there is more than one

  (even if instructed not to!), and if the device you select

  doesn't match the window selection, subsequent scans will

  fail. Most of my scanners are USB based and only appear when

  plugged in, so that part is easy. The scanner on my Brother

  laser printer always appears regardless of if the printer is

  switched on or off. As I rarely use this scanner I disable it

  (but _not_ the printer) in Device Manager to prevent it being

  seen by WIA.~~ This is fixed in v1.4 I believe.

* ~~If (as you probably should) you always choose **Custom

  Settings** from the **Scan** dialogue and you customise those

  settings so the chosen DPI no longer matches the DPI in the

  Quick Scan window, subsequent scans will be wrong. At the

  moment I haven't worked out how to retrieve the parameters

  used for the scan in order to properly update.~~ This is fixed

  in 1.4.

* ~~Related to the above, depending on the scanner, repeating a

  scan using the same settings may fail. For the CanoScan LiDE

  110 and 220, I haven't had any issues. With the Plustek

  OpticSlim 1180 I _always_ have to display the WIA Scan

  dialogue and reselect all parameters.~~ This should be fixed

  in 1.4.

* Rarely, reading WIA properties causes a crash.

* Sometimes, an image is so large the program crashes trying to

  save the modified version. When this happens, Quick Scan will

  instead save the original image from the scanner. This keeps

  the scan, but means it is saved in the scanners native format

  (always BMP in my experience), and with no additional features

  such as EXIF generation or rotation.

* Some scanners seem very badly behaved (again, rarely have an

  issue with the CanoScan, but the OpticSlim does this _every

  time_) and sometimes WIA can't connect to the devices when

  they are switched on (if they require separate power), or when

  the OS/scanner resumes from sleep. In this scenario restarting

  the _Windows Image Acquisition (WIA)_ service seems to be the

  solution - you can do this from within Quick Scan from the

  **Tools** menu.

* If you are scanning large images (above A4 size) at a high DPI

  (greater than 600) you may end up with "corrupt" images where,

  the bottom of the image is either missing, or is composed of

  bands from other parts of the image. Not sure if this is a

  problem with WIA or the scanner driver. As with most of my

  scanner issues, I get this with the OpticSlim 1180. To resolve

  I gradually reduce the DPI until I get a "clean" image.

## Requirements

Pre-built binaries are available from the [releases][ghrel]

page. These are compiled using .NET 4.8 and therefore require

one of the following operating systems

* Windows 11

* Windows 10 Anniversary Update (version 1607) (x86 and x64) (or

  above)

* Windows 8.1 (x86 and x64)

* Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (x86 and x64)

* Windows Server 2016 (version 1709) (or above, e.g. 2019, 2022)

* Windows Server 2012 R2 (x64)

* Windows Server 2012 (x64)

* Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (x64)

If you wish to compile the [source][ghsrc] yourself, the source

code requires .NET Framework 2.0 or above, although it does make

use of some third-party dependencies.

And of course - a WIA compatible scanner. This application

doesn't (yet?) support using the TWAIN interface.

## Tested Scanners and Operating System Combinations

* Brother MFC-L2710DW, Windows 10

* Brother MFC-L2750DW, Windows 10

* CanoScan LiDE 100, Windows 10 ([yes, this works perfectly

  well][scanblog])

* CanoScan LiDE 100, Windows 11

* CanoScan LiDE 220, Windows 10

* CanoScan LiDE 220, Windows 11

* Plustek OpticSlim 1180, Windows 11 (I don't recommend this

  scanner unless you need A3 scanning on a budget)

## Background, or why I created this tool

![A older screenshot of the application in use on Windows

10][screenshot]

For the past few years, and in a somewhat adhoc fashion, I've

been attempting to catalog the piles of DVDs, music CD's, books,

magazines and all sorts of other clutter I have. In addition to

recording pertinent details in a database, I've either been

scanning the front and back of media such as as books or DVDs

(where they fit in a scanner) and taking digital photographs of

everything else.

However, this sort of scanning is rather tedious and laborious.

If I used a program such as Paint.NET or Paint Shop Pro, I'd be

wasting a large amount of time manually acquiring an image and

then saving it, with lots of time spent navigating menus and

dialogues. I created this tool to simplify the process - if I am

scanning multiple items of the same size, then I only need to

specify the size once, and then just answer a confirmation

prompt to perform a new scan. Images are automatically saved to

a single folder for me to file later. This has turned out to be

quite a massive time-saver - even if each item I'm scanning is

of a different size, I don't need to keep performing the entire

flow to acquire a new image and then save it.

I have made thousands of scans using this tool, tweaking it over

time to add new features such as EXIF meta data and even just

the simple act of playing a sound after automatic saves. It has

worked well for me and I hope it is useful for others.

## Contributing to this code

Contributions accepted!

* Found a problem? [Raise an issue][ghissue]

* Want to improve the code? [Make a pull request][ghpull]

Alternatively, if you make use of this software and it saves you

some time, donations are welcome.

[![PayPal Donation][paypalimg]][paypal]

[![By Me a Coffee Donation][bmacimg]][bmac]

## Acknowledgements

* Scanner icon derived from [Computer Hardware Cute Style vol

  2][1]

* Some toolbar graphics use [Fugue Icons][2]

* The chime sound licensed as CC0 is by [Brandon Morris][chime]

## License

This source is licensed under the MIT license. See `LICENSE.txt`

for the full text.

## References

* [Cyotek ImageBox][6] ([GitHub Project][7])

* [Creating a GroupBox containing an image and a custom display

  rectangle][3]

* [Copy an irregular area from a picture to the clipboard in

  C#][4]

* [Enabling shell styles for the ListView and TreeView controls

  in C#][5]

* [Paste a PNG format image with a transparent background from

  the clipboard in C#][9]

* [CanoScan LiDE 100 Windows 10 Compatibility][scanblog]

* [An introduction to using Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) via

  C#][wiablog]

[1]: https://www.iconfinder.com/icons/2317747/machine_media_multimedia_office_scan_scanner_scanning_icon

[2]: https://p.yusukekamiyamane.com/icons/search/fugue/

[3]: https://www.cyotek.com/blog/creating-a-groupbox-containing-an-image-and-a-custom-display-rectangle

[4]: http://csharphelper.com/blog/2014/09/copy-an-irregular-area-from-one-picture-to-another-in-c/

[5]: https://www.cyotek.com/blog/enabling-shell-styles-for-the-listview-and-treeview-controls-in-csharp

[6]: https://www.cyotek.com/blog/tag/imagebox

[7]: https://github.com/cyotek/Cyotek.Windows.Forms.ImageBox

[9]: http://csharphelper.com/blog/2014/09/paste-a-png-format-image-with-a-transparent-background-from-the-clipboard-in-c/

[scanblog]: https://www.cyotek.com/blog/canoscan-lide-100-windows-10-compatibility

[wiablog]: https://www.cyotek.com/blog/an-introduction-to-using-windows-image-acquisition-wia-via-csharp

[chime]: https://opengameart.org/content/completion-sound

[screenshot]: res/screenshot.png

[screenshot2]: res/screenshot2.png

[ghissue]: https://github.com/cyotek/Cyotek.QuickScan/issues

[ghpull]: https://github.com/cyotek/Cyotek.QuickScan/pulls

[ghrel]: https://github.com/cyotek/Cyotek.QuickScan/releases

[ghsrc]: https://github.com/cyotek/Cyotek.QuickScan

[paypal]: https://www.paypal.me/cyotek

[paypalimg]: https://static.cyotek.com/assets/images/donate.gif

[bmac]: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/cyotek

[bmacimg]: https://static.cyotek.com/assets/images/bmac.png