Working with RFID Reader

[Adeyinka]

i just got this tracer plus this month and i was overwhelmed with what i saw, i love it for reading rfid tags, my problem is this. i want to write more information on a tag so that when the reader reads the tag, it automatically pull out the informations about the tag, if anybody understand me please help me out

 

[Corey Hagewood]

Hi Adeyinka,

It is possible to write additional information to a tag using the TracerPlus Software. Typically Information is written to two different banks on the RFID tag. The EPC bank, and the User Memory bank. The EPC bank is used to encode the Tag with a unique value. This unique value is typically used to identify a unique item and to ensure that this tag can be singled out against other tags.

The User Memory bank is typically used for additional information about the tag. It can be anything you like, a product description, a QTY, or even a serial number.

It sounds like you would want to write your additional information to this User Memory bank. The User Memory bank is different for every tag, so it is very important to know how much space you have, and if what you are planning on putting in there will fit.

Alternatively, if you know the information tied to a specific tag before hand it is possible to use TracerPlus Lookups to look up the more detailed information about the tag. It really depends on what you are looking to do, and which solution best fits your needs.

If you have any additional questions about this, please do not hesitate to ask.

 

[Adeyinka]

oh thanks for your reply, let me tell you what i am trying to do.....two sessions in a project should use one database, one to write to a tag and the other to query or search using the tagID... if found, it should bring out all the data on the tag and if not it should raise an error...and also it should not allow duplicating tags....i hope you get me... i want to search information on a tag when i read the tag.....it should automatically pull out any information on the tag

 

[Corey Hagewood]

Hi Adeyinka,

It sounds like you would want to setup lookup's in your session based off the RFID tag ID. This way when a specific tag is scanned, the device will use the lookup configuration to look through your second session (Your full list of Tag ID with associated information) If it finds the Tag ID in that list, it will populate all fields configured on that lookup relationship with the associated data even though it is coming from a different session.

Based on if the lookup succeeds or fails, you could configure some additional validation settings to trigger an error if the lookup failed and the item was not found in your Tag ID list.

A tutorial on lookups, and how to configure them can be found here: http://www.tracerplus.com/webinars/lookups-tracerplus-8.php

Let me know if you have any questions on this.

Hope it helps!

 

[Adeyinka]

oh thanks....you have really help me a lot............am new in tracerplus but am loving it everyday............dnt get annoyed of my questions................i have a database written with mysql app on desktop. can i update the database with my handheld? probably sync................update and retrieve

 

[Corey Hagewood]

Hi Adeyinka,

As long as that Mysql database is accessible through the ODBC Admin windows Tool, it would be possible to sync to and from it using the mobile device and the TracerPlus Connect Software.

 

[OliverR]

Hi Adeyinka,

Yes, it's perfectly possible to sync data between your handheld and your MySQL database. It's not very different from using an MS Access database. You need to create a system DSN for the MySQL Database. There's an article in the TracerPlus Knowledgebase on how to set up a DSN. You can find it here. It's an older article but the principle is still the same.

To create a System DSN for a MySQL database you will first need to install the MySQL ODBC driver. You can download it here. Once you have set up the DSN, you can select the MySQL database in TracerPlus Connect, just like you would a MS Access database that's on your PC.

I wrote a little article on Tracerplus & MySQL on our website back in 2012. Our own internal asset tracking system was also created with PHP & MySQL in combination with Connect.