QRZ
QRZ -- QR Code Reader and Writer
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About QRZ
QRZ is a simple tool for reading and writing QR codes. There are online options
to do this but few basic programs that can handle different QR codes.
Why Read QR Codes?
QR codes are becoming ubiquitous, but they're also opaque. They'll usually take you
to a website, but what website? Is it safe? Is it private? If a QR code promises to take
you to acmeplumbing.com, is that all it's doing? For example, PBS, the US Public Broadcasting Service,
used to send visitors who scanned their QR codes to a third party tracker. Currently they
send them to a bit.ly URL to hide the destination. In short, QR codes subvert the original
intention of safe, clear URLs. So you might want to see where they'll actually take you before you go.
Why Create QR Codes?
About 1 KB of data can be fit into a QR code. That's almost enough to fit the Gettysburg Address!
About 1024 characters in ASCII. (Non-English text can also be encoded because the encoding is UTF-8, but non-English
characters in UTF-8 use more than 1 byte per character, so the total character limit will be lower.)
But the typical reason for creating QR codes is simply to
make it easy for cellphone users to find your website. Commercial businesses, ads and signage
can post QR codes that can take people to your website. Commercial vehicles can have QR codes
applied. The average cellphone user doesn't even know how to enter
a URL into a browser anymore. And they don't want to type in "acmeplumbing.com" on a 2 inch
keyboard.
How Does it Work?
Very simple. Browse for a QR image file, drop it onto the path field, then click the button. Or use the menu
to read an image you've copied to the Clipboard. Text in the QR image will be displayed and can be copied.
To create an image, enter the desired text and click the Create button. The QR code image will be displayed
and can then be saved as an image file or copied.
Acknowledgements
The heavy lifting here is done by a popular open-source QR code and barcode library that's highly regarded,
known as "zxing". Thank you to the developer, Michael Jahn, who converted the library from Java.
QRZ does not install. Just take the folder out of the ZIP file and store it somewhere. Run qrz.exe to use the program.
It should automatically register the library as needed. If you get an error or move the location of the folder, open the Settings
and re-register the zxing library. The Zxing library requires at least .Net 4, which can be installed on any Windows system from XP to 11.
The QRZ program itself has no special requirements.
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