Hi all,
I’ve made a new Kettle plugin to answer to a specific need from one of my clients in retail industry : a QRCode encoder.
What is a QrCode ?
It is a matrix code created by Denso Wave, a japanese company. QR stands for “quick response” because of the high speed decoding process. Today, most of our mobile phones (ex : iPhone) can read (decode) these QRCodes and read the information within to feed an application (agenda, adress book …). Some companies use it for encoding inside a logistic process. These codes are also widely used in ads. More infos HERE.
One of the code above is mine. But which one ?
The Kettle plugin
I used the famoux ZXING java library to encode any data into a QRCode. This library is quite complete and powerfull, yet sometimes a bit difficult to install and understand (read the wiki). You can find it HERE.
The plugin is quite simple : a single screen holds all the needed informations.
- Step name : the step name.
- QRColumn : the column you want to encode, coming from a previous step.
- Size x : the X size of your generated QRCode file (recommanded : 128).
- Sixe y : the Y size of your generated QRCode file (recommanded : 128).
- Picture format : png or gif
- Destination dir : the destination directory where all the pictures / QRCodes will be written.
Running the Plugin
Very simple. Have a look below to my sample transformation. A data input coming from a csv file (can be a query or anything else) and the plugin itself. The plugin will read all the incoming data from the QRColumn you specified and will create a file for each value. The generated files will have the same name but will have a counter in the filename, corresponding to the rownumber.
The generated files, from my examples, are now on my C:\, as specified in the plugin window.
I want it !
Ok, no problem, you can find the package HERE. As usual, everything is compiled with fat jar in order to have only one jar file. The package holds :
- The plugin itself (+ xml file and icon file),
- The data sample csv file,
- My QRCode, to add me to your favorites ;)
Don’t forget to have a look to Pentaho and the new Kettle / PDI release 4.
Have fun and keep me informed about your usage / testing or new feature request.
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