# Symbol Scanner Question

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/symbol-scanner-question/17419>\
**Category:** General Discussion\
**Created:** [March 19, 2018, 4:54pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/symbol-scanner-question/17419 "2018-03-19T16:54:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![keith.hyder](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/keith.hyder/32/4909_2.png) [@keith.hyder](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/keith.hyder)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 4:54pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/symbol-scanner-question/17419/1 "2018-03-19T16:54:22Z")

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Hello,

At the factory I work at we use Zebra Model MT2090 programmable bar-code scanners. Currently we use MCL Designer to program these scanners. They are used with EM to write scanned component values to our SQL database. A component trace system. My question is if Ignition has the ability to be used to program these scanners in place of MCL?

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**Author:** ![bfuson](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/bfuson/32/4597_2.png) [@bfuson](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/bfuson)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 8:20pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/symbol-scanner-question/17419/2 "2018-03-20T20:20:33Z")

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There are 3rd party modules to support barcode scanning events directly in Ignition:  
[https://www.sepasoft.com/barcode-scanner/](https://www.sepasoft.com/barcode-scanner/)

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**Author:** ![keith.hyder](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/keith.hyder/32/4909_2.png) [@keith.hyder](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/keith.hyder)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 9:47am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/symbol-scanner-question/17419/3 "2018-03-26T09:47:48Z")

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Thank you but I don’t think this is what I am looking for. MCL is for creating the scanner program not just dealing with the information scanned.

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**Author:** ![Sanderd17](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/sanderd17/32/8735_2.png) [@Sanderd17](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Sanderd17)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 10:42am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/symbol-scanner-question/17419/4 "2018-03-26T10:42:49Z")

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Ignition cannot really be used to program devices. Though you can usually make the software on the device very light, and bring all processing of it to the Ignition side for easier modification.

F.e. you could set up some basic real-time communication (f.e. via web services), and let Ignition read from that directly.

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**Author:** ![keith.hyder](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/keith.hyder/32/4909_2.png) [@keith.hyder](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/keith.hyder)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 11:40am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/symbol-scanner-question/17419/5 "2018-03-26T11:40:00Z")

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Thank you for the information. I will look into that as well.