Barcode Buddy for Grocy

Barcode Buddy for Grocy is an extension for Grocy, allowing to pass barcodes to Grocy. It supports barcodes for products and chores. If you own a physical barcode scanner, it can be integrated, so that all barcodes scanned are automatically pushed to BarcodeBuddy/Grocy.

Why use Barcode Buddy and how does it work

Barcode Buddy makes using a barcode scanner a lot easier - ideally the barcode scanner is connected to a server / computer so it can send the barcodes to the program. Alternatively the barcodes can be manually added with the web UI. In contrast to Grocy, unknown barcodes are looked up with OpenFoodFacts.org first, in order to find out the product name / category. If found, Barcode Buddy checks if the user has stored any tags associated with the name: For example, if the name is “Chocolate bar”, it can automatically be set to the Grocy product “Chocolate”.

A known barcode will be processed, so it reduces / increases the inventory or manipulates the shopping list.

If the product could not be looked up, the user can select it manually.

Chores can also be executed with barcodes.

Contents

Setup

There are two different ways to setup Barcode Buddy: Either a bare metal approach or docker

Docker

Requirements

  • A host running docker

Installation

To download, run the following command, and replace YOURTAG with one from the list below:

docker pull f0rc3/barcodebuddy-docker:YOURTAG
Tag Architecture Version
latest x86-64 stable
arm32v7-latest armhf stable
arm64v8-latest arm64 stable
latest-dev x86-64 unstable
arm32v7-latest-dev armhf unstable
arm64v8-latest-dev arm64 unstable

Most of the time, you will need the latest tag. If you are running docker on a Raspberry Pi, you will need the arm32v7-latest tag.

Stable indicates, that you are using the latest release which should work without any bugs. Unstable is the latest developer version, which might include more features, but could also contain bugs.

If you don’t want to download the prebuilt image, you can find the Dockerfile on the Github project page .

Starting the Container

To start the container, run the following command:

docker run -d -v bbconfig:/config -p 80:80 -p 443:443 f0rc3/barcodebuddy-docker:YOURTAG

You can now open http://DOCKER_HOST_IP/ to set up BarcodeBuddy. If you are already serving a webserver on your Docker host, you need to change the ports, eg.:

docker run -d -v bbconfig:/config -p 8080:80 -p 9443:443 f0rc3/barcodebuddy-docker:latest

The following arguments can also be passed:

Argument Value Effect
ATTACH_BARCODESCANNER true/false Attach barcode scanner
IGNORE_SSL_CA true/false Accept self-signed SSL certificates
IGNORE_SSL_HOST true/false Accept SSL certificates where the host does not match

For more information on how to attach a barcode scanner, see Using a physical barcode scanner

To pass an argument, use the -e function, eg:

docker run -d -v bbconfig:/config -e ATTACH_BARCODESCANNER=true -p 80:80 -p 443:443 f0rc3/barcodebuddy-docker:latest

Bare Metal

Requirements

  • webserver (eg. NGINX, Apache)
  • curl
  • Access to the command line
  • PHP (PHP5 min, however PHP7+ highly recommended)
  • The following PHP modules:
    • curl
    • date
    • json
    • sqlite3
    • sockets
  • When using a barcode scanner:
    • Root access!
    • sudo
    • screen
    • evtest

Installation

Stable indicates, that you are using the latest release which should work without any bugs. Unstable is the latest developer version, which might include more features, but could also contain bugs.

It is strongly recommended to change pm.max_children to a value of 10 or higher in /etc/php7/php-fpm.d/www.conf (path might be different, depending on PHP version and distribution; for Ubuntu 18.04 it is /etc/php/7.2/fpm/pool.d/www.conf).

Webserver setup

This guide is written for a Debian based server, including Ubuntu. If you already have a webserver setup, please make sure to have a look at the Nginx example file, as for the folder /api/ a rewrite rule has to be added.

Installing NGINX

  • Get root, ideally with sudo -i

  • Install nginx: apt-get install nginx

  • If you are running a server with ufw active, run ufw allow 'Nginx Full'

  • Install all php modules and other requirements apt-get install php-fpm php-curl php-date php-json php-sqlite sudo screen evtest

  • Check what PHP version you are using with php --version (eg. “7.2”).

  • Copy the Nginx example file to /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

  • Adjust the new file:

    • If you are not using PHP7.2, change the line fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.2-fpm.sock; to your PHP version
    • If you are not installing Barcode Buddy to /var/www/html/barcodebuddy/, change the line root /var/www/html/barcodebuddy/; to your directory

  • Follow the steps below to download either the stable or unstable version

  • Execute the command chown www-data:www-data -R /path/to/the/barcodebuddy/folder for the folder that you just created

  • Change pm.max_children to a value of 10 in /etc/php/7.2/fpm/pool.d/www.conf (adjust path for your PHP version)

  • Restart NGINX service nginx restart

Configuring Apache2

We recommend using Nginx. If you are already an Apache2 user, follow these steps to make sure that Barcode Buddy is working correctly:

  • Execute a2enmod rewrite to make sure that the rewrite module is active
  • Make sure that you can use .htaccess files for rewriting. For that the option AllowOverride for the directory must be set to All. You can normally find this configuration in the apache2.conf file. For Ubuntu this file is located at /etc/apache2/apache2.conf. Search for AllowOverride and set it to All for the root directory where Barcode Buddy is installed.

Example:

[...]
<Directory /var/www/>
       Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
       AllowOverride All
       Require all granted
</Directory>
[...]
Stable version

Download the project and copy all files into your webserver.

Unstable version

Execute

git clone https://github.com/Forceu/barcodebuddy.git .

in the folder where you want to install Barcode Buddy to.

Starting the websocket service

If you have access to your webservers command line, make sure to start the websocket server. This way you can use the Screen module and if there are any changes, Barcode Buddy will automatically refresh.

Navigate to your installation folder and execute php wsserver.php to start the server. To have it run in the background, either use the screen application (recommended)

screen -S bbuddyserver -d -m /usr/bin/php /path/to/the/barcodebuddy/folder/wsserver.php

or the following command:

nohup php wsserver.php &

To start the websocket server after a reboot, you can use cron. Make sure to use the crontab for the webserver user (on Debian/Ubuntu this the user www-data.

Open the crontab for the user:

sudo crontab -e -u www-data

And insert the following new line (you might need to adjust the paths):

@reboot /usr/bin/screen -S wsserver -d -m /usr/bin/php /var/www/html/barcodebuddy/wsserver.php

VirtualBox

We have also released a VirtualBox image, which automatically downloads the latest docker image and runs it.

Installation

Open VirtualBox, and go to File/Host Network Manager. If there is no network listed yet, click on “Create” and make sure that the box for DHCP Server is ticked. Download the image and open it with VirtualBox, then click on “Import” in the new window.

Start the image - once it is completely running, you will see a login prompt. Above that, you will see two IP addresses. Normally with the second one you can reach the server, so simply connect in your webbrowser to http://THE_IP/.

If you need to log in to the image, the default username is root and the default password is barcode. For security reasons, SSH is disabled, to enable it, execute rc-update add sshd (make sure to change your password and to add a non-root user!)

Hass.IO

Connecting to Grocy

If you are running Grocy in a HASS.io container, further configuration is needed. Open HASS and go to the Grocy plugin section (not Grocy itself). Scroll down and enter 9192 in the Network section and press save. Make sure that you disable SSL in the Grocy config section above, if you are not using a proper certificate. Then restart Grocy. You will now be able to access Grocy under the URL http://hassio.local:9192. In Barcode Buddy setup, enter http://hassio.local:9192/api/ as URL.

Usage

First Start

Open your Grocy website. Click on Settings in the top right corner and then click on Manage API keys. Click on add and copy the long API key to your clipboard. You can now open Barcode Buddy by visiting your webservers URL. The setup will first let you create a user and then ask you to enter the API details. Make sure to have the trailing “/api/” for your Grocy URL at the end.

Using The Web UI

Overview

When you open the web ui, you will see three cards:

  • New Barcodes: Barcodes that are unknown to Grocy, but the name could be looked up
  • Unknown Barcodes: Barcodes that are unknown to Grocy and could not be looked up
  • Processed Barcodes: A history of all barcodes that were processed by Barcode Buddy

If you have entered a barcode that is linked to a Grocy product with the tare feature enabled, a fourth section will popup named “Actions required”, where you can enter the weight for the product.

Special Barcodes

There are seven special barcodes - if you scan the barcode, Barcode Buddy goes into a different mode: Eg. in Purchase mode all barcodes that are scanned will be added to Grocys inventory.

Mode Default Barcode Explanation
Consume BBUDDY-C All items scanned in this mode will be removed from the inventory
Consume (spoiled) BBUDDY-CS All items scanned in this mode will be removed from the inventory and marked as spoiled
Purchase BBUDDY-P All items scanned in this mode will be added to the inventory
Open BBUDDY-O All items scanned in this mode will be marked as opened
Inventory BBUDDY-I Displays the current amount of items in stock of that product
Add to shoppinglist BBUDDY-AS All items scanned in this mode will be added to the default shopping list
Quantity BBUDDY-Q-? Sets a quantity for a barcode. Replace ? with number of items. Eg. if you have a carton with 10 eggs, scan the barcode BBUDDY-Q-10 and then the barcode of the carton. The next time you scan the carton barcode, it will register as 10 units.

You can find printable copies of the barcodes in the example folder .

Using the UI

Once a barcode was added and is not recognised by Grocy, it will be added to the list in the web ui. Simply select the Grocy product from the drop-down list. If the name could be looked up, you will also see checkboxes for each word that was used in the name. If you want the selected Grocy product preselected for a different barcode that includes such a word, tick it and then press either “Consume” or “Add”. The barcode will then saved to Grocy and the next time you scan it, the product will automatically be processed.

https://github.com/Forceu/barcodebuddy/raw/master/example/screenshots/FullSite_small.png

Adding Barcodes

Adding Barcodes Manually

The easiest option, ideally for testing out Barcode Buddy: Simply open the web ui and click on “Add barcode”. Enter the barcode (use one line per barcode) and click on “Add”.

If you are using a barcode scanner, but don’t want to attach it to Barcode Buddy (yet), you can also plug it into the device that runs the webbrowser and use it to enter the barcodes in the textfield. Each line is parsed as a barcode.

Adding Barcodes Automatically

The preferred way. Most barcode scanners register as a USB keyboard. That way, it is possible to grab the input and send it to Barcode Buddy.

Using a physical barcode scanner

Plug in your barcode scanner to the linux computer / server you will be using. Run the command evtest as root. You will see a list of devices, select the one that is your barcode scanner and remember the number (eg. event6). Scan a barcode. You will now see output in the evtest program. If not, you have selected the wrong source.

Docker

Create a docker container with

docker run -v bbconfig:/config -e ATTACH_BARCODESCANNER=true -p 80:80 -p 443:443 --device /dev/input/eventX f0rc3/barcodebuddy-docker:YOURTAG

where X in --device /dev/input/eventX is the number of your event you selected previously. You might need to change the values for the ports. Scan a barcode - it should be sent directly to Barcode Buddy.

Bare Metal

Navigate to the example folder in the Barcode Buddy directory. In the file grabInput.sh edit the following values:

  • If your barcode scanner is attached to the same computer / server:
    • SCRIPT_LOCATION: Replace with the location where your index.php file is located
  • If the scanner is attached to a different computer / server:
    • SERVER_ADDRESS: Replace with the URL where your index.php file can be accessed from
    • USE_CURL: Set to “true”
  • If the webserver does not run as user www-data (uncommon):
    • WWW_USER: Set to the name of the user

Then run as root

bash grabInput.sh /dev/input/eventX

where X is the number of your event you selected previously. Scan a barcode - it should be sent directly to Barcode Buddy.

To run the script in the background, run

screen -S barcodegrabber -d -m /bin/bash /path/to/the/barcodebuddy/folder/example/grabInput.sh /dev/input/eventX
Using Barcode Buddy app for Android

Download the app here: Google Play Store

Once installed, open Barcode Buddy and navigate to the menu API. There click on the three dots in the top right corner and select Add mobile app. Open your Barcode Buddy app and then scan the displayed QR code.

Using a 3rd party application / script

If you want to write your own script, there are two ways to send the barcodes to Barcode Buddy: either by calling php index.php yourBarcode or by calling the URL: https://your.bbuddy.url/api/action/scan?apikey=myApiKey&add=123456. Only one barcode can be given with each call. Replace myApiKey with an API key generated in the main menu. For more information about the API visit API.

Using a 3rd party mobile app

Although we have not released an app (yet), you can use the Android app QR & Barcode Scanner and point it to /api/action/scan. Make sure to add the paramter apikey with the correct API key.

Updating Barcode Buddy

Docker

To update, run the following command:

docker pull f0rc3/barcodebuddy-docker:YOURTAG

Then stop the running container and follow the same steps as in SETUP. All userdata will be preserved, as it is saved to the bbuddy volume (-v command)

Bare Metal

Stable version

To update, download the latest release and unzip it to the directory that contains the old version. Overwrite any existing files.

Unstable version

To update, execute the command git pull

Advanced usage and configuration

Further configuration

config.php

Once you started Barcode Buddy for the first time, you will find the file config.php in the folder data. This file is for further configuration - the following values can be changed:

Argument Value Effect Default
PORT_WEBSOCKET_SERVER 1024-65535 The port that the websocket server listens to. Change if you running multiple instances or the default port is already used by another application. 47631
DATABASE_PATH A writable path The path were the database file is written to. Make sure that the webserver does not allow the download of the file. Path includes filename. ./data/barcodebuddy.db
CURL_TIMEOUT_S 5-60 How long to wait for a request 20
CURL_ALLOW_INSECURE_SSL_CA true/false Accept self-signed SSL certificates false
CURL_ALLOW_INSECURE_SSL_HOST true/false Accept SSL certificates where the host does not match false
REQUIRE_API_KEY true/false Require API key for authentication when using API true
DISABLE_AUTHENTICATION true/false Disables user management, if enabled, Barcode Buddy will not ask for local username/password false
IS_DEBUG true/false Enable verbose error messages. If you think something is wrong, you can enable this and send a bugreport false
OVERRIDDEN_USER_CONFIG mapped array To override settings that can be set in the UI, uncomment the specific line. Overridden values cannot be changed in the UI afterwards empty

Note: config.php is a copy of config-dist.php in the root directory, which is tracked by version control, but not included by php. Any changes in config-dist.php will be ignored by Barcode Buddy

configProcessing.inc.php

If you need to change the paths of the config.php or the user database location, you can do this in the configProcessing.inc.php file, found in the incl folder. As editing the file might break updating Barcode Buddy, it is rather recommended to use Environment variables instead of editing this file. The following values can be changed:

Argument Value Effect Default
CONFIG_PATH A writable path The path were the config.php file is written to. Path includes filename. ./data/config.php
AUTHDB_PATH A writable path The path were the user database file is written to. Make sure that the webserver does not allow the download of the file. Path includes filename. ./data/users.db

Environment variables

Environment variables can be passed to Barcode Buddy - that way you can configure it without editing any files.

All const declarations found in config.php can be passed as an environment variable, but must have the prefix BBUDDY_.

Example: To disable authentication, you need to set DISABLE_AUTHENTICATION to true. Therefore you need to pass the variable BBUDDY_DISABLE_AUTHENTICATION with the value true (see Passing environment variables to Barcode Buddy)

Note: OVERRIDDEN_USER_CONFIG is declared as an array in config.php. This is the only environment variable you need to pass as an array with the delimiter ;.

Example: To set the Grocy API details you need to declare GROCY_API_URL and GROCY_API_KEY. As you can see in config.php, they are part of the OVERRIDDEN_USER_CONFIG declaration (basically all configurations that can be changed through the web ui are part of that). You therefore need to pass the environment variable OVERRIDDEN_USER_CONFIG with the value GROCY_API_URL=https://myurl/api/;GROCY_API_KEY=1234

Passing environment variables to Barcode Buddy

Docker

Pass the variable with the -e argument. Example for disabling authentication and setting curl timeout to 30:

docker run -d -v bbconfig:/config -e BBUDDY_DISABLE_AUTHENTICATION=true -e BBUDDY_CURL_TIMEOUT_S=30 -p 80:80 f0rc3/barcodebuddy-docker:latest

Example for passing API details:

docker run -d -v bbconfig:/config -e BBUDDY_OVERRIDDEN_USER_CONFIG="GROCY_API_URL=https://myurl/api/;GROCY_API_KEY=1234" -p 80:80 f0rc3/barcodebuddy-docker:latest
Bare Metal

You need to add the variable to your Nginx configuration that you created in Webserver setup. For each environment variable, add the following line in the location ~ \.php$ block:

fastcgi_param BBUDDY_XXXXX 'value';

Example: Disabling authentication and setting curl timeout to 30:

[...]
location ~ \.php$ {
        fastcgi_param BBUDDY_DISABLE_AUTHENTICATION 'true';
        fastcgi_param BBUDDY_CURL_TIMEOUT_S '30';
        fastcgi_read_timeout 80;
        include fastcgi_params;
        include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.2-fpm.sock;
}
[...]

Example: Passing API details:

[...]
location ~ \.php$ {
        fastcgi_param BBUDDY_OVERRIDDEN_USER_CONFIG 'GROCY_API_URL=https://myurl/api/;GROCY_API_KEY=1234';
        fastcgi_read_timeout 80;
        include fastcgi_params;
        include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.2-fpm.sock;
}
[...]

API

Barcode Buddy offers an API that can be reached at http(s)://your.bbinstall.url/api. By visiting the URL, you will get current the documentation website with an overview of all API functions.

Unless disabled, all API calls will need an API key as authentication. A key can be generated in the web UI in the menu “API”. The API key needs to be passed in the body or can be added as a GET variable. Example getting info with curl:

curl -X GET -H "BBUDDY_API_KEY: myApiKey" "https://your.bbuddy.url/api/system/info"

Manually getting the info by adding the GET variable:

https://your.bbuddy.url/api/system/info?apikey=myApiKey

All functions that require parameters (except /action/scan ), expect them as a form/post parameter. Example: Setting the current mode to STATE_PURCHASE(2):

curl -X POST -H "BBUDDY_API_KEY: [[apiKey]]" -F 'state=2' "https://your.bbuddy.url/api/state/setmode"

As mentioned above, the /action/scan also looks for GET parameters, in addition to the regular form/post parameters. This is to make it easier for scripts / apps to pass barcodes to Barcode Buddy.

Instead of the POST parameter barcode you can also pass the GET parameter add or text instead. Example Passing the barcode 123456 by just requesting the URL:

https://your.bbuddy.url/api/action/scan?apikey=myApiKey&add=123456

Plugins

Barcode Buddy offers plugin support. All PHP scripts in the folder plugins are automatically loaded. See also the example script .

Contributions

All contributions are very welcome! If you have an issue or would like to add a pull request, please visit our Github pages:

https://github.com/Forceu/barcodebuddy

https://github.com/Forceu/barcodebuddy-docker

Changelog

Overview of all Changes

v1.5.0.0: 14 Apr 2020

  • Added authentication, can be disabled through config.php
  • Added support for Grocys tare feature
  • Config.php now found in the data directory
  • Added API (if you are adding barcodes with GET, you will need to use the API instead)
  • Support for official Barcode Buddy App
  • Fixed race conditions
  • Show more detailed errors if they occur
  • Barcode Buddy settings can be set through environment variables
  • Barcode grabber bash variables can be set through environment variables Thanks. @Biont
  • Add logs when adding/consuming new products through UI
  • New theme for Screen module. Thanks @hanerd
  • Python barcode grabber script for devices that disconnect frequently. Thanks @vondit
  • Main ui refreshes through AJAX now without reloading
  • Better support for iOS13
  • Created robots.txt. Thanks @bbrenton09
  • Added favicon
  • Added admin menu for dowloading database backup
  • Refactoring / Minor fixes

v1.4.1.1: 26 Mar 2020

  • Fixed problems with SSE, in some cases it was stuck in a feedback loop, causing PHP-FPM to freeze
  • Fixed bug that fullscreen setting was not acknowledged
  • Added “text” GET variable (alias of “add”) so it can used with the Android App QR & Barcode Scanner
  • Added option to ignore invalid SSL certificates (config.php)
  • Added bash script for grabbing barcode scanner input
  • Moved documentation to ReadTheDocs
  • Detect if API key is rejected by Grocy
  • Items that were added by clicking on “Add” in the UI were not removed from the shoppinglist
  • Ignore case for sorting products
  • Display errors in log view as well
  • Set HTTP Agent to BarcodeBuddy
  • Check if php-sockets is installed
  • Added more docker options
  • Minor UI changes

v1.4.0.0: 20 Mar 2020

  • External websockets have been replaced with Server Sent Events. This means that you finally don’t need any complicated configuration anymore and that all the websocket features should work without setting anything up. You still need to start the websocket server however, as it is used for internal communication. (SEE is basically a proxy for the websockets)
  • Docker image available at https://github.com/Forceu/barcodebuddy-docker

v1.3.2.0: 16 Mar 2020

  • Moved database location to “/data/” folder. Existing database will be moved automatically, however you need to make sure that your webserver does not allow access to this directory!
  • Added functionality to make running in docker easier
  • Tags ignore whitespaces and special characters now
  • Added a second variant that grabs barcode scanner input (see example/grabInput_variant2.py, thanks @ChadOhman )
  • Refactoring of code

v1.3.1.1: 24 Oct 2019

  • Fixed bug in which the state reverted to consume immediately
  • If an unknown barcode was scanned, the barcode showed up as state in the screen module
  • Refactored code.

v1.3.1.0: 14 Oct 2019

  • Fixed issue #14 that disabled buttons when creating a new Grocy product
  • The Screen module now shows the current state
  • Added settings menu to test websocket connection
  • Fixed some websocket bugs

v1.3.0.3: 28 Sep 2019

  • Grocy 2.5.1+ now required
  • Screen module now features button to enable sound and wakelock for mobile devices
  • Screen module can now be set to open in fullscreen
  • Add barcode to add items to the default shopping list

v1.3.0.1: 4 Sep 2019

  • fixed several issues with Quantity management

v1.3.0.0: 29 Aug 2019

  • Added feature to create new Grocy product
  • Added feature to handle multipacks (eg. set quantity per barcode)

v1.2.2.0: 13 Aug 2019

  • Added Inventory mode
  • Modes can be changed with GET variables
  • Setup checks if all required extensions are installed
  • Bug fixes

v1.2.1.0: 7 Aug 2019

  • Added option to remove purchased item from shopping list
  • Many minor fixes, full support for PHP5 now
  • Fixed crash from library when websockets were enabled, but server not started

v1.2.0.0: 1 Aug 2019

  • Settings are now no longer saved in the config.php file. After upgrading you will be asked to re-enter your Grocy * API details. If previously active, you need to enable websockets again as well in Menu / Settings.
  • Added Chore support - add a barcode for your chore in Menu / Chores.
  • Default barcodes were changed, as underscores cannot reliably be output will all barcode scanners

v1.1.2.1: 29 Jul 2019

  • Fixed problems that default barcodes were processed and then added to the “unknown barcodes” list
  • Added Tag viewer
  • Fixed problem were products were not selectable in v1.2.0

v1.0.1.1: 28 Jul 2019

  • Added PHP5 support for websocket server
  • Hotfix for a communication problem with the database, which stopped Barcode Buddy from working

v1.0.0.0: 25 Jul 2019

  • First stable release of the program