Can Add by Barcode Identify the Type of Item (i.e Comics, Magazines, or Books)

[Walt Grogan]

I love Add by Barcode but if I'm scanning a bunch of stuff and I accidentally scan different types in the same session, the resultant Save list won't show everything due to different types. This is a colossal pain, if I've scanned a whole bunch of stuff. For instance, I scanned a whole bunch of comics and unwittingly scanned a a comic-sized book that was typed as a magazine. The Saved results only showed the magazine.

--Walt 

[Mark J. Castaneda]

It's a known limitation according to the programming team - the Add by barcode/show results will only show the type of list of the top scanned item, since it's impossible to mix and match media types. You may want to separately batch your items by media type.

[Fred Slota]

But, of course, that requires one to properly match your understanding of which type of item you are scanning with how it is currently entered in ComicBase...

[Walt Grogan]

8 hours ago, Mark J. Castaneda said:

It's a known limitation according to the programming team - the Add by barcode/show results will only show the type of list of the top scanned item, since it's impossible to mix and match media types. You may want to separately batch your items by media type.

Hi, Mark--

Thanks for your response but that's actually the problem. Let's say I have a batch of 100 comics I'm Adding By Barcode and I unwittingly happen to have a something that's comic-sized in the bunch but classified as a magazine in ComicBase, I'm basically SOL when I save (this is what happened to me). If I have to look up all my comics up front to see if I happen to have a comic-sized item that's a magazine, it seriously defeats the purpose of Adding By Barcode.   

The Add By Barcode dialog does not show the category type of the top item and even if it did, it would still be mostly useless as anything that's miscategorized will trip up the Saving of the list. It also doesn't matter what you're currently looking at in the title view. I can add anything and since I don't know how it's categorized, I might be in for a rude surprise when I save, and that's bad since I want to update some custom fields.

It seems to me that each issue must have a type (book, comic, or magazine) that should be accessible through title. If it can be looked up and added, then its type should be available and displayed.

Or based on you comment, if the first thing you scan is a comic, it should reject anything that's not based on that type. I actually prefer this approach.

I also hope my criticisms are taken in the spirit they're given. I like ComicBase. These suggestions are only to help it be better and more user-friendly.

Best,
Walt 

Edited May 10, 2022 by Walt Grogan

[Mark J. Castaneda]

Good points, I'll mention your reply to the programming team for them to have in mind. At the moment, there are no plans to tweaking the Add by Barcode process.