How to Control Scanners in Software

What protocol does scanner use to communicate with software?

Most scanners come with a TWAIN driver and a WIA (Windows Image Acquisition) driver. Both TWAIN and WIA are applications programming interface (API) and communications protocol that regulates communication between software and digital imaging devices, such as scanners and cameras.

In comparison, while TWAIN offers more sophisticated support for scanners, WIA offers better support for digital cameras.

WIA, as the name suggests, is designed by Microsoft for its Windows Me and later Windows operating systems. TWAIN, on the other hand, is maintained by TWAIN working group, which consists of scanner manufactures, such as Epson and HP, etc. and software vendors, such as Dynamsoft.

Using a commercial TWAIN control or developing from scratch?

It’s a trade-off of time and money. TWAIN specification is quite long. It takes weeks to master the properties and methods in the document. A commercial TWAIN component like Dynamic Web TWAIN can save you a lot of trouble. It comes with well encapsulated interface, rich samples and responsive tech support. So it is a reasonable choice if your project has a tight schedule.

Web Application – Dynamic Web TWAIN or ImageCapture Suite

Programming language supportJavaScript and JQuery do not support directly interacting with peripherals. You can take advantage of plug-ins, such as Dynamic Web TWAIN and ImageCapture Suite, to enable scanning in your web application.Server side supports ASP.NET, PHP, JSP, ASP, VB.NET, etc. And you can deploy Dynamic Web TWAIN/ ImageCapture Suite on your desired web server (Apache, IIS, NGINX) and server operating system (Windows, Linux, Unix etc.)
Platform supportPowered with the technology of ActiveX and Netscape Plugin Application Programming Interface (NPAPI), Dynamic Web TWAIN and ImageCapture Suite support IE, Chrome, Firefox, Safari on Windows and Mac OS X.

.NET Desktop Application – Dynamic .NET TWAIN

Dynamic .NET TWAIN is a document scanning SDK based on Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0/4.0, which is optimized for use in C# and VB .NET.

Both WinForm and WPF are supported. With the component, you can fully control: