How do I check if the scanner is plugged in (C#, .NET TWAIN)

Question

I'm using the .NET TWAIN code from http://www.codeproject.com/KB/dotnet/twaindotnet.aspx?msg=1007385#xx1007385xx in my application. When I try to scan an image when the scanner is not plugged in, the application freezes.

How can I check if the device is plugged in, using the TWAIN driver?

Answer 1

Maybe I'm taking the question too literally, but using the TWAIN API, it is not possible to check if a device is plugged in i.e. connected and powered on. The TWAIN standard does define a capability for this purpose called CAP_DEVICEONLINE, but this feature is so poorly conceived and so few drivers implement it correctly that it is useless in practice.

The closest you can get is this: Open the device (MSG_OPENDS): Almost all drivers will check for device-ready when they are opened, and will display an error dialog to the user. There is no TWAIN mechanism for suppressing or detecting this dialog Some drivers will allow the user to correct the problem and continue, in which case you (your app) will never know there was a problem. Some drivers will allow the user to cancel, in which case the MSG_OPENDS operation will fail, probably returning TWRC_CANCEL but maybe TWRC_FAILURE

A few TWAIN drivers will open without error even though the device is off-line. Such a driver may return FALSE to a query of CAP_DEVICEONLINE. Such a driver will probably do the device-online check when you enable the device with MSG_ENABLEDS, and then if the device is not on-line, you get the error dialog to the user, and so on as above.

Aside and IMPO: WIA is 'more modern' but also much less comprehensive for scanning than TWAIN, and in my experience unusable for multipage scanning from a document feeder. WIA's designers and maintainers seem not to understand or care about scanners other than low-end consumer flatbeds. It's good for cameras.