Cover photo by Photo by Walls.io on Unsplash
It only takes 7 lines of Python code to generate and save a QR code.
Using the library qrcode helps us to quickly and clearly manage the various phases of QR code creation.
First of all, let's install the library:
pip install qrcode
This is the basic code to generate a QR code (the famous 7 lines 🙂):
import qrcode
#value to generate QR code
data = "https://techelopment.bio.link"
#initialize a qr object
qr = qrcode.QRCode(version=3, box_size=10, border=3,
error_correction=qrcode.constants.ERROR_CORRECT_H)
#add the value to convert
qr.add_data(data)
#generate the QR code
qr.make(fit=True)
#generate and save the image
image = qr.make_image(fill_color="black",
back_color= "white")
image.save("techelopment_qr_code.png")
Now that we know the minimal instructions for creating a QR code, let's integrate the script to make it a little more advanced 😎.
Script evolution to generate more types of QR codes (a little more than 7 lines 😄)
Let's now create a mini application that allows us to choose the type of QR code to create. We will then have to:
- Add user input reading (to tell our mini app what type of QR to create). We'll do this with a numbered list.
- Create functions that allow us to request information useful for generating the type of QR code chosen
- Generate the data (i.e. the text content) with the right syntax to input to the library qrcode. This will help us generate complex QR codes such as an event or a contact.
Below is the numbered list for choosing the type of QR code:
- text
- URL
- contact
- event
- phone call
- SMS
- Wi-Fi
The user will enter a number and will be asked for information to generate the chosen QR type.
Before moving on to the code, let's install the Pillow library to be able to open the QR code image generated directly from our mini app 😊:
pip install Pillow
This is the code of our mini application:
there are smarter ways to write it in python but that's not the purpose of this article
import qrcode
from PIL import Image
def get_string_data(tipo):
string_types = ["text", "URL"]
string = input(f"Insert {string_types[tipo-1]}: ")
return string
def get_v_Card():
name = input("Name:")
surname = input("Surname:")
address = input("Address:")
email = input("email:")
phone = input("phone:")
contact = (f"BEGIN:VCARD\n"
f"VERSION:3.0\r\n"
f"N:{surname};{name};\r\n"
f"FN:{name} {surname} \r\n"
f'ADR;TYPE=home;LABEL="{address}":;;{address};;;;\r\n'
f"EMAIL;PREF;Work:{email}\r\n"
f"TEL;TYPE=cell:{phone}\r\n"
f"END:VCARD\r\n")
return contact
def get_event():
start_date = input("start date (yyyymmdd hhmm) - e.g.: 20241231 2330: ")
end_date = input("end date (yyyymmdd hhmm): ")
title = input("title: ")
description = input("description: ")
URL = input("URL (might be not supported): ")
event = ('BEGIN:VCALENDAR\n'
'VERSION:2.0\n'
'PRODID:-//techelopment\n'
'CALSCALE:GREGORIAN\n'
'BEGIN:VTIMEZONE\n'
'TZID:Europe/Rome\n'
'LAST-MODIFIED:20240422T053451Z\n'
'TZURL:https://www.tzurl.org/zoneinfo-outlook/Europe/Rome\n'
'X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/Rome\n'
'BEGIN:DAYLIGHT\n'
'TZNAME:CEST\n'
'TZOFFSETFROM:+0100\n'
'TZOFFSETTO:+0200\n'
f'DTSTART:{start_date[0:8]}T{start_date[9:13]}00\n'
'RULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=-1SU\n'
'END:DAYLIGHT\n'
'BEGIN:STANDARD\n'
'TZNAME:CET\n'
'TZOFFSETFROM:+0200\n'
'TZOFFSETTO:+0100\n'
f'DTSTART:{start_date[0:8]}T{start_date[9:13]}00\n'
'RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=10;BYDAY=-1SU\n'
'END:STANDARD\n'
'END:VTIMEZONE\n'
'BEGIN:VEVENT\n'
'DTSTAMP:20240925T150859Z\n'
'UID:1727276914723-11137@techelopment\n'
f'DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Rome:{start_date[0:8]}T{start_date[9:13]}00\n'
f'DTEND;TZID=Europe/Rome:{end_date[0:8]}T{end_date[9:13]}00\n'
f'SUMMARY:{title}\n'
f'URL:{URL}\n'
f'DESCRIPTION:{description}\n'
'END:VEVENT\n'
'END:VCALENDAR\n')
return event
def get_phone_call():
phone = input("phone number: ")
return f"TEL:{phone}"
def get_SMS():
phone_number = input("phone number: ")
message = input("message: ")
return f"SMSTO: {phone_number}:{message}"
def get_email():
to = input("TO: ")
cc = input("CC: ")
subject = input("subject: ")
body = input("body: ")
return f"mailto:{to}?cc={cc}&subject={subject}&body={body}"
def get_Wi_Fi():
encryption_types = ["nopass", "WPA", "WEP"]
encryption = input("Encryption:\n"
" 1. None\n"
" 2. WPA/WPA2\n"
" 3. WEP\n"
"> ")
encryption_type = encryption_types[int(encryption)-1]
network_name = input("Wi-Fi name: ")
password = input("password: ")
return f"WIFI:T:{encryption_type};S:{network_name};P:{password};H:;;"
def getData(tipo):
match tipo:
case 1: #text
return get_string_data(tipo)
case 2: #URL
return get_string_data(tipo)
case 3: #contact (vCard)
return get_v_Card()
case 4: #event
return get_event()
case 5: #phone call
return get_phone_call()
case 6: #SMS
return get_SMS()
case 7: #write email
return get_email()
case 8: #connect to Wi-Fi
return get_Wi_Fi()
# In case there is no match
case _:
return -1
if __name__ == "__main__":
#let's build an array to easily use our options
data_label = ["text", "URL", "contact", "event", "phone_call", "SMS", "e-mail", "Wi-Fi" ]
#list of commands to choose what type of QR code to create
choice = input("Select the type of QR code to create:\n"
f" 1. {data_label[0]}\n"
f" 2. {data_label[1]}\n"
f" 3. {data_label[2]}\n"
f" 4. {data_label[3]}\n"
f" 5. {data_label[4]}\n"
f" 6. {data_label[5]}\n"
f" 7. {data_label[6]}\n"
f" 8. {data_label[7]}\n"
"> ")
#value to generate the QR code for
data = getData(int(choice))
if data != -1:
#initialization of a qr object
qr = qrcode.QRCode(version=3, box_size=10, border=3,
error_correction=qrcode.constants.ERROR_CORRECT_H)
#adding the value to convert
qr.add_data(data)
#generation of QR code
qr.make(fit=True)
#generation of the image
image = qr.make_image(fill_color="black",
back_color="white")
#naming the image with the type of QR code chosen as a suffix
qr_type = data_label[int(choice) - 1]
image_name = f"my_qr_code_{qr_type}.png"
#saving the image
image.save(image_name)
print(f"QR code '{image_name}' created successfully")
#Open the image in the default image viewer
print("opening...")
pil_img = Image.open(rf"{image_name}")
#This method will display the image in the default program
pil_img.show()
print("you can view the QR code in your default editor 😊")
else:
print("invalid input")
Here's a result...find out what it encodes 🎁
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