Show HN: Scan QR codes to check in guests registered via Google Forms

Show HN: Scan QR codes to check in guests registered via Google Forms(workspace.google.com)

115 points by komlan 2 years ago | 64 comments

Hi HN!

I made a no-code platform for creating physical data collection apps, using QR codes [1]. It does not yet have a self-service config UI though, which limits adoption.

That's why I recently released a Google Forms™ add-on for QR code check-in, based on the platform. This focused use-case makes it easy to provide a fully self-service config UI.

How it works:

1. Create your Google Form as you normally would [2]

2. Activate the add-on if you hadn't already [3]

3. Craft a confirmation email to be sent to each form responder

Upon each form submission, the add-on will send a PDF with a unique QR code (a V4 UUID) to the responder.

Have guests present this code at the event, and record check-ins in bulk using the included QR scanner.

See here [4] for more information, or try the Google Sheets™ version [5] (which doesn't send email).

[1] https://admin.trak.codes/

[2] https://forms.google.com/

[3] https://workspace.google.com/marketplace/app/qr_code_ticket_...

[4] https://blog.darkaa.com/qr-code-pass-per-response-google-for...

[5] https://workspace.google.com/marketplace/app/qr_code_pass_fo...

EduardoBautista 2 years ago |

The overview is one of the best descriptions I have ever seen for what an app does and why I should use it. Well done.

komlan 2 years ago | |

Thank you! I stole [1] this structure from "Obviously awesome" by April Dunford.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38786113

afandian 2 years ago |

Just a reminder to anyone using Google forms that you may exclude non-Google customers.

My child’s school uses them and it often the forms ask for a login. Google doesn’t necessarily respect your choice to make a form public.

komlan 2 years ago | |

Indeed. This happens when the form is configured to collect "verified" emails.

A form can use a custom field (doesn't require login), user input managed by Google Forms (named "Email", doesn't require login), or the google email of the user ("verified" email, requires login).

This add-on supports every one of these options.

afandian 2 years ago | | |

Thanks, that’s good to know.

unmole 2 years ago | |

> exclude non-Google customers.

There are literally dozens of them! /s

afandian 2 years ago | | |

When you’re running taxpayer funded public services for millions of people that adds up.

alaskamiller 2 years ago |

What's cool also is that this is from the West African tech scene.

komlan 2 years ago | |

Busted! Curious what gave it away, my username?

davidjfelix 2 years ago | | |

4th link to blog has a link to homepage. Homepage lists country in the footer.

etewiah 2 years ago | | |

Awesome! You should be proud of this. I grew up next door in Ghana and I am delighted that someone from Togo is doing this. Well done.

oh_sigh 2 years ago | |

Is there actually an international West Africa tech scene? Or is it nation by nation?

komlan 2 years ago | | |

Mostly nation by nation, but key hubs like Nigeria/Ghana (English) and Senegal/Ivory Coast (French) draw other countries in, due to the presence of a larger pool of investors.

onetimeuse92304 2 years ago |

The issue is, at least for me, I consider all QR codes as unsafe. Unfortunately, you don't know where the QR code leads you before you scan it and then it is already too late. So you can't do the equivalent of inspecting the link before you click it.

Recently we were in a restaurant which required scanning a QR code to get served (for some reason asian restaurants like doing this). The codes were labels attached to the menu. I told the waitress "I can't scan the codes because I don't know who put the QR codes there". She told "the codes lead to their website". I told her "I don't know that, it takes a moment to print a label that looks exactly the same to my eye". She told me "it would then not point to their website". I respond if she knows what MITM attack is. She responded "if you can't afford a phone we should leave and go somewhere else".

The funniest is those QR codes left at random in public. I imagine scanning these is like finding a random pendrive and putting it in your computer.

hnlmorg 2 years ago | |

Not only is this the wrong place to vent your annoyances with QR codes (it’s tangential to the Show HN) but you honestly come across as an unpleasant customer if that’s how you interact with your restaurant servers (you could have just said “my camera is broken, do You have an address I can type instead”).

EduardoBautista 2 years ago | |

> Unfortunately, you don't know where the QR code leads you before you scan it and then it is already too late.

iOS shows the domain if it is a URL and you have to tap it. It's no different from tapping on a link on a website, which I would say is more insecure since you don't even get the domain info before tapping.

dweekly 2 years ago | | |

This is true, but also mostly moot, sadly, due to the pervasive use of URL shorteners for QR code services.

So instead of seeing a nice hover-over of "SuperDeliciousItalian.com/menu", as often as not it will be "qr.to/f2CrS" or somesuch.

So exposing the URL encoded in the QR code doesn't provide all the information you need to assess its validity or safety.

chatmasta 2 years ago | | |

There are less privacy assurances when opening a QR code, since it can encode a URL with precise physical information embedded within its query parameters (like "table number" at a restaurant, for example). That kind of information isn't available to the typical website.

(FWIW, I actually wish more table QR codes did contain these parameters - why do I need to enter the table number in the form after navigating to the online menu? I hate these things btw...)

beachy 2 years ago | |

> Unfortunately, you don't know where the QR code leads you before you scan it and then it is already too late

What are you so scared of? It isn't the 90s where by tricking someone into following a dodgy link their windows machine was instantly pwned.

simon_acca 2 years ago | | |

Remote code execution vulns are still routinely discovered, for example: https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2023-4199...

simon_acca 2 years ago | |

There’s apps that just scan the qr code into a text field no matter what its content is, then you can inspect the URL manually.

Unfortunately there’s a deeper problem in this security model, in that only a tiny tiny fraction of the web’s userbase knows how to assess a URL, and even experts can easily struggle

ImportOllie 2 years ago | |

If you consider all qr codes unsafe then use a tool to check them don't lecture the waitress on man in the middle attacks...

ho_schi 2 years ago | |

I see some valid points.

    1. A restaurant should   provide a menu printed on paper or a panel. Sometimes pictures are used.
    2. Verbal communication serves that purpose also well. And friendly manner.
    3. Some cameras don’t  display the read input properly. Input is always in error until it is validated. Here is user validation required.
    4. You don’t need to invent excuses like “my camera is broken, I forgot my phone, Bad eyesight…”.
    5. You don’t have to carry around a camera, a cellular access terminal and a computer (consider this as description of a smartphone) with you.
    6. The website can load arbitrary data with JavaScript and mine Bitcoin in a sandbox. It is not safe because it will drain the battery.

I like QR-Codes. They are analog and digital at same time, printed on paper and machine-readable and nobody ruined it with incompatibility. If possible the payload is printed as ASCII aside the codes.

PS: Similar. To provide a common base, prevent exclusion of unwanted customers and prevent against malicious data processing some jurisdictions require cash payment options.

precommunicator 2 years ago | |

> So you can't do the equivalent of inspecting the link before you click it.

Of course you can. Use an application that allows it.

chickenpotpie 2 years ago | |

IMO this is paranoid behavior and not healthy. Part of existing in society is having reasonable trust that just because someone can take advantage of you in a moment, doesn't mean they're going to. You're getting in an argument with a server because of your fear that a local hacker printed out a sticker, walked into your local restaurant, seamlessly put the sticker onto the table, didn't get caught, you just happened to sit at the exact table they picked, and whatever vulnerability they're trying to exploit is compatible with the exact device you have. Thats not going to happen.

Scan the QR code, dude.

komlan 2 years ago | |

It depends on which app you are using to scan the codes. For Trak [1], the main use case is to scan QR codes you made yourself (or someone from your company made). The scanner simply rejects anything it doesn't recognise as a valid (app-specific) code.

[1] https://admin.trak.codes/

llamaInSouth 2 years ago | |

Android 14's camera shows you the URL and doesn't load it right away...

jddj 2 years ago | |

There are open source QR scanner apps on F-Droid which actually make you tick a box saying "I've checked the above URL and I want to visit that website" before they will open the browser.

kybernetyk 2 years ago | |

Aren't there apps that just show the embedded text inside a QR instead of just opening the URL in a browser?

Grazester 2 years ago | |

My QR code scanner shows me the content of the QR code. This is my Google Pixel phone btw

dylan604 2 years ago |

Hopefully, the Googster doesn't pull the rug out from under your feet and decide to deprecate whatever product(s) you are using of theirs. It is always something to keep in mind with using anything from G as a central part of your offerings.

komlan 2 years ago | |

Spot on. Fortunately, the underlying platform itself is independent of Google.

The Forms and Sheets add-ons are just customer acquisition channels, just like our Zapier integration [1]. These mostly use our API, and very little of our UI (mostly the scanner).

[1] https://zapier.com/apps/trak-qr-automation/integrations

rahimnathwani 2 years ago |

I love the README/Overview on the linked page. It's really clear what this is for, why it's better than other solutions etc.

komlan 2 years ago | |

Thanks! I stole this structure from Obviously Awesome [1] by April Dunford, highly recommended.

I just noticed the main submission link goes to the Google Sheets add-on, instead of the Google Forms add-on [2]. Oh well.

[1] https://www.aprildunford.com/books

[2] https://workspace.google.com/marketplace/app/qr_code_pass_fo...

mlhpdx 2 years ago |

I like this for the “sum is greater than the parts” aesthetic, which keeps the door open to so many applications.

komlan 2 years ago | |

Thank you!

The main platform is currently used by national post offices (physical mail tracking), health organizations (biological samples), banks (fixed assets tracking), manufacturing plants (parts inventory tracking), etc.

QR codes make it easy to avoid data-entry errors in quite a large set of use cases with physical objects.

digitcatphd 2 years ago |

Kudos for the simplicity and efficacy of your solution

komlan 2 years ago | |

Thanks, please get in touch when you do try it!

allynalford 2 years ago |

I like this

komlan 2 years ago | |

Thanks, please don't hesitate to get in touch when you do try it!

zoezoey 2 years ago |

This is awesome!

samstave 2 years ago |

This is WONDERFUL.

EDIT: nto "But for use for" -- I meant "But in ADDITION" --

But - for tool/item/inventory management in a garage.

Get a cheap label printer [0], create a form of your tools/inventory with a matched set (code on tool, code on location of tool home) - Tool home has a QR code that leads to a tab in the sheet with all the tools that live in that location, container.

Put airtags on the high-value tools, with links in the sheet to those.

but scan a code on a tool - and it tells you tool details, including owner, home, whatever data properties you like.

If you like barcodes/QR codes and GIMP - You will love BarTender (seagull Software [1])

It allows you to make ANY type of barcode you want, QR code, badge, etc etc.

Its AMAZING [Free*] software. (You only pay a cheapo $500 lic if you have a high volume printer for printing thousands of product labels fast - eles; its a super powerful free program with an utterly amazing and knowledgable supprt staf f (no affiliation)

Here is a test I did making "Card Carrying Conspiracy Theorist" badges based on a comment from someone saying they were one. THe QRs go to the /r/ profile - as does the bar code.

The image can be set as a template then do a merge for pics and employee data from a sheet....

https://imgur.com/a/eyAxpcb

(I like Guilloche designs (the swirly woven bits you see on money)) and so I used that motif - but the QR code placement and calc is automatic via Bartender.

I made a bunch of labels for a cannabis company - and I tied the QRs through a tinyURL which did all the geocoding of the QR scanning so that we could send product to a particular place, and then track where and how many people scanned the QR (the QR went directly to the lab test reports for the makup of the cannibis, CBD, etc...

So, then you could measure which market the CBD or THC were drawing most interest - and see how sales were vs scanning.

anyway - QR codes get a bad wrap. They are lame for menues - but a goot idea is to scan a QR code, then just have a folder of scanned links for purusal later - as opposed to launching safari when I clearly dont ue safari. :)

[0] https://www.amazon.com/qr-code-printer/s?k=qr+code+printer&p...

[1] https://portal.seagullscientific.com/downloads/bartender

---

>>>scan a QR code, then just have a folder of scanned links for purusal later

These get submitted to a personal GPT and it develops a learning module for you on your home portal which then gives you the run-down of all it has learned from that location QR or Context QR or Porduct QR.

But without a sticker - it will use either:

1. handheld laser engraver of the QR

2. an AI derived location based on meta data

3. an AI location based on image analysis

(forgive me if I am snowballing too much on HN, but I truly believe we are at an inflection point with a velocity that is being masked from us - SAs and his Ilk are not giving the fold the truth.)