RSA Identification Scanner

rsa_identification_scanner is a Flutter package for scanning South African RSA ID barcode payloads and parsing the new pipe-delimited format into a typed record.

It provides:

  • RsaScannerView: a ready-to-use camera scanner widget built on mobile_scanner.
  • RsaIdentificationScanner: helper methods to detect and parse RSA ID barcode content, including encrypted/binary South African driving licence payload handling.

Package metadata

  • Current version: 1.0.0
  • Dart SDK: ^3.10.8
  • Flutter: >=1.17.0
  • Main dependencies: mobile_scanner

Installation

Add the package to your app:

dependencies:
  rsa_identification_scanner: ^1.0.0

Then fetch dependencies:

flutter pub get

Setup

1) Import the package

import 'package:rsa_identification_scanner/rsa_identification_scanner.dart';
import 'package:mobile_scanner/mobile_scanner.dart';

2) Configure platform permissions

RsaScannerView uses the device camera via mobile_scanner, so camera permissions are required.

  • Android: ensure camera permission is available in your app manifest:
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA" />
  • iOS: add NSCameraUsageDescription to Info.plist with a user-facing explanation.

Scanner usage

class ScannerScreen extends StatefulWidget {
  const ScannerScreen({super.key});

  @override
  State<ScannerScreen> createState() => _ScannerScreenState();
}

class _ScannerScreenState extends State<ScannerScreen> {
  final scanner = RsaIdentificationScanner();
  String? scanned;

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return Scaffold(
      appBar: AppBar(title: const Text('Scan RSA ID')),
      body: RsaScannerView(
        formats: const [BarcodeFormat.all],
        autoZoom: true,
        onScanResult: (capture) {
          if (capture.barcodes.isEmpty) return;
          final code = capture.barcodes.first.rawValue;
          if (code == null) return;

          setState(() => scanned = code);

          if (scanner.isRSAIdNewFormat(code)) {
            final parsed = scanner.parseRSAIdNewFormat(code);
            debugPrint('ID Number: ${parsed?.idNumber}');
          }
        },
      ),
    );
  }
}

Handling encrypted binary SA driving licence payloads

Some scanners return South African driving licence PDF417 data as encrypted binary bytes where rawValue is empty or unreadable. Use extractScannedPayload to normalize either text or bytes:

onScanResult: (capture) {
  if (capture.barcodes.isEmpty) return;
  final barcode = capture.barcodes.first;

  final payload = scanner.extractScannedPayload(
    rawValue: barcode.rawValue,
    rawBytes: barcode.rawBytes,
  );

  if (payload == null) return;

  if (payload.startsWith('BINARY_BASE64:')) {
    debugPrint('Encrypted binary licence payload detected');
    // Send payload to your backend decrypt/verify service.
    return;
  }

  if (scanner.isRSAIdNewFormat(payload)) {
    final parsed = scanner.parseRSAIdNewFormat(payload);
    debugPrint('ID Number: ${parsed?.idNumber}');
  }
}

RSA parse example (parseRSAIdNewFormat)

final scanner = RsaIdentificationScanner();

const sample =
    'DOE|JANE ANN|F|ZAF|9001014800082|1990-01-01|RSA|ID|2022-05-11|DHA|1234567890|7';

final parsed = scanner.parseRSAIdNewFormat(sample);

if (parsed != null) {
  print(parsed.surname);      // DOE
  print(parsed.firstNames);   // JANE ANN
  print(parsed.idNumber);     // 9001014800082
  print(parsed.dateOfBirth);  // 1990-01-01
}

Decrypting South African driving licence payloads (binary PDF417)

For 720-byte encrypted licence payloads (or base64-encoded equivalents), you can now run the full decode flow:

final scanner = RsaIdentificationScanner();

// From scanner bytes:
final result = scanner.decryptLicenseBytes(rawLicenseBytes);

// Or from base64:
final resultFromBase64 = scanner.decryptLicenseBase64(base64Payload);

print(result.version); // SaLicenseVersion.version2, etc.
print(result.decryptedPayload.length); // 714
print(result.decryptedPayloadBase64); // Useful for debugging/fixtures

What is validated:

  • Total input length is exactly 720 bytes.
  • The 2-byte marker after version is 00 00.
  • Encrypted payload is split into fixed blocks: 128x5 and 74x1.
  • RSA public-key raw operation is used (NO_PADDING equivalent).

By default, the scanner includes built-in key sets for both version 1 and version 2 payloads.
If you need to override these keys (for testing or custom environments), construct with custom key sets:

final scanner = RsaIdentificationScanner.withLicenseKeys(
  rsaKeySetsByVersion: {
    SaLicenseVersion.version1: const SaLicenseRsaKeySet(
      keyFor128ByteBlocksPem: '-----BEGIN RSA PUBLIC KEY-----...'
      '-----END RSA PUBLIC KEY-----',
      keyFor74ByteBlockPem: '-----BEGIN RSA PUBLIC KEY-----...'
      '-----END RSA PUBLIC KEY-----',
    ),
    SaLicenseVersion.version2: const SaLicenseRsaKeySet(
      keyFor128ByteBlocksPem: '-----BEGIN RSA PUBLIC KEY-----...'
      '-----END RSA PUBLIC KEY-----',
      keyFor74ByteBlockPem: '-----BEGIN RSA PUBLIC KEY-----...'
      '-----END RSA PUBLIC KEY-----',
    ),
  },
);

Known limitations

  • isRSAIdNewFormat validates structure only (12 pipe-delimited fields and required indexes), not full data correctness.
  • parseRSAIdNewFormat does not verify check digits or cryptographic authenticity; it only maps fields by index.
  • RsaIdentificationScanner.isSupported() returns support for Android, iOS, and web, but camera behavior depends on platform/browser/device capabilities.
  • Duplicate barcode filtering and scan throttling are app-level concerns and should be handled in your onScanResult callback.

Public API reference

Core scanner (RsaIdentificationScanner)

  • isSupported()
  • isRSAIdNewFormat(String data)
  • parseRSAIdNewFormat(String data)
  • extractScannedPayload({String? rawValue, Uint8List? rawBytes, bool preferRawValue = true})
  • isLikelyEncryptedBinaryLicenseData(Uint8List rawBytes)
  • detectLicenseVersion(Uint8List data)
  • decodeBase64Payload(String base64Payload)
  • extractEncryptedPayload(Uint8List data)
  • splitEncryptedBlocks(Uint8List encryptedPayload)
  • decryptLicenseBytes(Uint8List data)
  • decryptLicenseBase64(String base64Payload)
  • decryptAndParseLicenseBytes(Uint8List data)
  • decryptAndParseLicenseBase64(String base64Payload)
  • parseDecryptedLicensePayload(Uint8List decryptedPayload)
  • getPlatform()

Scanner widget (RsaScannerView)

  • RsaScannerView(...)
    • Key parameters include formats, cameraResolution, detectionSpeed, detectionTimeoutMs, returnImage, torchEnabled, invertImage, autoZoom, and required onScanResult.

Data models

  • SaLicenseVersion
  • SaLicenseRsaKeySet
  • SaLicenseDecryptionResult
  • SaDrivingLicense
  • NewIdFormatRecord

Cryptography helpers

  • RsaPublicKey.fromPem(String pem)
  • rsaRawPublicOperation(Uint8List ciphertext, RsaPublicKey key)
  • bigIntFromBytes(Uint8List bytes)
  • bigIntToBytes(BigInt value, int length)

Libraries

rsa_identification_scanner