This SDK is developped using C++11 and comes with Python wrappers generated using SWIG.

There is no Python extension in the repository. Generating pre-built extension will force us to choose a specific Python version which means you'll be bound to this decision. To avoid being bound to a specific Python version we let the extension build task up to you. Building the extension is very easy and doesn't require any specific skill.

C++ Compiler

You'll need a C++ compiler.

On Windows we recommend Visual Studio 2015 Community or later.

On Linux we recommend recent GCC/G++ version with support for C++11.

Building

You'll need Python, all versions are supported but we highly recommend 3.0 or later. You'll also need Cython and python-dev packages. Other packages may be required but you can easily install them using pip tool.

On Windows we recommend using Anaconda.

Before building the extension you have to navigate to the folder containing the binaries:

cd ultimateALPR-SDK/binaries/<<os>>/<<arch>>

For example:

On Windows x86_64: binaries/windows/x86_64
On Linux x86_64: binaries/linux/x86_64
On Linux aarch64: binaries/linux/aarch64
On Raspbian arm32 : binaries/raspbian/armv7l
... you got the idea

From the the binaries folder (ultimateALPR-SDK/binaries/<<os>>/<<arch>>), call the setup.py script:

python ../../../python/setup.py build_ext --inplace -v

If you have multiple python versions installed, then you may use a virtual env, a full path to the executable... Also, you may use python3 instead of python to make sure you're using version 3. The python version used to build the extension should be the same as the one running the samples.

This will build and install the extension in the current folder. The extension is named _ultimateAlpr.pyd on Windows and _ultimateAlpr.so on Linux.

Now you're ready to run Python scripts using the extension. We highly recommend checking the recognizer sample: ultimateALPR-SDK/samples/python/recognizer

Know issues

If you get TypeError: super() takes at least 1 argument (0 given) error message, then make sure you're using Python 3. We tested the code on version 3.6.9 (Windows 8), 3.6.8 (Ubuntu 18) and 3.7.3 (Raspbian Buster). Run python --version to print your Python version. You may use python3 instead of python to make sure you're using version 3.