The ability to scan papers is a common thing for each modern office. Image scanner is a device that optically scans papers and converts them to digital images.

TWAIN is a standard that regulates communication between software application and scanner or camera that has a TWAIN device driver called Data Source.

WIA (Windows Image Acquisition) is a proprietary Microsoft driver model and application programming interface (API) for Microsoft Windows operating systems that enables graphics software to communicate with imaging hardware such as image scanners.

SANE stands for "Scanner Access Now Easy" and is an application programming interface (API) that provides standardized access to any raster image scanner hardware.

eSCL is a driverless scanning protocol developed by the Mopria Alliance. eSCL is a RESTful interface to scanners, designed to simplify client-side scanning by requiring only the specification of an intent.

VintaSoft Twain .NET SDK is the professional .NET image scanning SDK, which allows to work with TWAIN devices in Windows and Linux, WIA devices in Windows, SANE devices in Linux, eSCL devices in Windows and Linux. Scanned images can be processed, saved to a file or uploaded to HTTP(S) or FTP server.

SDK features

• General features

  • SDK can be used for developing .NET 10, .NET 9, .NET 8, .NET 7 and .NET 6 applications (console, WinForms, WPF, ASP.NET Core, service, etc) for Windows
  • SDK can be used for developing .NET 10, .NET 9, .NET 8, .NET 7 and .NET 6 applications (console, service, etc) for Linux
  • SDK can be used for developing .NET Framework 4.8, 4.7, 4.6, 4.5, 4.0 and 3.5 applications (console, WPF, WinForms, ASP.NET MVC, ASP.NET WebForms, service, etc) for Windows
  • The SDK core is written in C#
  • AnyCPU, x86 and x64 mode support
  • Scan documents in Windows and Linux
  • Scan documents in .NET, WinForms and WPF
  • Scan documents in any modern web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Internet Explorer, Opera)
  • Control image scanner, which is compatible with TWAIN specification 1.x, in Windows
  • Control image scanner, which is compatible with TWAIN specification 2.x, in Windows and Linux
  • Control image scanner, which is compatible with WIA API, in Windows
  • Control local image scanner, which is compatible with SANE API, in Linux
  • Control network image scanner, which is compatible with eSCL specification, in Windows and Linux
  • Enumerate and select TWAIN/WIA/SANE/eSCL scanner
  • Acquire images from TWAIN/WIA/SANE/eSCL scanner
  • Preprocess scanned image
  • Save scanned image to a file or database
  • Upload scanned image to HTTP(S) or FTP server
  
  

• TWAIN image scanning

  • Enumerate TWAIN devices

    • Enumerate TWAIN devices available in the system
    • Select TWAIN device using the standard TWAIN device selection dialog or programmatically
    
    

  • Acquire images from TWAIN device

    • View and change TWAIN device settings using the standard user interface (UI) of TWAIN image scanner
    • Set TWAIN device settings (page format, image size, image position, page orientation, image resolution, image brightness, image contrast, etc) programmatically
    
    
    • Asynchronously acquire images TWAIN device
    • Synchronously acquire images from TWAIN device
    • Acquire a black-white, halftone, grayscale, palette or color image from TWAIN device
    • Acquire the whole image or image region from TWAIN device
    • Scan front and/or back of page using duplex scanning
    • Use the automatic document feeder (ADF) for single and multi-page scanning
    • Show/hide the progress dialog when images are acquiring from TWAIN device
    • Use custom progress indication (available for Memory transfer mode only) when images are acquiring from TWAIN device
    
    
    • Get TWAIN acquired image as Vintasoft.Imaging.VintasoftBitmap object, System.Drawing.Bitmap object or System.Windows.Media.Imaging.BitmapSource object (available in Native or Memory transfer mode only)
    • Specify that TWAIN device should save acquired image directly to disk (available in File transfer mode only)
    
    
    • Retrieve an extended information (page number, page side, barcode, patch code, MICR, etc) about TWAIN acquired image
    • Control any capability supported by TWAIN device
    • Serialize and deserialize TWAIN image scanner capability settings to XML file
    • Cancel image acquisition from TWAIN device
    • Create predefined session setups for mid- and high-volume TWAIN image scanners
    • Skip blank pages while TWAIN image scanning
    • Get information about asynchronous events of TWAIN device
    • Use the Dual Stream feature (make some snapshots of each acquired page) of Kodak scanner
    
    

  • Process images, which are acquired from TWAIN device

    • Preprocess TWAIN acquired image before saving: invert, rotate, crop, resize canvas, despeckle, deskew, border detection, blank page detection, change brightness and contrast
    
    

  • Save images, which are acquired from TWAIN device

    • Save TWAIN acquired image to a BMP, JPEG, PNG, TIFF file
    • Save TWAIN acquired image to a PDF or PDF/A document
    • Add TWAIN acquired image to a multipage TIFF file
    • Add TWAIN acquired image to a PDF or PDF/A document
    • Save TWAIN acquired image into database
    
    

  • Upload images, which are acquired from TWAIN device

    • Upload TWAIN acquired image to HTTP or HTTPS server
    • Upload TWAIN acquired image to FTP server
    
    

• WIA image scanning

  • Enumerate WIA image scanning devices

    • Enumerate WIA image scanning devices available in the system
    • Select WIA image scanning device programmatically
    
    

  • Acquire images from WIA image scanner

    • Synchronously acquire images from WIA image scanning device
    • Acquire a black-white, grayscale or color image from WIA image scanning device
    • Acquire image region from WIA image scanning device
    • Scan pages from the automatic document feeder (ADF) of WIA image scanning device
    • Cancel image acquisition from WIA image scanning device
    
    

  • Process images, which are acquired from WIA image scanner

    • Preprocess image, which is acquired from WIA image scanner, before saving: invert, rotate, crop, resize canvas, despeckle, deskew, border detection, blank page detection, change brightness and contrast
    
    

  • Save images, which are acquired from WIA image scanner

    • Save image, which is acquired from WIA image scanner, to a BMP, JPEG, PNG, TIFF file
    • Save image, which is acquired from WIA image scanner, to a PDF or PDF/A document
    • Add image, which is acquired from WIA image scanner, to a multipage TIFF file
    • Add image, which is acquired from WIA image scanner, to a PDF or PDF/A document
    • Save image, which is acquired from WIA image scanner, into database
    
    

• SANE image scanning

  • Enumerate SANE devices

    • Enumerate SANE devices available in the system
    • Select SANE device programmatically
    
    

  • Acquire images from SANE device

    • Synchronously acquire images from SANE device
    • Acquire a black-white, grayscale or color image from SANE device
    • Acquire image region from SANE image scanner
    • Scan pages from the automatic document feeder (ADF) of SANE image scanner
    • Set any option of SANE device (page format, image size, image position, page orientation, image resolution, image brightness, image contrast, etc) programmatically
    • Cancel image acquisition from SANE device
    • Get SANE acquired image as Vintasoft.Imaging.VintasoftBitmap object
    
    

  • Process images, which are acquired from SANE device

    • Preprocess SANE acquired image before saving: invert, rotate, crop, resize canvas, despeckle, deskew, border detection, blank page detection, change brightness and contrast
    
    

  • Save images, which are acquired from SANE device

    • Save SANE acquired image to a BMP, JPEG, PNG, TIFF file
    • Save SANE acquired image to a PDF or PDF/A document
    • Add SANE acquired image to a multipage TIFF file
    • Add SANE acquired image to a PDF or PDF/A document
    • Save SANE acquired image into database
    
    

• eSCL (Mopria) image scanning

  • Enumerate eSCL image scanning devices

    • Enumerate eSCL image scanning devices available in the system
    • Select eSCL image scanning device programmatically
    
    

  • Acquire images from eSCL image scanning device

    • Synchronously acquire images from eSCL image scanning device
    • Acquire a black-white, grayscale or color image from eSCL image scanning device
    • Acquire image region from eSCL image scanning device
    • Scan pages from the automatic document feeder (ADF) of eSCL image scanning device
    • Cancel image acquisition from eSCL image scanning device
    
    

  • Process images, which are acquired from eSCL image scanning device

    • Preprocess eSCL acquired image before saving: invert, rotate, crop, resize canvas, despeckle, deskew, border detection, blank page detection, change brightness and contrast
    
    

  • Save images, which are acquired from eSCL image scanning device

    • Save eSCL acquired image to a BMP, JPEG, PNG, TIFF file
    • Save eSCL acquired image to a PDF or PDF/A document
    • Add eSCL acquired image to a multipage TIFF file
    • Add eSCL acquired image to a PDF or PDF/A document
    • Save eSCL acquired image into database
    
    

Development and Deployment requirements

• Development requirements:

  • Development environments: Microsoft Visual Studio, Microsoft Studio Code, JetBrains Rider, .NET CLI
  • Programming languages: C#, VB.NET, any .NET compatible language
  • Development platforms: .NET, WinForms, WPF, ASP.NET
  
  

• Deployment requirements:

  • Windows (Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7; Windows Server 2025/2022/2019/2016/2012/2008; 32-bit and 64-bit) with .NET 10, .NET 9, .NET 8, .NET 7, .NET 6
  • Windows (Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP; Windows Server 2025/2022/2019/2016/2012/2008; 32-bit and 64-bit) with .NET Framework 4.8, 4.7, 4.6, 4.5, 4.0, 3.5
  • Linux (Ubuntu 24/23/22/20/18; Debian 12/11/10; Fedora 40/39/38/37/36) with .NET 10, .NET 9, .NET 8, .NET 7, .NET 6

Online resources

• Product web page: https://www.vintasoft.com/vstwain-dotnet-index.html
• Online documentation for .NET development: https://www.vintasoft.com/docs/vstwain-dotnet/
• Online documentation for Web development: https://www.vintasoft.com/docs/vstwain-dotnet-web/
• Online FAQ: https://www.vintasoft.com/vstwain-dotnet-faq.html
• Online code examples: https://www.vintasoft.com/vstwain-dotnet-examples.html
• Online Support Center: https://myaccount.vintasoft.com