Steo

Hi hoping someone can help me out with this

I'm doing a college project, its gonna be a stock system. I was hoping to add a scan option to it. You know the way they scan the barcode in the shops.

Does anyone know if this is possible in VB with some sort of API or whatever.

Thanks

zachatta

thats a lil tough bud, youd haveta have some kind of hardware configured with your program that scans a object in real life, and passes that data to your program. If you can pull that off id be impressed lol!

Now by an actual scanner, quite possibly, none that i know of but im sure some source exists out there.

FulleS

Steo,

As zachatta said, you will need a bar code reader to do this. Once you have the device it is very simple. You can get serial or PS/2 versions.

With the PS/2 versions they just fill the keyboard buffer with the bar code, so if you can type in a bar code using the keyboard, you can scan it with a bar code reader (usually no extra code needed at all).

With the serial version, you need to use the com control to capture input from the serial port, but it is still fairly easy.

Regards,
Steve

Steo

Thanks

Just curious but can someone point me in the direction of a site that sells one?

FulleS

Steo,

I used to use Advanced Bar Coding www.abc1world.com. They might not be the cheapest, but they have a good range.

Regards,
Steve

loquin

OK. Barcodes.

First check out Bar Code 1 - a pretty helpful site.

As far as scanners go, there's a whole range of 'em, but, the simplest to implement is the keyboard wedge versions. They're known as "wedges," since they wedge themselves between the keyboard and the computer, and simply add to the keyboard input strean. This means (potentially) no additional programming required. Prices can range from free to more than $500.

You may be able to locate a free CueCat scanner that Radio shack was giving away a year or so ago. If you get one, THROW AWAY the CD. There is nothing good on it and a lot of bad. All the software does is to lock the scanner to CueCat's application, which will automatically cause your browser to jump to a web-page associated with whatever barcode was scanned (generally tyhe manufacturer website). The only problem with this is that the CueCat people are tracking your every move.

Anyway, there is a free software driver that works with the CueCat scanner that 'decodes' the output string & converts it to a useful text string.The driver, called CatNip, plus documentation, is available at Azelea They also offer a package ot tools for this scanner.

Actually, I think I still may have one (CueCat) laying around somewhere. Send me a PM if you're interested. Also, they're selling for $10 + shipping at ebay. These are the modified ones that need no drivers - the output is in ascii.

Edit: Yes. I DO have an extra one. You're welcome to it - just reimburse shipping cost