Barcode scanning

[djbaker]

Greetings,
I would like to integrate a barcode scanner into the current project I
am working on. I have been looking around teh web and with the
exception of embeded devices I cannot find many programming guides.
What I am looking for is a barcode scanner with an api/sdk. I am not
interested in using a keyboard wedge because I do not want my end user
to have to deal with making sure the cursor is in the right place.

As it needs to work with a laptop USB is really my only option. The
laptops that will be used do no come with serial. My ideal set up
would be a barcode scanner that comes with a decent api. Ideally
there would be some system event I could subscribe to which would
notify the system that a barcode has been scanned and pass it the
string.

For the life of me I cannot find anything like this though. It has
gotten me to the point where I am wondering if I am missing
something. Do all scanners these days just use the keyboard wedge
technique or are there some that you can actually program into your
application. If anyone has a recommendation on a scanner to use
(doens't have to be c#) which does what I am looking for I would be
very appreciative..

 

[iKiLL]

Hi

Take a look at this web site.
http://www.icsharpcode.net/
They have a low level USB library maybe you could use this with a keyboard
wedge and control the input.


One thought though.
Surely it is going to be simpler to control where the users Curser is with
code rather than dealing with a low level api?

ink

 

[Jay]

One possibility is to use a barcode scanner with an RS232 interface, and use an adapter to connect
it to a USB socket. You could then do exactly what you want to do using built-in classes in the .NET
2.0 framework and above (see the System.IO.Ports namespace).


Greetings,
I would like to integrate a barcode scanner into the current project I
am working on. I have been looking around teh web and with the
exception of embeded devices I cannot find many programming guides.
What I am looking for is a barcode scanner with an api/sdk. I am not
interested in using a keyboard wedge because I do not want my end user
to have to deal with making sure the cursor is in the right place.

As it needs to work with a laptop USB is really my only option. The
laptops that will be used do no come with serial. My ideal set up
would be a barcode scanner that comes with a decent api. Ideally
there would be some system event I could subscribe to which would
notify the system that a barcode has been scanned and pass it the
string.

For the life of me I cannot find anything like this though. It has
gotten me to the point where I am wondering if I am missing
something. Do all scanners these days just use the keyboard wedge
technique or are there some that you can actually program into your
application. If anyone has a recommendation on a scanner to use
(doens't have to be c#) which does what I am looking for I would be
very appreciative..

 

[Ignacio Machin \( .NET/ C# MVP \)]

Hi,

For the life of me I cannot find anything like this though. It has
gotten me to the point where I am wondering if I am missing
something. Do all scanners these days just use the keyboard wedge
technique or are there some that you can actually program into your
application. If anyone has a recommendation on a scanner to use
(doens't have to be c#) which does what I am looking for I would be
very appreciative..

I only have experience working with PDAs scanners, so take this with a grain
of salt.

Go to Symbol.com they offer the biggest varieties of scanners. They also
provide a SDK to use them, if you find this combination (usb scanner + SDK
support) it's extremely easy to add to your project.

 

[Eric Renken]

Most Barcode scanners like the ones from Wasp, just plug into a USB or even
the PS2 port and will enter text just like a keyboard so all you have to do
is give it a TextBox to enter its data into. You can even program most of
them to either add a CRLF at the end of the text or not. You really don't
need to do any special coding for them.

We have some applications that read serial numbers with a barcode scanner
and it just enters them into a text box and with the CRLF and the default
button on a form it will basically enter the scanned text and then press the
button.

Hope that helps.

Eric Renken