Hi,
i’ve got a barcode scanner which has an inventory mode, which allows me to scan multiple barcodes and send them then to my computer in one time.
it sends it this way:
#999999901#
#999999902#
#999999903#
it acts like a keyboard but it sends no end terminator, how can i determine when send is complete in a keydown event (without a timer)?
Marco
When you get a # ?
After getting 9 digits ?
What says the Developer’s Manual ? (User’s Manual)
i would like to know when ALL codes have been sent, not when one has been sent… if not in inventory mode i know when it’s finished because of the line end
in the internal memory of the scanner could be 10 or 100 so i cannot tell … after xxx digits
the manual says nothing about finished transfer…
marco
How does the user know he has scanned all the codes ?
Do the scanner wait far all codes to be scanned before sending the codes ? I yes, what tells the scanner it’s finished ?
I used two of these:
one more than 35 years ago, it worked like a “keyboard” and issued a Return once a bar code was read.
the second used an internal memory and I do not connected it to anything: I only “flashed” barcode (a whole alley in a supermarket) and give it back to the supervisor…
I suppose there is an upload mode to be set and it may flash a light or something. Did you tried to scan some bar code and upload the codes to your computer / smartphone, whatever ?
Search in the internet (other users / manufacturer web site) ?
Most barcode scanners have some ability to be configured, and many of them support a limited amount of pseudo-programming that can modify the text as it is scanned, only scan certain patterns of text, etc.
You’ll have to read up on your particular model to see how capable it is. If it is sufficiently flexible, you could have it issue a double Return after all codes are sent, for example.
yes, as i wrote above:
i set the scanner into “inventory” mode by scanning a specific barcode.
Then i scan for example 3 barcodes, one by one.
Then again i scan a specific barcode to send it to computer.
And then it is sending
barcode1 + return
barcode2 + return
barcode3 + return
and now i want to trigger “upload finished” when the last one has been sent to computer, but as there is no “end-terminator”, how do i know if the scanner has send all codes?
of course i could display all uploaded codes in a textarea and let the user hit “ok” when finished but maybe there is another way.
the scanner can add a prefix and/or a suffix to a scanned barcode but not at the end of the upload
What model is it?
its a “inateck BCST-60”
OK. I breezed through the manual and it only supports a pretty limited configuration, and no programming.
When you’re in inventory mode, you scan a number of normal barcodes and then the special terminator barcode from the manual to tell the scanner to transmit the accumulated barcodes. How about this: create another barcode that gets scanned just before the special terminator barcode. It will read something that you will never scan in the real world, like ‘ENDENDEND’, that your program can watch for when the data arrives and take appropriate action.
Reading the user manual, it seems there is a barcode you can scan so the number of barcodes stored is sent (when in Inventory mode).
Oh, good catch. I wonder what that format looks like.
good idea!
@Javier_Menendez
i wanted it to keep simple, but yes i could use that barcode to send the count of scanned barcodes and the i know when its finished but then the user MUST don’t forget to clear the memory of the scanner before scanning the next round of barcodes …
But they’re already doing that by scanning the special end of inventory barcode, right?
Why is that you dont want a timer? You just save the System.Ticks each keydown and reset a timer. In the Action event just compare the current System.Ticks and if more than 2 seconds (or more) have passed since the last keypres, the transfer is over…