How can I read barcodes without having the user focus a text box first?

Question

I recently acquired a Metrologic Barcode scanner (USB port), as everyone already knows it works as a keyboard emulator out of the box.

How do I configure the scanner and my application so that my app can process the barcode data directly? That is, I don't want the user to focus on a "Text field" and then process the data when the KeyPress event fires.

Solution 1

Usually barcode scanners can be configured to send some characters before and after the string. So if you append eg "F12" before the barcode string, you can capture that and move the focus to the right field.

Check the barcode scanner manual how to do that.

Solution 2

Although your barcode has a USB connector. It can be programmed as a Keyboard wedge or RS232. See this page http://www.instrumentsandequipmentco.com/support/faq-metrologic.htm Where it says

Q. What is the difference between USB Keyboard and USB Point-of-Sale? When the MX009 is set-up to communicate as a USB Keyboard, the scanned data will appear in the current application that is active on your PC. The data is entered just as if the keys were pressed on the keyboard. When the MX009 is set-up to communicate as a USB Point-of-Sale device, the data is transmitted to the USB port like RS232 data and the USB port must be configured like a COM port. The MX009 leaves the factory set for either USB Keyboard or USB Point-of-Sale.

When your program accepts RS232 you no longer need focus in a text field.

1. Reprogram your barcode as Point-of-Sale (RS232)
2. Reprogram to send a suffix usually - carriage-return/CR/$0D at the end of the barcode.

Look for the Carriage return to know when the complete barcode is available to your code.

Solution 3

I would guess the easiest way to do this would be to intercept key-presses at a higher level, such as PreviewKeyDown in winforms (or use KeyDown on the form, set KeyPreview to true, and use e.SuppressKeyPress to stop the key going down to the controls). There might be a direct API to the device; there might not.

Comments

[Dean Harding]

Usually you want to have a text field anyway, so that users can manually enter the barcode if the scanning fails. That's why I think this is the best choice.

[yellahd]

This is how we do it with cheque readers; whether they are keyboard wedge or USB, we configure them to send a start character sequence that isn't easily typed at the keyboard. When we see that sequence via the form's keydown method, we swallow those special keypresses and move the input focus to the desired edit box. Works pretty well.