Reading data from hand held barcode reader

[Rod Caddy]

On 5/4/2011 11:21 AM, Jay Ashworth wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Rod Caddy"<rcaddy at pro-set.com>
>> I am working on a project that should be quite simple but I believe I am
>> making it much harder than it has to be. I have created a file that has
>> basic data for inventory. The concept is that when the empty record is
>> displayed a barcode will be read and will fill all the fields except
>> the quantity. The quantity will be entered manually and this record is
>> saved and you move on to the next record. The only field that the user
>> would have access to would be quantity. My problem is at what point do
>> I read the barcode so it can be parsed out to the fields. I realize
>> this should be simple but for the life of me I cannot seem to wrap my
>> brain around this. Thanks for any suggestions you might have.
> The phrasing of your question suggests that you've not thought deeply
> enough about what you're doing.
>
> You have, we assume, an *actual* inventory file, with the items and their
> barcode numbers.
>
> What you're trying to do is to populate a *physical count* file, with
> 4 things: operator ID, date/time, stock number and quantity seen.
>
> So you're in "add a new record loop" mode, and you come up with the cursor
> in the barcode field.  User scans, the program then WLFs to look up the
> item data, so they can confirm it's the right item, and then drops
> them in the quantity field where they manually enter the number, and
> SAVE the record.
>
> Lather, rinse, repeat.
>
> When done, print the edit report, allow user to check, and then post
> quantities to the inventory file.
>
> You'll have to decide whether you want to just replace the old number,
> and what to do about over/short situations (physical inventory is
> generally *about* over/short, so presumably, you'll want to show those
> numbers on the edit report, to allow checking before posting, but you
> may want to keep a running log of over/short situations as well,
> in an inventory quantity adjustments file).
>
> Does that help any?
>
> Cheers,
> -- jra
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snip

Both replys helped tremendously.  I had been hit with this with a short 
turn around and had been up quite late several days in a row.  I think 
my brain was in brain lock and your suggestions moved me past it.  I 
opted to go with popup inputs and it works great.  What I did not tell 
you, didn't think it was relevant, was that this was a drug destruction 
inventory so it did not matter if I had a current inventory database or 
not.  It only depends on the barcode and the information that is held in 
it.  Thanks for your jump start.

Rod Caddy
Pro-Set Systems