Barcoding and Access

[tbear]

I have a barcode wand hooked to my computer through the keyboard. What I want to do is create an Access program for my digital pictures etc. In the program there will be a contact sheet of the DVD pictures not all the pictures will be stored in the program. I can create barcodes using Corel 10 so no problem there. What I'm trying to find is how do I get the program to open up and show me the details when I read the bar code placed on the DVD case or other objects.
Thanks to all in advance.

 

[Axoliien]

Interesting... I am in need of this information also. I am in a group interested in doing the same with DVD titles. Our only idea so far is to read the barcode and change it into the integer representation, then look that up in Access. We haven't started on converting however, so if there is already an answer out there that works well, I'd like to know also.

 

[jrbarnett]

I have done a little bit of work on barcode systems development in Access, but it was a few years ago.
The general technique is to store the barcode number in a text field in your database, you can use an input box or form to read in a scanned item and then match it up using DLookup, filters or a where clause in a query, for example.

Although the barcodes themselves are numbers, I would store them as text rather than numeric fields because there may be leading zeros, which would be lost if it were stored as a long value.
You have to design your application to take the barcode input as if it were text, because barcode scanners typically insert characters into the keyboard buffer, although there may be newer USB ones that work differently.

With regards to working the other way and printing barcode data from Access, I found a free library that will generate a barcode image for putting on a report or form when the numeric information and barcode type is entered as input, but I really can't remember where I got it from.

John

 

[tbear]

John,
I have also read somewhere that you can use ActiveX? Is that a possability and if so where can I get that item for free? Is it part of something that MS has or something else.
Also if following your steps while reading the barcade will it actually open the Access program instead of having to open the program and then wand the barcode. That is one thing I am trying to achieve also. Also you say that the barcode shoould be stored as text and not numbers because of leading zero's. If you do not include leading zero's in the bar code does that make a difference or are you meaning that if you want to use an existing barcode on something that might occur? Thanks for your input it has been helpful.
Terry

 

[jrbarnett]

I don't know about ActiveX, I used Access 2 running on Windows 3.1 (I told you it was a few years ago). I used a free Access module I found with a quick web search to generate the barcodes on reports.
For reasons why you should use text instead of long variables:

If you have a barcode 0012345678 for example, and store this in a text field, it will stay as necessary, but store it as a long variable (it is too big for an Integer) and you lose the two leading zeroes. Those are two different codes as far as the computer is concerned and so will result in mismatches between scanned items and actual database representations of the code.

You will also find if storing book ISBN values, for example, you will not be able to store 'X' values if you use a Long data type in the table.

John

 

[JoeCruse]

Hi,

what jbarnett says about using text, instead of long variable is correct. Bar codes may be set up to have leading AND trailing characters, and they may NOT be numbers, or they may be zeroes.

You ought to be able to Google and find something to help. In fact, you might ask the bar code scanner vendor if they have something. I just set up a digital signature pad application in Access (like with credit card signatures). I found a vendor that also had sample databases of how to use the sign pad with Access. Your vendor, or another vendor, might have something you can use.

Joe

 

[dukbtr]

I know that this is an Access Forum, but if you want to catalog your DVD's use DVD Profiler(

http://www.dvdprofiler.com).

I use this program and it is very easy and useful. It has all the cover pics, info on actors, directors, setup. etc.. it works by downloading the info from a central db. If you t to use a barcode scanner you can. You have to get a little program called catnip to specify what charactors it will scan. I just use the cheap free scanners from Radio Shack. DVD Profiler is free, w/ banners and low quality images. For $25 you can get a serial number for high quality scans and no ads. Other features it has is you can enter peoples names and loan them the dvd's like a library with a due date. You can search your catalog be different criteria.

Just try it, I know you'll like it. B-)

 

[RezaNana]

there is a thing in activeX which you can use which is 'Msbcode.ocx'or Micrososft ActiveX.Upload control.