remove prefix 2

[taxprep]

Newbie & novice.

I have a linear scanner and an old Symbol DS6707.

I scan PDF417 from w2's into a tax prep program.

The linear scanner has the following output that works in the program:
T1<CR>1024<CR>22222<CR>2010<CR> and so on

The Symbol has the following output:
<STX><NAK>T1<CR>1024<CR>22222<CR>2010<CR>

I would like to remove the <STX><NAK> .... is this possible ?

I have discovered ways of adding prefixes but cannot find a way of removing prefixes. Any assistance is much appreciated.

 

[JRB-Bldr]

You have not said how you are processing the barcode reader input.

Obviously this could be done with application code, but since there are MANY languages that you could be developing in, we wouldn't have a clue how to help you with that without knowing more.

But if you are asking if you can do this within the Reader decoder itself, you should see what you can get from Symbol Support. Do a Google Search for symbol barcode scanner support

Good Luck,
JRB-Bldr

 

[taxprep]

Thanks for your patience.

I was put off by Motorola's " Please note that beginning January 1, 2010, full access to technical support resources will only be granted to customers with valid entitlement."

But I managed to get through. For two hours the person would not believe that the scanner was generating the prefix ... until it finally occurred to him that this might be built into the firmware...

Turns out that "Send Control B, Send Control U, Send All Data That Remains and Send Extended Enter Key" is a firmware default that cannot be overridden. The particular scanner was a special model

Problem understood but apparently unsolvable ....

 

[JRB-Bldr]

Problem understood but apparently unsolvable

Not really.

As I said above, you are obviously processing the data stream from the bar code reader in some manner in order to get its value from w2's into a tax prep program. Just change how you are handling the character stream in your code and remove the Prefix.

Good Luck,
JRB-Bldr

 

[taxprep]

Remember ... I'm a novice ....

I have the cursor in the tax prog and squeeze the trigger on the USB connected scanner and out comes the data.

Are you suggesting I can have a program in Windows that strips the <STX><NAK> between the USB input and the output to the tax prog ?


The tax prep program, operating in Windows, displays an input box in which I put "w2" followed by enter. It then takes me to a w2 screen where I can manually enter w2 details.

Alternatively, the program is also designed to respond to the scanner reading the w2 PDF417 barcode "T1<CR>". This generates a "notepad" screen for all the data input to appear and at end of data it then populates the w2.

The firmware of this Symbol scanner throws the <STX><NAK> in front of the "T1" and the taxprep program goes into a different routine rather than the "notepad". Motorola gave me a rule to try & remove the prefixes but the firmware automatically generates them despite the rule.

 

[JRB-Bldr]

OK, based on what you describe, you have a barcode reader which inputs data directly into a 'canned' (a.k.a. 'closed' off-the-shelf) commercially sold application over which you have no programming capability.

Is that correct?

If so then you will have to find a way to handle the character string within the barcode reader and/or its decoder BEFORE it enters the application.

On the Motorola site for the Symbol Barcode Scanner DS6707
(

http://support.symbol.com/support/s..._1_1&cmd=search&productFamily=&contextType=gs

)
you will find PDF manuals for the device.

One of particular interest should be:
Advanced Data Formatting Programmer Guide (P/N 72E-69680-03 Rev. A)

On page 88 (chapter 2) of that manual it talks about programming the Prefix/Suffix values.

And on page 89 it goes on to also mention programming the Prefix/Suffix values. If you set the Prefix value to "" (quote/quote with no value between), I'd guess that that should eliminate the Prefix.

I'd recommend spending a good bit of time with that manual until you understand what they are telling you to do.

You can either do what it says or search to acquire another reader which will support your needs.

Good Luck,
JRB-Bldr