Barcode Scanners, looking for info on

[Byakko]

Hi,

I'm looking at purchasing a barcode scanner for work which I will be using Delphi with. I am wondering if anyone here has had any experience with barcode scanners and may have a tip as to which to look at buying, erc.

Thanks in advance,
Terry

 

[ThunderForest]

What's your scanner price range? Thinking Windows? Scanners are around $2500. DOS based? Maybe as much as $1200, depending who you buy from. eBay worked out well to find sellers. I wrote a warehouse management system using WaveLink,

http://www.wavelink.com

. I use 4 Symbol PDT-6846 scanners (DOS), and have three Symbol AP-4121 access points,

http://www.symbol.com

, in a 70,000 sq ft warehouse. My Delphi application is a terminal service, loading through WaveLink on an XP box. Works great, in my most humble opinion. Inventory control, order picking, shipping, bill of lading. WaveLink has some very useful Delphi source code out there to get you started and their support personnel are very helpful. Good luck!

Getting answers before I'm asked.
Providing answers if I can.

 

[ThunderForest]

Sorry, maybe I went too far here, as I should have asked what you intend to do. Scanners are much less expensive than I indicated, depending on what you want to do. The examples I gave are more high end.

Getting answers before I'm asked.
Providing answers if I can.

 

[Griffyn]

I've used PS/2 and USB scanners, and all they do is pretend they're a keyboard and that the barcode number you scan was simply typed in at the keyboard followed by the Enter key. This should be true for all 'online' scanners. These sorts of scanners should be easily grabbed for around US$150 onwards. You don't need to make any alterations to your delphi programs aside from being able to handle barcode numbers being entered into the active text field.

The more expensive scanners are ones that can contain programs and will have an LCD screen. These generally store the scans for upload to a computer later - stay away from these.

 

[Byakko]

Well, to be a bit more specific, I am going to be writing a service app to help manage the service flow with a laptop service provider. This includes signing in/out units (Toshiba, Dell, HP, etc.), tracking parts (receiving), etc. My language of choice is Delphi... of course.

My concerns lay chiefely with the fact that it looks as though the different manufacturers (of Laptops) use different barcode languages. So I need to ensure that the bar code scanner that we purchase wil handle the different formats.

We are a small company (10 employees) and will be purchasing one or two scanners, perhaps three. Hope this explains things a bit better.

Also if there is any good resources out there, that would be greatly apreciated. Thanks for the links already provided.

Terry

 

[Griffyn]

We only buy cheapy barcodes and they handle heaps and heaps of different formats. I don't know how many barcode formats are out there so I'm not in a position to say it handles all of them, most of them or hardly any of them. But it handles heaps. It's a different story if you're using 2D barcodes - you need to make sure they're supported by the scanner.

I would say that it makes sense that all barcode formats are handled by every barcode scanner. Barcodes are supposed to be cross-company and cross-country portable, otherwise there's not much point in using them.

 

[ThunderForest]

And also see the Bar Coding forum here. Another great resource to get you started.

Getting answers before I'm asked.
Providing answers if I can.

 

[Byakko]

Thanks for the info... didn't realize that there was a barcoding forum... DOH!!

Again thanks,
Terry