Signature Capture 1

[pt777]

I apologize in advance for the generality (non-descriptness) of this question.

Before re-inventing the wheel (on any level), do any of you have any ideas, opinions, etc. on VFP and Signature Capture? Based on your feedback I'll try to refine the question.

The objective is to have a 'patient/client' sign a form as a potentially legal document. ...Hopefully to save time, printers, paper, pens, and/or sanity.

Questions arise like:

Would you capture human signatures into a general field (Megabytes add up fast!!!)?
Would you relate it as a child table or seperate archive file?
What hardware (cheapest) is viable (besides the tablet pc)?
Etc. Etc.

Thanks for your input,

Philip

 

[Mike Lewis]

Philip,

My initial thought would be: capture the signature to a separate file; store the signature files in a dedicated directory; in your table, store the name of the file.

It's also possible -- and quite straightforward -- to store the signatures in a General field, but I tend to avoid that is it can lead to huge table files.

As far as the actual mechanics are concerned, it depends on the environment. If the patient is right there on the spot when the signature is entered, a good bet would be to use a tablet PC. The tablet version of XP comes with several "ink" controls which can capture a hand-drawn image and save it in a file (this is not handwriting recognition; it is just saving the pen strokes which the user enters).

But if the patient is sending in the signature from his/her home, a conventional scanner would be the obvious solution.

Hope this helps. Come back if you need more details.

Mike


Mike Lewis
Edinburgh, Scotland

My Visual Foxpro web site:

http://www.ml-consult.demon.co.uk

My Crystal Reports web site:

http://www.ml-crystal.com

 

[pt777]

My PDA stores handwriting 'ink' in your manner, too.
Probably the tablet is the answer for hardware.

Storing in a file seems most appropriate (with as few keystrokes as possible).

The tablet, peradventure, would send (wi-fi) to the PC, after save/close of the file.

The file might be named after the patient-record and/or created during the INI of a new record.

Sound feasible?

Philip

 

[Mike Lewis]

Philip,

Yes, I think it definitely does sound feasible. I've done something similar when capturing photos and business cards, and can't see why it shouldn't work just as well with signatures.

Good luck with the project.

Mike


Mike Lewis
Edinburgh, Scotland

My Visual Foxpro web site:

http://www.ml-consult.demon.co.uk

My Crystal Reports web site:

http://www.ml-crystal.com