Re: windows mobile 2003 barcode scanning

First, I'm a developer who supports bar codes in my applications, and
I rely on keyboard wedges provided by the reader vendors. Second, you
provided a pretty good description, but I definitely don't want to get
between you and the suppliers, so I am going to be cautious. More
below (in line)


On 29 Jan 2007 13:17:47 -0800, chillzatl@xxxxxxxxx wrote:

Hi all, quick question. I recently purchased several hand held symbol
barcode scanners running Windows Mobile for a client. They were going
to use them for scanning products into a web app in their warehouse.
Initially, their software developer said the only requirement for
these devices was that they had the latest version of IE, which these
do. But now they have ran into a glitch and the story has changed.

The "glitch" is this: when the users scan a barcode into the field and
press enter, it should do what you would expect and submit the
scanning information. But it does not. The user is forced to press the
SUBMIT button that they coded into the page in order to send the data.
The desired function is that the barcode software (datawedge) send an
ENTER after every scan, but their page doesn't recognize it (or
pressing enter on the keypad). You have to physically press the submit
button on the touch screen.

Keyboard wedges are elegantly stupid. They send keystrokes to whatever
window has focus. Platform, operating system, language (human and
programming) don't matter to the wedge. However, the window that gets
the keystrokes needs to know how to handle them. In your case, that
means the application. Also, users have to be at least a bit careful
to make sure the correct window has focus (think what might happen if
the start menu got all those keystrokes). This "loophole" worries me,
but in practice, users seem to learn quickly. Of course, some
applications are more challenging than others.

Sure seems to me that the app is at fault here.



They are blaming this on the fact that the devices have Mobile 2003
and not Windows CE and that there is no way to fix the code to
accommodate this. I am not a developer, so I can't dispute it, despite
the fact that it just doesn't seem logical to me.

Who is "they" (Symbol, the software developers, or your client)?

I use native C/C++ to write my apps, and they definitely respond to
Enter keys sent from keyboard wedges. I even have a setting that lets
the user decide what key should be the trigger (some, but not all
wedges have a similar setting). And my apps run on many different
platforms, including HPC Pro, Windows Mobile 5 for Pocket PC, and
several of those "platforms with no name". I've never even tried to
write a web-based app, so I don't know how hard it is to get one to
respond to an Enter, or other, key. But I'm skeptical about the claim
that the platform is an issue.

Nitpick:
Mobile 2003 is based on the Windows CE operating system, so the phrase
"Mobile 2003 and not Windows CE" is technically impossible. However,
many companies (including Symbol) produce(d) devices that use Windows
CE but not Mobile 2003 or any other platform defined by Microsoft, and
no one has come up with an accepted term for these devices. So I
_think_ that is what they mean. If the software developer used this
phrase and is not from Symbol, than I'm curious what devices (brand
names) they have supported. For more about the term "platform", see:
http://www.opennetcf.org/Forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=317



Could some kind soul out there please provide some expertise please?
Thanks!

Good luck.


-----------------------------------------
To reply to me, remove the underscores (_) from my email address (and please indicate which newsgroup and message).

Robert E. Zaret, eMVP
PenFact, Inc.
20 Park Plaza, Suite 478
Boston, MA 02116
www.penfact.com
.