MS Access home kitchen invenotry system - barcode scanning

[Oliver Davis]

Hi Guys,

I am moving into a new flat/appartment soon as am wanting to add some
computerised aspects to it, home audio visual set up with wifi network. This
is fairly simple so no worries there. I would like to write an Access
database to store a list of everything in my weekly supermarket shop. Keep
tracks of items and then produce a list of items that have reached 0. For the
input of items I would like to use a barcode scanner. Does any one know if
Access can handle these and if so the simplest way of setting data capture up

Cheers Guys

 

[Daniel Pineault]

Take a look at http://www.granite.ab.ca/access/barcode.htm to get you pointed
in the right direction.
--
Hope this helps,

Daniel Pineault
http://www.cardaconsultants.com/
For Access Tips and Examples: http://www.devhut.net
Please rate this post using the vote buttons if it was helpful.

 

[Jack Cannon]

Oliver,

A minor point that may be of interest to you.

Most of the reference material that you will review refers to Code 39 (also
called 3 of 9).
This code will work fine for most applications including the one that you
described.
It also is free on the internet.

Another code that probably fits your application a little better is
"Interleaved 2 of 5".
Interleaved 2 of 5 will only accommodate the numeric characters 0-9.
This allows the barcode to be printed in a much smaller area.

In your case you are probably only interested in encoding a reference number
such as your primary key.
That means no "A-Z" or "," or "." or other special characters.
Since "Interleaved 2 of 5" is restricted to 10 characters it is designed to
use a smaller area (almost half what is consumed by Code 39).

However if the area which the barcode is printed has little physical
restriction then Code 39 is available free on the internet.
I am not aware of "Interleaved 2 of 5" being available free anywhere.
However, it can be implemented within Access with a little effort on you
part. I have done this myself (using the line drawing facility) to display
receipt/invoice numbers on their respective documents.

Jack Cannon

 

[Oliver Davis]

Guys,

Thanks for the info this is really useful stuff. I am more interested in the
ability to scan an all ready purchased product bar code. For example when I
get home from a supermarket/store trip and have a a collections or tins and
cans to put away. Can I scan them to incluse them into my inventory. Then
when thay have been used I scan it again and it deducts one from the
inventory. As soon as the number hits 0 it will add it to my shopping list
which will be stored utill I am ready to print it.

Any ideas?

 

[Jack Cannon]

Oliver,

I believe that I am safe in stating that any scanner that will read barcodes
will read the UPC codes on your items. If you need to purchase a scanner
then a very good one is the DataLogic Heron. However there is a discontinued
scanner that you might be able to find at a very low price. It is the
QS1000. The QS1000 does not have a trigger which is probably okay for your
application. But the only one that you might be able to find could be
restricted to plugging in to a PS2 port. That port is disappearing which is
why you might be able find the QS1000 at a very reasonable price.

If your question is more oriented towards how to use Access to implement you
application, then the fact that you wish to use a scanner is really
meaningless. Design your application as if you did not have a scanner.
Pretend that you always type in the UPC. When you incorporate the scanner it
will simply do the typing for you. I would not recommend using the UPC code
as a primary key. Instead use an autonumber as the primary key and use the
UPC code in the same manner that you would normally use a last name.

Barcode scanners have a rich variety of options that you can program into
them. For example: if you wish to have an automatic carrier return to occur
after the barcode is read then that option is available.

Jack Cannon