Question : Bar Code Scanner

i understand that there are 500 different brands of scanners, but does anyone have experience using a Bar Code Scanner with Access?

what i need to know is, will there be any identifyable property of the stream that i can capture to detect that the input data is coming from a scanner rather than a keyboard?

in other words, if there is a signature that the scanner sends before or appended to a data stream, i can put BeforeUpdate code into my controls that forces focus to a particular control.

thanks,
mac

Answer : Bar Code Scanner

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  Yes.  What you want is a "wedge" type scanner; this goes between the PC and the keyboard.  The pc just sees data as if it had been keyed in.  By using this method, *any* app is able to use scanned input.

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  You can program most scanners to prefix or suffix a scan with a code.  In this way, your app can distinguish if it was keyed or scanned.

JimD