Bar code scanning for inventory

#1

Hello group,

Sorry for the length of this post, but I’m desperate. The Open Systems
Database Association (formerly Pick Users of Florida) did not have a meeting
this year and I didn’t get a chance to talk to vendors or other users. I
have e-mailed a couple of officers from their web site, but haven’t received
any reply. So, I turn to you good folks for help.

We are using mvBase, running on a Windows NT system, using Viaduct to
connect users via telnet, and networking the printers. We are a
manufacturing company that must take inventory every month. We are looking
for technology to assist in doing this. I know there are systems that will
allow scanning barcode and entering counts, I see them all the time. The
trick is to upload the data to the Pick system.

I have some experience using a Dynasys 2001 data collection device with a
scanner that can read bar code up to 12 feet away (on high shelves). After
writing a short program, stored on the device, to make the collection easy
for the operator, the trick then was to upload the collected data. In this
case we had to run a DOS program to read the data through the serial port on
a PC and then use a Pick program to port the data into the Pick system and
reformat it to update the database. We used this system for a few years to
keep track of cartons of pre-counted inventory. The actual counts were kept
in the pick system. We only scanned the box ID numbers and their shelf
location ID number in the warehouse.

What we want to do with the inventory on the floor is to scan a bar code on
a traveler that will identify the specific operation the parts are at as of
the inventory. This is important because value is added at each operation
through the manufacturing process. (Probably too much information, but I don
’t know how much you may need.) After scanning the traveler, the count then
needs to be entered, either by a keypad, or by scanning numbers on a sheet.
Then the next traveler can be scanned and the next count entered, etc.
Finally the data collected must be uploaded to the Pick system, where the
existing software can take over the processing.

The data collection device must be portable, so it can be taken around the
shop. It must be easy to use, so that miscounts can be avoided. It must be
relatively inexpensive, because there will be several of them. The upload
should be easy to accomplish, because it has to be done for each device
used.

Thank you in advance. Any assistance you can give will be greatly
appreciated.

You may email my at smatts at tampabay dot rr dot com, or reply to the
group. If you email, be sure to include "bar code" in the subject line, so I
can find your email amoung the spam.

#2

Steve,

If I remember correctly, Worthington Data (Sorry- don't have their URL) used
to market a hand held barcode gun that was radio controlled. In those days,
it came with a base station that had a serial port and would support up to
16 'guns'. There was a screen onto which you could display information -
such as menus or input requests or whatever, all controlled by the computer.
There was also a special sequence of commands you could use that would allow
the user to poll for data from the devices. Thus - each of 16 'guns' could
have a different 'data collection' program running and if the person who
wrote the 'control program' on Pick was very careful, it could easily
interface with each of terminals and track things very well.

The last time I checked, today's system might have allowed for as many as
256 terminals/'guns'. The special sequence of commands was nothing more
than a series of text data that you printed out the serial port. The
programmer writing the program on Pick had to ensure that they maintained
the sequence for each 'gun' properly.

I used an array dimensioned at 16. It would have to be as big as the number
of guns that were in operation. Each message between the serial port and
the base station had to identify which 'gun' it was addressed to. Each
message from the base station (and thereby from the 'guns') had the guns
sequence number attached. That was the key. The program also had to jump
through all sorts of hoops trying to figure out if the person was entering
the right type of data (there might have been some rudimentary type
verification on the 'gun' such as numeric, etc). There was a keypad on top
of the 'gun' that allowed for non barcode entered data.

I haven't looked at this for years, so I don't know it if would still be
possible to write the control program in Pick since I think the newer models
might be attached via network. It might be worth a look.

Hope this helps.

Larry Hazel

"Steve Mattson" <smatts_NOSPAM (AT) tampabay (DOT) rr.com> wrote

Quote:

Hello group,

Sorry for the length of this post, but I'm desperate. The Open Systems
Database Association (formerly Pick Users of Florida) did not have a
meeting
this year and I didn't get a chance to talk to vendors or other users. I
have e-mailed a couple of officers from their web site, but haven't
received
any reply. So, I turn to you good folks for help.

We are using mvBase, running on a Windows NT system, using Viaduct to
connect users via telnet, and networking the printers. We are a
manufacturing company that must take inventory every month. We are looking
for technology to assist in doing this. I know there are systems that will
allow scanning barcode and entering counts, I see them all the time. The
trick is to upload the data to the Pick system.

I have some experience using a Dynasys 2001 data collection device with a
scanner that can read bar code up to 12 feet away (on high shelves). After
writing a short program, stored on the device, to make the collection easy
for the operator, the trick then was to upload the collected data. In this
case we had to run a DOS program to read the data through the serial port
on
a PC and then use a Pick program to port the data into the Pick system and
reformat it to update the database. We used this system for a few years to
keep track of cartons of pre-counted inventory. The actual counts were
kept
in the pick system. We only scanned the box ID numbers and their shelf
location ID number in the warehouse.

What we want to do with the inventory on the floor is to scan a bar code
on
a traveler that will identify the specific operation the parts are at as
of
the inventory. This is important because value is added at each operation
through the manufacturing process. (Probably too much information, but I
don
't know how much you may need.) After scanning the traveler, the count
then
needs to be entered, either by a keypad, or by scanning numbers on a
sheet.
Then the next traveler can be scanned and the next count entered, etc.
Finally the data collected must be uploaded to the Pick system, where the
existing software can take over the processing.

The data collection device must be portable, so it can be taken around the
shop. It must be easy to use, so that miscounts can be avoided. It must be
relatively inexpensive, because there will be several of them. The upload
should be easy to accomplish, because it has to be done for each device
used.

Thank you in advance. Any assistance you can give will be greatly
appreciated.

You may email my at smatts at tampabay dot rr dot com, or reply to the
group. If you email, be sure to include "bar code" in the subject line, so
I
can find your email amoung the spam.

#3

"Steve Mattson" <smatts_NOSPAM (AT) tampabay (DOT) rr.com> wrote

Quote:

Hello group,

Sorry for the length of this post, but I'm desperate. The Open Systems
Database Association (formerly Pick Users of Florida) did not have a
meeting
this year and I didn't get a chance to talk to vendors or other users. I
have e-mailed a couple of officers from their web site, but haven't
received
any reply. So, I turn to you good folks for help.

We are using mvBase, running on a Windows NT system, using Viaduct to
connect users via telnet, and networking the printers. We are a
manufacturing company that must take inventory every month. We are looking
for technology to assist in doing this. I know there are systems that will
allow scanning barcode and entering counts, I see them all the time. The
trick is to upload the data to the Pick system.

I have some experience using a Dynasys 2001 data collection device with a
scanner that can read bar code up to 12 feet away (on high shelves). After
writing a short program, stored on the device, to make the collection easy
for the operator, the trick then was to upload the collected data. In this
case we had to run a DOS program to read the data through the serial port
on
a PC and then use a Pick program to port the data into the Pick system and
reformat it to update the database. We used this system for a few years to
keep track of cartons of pre-counted inventory. The actual counts were
kept
in the pick system. We only scanned the box ID numbers and their shelf
location ID number in the warehouse.

What we want to do with the inventory on the floor is to scan a bar code
on
a traveler that will identify the specific operation the parts are at as
of
the inventory. This is important because value is added at each operation
through the manufacturing process. (Probably too much information, but I
don
't know how much you may need.) After scanning the traveler, the count
then
needs to be entered, either by a keypad, or by scanning numbers on a
sheet.
Then the next traveler can be scanned and the next count entered, etc.
Finally the data collected must be uploaded to the Pick system, where the
existing software can take over the processing.

The data collection device must be portable, so it can be taken around the
shop. It must be easy to use, so that miscounts can be avoided. It must be
relatively inexpensive, because there will be several of them. The upload
should be easy to accomplish, because it has to be done for each device
used.

Thank you in advance. Any assistance you can give will be greatly
appreciated.

You may email my at smatts at tampabay dot rr dot com, or reply to the
group. If you email, be sure to include "bar code" in the subject line, so
I
can find your email amoung the spam.

Steve-

We are doing this right now with jBase. We have two different hardware
set-ups. One is a handheld dumb terminal w/scanner, the other is a keyboard
wedge scanner. Code for the keyboard wedge is the easiest to implement, the
data from the barcode comes through just as if you typed the number on the
keyboard, you can even use existing appplications, just scanning the barcode
at the appropriate time. We wrote applications specifically for the
handheld scanners: due only to screen size. Other than that they act just
like dumb terminals. All of the equipment comes from Symbol. I hope this
helps.

Mark

#4

Well I suppose that starting with the fact that you are probably using one
of the more difficult versions of multi-value to do the work with.

Nevertheless, it should be relatively simple to interface a PC docking
station with your mvBASE system - though you will need a third party
interface to provide the Pick -> PC interface.. Perhaps Coyote is the
product you need...

This would allow you to interface the barcode systems with a Pc Program
(choose your software of choice, but vb/vb.net/java/whatever - ie
*mainstream* tools) which could then interface back to your multi-value
database through the third party interface.

If you were using D3 - then the middleware you could use would be
FlashConnect and/or web services.

For jBASE then jrcs or mv.net or similar.

etc..

Not sure it helps, but what I'm saying is get access to your data from
generic PC development environments and the whole thing is much easier...
Symbol for example make a number of "intelligent" bar code systems.. I've
also seen others based on palm tops with bar code scanner "cradles"..

Regards
Simon
"Steve Mattson" <smatts_NOSPAM (AT) tampabay (DOT) rr.com> wrote

Quote:

Hello group,

Sorry for the length of this post, but I'm desperate. The Open Systems
Database Association (formerly Pick Users of Florida) did not have a
meeting
this year and I didn't get a chance to talk to vendors or other users. I
have e-mailed a couple of officers from their web site, but haven't
received
any reply. So, I turn to you good folks for help.

We are using mvBase, running on a Windows NT system, using Viaduct to
connect users via telnet, and networking the printers. We are a
manufacturing company that must take inventory every month. We are looking
for technology to assist in doing this. I know there are systems that will
allow scanning barcode and entering counts, I see them all the time. The
trick is to upload the data to the Pick system.

I have some experience using a Dynasys 2001 data collection device with a
scanner that can read bar code up to 12 feet away (on high shelves). After
writing a short program, stored on the device, to make the collection easy
for the operator, the trick then was to upload the collected data. In this
case we had to run a DOS program to read the data through the serial port
on
a PC and then use a Pick program to port the data into the Pick system and
reformat it to update the database. We used this system for a few years to
keep track of cartons of pre-counted inventory. The actual counts were
kept
in the pick system. We only scanned the box ID numbers and their shelf
location ID number in the warehouse.

What we want to do with the inventory on the floor is to scan a bar code
on
a traveler that will identify the specific operation the parts are at as
of
the inventory. This is important because value is added at each operation
through the manufacturing process. (Probably too much information, but I
don
't know how much you may need.) After scanning the traveler, the count
then
needs to be entered, either by a keypad, or by scanning numbers on a
sheet.
Then the next traveler can be scanned and the next count entered, etc.
Finally the data collected must be uploaded to the Pick system, where the
existing software can take over the processing.

The data collection device must be portable, so it can be taken around the
shop. It must be easy to use, so that miscounts can be avoided. It must be
relatively inexpensive, because there will be several of them. The upload
should be easy to accomplish, because it has to be done for each device
used.

Thank you in advance. Any assistance you can give will be greatly
appreciated.

You may email my at smatts at tampabay dot rr dot com, or reply to the
group. If you email, be sure to include "bar code" in the subject line, so
I
can find your email amoung the spam.

#5

I just installed two wifi-enabled Symbol MC3000 scanners each loaded with a
telnet application from Naurtech.

Our data-collection apps have been tweaked so the display works well with a
tiny screen. The app doesn't know (or care) if input is from the scanner or
keypad, and since we're using telnet, all updates are immediate. I also
changed the apps so that some prompts that used to require alpha input now
can work off the numeric keypad, as alpha character entry is as slow here as
it is with a cell phone.

My only problem is that the connection gets lost if you wander too far away
from the base station. But a bigger antennea will fix this and that gives
me an excuse to go to Fry's.

The only downside is that the devices are about $1800 each, and the telnet
client is $160 a pop. But - the system works great and any issues
concerning the cost quickly evaporated after a very short while.

"Steve Mattson" <smatts_NOSPAM (AT) tampabay (DOT) rr.com> wrote

Quote:

Hello group,

Sorry for the length of this post, but I'm desperate. The Open Systems
Database Association (formerly Pick Users of Florida) did not have a
meeting
this year and I didn't get a chance to talk to vendors or other users. I
have e-mailed a couple of officers from their web site, but haven't
received
any reply. So, I turn to you good folks for help.

We are using mvBase, running on a Windows NT system, using Viaduct to
connect users via telnet, and networking the printers. We are a
manufacturing company that must take inventory every month. We are looking
for technology to assist in doing this. I know there are systems that will
allow scanning barcode and entering counts, I see them all the time. The
trick is to upload the data to the Pick system.

I have some experience using a Dynasys 2001 data collection device with a
scanner that can read bar code up to 12 feet away (on high shelves). After
writing a short program, stored on the device, to make the collection easy
for the operator, the trick then was to upload the collected data. In this
case we had to run a DOS program to read the data through the serial port
on
a PC and then use a Pick program to port the data into the Pick system and
reformat it to update the database. We used this system for a few years to
keep track of cartons of pre-counted inventory. The actual counts were
kept
in the pick system. We only scanned the box ID numbers and their shelf
location ID number in the warehouse.

What we want to do with the inventory on the floor is to scan a bar code
on
a traveler that will identify the specific operation the parts are at as
of
the inventory. This is important because value is added at each operation
through the manufacturing process. (Probably too much information, but I
don
't know how much you may need.) After scanning the traveler, the count
then
needs to be entered, either by a keypad, or by scanning numbers on a
sheet.
Then the next traveler can be scanned and the next count entered, etc.
Finally the data collected must be uploaded to the Pick system, where the
existing software can take over the processing.

The data collection device must be portable, so it can be taken around the
shop. It must be easy to use, so that miscounts can be avoided. It must be
relatively inexpensive, because there will be several of them. The upload
should be easy to accomplish, because it has to be done for each device
used.

Thank you in advance. Any assistance you can give will be greatly
appreciated.

You may email my at smatts at tampabay dot rr dot com, or reply to the
group. If you email, be sure to include "bar code" in the subject line, so
I
can find your email amoung the spam.

#6

Steve,

The system I use (and do a bit of programming for) currently uses the
Worthington RF terminals for a number of warehouse (and SALES)
functions including cycle and random counting. While I wasn't around
for the design, I believe the decision to go with the Worthington was
based on far lower EQUIPMENT cost than smarter guns. This was (of
course) offset by much more careful programming needed to keep track
of 16 users on a single serial port.

If you want info, here's the website of our system provider:
http://www.keydata.us/KDSGHome.html

I know the owner (Jeff Kaufman, who posts here periodically) is on
vacation until (I think) the new year, so if you try to contact him
before then, you're not likely to get a response until he's back.

On Wed, 21 Dec 2005 07:34:55 -0800, "Homer L. Hazel"
<hNoOmerlhANTI (AT) SPAMcox (DOT) net> wrote:

Quote:

Steve,

If I remember correctly, Worthington Data (Sorry- don't have their URL) used
to market a hand held barcode gun that was radio controlled. In those days,
it came with a base station that had a serial port and would support up to
16 'guns'. There was a screen onto which you could display information -
such as menus or input requests or whatever, all controlled by the computer.
There was also a special sequence of commands you could use that would allow
the user to poll for data from the devices. Thus - each of 16 'guns' could
have a different 'data collection' program running and if the person who
wrote the 'control program' on Pick was very careful, it could easily
interface with each of terminals and track things very well.

The last time I checked, today's system might have allowed for as many as
256 terminals/'guns'. The special sequence of commands was nothing more
than a series of text data that you printed out the serial port. The
programmer writing the program on Pick had to ensure that they maintained
the sequence for each 'gun' properly.

I used an array dimensioned at 16. It would have to be as big as the number
of guns that were in operation. Each message between the serial port and
the base station had to identify which 'gun' it was addressed to. Each
message from the base station (and thereby from the 'guns') had the guns
sequence number attached. That was the key. The program also had to jump
through all sorts of hoops trying to figure out if the person was entering
the right type of data (there might have been some rudimentary type
verification on the 'gun' such as numeric, etc). There was a keypad on top
of the 'gun' that allowed for non barcode entered data.

I haven't looked at this for years, so I don't know it if would still be
possible to write the control program in Pick since I think the newer models
might be attached via network. It might be worth a look.

Hope this helps.

Larry Hazel

"Steve Mattson" <smatts_NOSPAM (AT) tampabay (DOT) rr.com> wrote in message
news:0ldqf.17765$md.1940 (AT) tornado (DOT) tampabay.rr.com...
Hello group,

Sorry for the length of this post, but I'm desperate. The Open Systems
Database Association (formerly Pick Users of Florida) did not have a
meeting
this year and I didn't get a chance to talk to vendors or other users. I
have e-mailed a couple of officers from their web site, but haven't
received
any reply. So, I turn to you good folks for help.

We are using mvBase, running on a Windows NT system, using Viaduct to
connect users via telnet, and networking the printers. We are a
manufacturing company that must take inventory every month. We are looking
for technology to assist in doing this. I know there are systems that will
allow scanning barcode and entering counts, I see them all the time. The
trick is to upload the data to the Pick system.

I have some experience using a Dynasys 2001 data collection device with a
scanner that can read bar code up to 12 feet away (on high shelves). After
writing a short program, stored on the device, to make the collection easy
for the operator, the trick then was to upload the collected data. In this
case we had to run a DOS program to read the data through the serial port
on
a PC and then use a Pick program to port the data into the Pick system and
reformat it to update the database. We used this system for a few years to
keep track of cartons of pre-counted inventory. The actual counts were
kept
in the pick system. We only scanned the box ID numbers and their shelf
location ID number in the warehouse.

What we want to do with the inventory on the floor is to scan a bar code
on
a traveler that will identify the specific operation the parts are at as
of
the inventory. This is important because value is added at each operation
through the manufacturing process. (Probably too much information, but I
don
't know how much you may need.) After scanning the traveler, the count
then
needs to be entered, either by a keypad, or by scanning numbers on a
sheet.
Then the next traveler can be scanned and the next count entered, etc.
Finally the data collected must be uploaded to the Pick system, where the
existing software can take over the processing.

The data collection device must be portable, so it can be taken around the
shop. It must be easy to use, so that miscounts can be avoided. It must be
relatively inexpensive, because there will be several of them. The upload
should be easy to accomplish, because it has to be done for each device
used.

Thank you in advance. Any assistance you can give will be greatly
appreciated.

You may email my at smatts at tampabay dot rr dot com, or reply to the
group. If you email, be sure to include "bar code" in the subject line, so
I
can find your email amoung the spam.

Steven J Dorst

xxxxxx, yyyyy, zzzzz, aaaa,
bbbbbb, ccccc, Oh well, let's just say:
Jack of way too many, but not all, trades!
http://www.laner.com
mailto: Take my first name, append an underscore,
append my last name, then append "at"
laner.com

Note: actual job titles removed from signature because
they are often harvested, prepended to our domain and
used to generate spam!

#7

The solution is very easy, this does not mean it is cheap. The hardware
you need is not cheap. But if you need and inventory each month it will
be cheap for you.

Some people here has told you the solution. WIFI. Symbol is a good
hardware provider for wifi in warehouses. There are more but i only
know the spanish market. I work with Symbol and LXE.

The first thing you need is to put WIFI in your warehouse. The WIFI
hardware provider must do for you what we call in Spain "Estudio de
Cobertura". This means they must study your warehouse in order to put
the necesary number of access points on it. This is the MAIN part.

Then you can use any hardware device that can work with WIFI. Again
Symbol or LXE are good providers. You can use devices with windows or
only something similar to DOS. All of them can use a simple TELNET
connection to your system.

You must change , better write, a new program. As somobody has told you
before, the screen is not 79x25, it depends of the device, may be
16x20, 12x14 or something like that.

I has worked with this devices with GUI and with only text. My
experience is that for inventory the best choice may be only text. But
i have GUI and web on some customers in order to see the photo of the
product on the device. You can use both of them.

It is much more easy that what you think.

If you want to "test" in a non operating environment, you can buy in
any store an small access point. Then if you have a PDA with WIFI and
pocket PC you can download a telnet program for the PDA and test.

You can add a barcode reader to the PDA but they are expensive, and the
PDA is not a good device in a warehouse (many problems with the
bateries). The Symbol or LXE devices are much more better for this
environment.

Another thing is why you need an inventory each month. I have worked a
lot with warehouses and i use "Caothic warehouse" (i do not know if it
is a good translation from Almacén Caótico in spanish). With this
organization you can bypass inventories. Of course you need WIFI to
control this kind of warehouse.

Hope this help

joseba

P.S. Feliz Navidad a todos,

P.S. If you have plan to travel to Spain

i can show you some
warehouses controlled by D3 with Telnet devices (MVBASE is the same in
this case).

#8

Simon, mv.NET is supported over mvBASE as well, so any connectivity
developed with mv.NET over mvBASE is portable to D3 or other platforms
if/when that time comes. This versatility sort of removes this
problem from the scenario. Some scanners come with a .NET interface
and/or one can be written for specific hardware if the specs are
available, so end to end connectivity isn't an issue.

For the scanner itself, one of my clients developed their own software
for their scanners using some open source tools - the devices are mini
terminals into their application. Cool stuff. I have no idea what
they did, I wasn't involved in that project. I think the devices are
all Symbol with RF/WIFI connections.

I'll be happy to discuss development of device-specific connectivity
when the hardware decision has been made, as well as licensing
requirements for mv.NET - I'd guess only 1 or 2 licenses would be
needed for this application.

HTH
Tony
TG@ removethisNebula-RnD .com
Nebula R&D is an authorized Distributor for mv.NET,
Inquiries from VARs, Developers, and end-users welcome

"Simon Verona" wrote:

Quote:

Well I suppose that starting with the fact that you are probably using one
of the more difficult versions of multi-value to do the work with.

Nevertheless, it should be relatively simple to interface a PC docking
station with your mvBASE system - though you will need a third party
interface to provide the Pick -> PC interface.. Perhaps Coyote is the
product you need...

This would allow you to interface the barcode systems with a Pc Program
(choose your software of choice, but vb/vb.net/java/whatever - ie
*mainstream* tools) which could then interface back to your multi-value
database through the third party interface.

If you were using D3 - then the middleware you could use would be
FlashConnect and/or web services.

For jBASE then jrcs or mv.net or similar.

etc..

Not sure it helps, but what I'm saying is get access to your data from
generic PC development environments and the whole thing is much easier...
Symbol for example make a number of "intelligent" bar code systems.. I've
also seen others based on palm tops with bar code scanner "cradles"..

Regards
Simon
"Steve Mattson" <smatts_NOSPAM (AT) tampabay (DOT) rr.com> wrote in message
news:0ldqf.17765$md.1940 (AT) tornado (DOT) tampabay.rr.com...
Hello group,

Sorry for the length of this post, but I'm desperate. The Open Systems
Database Association (formerly Pick Users of Florida) did not have a
meeting
this year and I didn't get a chance to talk to vendors or other users. I
have e-mailed a couple of officers from their web site, but haven't
received
any reply. So, I turn to you good folks for help.

We are using mvBase, running on a Windows NT system, using Viaduct to
connect users via telnet, and networking the printers. We are a
manufacturing company that must take inventory every month. We are looking
for technology to assist in doing this. I know there are systems that will
allow scanning barcode and entering counts, I see them all the time. The
trick is to upload the data to the Pick system.

I have some experience using a Dynasys 2001 data collection device with a
scanner that can read bar code up to 12 feet away (on high shelves). After
writing a short program, stored on the device, to make the collection easy
for the operator, the trick then was to upload the collected data. In this
case we had to run a DOS program to read the data through the serial port
on
a PC and then use a Pick program to port the data into the Pick system and
reformat it to update the database. We used this system for a few years to
keep track of cartons of pre-counted inventory. The actual counts were
kept
in the pick system. We only scanned the box ID numbers and their shelf
location ID number in the warehouse.

What we want to do with the inventory on the floor is to scan a bar code
on
a traveler that will identify the specific operation the parts are at as
of
the inventory. This is important because value is added at each operation
through the manufacturing process. (Probably too much information, but I
don
't know how much you may need.) After scanning the traveler, the count
then
needs to be entered, either by a keypad, or by scanning numbers on a
sheet.
Then the next traveler can be scanned and the next count entered, etc.
Finally the data collected must be uploaded to the Pick system, where the
existing software can take over the processing.

The data collection device must be portable, so it can be taken around the
shop. It must be easy to use, so that miscounts can be avoided. It must be
relatively inexpensive, because there will be several of them. The upload
should be easy to accomplish, because it has to be done for each device
used.

Thank you in advance. Any assistance you can give will be greatly
appreciated.

You may email my at smatts at tampabay dot rr dot com, or reply to the
group. If you email, be sure to include "bar code" in the subject line, so
I
can find your email amoung the spam.

#9

Thank you all for your responses. I will be reading them and doing a little
research while on vacation next week. Have a joyous holliday.

Steve

#10

Plenty of suggestions here but have you considered a simple web app and just
use a CE.net enabled hand unit? We do this and it works great. Some
benefits:

1. No programming on or for the client. Just a standard web interface.
2. The unit is only about $1000 (we use off the shelf Percon units running
CE.net)
3. Stateless so if the signal drops the user can move over a few steps and
pick up right where he left off.
4. If you are at your desk you can use the same web app on your desktop
computer.

-Bob

"Steve Mattson" <smatts_NOSPAM (AT) tampabay (DOT) rr.com> wrote

Quote:

Thank you all for your responses. I will be reading them and doing a
little
research while on vacation next week. Have a joyous holliday.

Steve