Posted: August 24 2005 at 6:36pm | IP Logged

Simply barcoding won't do the trick. This is due to the fact that Microsft Windows uses scan codes other than a simple ASCII code for function keys.

Good news is that it is doable with a little help from the scanner or a third party wedge program.

Many scanners allow you to map ASCII value 01hex to 1Fhex to function keys. For example, the QS2500 model from PSC allow you to map:

ASCII 11 - 1D ====> F1 to F12

It also lists mapping for keys like TAB, UP, DOWN, CTRL, ATL etc.

Otherwise if you are using RSC232 interface scanner, you can purchase a third party wedge program to map the ASCII codes received to Windows keys.

For printing barcodes you can use any barcode formats supporting encoding control characters, such as Code 39 full ascii, code 128 and Code 93.

Posted: August 26 2005 at 12:16am | IP Logged

Benz,

Thanks for the detailed reply. I would never have figured that out. Will check my scanner user guide for the map feature ... or look for a QS2500.