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MS Access Forum / ActiveX Controls / September 2004Automation
Hi Folks, Need help AUTOMATING the process of importing a text document into Access in which the data has been uploaded from a hand held scanner. Any thoughs/comments, E-me Thanks in advance. > Hi Folks, > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Thanks in advance. The solving of your problem must not be very important to you since your definition of the problem is so poor. Maybe someone in the many newsgroups you cross-posted to can help decipher your obtuseness. GEESH!! If you wanted clarification you could've just asked! ;-) For those of you who didn't understand me the first time, the device we use is a bar-code scanner -- much like what you see in super markets. For our purpose, it's used for scanning serial numbers. Once the scanning process has completed the data/serial numbers must be uploaded (utilizing serial cables) to the PC to a .txt file (NotePad...). and then the .txt file is saved under a naming convention. From there, these serial numbers are manually entered into our Access database. The problem is that the data entry people have been known to make mistakes. So, by automating everything, I believe, we should encounter fewer mistakes. ...can anybody help? > > Hi Folks, > > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > definition of the problem is so poor. Maybe someone in the many > newsgroups you cross-posted to can help decipher your obtuseness. > GEESH!! If you wanted clarification you could've just asked! ;-) > [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > > ...can anybody help? If you use a scanner that connects with a keyboard wedge it is then easy to scan directly into Access. Is that an option for you?  SignatureI don't check the Email account attached to this message. Send instead to... RBrandt at Hunter dot com > If you use a scanner that connects with a keyboard wedge it is then easy to scan > directly into Access. Is that an option for you? I've not used a kb wedge myseld but I see a potential problem in doing so, it's almost as bad as using SendKeys. It's OK when the program accepting the keystrokes behaves as expected but if something goes wrong you will get unexpected results at best, worse than that is if the program loses focus and the keystrokes are sent to another part of the application or to another application. Signature\\\\\\ \\ \\ Windows is searching \ \ For your sig. \ \ Please Wait. \__\ >> If you use a scanner that connects with a keyboard wedge it is then easy to scan >> directly into Access. Is that an option for you? [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >program loses focus and the keystrokes are sent to another part of the >application or to another application. <shrug> Yeah but ... <smile> Sendkeys do things such as enter or other wierdness. Hopefully if you are doing some bar code scanning you can redo it if something pops up. Tony -- Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can read the entire thread of messages. Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm Hi Rick, Fortunately, we don't need a wedge...that's sounds funny! Seriously though, the data (when imported/uploaded) comes out exactly how we want to view it. (In other words, no decoding is required). Thanks again..... >> GEESH!! If you wanted clarification you could've just asked! ;-) >> [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > If you use a scanner that connects with a keyboard wedge it is then easy > to scan directly into Access. Is that an option for you? > Hi Rick, > > Fortunately, we don't need a wedge...that's sounds funny! > Seriously though, the data (when imported/uploaded) > comes out exactly how we want to view it. > (In other words, no decoding is required). My suggestion had nothing to do with decoding. Using a keyboard wedge scanner the values would go straight into Access eliminating the manual entry step you mentioned. If you sometimes use the scanner off-site then this would not be an option, but otherwise it would be much simpler. SignatureI don't check the Email account attached to this message. Send instead to... RBrandt at Hunter dot com >GEESH!! If you wanted clarification you could've just asked! ;-) > [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > >...can anybody help? OK. If you have the data in a standard format in a file that the program can find then you have a fighting chance of being able to upload the data automatically. There are two things that are important. One is the name of the file and the other is the format of the data in it. If the format of the data is suitable and it always has the same name then you could use it as external data in a linked table. If the name changes but the format is tabular then you could use the VBA DoCmd.TransferText command to upload the data into an Access table then process it. If the format is not tabular then you could either use an external program (such as awk) to reformat the data. Alternatively you can write VBA code to read characters from the file and process them. Lastly, as someone else suggested, you could choose a scanner that emulates a keyboard. That way your users could input the data directly into an Access form. If you have any doubts then post a copy of the data file to comp.databases.ms-access and I'll take a look at it. But I strongly suggest that you trim the crossposting. There are people who might be able to help you but won't even see your message because they automatically kill multiply crossposted messages. SignatureBernard Peek London, UK. DBA, Manager, Trainer & Author. Will work for money. Two options - if your app exports or saves to a standard format that Access can read, then dump it into a directory and let Access do the importing. Just create an import spec. If that wont work because the data is weird, you'll have to open the file in code and parse it. And NO, puh-leeze! Do NOT post your binaries here. If you have to post SOME of the import file, then post like 3 lines from your file, not the whole thing. Just enough to give everyone an idea of what it looks like. As my English prof said to me once "Make a case, not a collage!" Thanks Thanks Pieter, I'll give it a try. I fairly new at this so bare with me... %-) Regards. > Two options - if your app exports or saves to a standard format that > Access can read, then dump it into a directory and let Access do the [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > Thanks > Two options - if your app exports or saves to a standard format that > Access can read, then dump it into a directory and let Access do the [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > Thanks If you need to post a *little bit* of the textfile you get from the barcode reader, post just enough for everyone to get an idea of what you're dealing with. Most of the time, it's less than ten lines or so. If you give us that much, someone can tell you how to go about processing the data. My bet is that you can probably use an import specification when you do DoCmd.TransferText... check the help on that and post back if you still have problems. >For those of you who didn't understand me the first time, the device we use >is [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >the .txt file >is saved under a naming convention. Why not use a scanner hooked directly to the PC rather than a handheld device? I do realize that there may very well be very valid reasons but thought I'd ask anyhow. Tony -- Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can read the entire thread of messages. Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm > Why not use a scanner hooked directly to the PC rather than a handheld device? I do > realize that there may very well be very valid reasons but thought I'd ask anyhow. In an application where I used a barcode scanner, it was a goods inwards depot, the delivered boxes were a bit big for bringing into the office near enough to the PC, although I know now there is a radio option for it so it would work like a handheld but be connected directly to the PC. Signature\\\\\\ \\ \\ Windows is searching \ \ For your sig. \ \ Please Wait. \__\ Hi ALL, and you too Trevor, Thanks for the suggestions...they were plenty helpful! To answer your question Trevor, the scanner is portable because it is often used offsite. >> Why not use a scanner hooked directly to the PC rather than a handheld >> device? I do [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > near enough to the PC, although I know now there is a radio option for it > so it would work like a handheld but be connected directly to the PC. If the handheld device acts as a removable hard drive, drag and drop can be really easy for the end user. Just drag the file onto your waiting form, then you can set it to save the source file to a backup location, then perform all your validation and parsing. Try searching for "Stephen Lebans cdrag dll". If the device just uploads text as if it were typed all at once, why not use an unbound text box in a form instead of entering into notepad? Have the user click one button to get ready for the upload, then another after it's done so the processing can begin. The only problem I have with not scanning directly to the database is that it somewhat complicates dealing with how barcode scanners occasionally read a digit wrong. Instead of just making the user rescan one item, they may have to scan the batch again. "Salad" <oil@vinegar.com> ??????:7jp_c.7473$w%6.1646@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net... > > Hi Folks, > > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > definition of the problem is so poor. Maybe someone in the many > newsgroups you cross-posted to can help decipher your obtuseness. |
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