I have a project in hand that is to enable long term management of boxes of goods in the store room. My idea was to use two barcode scanners to record the INs and OUTs of the boxes respectively. The computing unit (a microcontroller PCB maybe?) is to be able to:
1. read and memorize each and every different rows of barcodes as different types of boxes,
2. do simple plus/minus everytime it reads a scan from either the "IN-scanner" or "OUT-scanner"
3. simple display it to the LCD
My main question is what does the microcontroller actually reads if i am to connect the barcode scanner to the PCB via a RS232 port, assuming that the barcode scanner itself has built-in ADC already?
My next question is what else has to be done on the data/signal before I can assign them with the initial number of boxes in the store room?
Hopefully any of u guys understand and could help me!
Thanks anyway!!!
Update:
Now that I have an USB barcode scanner, that types out the barcode numbers followed by an "enter", this leads me wondering will there be extra works to eliminate that "enter" keystroke command the microcontroller might read? Or after all, am i definitely needed a kind of decoder of the received data to make it readable to the microcontroller? what will that be? helps.. 🙂
Best Answer
The scanner may send the barcode directly as-is. The RS232 message may contain some header information or additional checksums. To find that exactly you need the scanner's datasheet or user manual.
Some barcodes contain checksum information. If the scanner hasn't already verified it, you'll have to do it.
You'll need some kind of small database. When scanning a barcode, check if it is already in the database. If yes, modify the number of boxes accordingly (increment or decrement). If not, then add the scanned barcode to the database.