pre and postambles

[rgeller]

I have set up a Unitech MS690 scanner with a USB connection to a G3 Macintosh and am able to scan Code39 bar codes into a FileMaker database. Now I'm trying to send a preamble to trigger a script and am having problems. I tried to set a preamble by scanning the function code the manual lists as Apple Make, then an ASCII 1, then Apple Break. I was not really sure what the Apple Make and Break were but thought they might provide the proper sequence for the Apple key. Does not seem to work. I can scan most of the other Functions for Mac out of the manual like the F keys as a preamble and they do seem to trigger fine. Wondering if anyone might have some advice on this. The Unitech tech support was not much help when I tred them. Thanks, Bob Geller

[LiveOak]

Go to page 21 in the manual, "Inserting a Prefix and/or Suffix"

1) Scan "Laser Scanner Start"

2) Scan "Enter Prefix"

3) Scan "Apple Make"

4) Scan ASCII 1

5) Scan "Apple Break"

6) Scan "Exit Prefix"

7) Scan "Enter Suffix"

8) Scan "Apple Make"

9) Scan ASCII 2

10) Scan "Apple Break"

11) Scan "Exit Suffix"

12) Scan "Exit"

-bd

[rgeller]

Well I had my Unitech Scanner replaced free of charge. The company I purchased through had Unitech ship the latest model with the most recent firmware direct to me since they did not have one. Also I called SNX and explained to them that I had purchased elsewhere and asked if I could buy their manual. They shipped me one for the cost of shipping only. Now I'm still having problems. I can scan data directly into a FileMaker field. When I set up cmd/1 and cmd/2 as prefix and suffix they work to trigger the scripts but the data is skipped. SNX tech support suggested I set terminator as none and then use set up two suffixes. One was the "enter" code under the Macintosh codes and the second was for cmd/2. He thought you could set up two. I tried just a prefix that triggers the script to go to my data entry field and it works but none of the data gets entered. To get the reader to read in data I end up having to reset to factory defaults . Any ideas? Thanks - Bob

[rgeller]

Still having problems with pre and post ambles so I decided to try experimenting with the PC. Connected the wedge and was able to scan fine. I can scan my barcodes into a Filemaker field or notepad document. As soon as I set a CTRL/1 and CTRL/2 for triggering scripts the data itself is no longer entered. Yet if I leave the pre and post ambles that way and just switch over to notepad the data is being entered.

When in FileMaker I have the first script set to just go to field for data entry and nothing else. The second script just went to the next field. I've even had the scripts set to display a message at one point just to make sure they were firing and they are. Just no data showing up. As soon as I reprogram the Unitech to not have any prefix or suffix the data is going in normally again. Please let me know if you have any other ideas. Thanks, Bob

[rgeller]

One last bit of info. I kept playing with this and found that if I just have a prefix that I do get intermitent results with scanning the data. It seems that if I just keep scanning a code it will eventually pick up the data and enter into the FileMaker field. Appears to be random. Anywhere from after the fourth scan to sometimes taking as many as 10 scans before it takes. Seems puzzling. - Bob

[mikerobertson]

try looking in your scanner manual for a way to slow the scanner's text output. i had to do that on mine to get the mac to swallow all the text the scanner was spewing out.

you can probably set a small delay between each character the scanner sends to the computer, and you just set it once and the scanner will retain until it is reset.

i had to do that to get a b/w G3 to recognize all the text, anyway.

hope that helps!

[rgeller]

Thanks Mike, I think your probably on to something with that suggestion. I've tried so many different things I forgot to mention one issue along those lines. When testing on the Mac I could only get the Prefix to run for a while. I then started fooling around with the character delay and bumped it up to 50 milliseconds. It then started to read the suffix also but still did not read the data. The 50 millisecond was the highest number that they had a scan code in the book for. - Bob

[rgeller]

Well, I'm about to give up on this one. I found a code that allowed me to set the intercharacter delay for 500ms and it seems to help. Now when I scan some data gets entered almost every time. Often the complete code is scanned but I'm still having the first few characters dropped on occasion.

If I change over to a file (have worked in both FileMaker and Access) that has nothing defined for the Ctrl/1 and Ctrl/2 I can scan repeatedly with 100% accuracy on scanning. So it seems that there is some issue with the timing on scanning only when there are scripts being triggered. Any other thoughts or suggestions would be greatly apprecitated. - Bob Geller

[mikerobertson]

ok, i have a guess...i hope its a good one!

maybe your script is starting to run before the scanner has finished sending all the characters and that is interrupting the flow of text into your field.

the way i set my scanner up is to have the prefix trigger a script that simply jumps into my input field, then immediately pauses the script indefinitely. then my postfix code actually sends the "enter" key code, which resumes the script as if you clicked the "continue script" button. this gives filemaker maximum time to process the data, and even then with no inter-character delay, filemaker will still drop characters, but i think i set the delay to like 20ms and that fixed it.

if your script is simply jumping into your input field and not pausing for the scanner to send all of the characters, i would think that would cause what you describe.

look! an introduction, body and a conclusion! it's a book report!

hope that helps

[mikerobertson]

i thought of something else, too...

the scanner i have had to have a rather massive delay set to go between the prefix and the first data character sent. i think that what was happening was that the prefix fired the script, and before filemaker processed that and actually got around to jumping into the input field, the scanner had already spewed all of the characters out.

notice that this is a different delay than the inter-character one, it is specifically used to delay the data itself initially, then the characters belt out at top speed, but it gives filemaker a chance to process a lot of seemingly simple tasks like actually starting the script, bumbling into the input field, cleaning its fingernails, and the like.

i re-read your whole post and decided that my last post was totally wrong.

sorry!

[rgeller]

Mike, Once again thanks for all the suggestions. I tried to follow up on what you suspected and even called the company that makes the scanner. A couple of thier tech support folks agreed that there was not any way that you could set a delay between the preamble and data being scanned. I believe from what I'm seeing that the problem you suspect is probably what is happening. I may just be out of luck with this particular setup now. Thanks, Bob

[LiveOak]

I'm sure you are doing it, but make sure when you switch from the Mac to PC that you program the scanner for the correct computer type. The keyboard interface on each computer uses a different character set.

I'm not quite sure why your are having all this trouble. I have used the Unitech scanner on a wide range of Macs and never have to worry about the delay.

This may be obvious, but Code39 requires a beginning and ending "*" be added to whatever you want to scan. The barcode for a 123 is really the barcode font text *123*. I suspect you are doing this if you are having any success at all. Also, what happens if you eliminate the prefix and postscript, click into a field and just try to scan. Does it work every time?

-bd

[rgeller]

Hi Brent. I am using the "*" at the beginning and end of my codes. I had done this through a calculation field. If I eliminate the pre and postambles and just scan into a field either in FileMaker, Access, SimpleText, or Wordpad it scans perfect every time without fail. When I add the pre and postambles then the scripts seem to trigger every time and the data never shows up. - Bob

[LiveOak]

What are your two scripts? What machine are you running on?

-bd

[rgeller]

I have tried a variety of different scripts but what I have mostly used for testing is on the first script to simply go to the input field. At one point I also had it clear the field contents and that helped me to verify that it was working. The second script I set to go to a different field. With both of these set I'm able to catch the cursor jump from one field to the next but the data is not being entered. Without even taking off the pre and post ambles from the scanner I can simply switch from FileMaker to a SimpleText document and scan the same exact bar code and the data shows up every time.

I have tried this on a Macintosh B&W G3 Tower/300MHz and also on a Dell that I believe is a Pentium III running somewhere under 300MHz. I'll have to check that computer when I go back out to that office.

[LiveOak]

My best guess is that something else besides speed is going on. I've used this scanner on much slower machines with no problems. The 500 ms delay you put should have resolved the speed problem (half a second!) if that was the problem.

Try putting a one second pause in at the beginning of you Command-2 script.

-bd

[mikerobertson]

well, this is killing me!

here's what i would try to determine where the problem is.

you said that it will work fine without a preamble and postamble.

my gut instinct says that the postamble running another script is what is interfering. try taking off the postamble, and making the preamble script jump into your input field only, just to see if it can sucessfully run the first script and still get input.

if it won't work that way, i would say you must be experiencing some kind of conflict between the driver/OS/filemaker.

if it works that way, make the first script jump to input field, then pause indefinitely, make the postamble code send an "enter" character instead of running the second script. this will resume the first script, where you could then jump to the second script if this experiment would work.

the only other thing i can think of would be that your input field is located in the "header" part of your layout or something when it is set to "list" view. then it would never accept input. i would also verify that the input field can actually accept keyboard input, just to make sure its not something silly like that. i'm not trying to sound condescending, its just that whenever i get stumped by something, i find it helpful to return back to the very basics.

you said you can see it jump from field to field when it runs your two scripts. does it jump to the input field then pause like its doing something, or is it going from field one to field two very quickly? how many characters are contained in your scanbar?

also, i had problems with a scanner that had the old apple desktop bus type connecter that i had hooked up to a keyspan usb adapter, i had to go to their website and download a special driver to get it to work, even though everything else i had ever hooked up to it required no driver. is your scanner usb or adb? as i recall, you said you had a b/w g3, most of which had both. of course if it works in simpletext that's probably not it anyway.

i can still think of more stuff to try, so keep posting your results if you haven't already thrown your scanner away!

[rgeller]

Appreciate everyone

[rogermax]

This likely will not be helpful other than moral support...

I have never been successful on pc to configure a scanner or a barcode that will trigger a script.

I have always hoped to but without success.

i hope you find a way! We use the scanners for login/out of orders in a print shop