Hey everyone! I'm diving into some programming with Honeywell barcode scanners, specifically using EZConfig to set them up for our shipping team. We're facing a challenge with barcodes: they come in two formats - some look like 2016589-001 and others like S-2016589-001. Our goal is to extract the seven-digit number from both types. I've managed to limit the first format to 7 characters easily, but I'm running into a snag with the second one. I tried to suppress the letter 'S' and the hyphen, along with the seven-character limit, but it seems to count the suppressed characters, resulting in only 5 characters being scanned. Any insights on how to tackle this?
6 Answers
When working with Honeywell scanners, you can set it to ignore certain prefix characters and read a barcode up to a specified length. It also helps to know what format the barcodes are in, as some formats may allow for built-in prefix/postfix ignoring. You could either set a length rule or ignore a postfix, but I wouldn’t do both together for clarity's sake.
The 'S' is usually a prefix for serial numbers. Be aware that prefixes can vary in usage depending on what field you're scanning into. Are you scanning into a single field or multiple fields on the handheld device?
While I haven't used Honeywell, here's what works on my Zebra scanner for your example: erase all rules, initiate a new rule with a 13 character length, skip 2 characters, and capture the next 7 characters. You can also set one for an 11 character length with the same capture settings. This configuration might help your issue.
I find it easier to manage this kind of filtering in the software instead of the hardware. Have you thought about increasing the character limit to 13 for the second barcode? Or at least something greater than 9? That might help you pick up more characters.
Yeah, they're scanning into a field in Salesforce, so I have to be careful with the character limits.
Double-check the barcodes themselves. A lot of issues I've come across with scanners relate to poorly formatted codes from third parties.
I believe the barcodes are generated in Salesforce, so I'm not sure about that.
Have you tried suppressing the first two characters and counting from there? That might give you what you need.
I'm worried that might throw off the count for the first type, which is also tricky.
We're scanning all of them into the same field and needing the same 7 characters from each.