Re: [Zope] Barcodes, magnetic cards, etc.

2000-08-27 Thread Jan H. Haul

On Wed, 23 Aug 2000, Erik Enge wrote:
 
  And, by the way, do you know if there exist a magnetic card scanner
  that plugs in to the PS/2?  And if yes, which information would get
  from such a card?  Just a number, or are there other possibilities?
 
 [Curtis Maloney]

 What is on the card is, strangely enough, what is on the card.  Magstripe
 readers commonly interface to ps/2 keyboard ports via a 'chok' or 'wedge',
 which just plugs inline with your regular keyboard.

Several vendors (afair, Keytronic and Cherry at least) make
keyboards with integrated magnetic or smart card readers, both in
regular PS/2 format as well as smaller keyboards for the POS
(cash register) market.
In effect, these keyboards behave such that when you swipe a
card, the contents of the selected track (magnetic cards usually
have three tracks, see the relevant ISO standards for details) is
"typed". Often, the magnetic card data is prefixed by an
identifier, but that's about it. If you swipe a card (or scan a
barcode with your keyboard-attached barcode reader) while in a
text editor, you'll see what the reader "types" just as if the
user typed it.

Most of the barcodes are standardized, albeit by different
standards bodies. UPC, EAN and such are used on food cans and the
like. 2 of 5 and similar are used for various purposes, e.g.,
labelling sample bottles for medical labs so you are not treated
for that other person's ailments...

Use your favorite search engine on bar codes and magnetic cards.
This is not really a Zope issue, as Zope never notices that the
article ID or whatsnot was scanned, not typed.

Jan

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Re: [Zope] Barcodes, magnetic cards, etc.

2000-08-23 Thread Kapil Thangavelu

Erik Enge wrote:
 
 Good morning, people.
 
 I was wondering, can Zope interface to barcodes, magnetic cards
 (e.g. credit cards) and other common shop-"accessories"?
 
 Feedback is greatly appretiated :)
 

zope is a great integration platform. anything you can touch in python
either through natively, swigged(www.swig.org), or just plain old
intefaced(piped shell call, xml-rpc, etc) you can play with in zope.


kapil

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Re: [Zope] Barcodes, magnetic cards, etc.

2000-08-23 Thread Curtis Maloney

On Wed, 23 Aug 2000, Erik Enge wrote:
 Good morning, people.

 I was wondering, can Zope interface to barcodes, magnetic cards
 (e.g. credit cards) and other common shop-"accessories"?

Well, I have used Zope with a Barcode scanner.  Since the scanner (as do 
most) work via the keyboard, AS a keyboard, there is really nothing special 
to do.

We did include some JavaScript to make the focus change when ENTER is hit, 
since the scanner sends that at then end of a scan.

input type="text" name="name" onKeyUp="if (event.which == 13) { 
document.forms[0].NextField.focus(); }"

 Feedback is greatly appretiated :)


From what I can find (working for a company that sells barcode and mag stripe 
scanners) you should have little trouble finding either that will interface 
as a keyboard.

Have a better one,
Curtis Maloney

dtml-var standard_work_disclaimer

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Re: [Zope] Barcodes, magnetic cards, etc.

2000-08-23 Thread Erik Enge

[Curtis Maloney]

| Well, I have used Zope with a Barcode scanner.  Since the scanner
| (as do most) work via the keyboard, AS a keyboard, there is really
| nothing special to do.

Ok, so it translates the barcodes to a string or what?

Which scanner was this?  Product, model type, etc.
 
| From what I can find (working for a company that sells barcode and
| mag stripe scanners) you should have little trouble finding either
| that will interface as a keyboard.

What is the mainstream format for the codes when the are scanned in?
 
| Have a better one,

I will - you too :)

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Re: [Zope] Barcodes, magnetic cards, etc.

2000-08-23 Thread Curtis Maloney

On Wed, 23 Aug 2000, Erik Enge wrote:
 [Curtis Maloney]

 | Well, I have used Zope with a Barcode scanner.  Since the scanner
 | (as do most) work via the keyboard, AS a keyboard, there is really
 | nothing special to do.

 Ok, so it translates the barcodes to a string or what?

No, it types the barcode, as if it were a keyboard.  MOST barcode scanners 
I've encountered (Intermech, Symbol, various others) plug into AT or PS/2 
keyboard ports, and act exactly as keyboards.


 Which scanner was this?  Product, model type, etc.

Check out http://www.umd.com.au/contents.html


 | From what I can find (working for a company that sells barcode and
 | mag stripe scanners) you should have little trouble finding either
 | that will interface as a keyboard.

 What is the mainstream format for the codes when the are scanned in?

I don't understand what you mean.

 | Have a better one,

 I will - you too :)

Curtis.

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Re: [Zope] Barcodes, magnetic cards, etc.

2000-08-23 Thread Curtis Maloney

On Wed, 23 Aug 2000, Erik Enge wrote:
 [Kapil Thangavelu]

 | zope is a great integration platform. anything you can touch in python
 | either through natively,

 Is there a repository or somesuch where I would find a more complete
 index of all devices Python can interface to?


Well, you could start at http://www.python.org  and go from there.  Try the 
search link.

Their link to Vaults of Parnassus is good, too. http://www.vex.net/parnassus/

Curtis.

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Re: [Zope] Barcodes, magnetic cards, etc.

2000-08-23 Thread Erik Enge

[Curtis Maloney]

| On Wed, 23 Aug 2000, Erik Enge wrote:
|  What is the mainstream format for the codes when the are scanned in?
| 
| I don't understand what you mean.

Are the barcodes usually a collection of integers, characters, special
characters or what?

And, by the way, do you know if there exist a magnetic card scanner
that plugs in to the PS/2?  And if yes, which information would get
from such a card?  Just a number, or are there other possibilities?

Thanks.

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Re: [Zope] Barcodes, magnetic cards, etc.

2000-08-23 Thread Curtis Maloney

On Wed, 23 Aug 2000, Erik Enge wrote:
 [Curtis Maloney]

 | On Wed, 23 Aug 2000, Erik Enge wrote:
 |  What is the mainstream format for the codes when the are scanned in?
 |
 | I don't understand what you mean.

 Are the barcodes usually a collection of integers, characters, special
 characters or what?

Ah.. now we come to the interesting parts. (o8

Different barcode character sets contain different symbols.  Mostly, however, 
they will contain letters and numbers.  Take a look at an item with a 
barcode, and you will see a string underneath it.  This is the human readable 
form of the barcode.

 And, by the way, do you know if there exist a magnetic card scanner
 that plugs in to the PS/2?  And if yes, which information would get
 from such a card?  Just a number, or are there other possibilities?

What is on the card is, strangely enough, what is on the card.  Magstripe 
readers commonly interface to ps/2 keyboard ports via a 'chok' or 'wedge', 
which just plugs inline with your regular keyboard.


 Thanks.


Not a problem.

Curtis.

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[Zope] Barcodes, magnetic cards, etc.

2000-08-22 Thread Erik Enge


Good morning, people.

I was wondering, can Zope interface to barcodes, magnetic cards
(e.g. credit cards) and other common shop-"accessories"?

Feedback is greatly appretiated :)


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