>>>>I have a barcode scanner with a built in decoder, plugged into Com1.
>>>>I'm trying to read the barcode that was swiped, and enter the contents into a textbox on a form. I can not get the OnComm event to fire.
>
>::snip!::
>
>>>BTW- I have found wedge-type scanners to be much easier to work with...
>
>>I agree here 1000% - the wedge scanner, which ats as if the data had simply been typed into a field, is much easier to use - no special code needed to access it. that's what we use at Weatherhill for our in-house apps (both the PB Ascent software for our shipping station, and our own code for processing returns. We use a hand-held CE device to collect data in the warehouse, and then dump the stuff back into a data file that VFP processes after the fact for doing inventories and the like.)
>
> I wrote a receiving program last year using a Spectrum 24 RF hand-held scanner and WaveLink Client/Server software. The Spectrum 24 has an alphanumeric keypad and a 20x8 LCD display which I took advantage of to allow the operator to input data by hand in the event the data wasn't available in barcode form. The WaveLink software treats the scanner as a 'dumb terminal', so all the code runs wherever the WaveLink Server software is installed.
> The really sweet part (aside from being TOTALLY mobile) was the flexibility of the solution.

Yep - the same argument in favor of the unit we got for the warehouse from PB (I don't have the model here); there's nothing in the VFP app that needs to know anything when we scan the stuff, so collecting it and dumping it into a text file for VFP to read after the fact works well for us. The CE box and a little bit of VB do all the work in the warehouse, and to the CE app, something that came in through the barcode reader is handled the same way something typed in by the operator would...

> The really sad part (aside from the cost) was trying to fit a receiving screen into a 20x8 display. All in all, tho, it was a lot of fun...
>

That's one reason we have a workstation (with a wedge gun) for receiving. There's an app developed by PB (Arrival) that we use for receiving returns; it's written in VFP, and has the same ODBC and custom VFP code extension capabilities that the Ascent shipping system has, and actually integrates very well with Ascent.

> BTW, FWIW, I agree with the wedge scanner suggestion. Much easier.

Yup. No coding changes is almost always a good thing!