I've been doing a lot of research on different options for reading barcodes for our new children's check-in solution. In the past we have written our applications to use a standard Symbol LS 2208 reader (think the stereo-typical barcode gun). We read the data from the reader through the keyboard input. That's an OK solution but it creates two problems:
- The LS 2208 is a bi-directional type scan engine. That means it projects a single line laser to read the barcodes. Translation: you have to aim your barcode with precision before it is read.
- Reading the data from the keyboard input can but pain when you're also expecting normal keyboard input. To make this work you need to create a buffering algorithm. Ours works OK, but if you rapidly scan a barcode over and over and over it will sometimes read incorrectly.
With our new system we are planning on moving to omni-directional readers that communicate to the software using the OPOS (Open Point of Sale) interface. The omni-directional readers spin the laser light in a patter which reduces the amount of aiming by the user (basically the barcode and be rotated at any angle). While the results are not as good as your grocery store it's much better that the bi-directional readers. We're looking at the Symbol LS 9208 series (see picture above), the MS-3207 or possibly the Metrologic MS7120 Orbit for our final solution. You pay more for these readers, but the user experience is much better.
We're also going to be moving from reading the data from the keyboard and using OPOS instead. We found free .Net OPOS wrappers from Monroe Consulting Services that seem to work real well. The alternative approach is to use the Symbol OPOS ocx control.
We hope these two changes will lead to great improvements to our current system. I'll keep you posted on the results.
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