[beltramidave]

First of all, I know nothing of using barcodes.
This is what I would like to do: I would like to scan a barcode and link it to open a program file in EMC2.
I have many different programs that I run daily and would like a simple way of selecting and opening a file to run other than drilling through a list of file names.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[underthetire]

Here is a handy list of barcodes
Types of Barcodes

A simple alpha numeric code is easy, if you have a smart phone you can play around with free apps to kind of see what you want. As far as the EMC, i wouldn't know how to help you.

[svenakela]

I happen to work with barcodes every day.
If you buy a simple USB/wedge scanner, the scanner output will be entered as it was keyboard input. If you make barcodes that represents the name of the file, you simply would click Open file in the GUI, scan the barcode and the correct filename will be entered in the file dialog. Not more complicated than that.

In Ubuntu you can install GLabels, it has support for several barcode formats. An EAN128 format allows all characters you need to make it happen. See the attachment.

[beltramidave]

Thank you. I had been told that this would be a simple process, so I didn't get too excited about it when I delivered the machine to my customer. Their IT department have been trying to make it happen and failing.

Is there a simple way of just scanning the bar code without having to use a mouse to click 'open' first? This is being used in a production setting and I am trying to speed the process up with minimal contact (and user error) with the keyboard or mouse.

I don't have the machine or bar code scanner available to use, so any guidance would be appreciated.

Dave

[ger21]

Not the answer you want, but Mach3 can do it.

[beltramidave]

Thanks Gerry. Glad to know that it can be done. Changing to Mach really isn't a option at this time.
I would have to assume that it can be done in EMC...just need to figure out how.

[svenakela]

If the barcode starts with an o, which is the keyboard shortcut for "open", it will do what you want. A barcode like "o/home/beltramidave/gcode/myfile.ngc" will do the trick.

[lwill]

This may be a place to start:
ZBar bar code reader

I looked at it but it is not very well documented, but can also scan from a camera and does 2D codes which can imbed commands.

[beltramidave]

Can' get much easier than that! Thanks again.

[beltramidave]

Can' get much easier than that! Thanks again.

[beltramidave]

As I said originally, I know nothing of barcoding. After looking into creating a barcode, it appears there may be more to it than I thought. It appears that there are many different formats. Is it dependant on the scanner or the program that it will be used for?
What is a good format for what I am trying to do and what program would you recommend to create it?
Once again, all I want to to is create a bar code based on a CAM program file and have it load it into EMC to run.
It doesn't appear that this will be too difficult for me...but I am an electrician by trade.
The knowledge of all the people who belong to these forums is just amazing!

Thanks

[ger21]

Download the font and create your barcodes in Word. Typically, the barcode is just the filename. As long as your software knows what format it's scanning, that's all there is to it.
Free Barcode Font - Code 39 - Not a demo, COMPLETELY free

[beltramidave]

Sorry for the simple questions....How does your software know what format it needs? Or better yet, how do I know what my software needs?

[svenakela]

Sorry for the simple questions....How does your software know what format it needs? Or better yet, how do I know what my software needs?

I've already been giving you the details, use EAN128 (or EAN128b) and you're good to go.
You can make barcodes for free here.
Click the options link to make it bigger.

[beltramidave]

Thanks for the clarification. I am going to try and get my hands on a scanner and try to do this.
One more thing, my machine is running Ubuntu 8.04 and I am using EMC2 (don't recall revision). Just want to make sure that we have been talking of a Linux based system and not Windows as I have been told that there could be differences.

[svenakela]

THERE'S NO WINDOWS IN THE EMC2 WORLD!

[beltramidave]

Finally got my hands on a scanner. The above solution works for populating the 'file open' dialogue box with the correct file. I still have to push 'enter' to load the program. I know that Enter funtion can also be included in the bar code. I have tried to do this and cannot figure it out using different fonts and characters as found throughout the internet.
Can someone give me a hand with this...again. It is possible that my scanner may not be set up correctly as well to accept ASCII commands, but I just need to know that I am using the correct text (oTEST???) to create the barcode.

[svenakela]

You can configure the scanner to include a carriage return after a scan. It shouldn't be in the barcode, if ever possible.

[beltramidave]

Sorry for the lapse in posts, but I have a new machine and am having a different problem. In the last post, I was trying to use a Honeywell 3800G scanner and was finally able to get it to work. Now I have a new machine and the scanner I am trying to use is a Honeywell Hyperion 1300. This is supposed to be a direct replacement for the 3800 as it is no longer available.
I have contacted Honeywell and all they will tell me is that it has not been tested with Linux (EMC2) and it is not supported and they don't offer a scanner that will work.
I am trying to scan a barcode of a filename to automatically open the the file in Linux (EMC2) to be ready to run.
I can scan an 'o' barcode and get the open dialogue box to pop up just fine, but if I scan a 'otest' barcode, the open dialogue box will open, but the the filename will not be populated and here is the weird part...the axis that is selected will jog and the drop down will change from 'continuous' to '.1'.
Anybody have any ideas?

[svenakela]

Try another scanner.