Welcome

In this class, we're doing some more work with managing inventory. If you want to scan or print barcodes for your databases, then there is some great material here. Even if you don't plan to use barcodes, there's lots of stuff that I haven't covered before, like the new WebBrowser control and downloading files from the Web. Watch the beginning of Lesson 1 for details.

We're doing more work with recordsets. We'll be managing individual units instead of just products. So you can print out barcodes for each unit (track a unique serial number for each one). We'll cover scanning those items in and out of inventory. We'll learn how to recognize what type of code was scanned (part number or serial number).

Resources

Topics Covered

In Lesson 1, we'll discuss the types of barcode scanners, the different types of barcodes, 1D and 2D barcode symbologies, using your cell phone as a barcode reader, creating a product table with a barcode field, creating a form to scan a barcode and look up a product.

In Lesson 2, we'll learn how to scan a product and have it automatically added to an invoice. We'll also check to see if the product is already on the order, and if so, increment the value by one instead of adding lots of line items. We will also learn how to scan a product and perform a Google search on it to display details. Great for books or any product with a UPC barcode.

In Lesson 3, we'll learn how to print barcode labels. We'll talk about the Code39 barcode and why I prefer it for Access databases. I'll show you how to install a FREE Code39 barcode font. Then we'll see how to create custom barcode labels for our products and print them out from Access.

In Lesson 4, we'll learn how to print multiple labels for the same product, so if you want to print out 10 copies of the same label, it's easy to do. We'll create a button on our Product Form to create individual labels, and then a button to clear the table once we've printed.

In Lesson 5, we'll learn how to use the Google Charts API and the WebBrowser Control to display QR Codes (2D barcodes) in your forms. QR Codes are great for detailed product info, employee name badges, whole web page URLs, or any time you want to display an image for someone to scan with their phone to get detailed information.

In Lesson 6, we'll learn how to download the QR code from the web and save it as a local file on our hard drive, in a folder under the current database folder. Then, you will see how to display that file as an image in a report so we can print employee name badges.

In Lesson 7, we'll merge the barcode "stuff" into our Developer database. We'll copy the scan box, create a product list form, I'll show you how to synchronize two open forms, we'll create a product form, and we'll make a product barcode lookup box for scanning.

In Lesson 8, we'll create a method to manually adjust inventory. This is useful when you receive product shipments from your vendors. Just scan the items in. We'll create a combo box where we can select either a lookup scan, remove from inventory, or add to inventory action. We'll change the quantity on hand of the product scanned. We'll include logic to prevent negative inventory.

In Lesson 9, we'll add tracking individual unit serial numbers. We'll create a unit table and form as a subform under the product form. This way you can track each of the 200 individual photon torpedoes you have in stock, what their serial numbers are, and to which Klingon you sold them to on the Orion black market. We'll create a barcode report for serial number labels, and a button to mark them printed when finished.

In Lesson 10, we'll add the ability to scan barcodes from products or serial numbers to our order form. If it's a serial number then we cannot increment the quantity, we have to add a new line item with the unique barcode. We'll check to see if this unit is already on another order and generate a warning if so. We'll put barcodes on the printed invoices.

In Lesson 11, we'll add the printed barcode labels from the products that we designed earlier. We'll add the ability to print as many labels as we want in a loop, and mark the labels printed when we're done.

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Comments for Access Developer 27

Age	Subject	From
10 months	Access Developer 27	Cameron Pirie

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Intro

In this lesson, you will learn how to work with barcodes in Microsoft Access, including scanning items for inventory tracking, handling unit serial numbers, and managing products with barcodes. We will cover different types of barcode scanners and barcodes, using your phone as a scanner, adding barcode fields to tables and forms, and scanning products to look up or add to orders. You will also learn how to print barcode labels, generate and work with QR codes, download and display QR codes in reports, synchronize data between forms, adjust inventory, and track serial numbers for individual units. This is lesson 27.

Transcript

Welcome to Microsoft Access Developer Level 27, brought to you by AccessLearningZone.com. I am your instructor, Richard Rost.

In today's lesson, we are going to cover pretty much everything there is to know about using barcodes with Microsoft Access. Even if you are not planning on scanning and printing barcodes yourself, you will find these lessons useful. I will be talking about scanning items into and out of inventory, including tracking unit serial numbers.

You can skip the lessons on printing barcodes if you are never going to print, but if you are ever going to do any kind of inventory control, the rest of the lessons will be great as far as tracking product codes, unit serial numbers, and so on. Plus, there is some extra cool stuff in here like using the web browser control and downloading images from the web. There is extra stuff in here for everybody.

This class follows Access Developer 26. A lot of the database that we use in this class is the database that we have been building over the last couple of classes. If you have not taken 26 and before, you might be a little lost, so go take 26 first.

Of course, I expect that you have a solid foundation in all my beginner, expert, advanced, and other developer lessons, especially from 16 on when we cover record sets. I am using Access 365, roughly equivalent to 2016 or 2019.

If you have any questions regarding the material covered in today's class, scroll down to the bottom of the page that you are on right now and post them there. Take a minute to read through any other questions that have been posted, as your question may have already been answered. That happens a lot. Also, make sure you click on the subscribe button for this page to make sure you get notified if any other questions, comments, or addendums are posted.

As always, if you have Access questions that are not related to today's class, go ahead and post them in my Access forum.

Now let's take a closer look at what is covered in Access Developer 27.

In lesson one, we will discuss the types of barcode scanners, the different types of barcodes, 1D and 2D barcode symbologies, using your cell phone as a barcode reader, creating a product table with a barcode field, and creating a form to scan a barcode and look up a product.

In lesson two, we will learn how to scan a product in and have it automatically added to an invoice. We will also check to see if the product is already on the order and, if so, we will increment the value by one instead of adding lots of line items. We will also learn how to scan a product and perform a Google search on it to display details. This is great for books or any product with a UPC barcode.

In lesson three, we are going to learn how to print barcode labels. We will talk about the code 39 barcode and why I prefer it for Access databases. I will show you how to install a free code 39 barcode font. Then, we will see how to create custom barcode labels for our products and print them out.

In lesson four, you will learn how to print multiple labels for the same product. If you want to print out ten copies of the same label, it is easy to do. We will create a button on our product form to create individual labels, and then a button to clear the table once we are printed.

In lesson five, we are going to learn how to use the Google Charts API and the web browser control to display QR codes, which are 2D barcodes, in your Microsoft Access forms. QR codes are great for detailed product info, employee name badges, whole web page URLs, or anytime you want to display an image for someone to scan with their phone to get detailed information.

In lesson six, you will learn how to download a QR code from the web and save it as a local file on your hard drive in a folder under the current database folder. Then, you will learn how to display that file as an image in a report. This way, we can print employee name badges.

In lesson seven, we are going to merge the barcoding stuff that we have done in with the developer database. We are going to take the barcode scanning text box that is on the order form and add that over here. We are going to build a product list form. I will show you how to synchronize two different open forms. If you click on something in the product list, it will automatically jump to the product form as well. Then, we will put the product code lookup scan box there on the product list form.

In lesson eight, we are going to add the ability to manually adjust our inventory from the product list form. We will make that scan box so we can pick from a combo box whether we are going to just look up, add to inventory, or subtract inventory. This way, when we scan a product, if I have got add to inventory selected, it will add a unit each time. If I go to subtract from inventory, it will take stuff out of inventory by subtracting a unit, and we will put logic in there to prevent them from going negative.

In lesson nine, we are going to start tracking serial numbers. We have made a product code that tracks unique products like this particular hard drive, this particular stool, or whatever you are selling. Now we are going to track serial numbers for individual units. If you are selling hard drives, you have all the same product, you have ten of the same hard drive, but this is unit one, unit two, unit three, unit four, and so on. We will print out serial number barcodes for each one of them. We will track that in your database. We will make a table that is part of it. It is a subform underneath the product form where we can say, click on the button add units, I am going to add ten of these, and it will add ten labels to your system, and print them out. Mark them as printed so we know those ones are good. Then, now we will get ready to scan them in the next lesson.

In lesson ten, we are going to scan those serial number barcodes onto our orders. Again, we will program the barcode scanning field so it will know whether you scan a serial number or a product number. It will look it up appropriately in the database. It will add it to the order. It will not do that increment trick where it just adds one to the quantity. If it sees it has got a serial number, that is to be a separate line item. We will check to see if that serial number has been used on a different order. We do not want to scan the same barcode twice. Then, we will print the barcodes on that person's invoice so they have them and then we are all set with that.

In lesson eleven, we are going to integrate the printing of the barcodes from the product table that we did in one of the earlier lessons. We are just going to add them into the developer database so everything is nice and together. We will also make it so we can print any number of barcode labels because remember in the first lesson, we just did one at a time. This one will again ask the user how many they want. We will make a button to print them and then a button to mark those labels as printed.

Quiz

Q1. What is one of the primary topics covered in Access Developer Level 27?
A. Working with macro security in Access
B. Using barcodes with Microsoft Access
C. Building Excel dashboards
D. Securing SQL Server connections

Q2. According to the video, which barcode symbology is preferred for Access databases?
A. QR Code
B. UPC-A
C. Code 39
D. Data Matrix

Q3. What feature is discussed in lesson one regarding barcode scanners?
A. Installing barcode scanner drivers for MacOS
B. Using your cell phone as a barcode reader
C. Programming barcode scanners in Python
D. Repairing broken barcode scanners

Q4. What happens in lesson two when a scanned product is already present on an order?
A. The product is removed from the order
B. An error message is displayed
C. The quantity for that product is incremented by one
D. A duplicate line item is added

Q5. Which lesson covers how to print barcode labels for products?
A. Lesson Two
B. Lesson Four
C. Lesson Three
D. Lesson Eight

Q6. What is the focus of lesson five in the course?
A. Editing barcodes in Photoshop
B. Displaying QR codes with the Google Charts API
C. Creating Word mail merges with barcodes
D. Encrypting barcode data

Q7. What is the main purpose of tracking serial numbers in the database as described in lesson nine?
A. To track unique units of the same product
B. To identify product suppliers
C. To record customer purchase histories
D. To summarize monthly inventory

Q8. In lesson eight, what new functionality is added to the product list form?
A. Exporting form data to Excel
B. Manually adjusting inventory
C. Sending barcodes by email
D. Scanning receipts

Q9. What is the function of the web browser control in lesson five?
A. Rendering product manuals
B. Displaying QR codes from the web
C. Uploading images to the internet
D. Translating product descriptions

Q10. According to the video, what should you do if you have Access questions not related to today's class?
A. Search on Google
B. Email Microsoft support
C. Post them in the Access forum
D. Wait for the next class

Q11. In lesson six, what are you taught to do with QR code images?
A. Edit them in Access
B. Download and save them locally, then display them in a report
C. Print them from your browser
D. Convert them to UPC barcodes

Q12. What logic is implemented to prevent negative inventory amounts in lesson eight?
A. Inventory cannot be adjusted from the form
B. Users are warned but allowed to continue
C. Logic prevents subtraction beyond zero
D. All inventory changes are hidden

Q13. What is included in lesson seven regarding open forms?
A. Merging duplicate product entries
B. Synchronizing two different open forms
C. Encrypting form data
D. Closing all forms on startup

Q14. If you want to print multiple copies of the same label, which lesson should you refer to?
A. Lesson Four
B. Lesson Seven
C. Lesson Ten
D. Lesson Eleven

Answers: 1-B; 2-C; 3-B; 4-C; 5-C; 6-B; 7-A; 8-B; 9-B; 10-C; 11-B; 12-C; 13-B; 14-A

DISCLAIMER: Quiz questions are AI generated. If you find any that are wrong, don't make sense, or aren't related to the video topic at hand, then please post a comment and let me know. Thanks.

Summary

Today's video from Access Learning Zone focuses on everything you need to know about using barcodes with Microsoft Access. Even if you do not plan on printing or scanning barcodes yourself, these lessons will offer useful tips and examples, especially if you are interested in inventory control or tracking unit serial numbers. The lessons are designed to benefit anyone who wants to handle product codes, serial numbers, or even experiment with advanced features like using the web browser control and downloading images directly from the internet.

This course builds upon the database developed in Access Developer 26. If you have not completed that or the earlier lessons, especially from lesson 16 onwards where we discuss record sets, I recommend you catch up with those first. I am working in Access 365, which is similar to Access 2016 and 2019, so you should have no trouble following along in recent versions.

If you have questions about any topics in this course, I encourage you to post them at the bottom of the page where you are watching this video. Please review existing questions first because there is a good chance your question may already be answered. Also, make sure you subscribe on the page to stay updated if new comments or addendums are posted. If you have Access questions unrelated to this lesson, use the Access forum instead.

Let me walk you through the structure of Access Developer 27:

In lesson one, I introduce the main types of barcode scanners and the various kinds of barcodes, including both 1D and 2D symbologies. I discuss how you can use your phone as a barcode reader, then move on to how to set up a product table with a barcode field. The lesson finishes with creating a form to scan barcodes and look up products in your database.

Lesson two covers scanning a product and automatically adding it to an invoice. We will include logic to check if the product is already on the order, so instead of creating duplicates, it simply increases the existing quantity. Also, I will show you how to scan a product and run a Google search to gather more details about it, which is especially handy for books or anything with a UPC.

In lesson three, we start working on printing barcode labels. I will explain why the code 39 barcode is ideal for Access databases and walk you through installing a free code 39 barcode font. Next, you will learn how to set up custom barcode label reports and print them for your products.

Lesson four shows you how to print multiple labels for a single product. If you need several copies of the same label, I will demonstrate how to create a button on your product form that generates these labels and another button to clear them from the table once printed.

Lesson five introduces the Google Charts API and the Access web browser control so you can show QR codes, which are 2D barcodes, right on your forms. QR codes are great for sharing detailed information, such as employee name badges or web page URLs, accessible by scanning with a phone.

In lesson six, I demonstrate how to download QR code images from the web and save them as files on your computer, organized under your current database folder. You will then display these images in reports, which makes tasks like printing name badges very easy.

Lesson seven focuses on integrating all the barcoding features into the developer database. We will add the barcode scan text box to the order form, build a comprehensive product list form, and set up synchronization between open forms. This means clicking on a product in one form highlights it in another. The scan box for product code lookup will also be added to the product list form.

In lesson eight, I help you add inventory management controls to the product list form. With a configurable scan box and a combo box selection, you can choose whether to look up details, add to inventory, or remove from inventory. The lesson also covers logic to prevent negative inventory values.

Lesson nine introduces tracking individual item serial numbers. While we already track products, here we go further and monitor unique serial numbers for each unit sold. For instance, you might have several of the same hard drive model, but now we will tag and print unique serial number barcodes for each one, update the database, and handle label printing. These steps get us ready to scan those individual serial numbers in the next lesson.

Lesson ten is all about scanning serial number barcodes onto orders. The system can now identify if you have scanned a serial number or a product number and updates the database properly. For serial numbers, each scan creates a separate line item rather than incrementing a quantity. Checks are in place to ensure serial numbers are not reused. You will also be able to print barcodes right on the customer invoice for future reference.

Finally, in lesson eleven, I bring barcode label printing from earlier lessons into the main developer database, so your workflow is streamlined and efficient. You will be able to print any number of barcode labels you need, with buttons to print and mark them as printed.

To see a complete video tutorial with detailed, step-by-step instructions on all these topics, please visit my website at the link below.

Live long and prosper, my friends.

Topic List

Types of barcode scanners
Barcode symbologies 1D and 2D
Using a cell phone as a barcode reader
Creating a product table with a barcode field
Creating a form to scan and look up products
Scanning products into invoices automatically
Incrementing item quantities on duplicate scans
Performing Google searches for scanned products
Printing barcode labels in Microsoft Access
Installing and using a free code 39 barcode font
Designing custom barcode labels for products
Printing multiple barcode labels for the same product
Buttons to create and clear barcode label tables
Displaying QR codes in forms using Google Charts API
Embedding QR codes with the web browser control
Downloading and saving QR code images locally
Printing QR codes as images in reports
Printing employee name badges with QR codes
Synchronizing product list and product forms
Adding barcode scanning to product list forms
Manually adjusting inventory with scan box and combo box
Adding and subtracting inventory with barcode scans
Logic to prevent negative inventory counts
Tracking unique unit serial numbers for products
Printing serial number barcodes for individual units
Creating subform tables for serial number management
Marking printed serial numbers in the database
Scanning serial number barcodes onto orders
Distinguishing product numbers from serial numbers in scans
Preventing duplicate serial number scans in orders
Printing barcodes on customer invoices
Integrating product table barcode printing into main database
Printing user-specified quantities of barcode labels
Button to mark labels as printed after printing