Barcode Scanning & Printing, Inventory Control

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

• Full Course Lessons Page
• Course Topic Outline

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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Questions?

Please feel free to post your questions or comments below. If you are not sure as to whether or not this product will meet your needs, I'd rather help you before you buy it. Remember, all sales are final. Thank you.