Scanning Barcodes

-Raymond

Access Barcode Seminar

Access Developer 27:  Barcode Scanning & Printing, Inventory Control

-Raymond

Can't be sure without seeing comparative scans to see what is different. However, I created a simple app for a small local store a year or so ago that scanned licenses to validate for tobacco and alcohol sales. I used the following code and had no issues:

Text field with scanned data: Scanned

Details


    Dim BDate as String, BDay as string, BMonth as string, BYear as string, DOB as date, Age as long, isValid as boolean
    
    isValid = False
    BDate= Mid(Scanned, InStr(Scanned, "DBB") + 3, 8)
    BMonth = Left(BDate, 2)
    BDay= Mid(BDate, 3, 2)
    BYear= Right(BDate, 4)
    DOB = DateSerial(BYear, BMonth, BDay)
    Age = (Date - DOB) \ 365.2425

    if age >= 21 then isValid = True
    MsgBox "Birthdate:  " & DOB & vbcrlf & vbcrlf & "Age:  " & Age & vbcrlf & vbcrlf & iif(isValid, "OK to Sell", "ILLEGAL - DO NOT SELL")

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They've been using it since with no issues.

I have some code that works but the new licenses have different setup in the scan code data (first pic above I sent).  Still trying to see a fix without buying 3rd party software to scan license.

To answer your initial question whether there are hidden characters in the driver's license barcode, the answer is no.  There is no hidden nor encrypted information in the barcode.  What you see is what you get; or what you scan is what you see!  All US licenses follow the AAMVA Standard (American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators) that use the PDF417 format 2D barcode.  All information scanned is unencrypted without any hidden characters.  The most basic encoded information to decode from the barcode that normally is used are DBB (Date of Birth), DCS (Last Name), DAC (First Name), DAQ (License Number), and DBA (Expiration Date).  As long as you are searching for the "DBB" encoded key and parsing out the 8 characters following the DBB key as in Donald's code above, this should work on all US state licenses that follow the AAMVA standard.  Hope this is of help.

Where can I find a way to hand scan directly into VBA variable?  I tweaked Donald's code to give a different message, but I do not know how to do this without entering scanned data into a text box.

I have tried scanning to "not visible" text box but the form closes before I can see the results

If I "Visible = YES" the text box it works but not with text box visible=not

You'll need some interface to "capture" the scan to pass to VBA. Without using an API call, that's likely either some sort of textbox or at the very least, an open form, that can capture the content and pass it to VBA.

IT WORKS!!  It WORKS!!!

Thank you all!

I find it easiest to use an Unbound text box in my Form set to Not Visible to capture the actual 1D or 2D scanned data. I then parse or capture the data I need for further processing in my VBA routine.

Yeah, I think a textbox is most common, hidden or otherwise, but the one I described above was just a form with nothing on it but a label indicating not to sell tobacco/alcohol products to anyone who wasn't at least 21.

So I just set the forms KeyPreview to yes and then captured the scan in the On KeyPress event to store the data in a variable then when the terminator character passed, process it. If the scan indicated legal, it changed the background color to green, if not, to red. then when the message box closed and the form got focus again, it changed back to normal and cleared the variable for the next scan.

I tried the NOT VISIBLE but the form did not work.  I ended up making the background, border, and text color the same color as the form background