On Thu, Nov 10, 2011 at 12:25 PM, Doran, Michael D <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> We would like to use an iPad-compatible Bluetooth barcode scanner to scan Codabar barcodes into form inputs of a web app. Does anybody have any experience doing something like that?
I've had good luck with the CipherLab 1660 BlueTooth barcode scanner.
I've used it with an iPad but have been most recently paired with an
iPod Touch. Worked with iOS 4 and works with iOS 5.
The scanner runs on two AAA batteries. CCD based scanner. Reasonable
performance. I've used it with codabar and code 128. It supports other
symbologies.
Pairing with an iOS device requires scanning some programming barcodes
-- you will want to keep those handy.
Pairing a bluetooth keyboard with an iOS device disables the on-screen
keyboard. The CipherLab 1660 has a button that will bring the
on-screen keyboard back up -- this way, you don't need to un-pair the
scanner to type.
There is currently no programmatic means to give an input field focus
in mobile Safari. As far as I can tell, Safari intentionally ignores
all attempts to do such a thing. In most cases, this is a win in terms
of user experience.
Repeated scanning of barcodes into a web page in mobile Safari will
benefit from using AJAX to post the form. You'll need to tap once in
the field to accept input, then as long as the field does not lose
focus, you can keep scanning without needing to tap each time.
If you're interacting with another portion of the page in between
scans, you'll likely need to tap to focus again before scanning the
next item.
All in all, it works relatively well. We're working on making a lot of
workflows mobile and getting away from the "laptop on a cart in the
stacks" model.
-jeff
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