What it does
 Support for the Welch Allyn Scanteam 3400 barcode scanner as supplied (second hand) by www.laser.com.
Attach the scanner to your serial port, start the connector, and a xAP message is sent each time you scan a barcode.
I use this to scan things as I throw them away, automatically generating a shopping list to replenish the items I've used.
Others have suggested using the barcode scanner as a means of controlling WinAmp (perhaps using Ian Lowes xAP winamp plugin) or other MP3 players - scan your CD case, and match the barcode to the album title. Ideal for technophobic SWMBO's!
Supported Platforms
The software supports Linux and Windows. It should also run under Mac OSX, but has not been tested. If you have success with an unsupported platform, please let me know / submit patches.
Instructions
Connect the scanner to a free serial port. Ensure that the scanner power cable (a keyboard cable passthrough connector) is connected. The scanner should light when the trigger is pressed, and will beep once to acknowledge a successful scan action. Note that with no software running the scanner will only perform a single scan, since the pending scan is buffered.
If more than one xAP enabled application is installed on the PC to which the scanner is connected, it will be necessary to install a xAP Hub.
Command Line Options
xap-barcode [serial port] [instance name] [network interface] [udp port] [debug level]
where:
serial port is the serial port the scanner is attached to. Under linux this has the form /dev/ttyS0. Under Windows, the serial port may also be specified using conventional DOS notation such as com1. If unspecified, defaults to the first serial port.
instance name is the xAP instance name assigned to this barcode scanner. Typically this might reflect the physical location of the barcode scanner (e.g. Kitchen) where multiple scanners are in use. The default instance name is Scanner.
network interface is the network interface used for outgoing xAP messages. On a Linux and Windows PC host these are named eth0, eth1. Under OSX they are named ne0 etc. By default, eth0 is used. On a Windows PC which has multiple adapters installed, even if they are not active, eth0 may not represent the active interface - some experimentation may be required!
udp port is the UDP port xAP broadcasts on. By default xAP uses its officially allocated port, 3639. Using an alternative port can be useful during isolated testing, however. Be aware that the use of ports below 1024 will fail unless the application is run by a user with administrative privileges. The use of ports below 1024 therefore has security implications and is not recommend.
debug level determines the verbosity of the output written to stdout. Verbose output can be useful for debugging unexpected behaviour. By default, the debug level is 0. Increasing levels of detail may be specified, up to a maximum of 4.
Download
Barcode connector source (requires xAPlib)
Barcode connector windows executable (requires cygwin dll)
The standalone plug-in is simpler to install, in that it requires no network configuration, but the Comfort serial UCM must be connected to the same computer that Homeseer runs on.
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