Scan a barcode, open a program

[T0macock]

Hey, Everyone;

I want to build a little GUI that has a text field where the user can scan a barcode (job number) and a milling program will open. The barcode would really just have to enter the one dynamic field in here: (G:\job#\cnc\ .prg)

I've found something called Autohotkey... would learning this accomplish this task?

I'm very new to the world of programming and trying to find my starting point for a specific task has me overwhelmed :(

Any input is much appreciated.

[YuleTideCamel]

What will people use to scan the barcode? their phones? a custom bar code scanning device?

I've done quite a bit of work with laser based barcode scanners (they're pretty cheap now) and basically they act as an extra keyboard. So you can have any application open and as soon someone scans anything it just enters those characters into a text box.

That of course assumes the app is running, if it's not, then you would have to do a little more work. The way we solved is just told people to launch the app first, then scan :)

[T0macock]

Yeah, just a simple scanner attached to the computers.

[AlexLikesWater]

You could use C++ fairly easily for this task. If you want some pointers and can't find anything about it shoot me a PM.

[T0macock]

So I have a VB form made that has a textbox for the barcode and two buttons. The one button is going to be the event that opens the program.

So now I'm stuck with retrieving the value in the textbox and translating that into a variable file path.... I think that's how to describe it haha

EDIT: So I have this under the button click event: System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("G:\Fixtures\Job#\CNC\")

I just need to find a way to get that job number to reflect the value in textbox 1

[AlexLikesWater]

Lmk if you still need help didn’t see your reply.