Synchronize barcode reader with SAP Gui

[Former Member]

Hi,

to speed up the order entry in transaction VA01 we've added a small dynpro which collects the line items before sending them to VA01.

Now the users are using a barcode reader to enter the product code. In the current configuration the barcode reader is sending an additional ENTER after each product code to perform some checks and to jump to the next field.

The problem is that the user is scanning the next item before the SAPGui is ready for input again (it's still executing the checks initiated by ENTER). This results in characters being lost without notification by the user, because they are not checking the screen after each scan.

Configuring the barcode reader to send TAB instead of ENTER is no solution either since this will result in problems when the screen is full and the user does see it.

Is there anything I can do to prevent that the input is corrupted?

TIA,

Martin

[RichHeilman]

Hi Martin, I've seen that same thing at my company. We got rid of the problem just by upgrading the sapconsole to 6.40, with this release, there was something added, a screen which says " Processing.......... " when the system is processing the data. It is the only thing on the screen at the time and returns control back to the user when complete. This does not keep them from scanning but does keep them from scanning in your your custom screen(which may or may not be helpful) WIth this message, by itself, this did not fix our problem, but it did give the users something to look at instead of a the same screen being locked up. The user did not know whether the system was ready or not, so they kept scanning.

In conclusion, I think you need to do two things. a) Get to SAPconsole 6.40, so that the processing message will be there, b) train the users to look at the screen, if it says "Processing", then they MUST wait.

Regards,

Rich Heilman

[Former Member]

Hi Rich,

unfortunately these users are working with a standard SAP Gui having the barcode reader plugged in between keyboard and PC - emulating keyboard input (so in fact the same problem would occur if they'd be able to type fast enough)

Our SAP Console is used for a completely different scenario using RF scanners. Fortunately they do only scan single items.

Thanks,

Martin

[RichHeilman]

Ah... I see, we do something simular on the shop floor, user uses transation CO12 to do confirmations. They do have to pay attention to what they are doing, but the scanner will do a down arrow after each scan and put the cursor in the next row of the table control. The user still needs to hit page down when at the end of the visible rows of the TC. When all production orders are scanned, they hit save, which does everything at one time.

What standard SAP transaction are you referring to.

Regards,

Rich Heilman

[Former Member]

Hi,

"down arrow" is definitely a good idea and goes into the same direction my "TAB" was targeting. We're talking about VA01. We've added an additional popup screen containing a table with 16 lines where they can enter the line items without having to go through all verifications.

With a "down arrow" I'll have to face the problem that the cursor will jump to the first line if I go down from the last line, so they'll overwrite everything scanned in so far.

"TAB" - I've just realized - is not option either. There're other fields in a row ready for input. So a "TAB" would jump to these fields.

Martin

[RichHeilman]

Right, your requirement sounds just like what we've been doing. You may want to try to implement a "Down-Arrow" for the postamble in the scanner, the user will simply have to pay attention to what is going on on the GUI, if they are at the last line, they need to hit the page-down, or you may be able to find a barcode that they can scan which will be the "Page-Down" function on the gui. Then they can just scan that barcode instead of hitting a key on the keyboard.

Regards

Rich Heilman

[Former Member]

This sounds good to me as it would reduce the risk of making errors to one time per 16 scans instead of 16 times per 16 scans.

Thank you!

[Former Member]

HI Martin..

I need help on barcode reader integration with SAP. Actually we have such requirement..so i want to know how we can integrate this device with sap such that when it read barcode it should reflect in sap. is there any bapi for this or other method..please explain me in detail..

thanks in advance and hpoing your answer.