Bar code

[Vinny1512]

Hi all,

I want to set up a data base to record to record employees attendance. Each employee will have a pass with a barcode on. Rather than sign in and out I want to automate our system so that employees swipe in and out.

I have a table which I have assigned a sign in and sign out field which when manually entered I can calculate the time worked. I have sussed yet how to get the now function to record the exact time of both. (sign in and Sign Out).

This is more for H&S requirements to monitor if employees are working over their permitted time of 37.5 hours per week over a 7 week period and in emergency situations if they have left the building, Fire Wardens are not looking for them.

I don't know how to use a bar code reader so that it updates the information on the database. I.E. how does access know to enter the details in the sign in and sign out fields.

Any help would be very, very, very much appreciated.

Thanks a million.

 

[CJ_London]

bar code readers work in the same way as a keyboard - give a control the focus and when the scan is taken, the box will be populated with the scanned data.

how does access know to enter the details in the sign in and sign out fields

it doesn't - you need to tell it - probably with a form controlled with vba.

Strongly recommend you do not have a sign in and sign out field, just have the one with an additional field to indicate in or out - plus a timestamp of course.

Be aware you will need additional control processes to account for human behaviour - what happens if an employee forgets to scan in or out - or scans twice in quick succession by mistake.

There are a number of threads on this subject - suggest you google to find out more

 

[Acropolis]

When using barcode the device is configurable as to the behaviour of what it does once the barcode has been read and what it sends to the computer.

I used bar codes in my system, and the reader sends through an "enter" press once it has read the information.

I would have a barcode for each employee which is there ID in the employee table or similar, they can then scan this which will enter that record into a text box on a form, with a "on key press" event, check for "enter" then the rest of the code as needed follows.

As mentioned previously though, you need to be able to handle human error or double scans in quick succession, my suggestion would be set a timed gap between scans so if the time someone is scanning is within 5 minutes of the last scan they did, then ignore it and don't do anything or something like that.

 

[Vinny1512]

Hi Acropolis,

Thanks sooooooo much for the information. I have set a kind of pass up for each employee each assigned a barcode in administration form.

The pass goes through a swipe bar code reader. It didn't come with software but I'm hoping plug and play will work.

Therefore do I need to write any code, I'm guessing from your reply I done need to add any code.

Thanks a million for your kind help.

Best wishes

 

[Acropolis]

Just think of the bar code scanner as a keyboard, that's basically all it is doing.

You will need your code to do whatever it is you want with the information.