Linking external/third party hardware to access

[JCHutchinson]

Hi,

I am building a database for the processing of bulk items that are weighed upon delivery and entered into the system automatically from the scale to the correct fields in access.

I was wondering what is the first thing you would need to know when it comes to linking external hardware devices and how do you go about doing it??

Do i need to know about the software that comes with the scale or does access have an easy way of integrating external devices like scales or scanners etc??

Thanks for your help ,
JCHutchinson

 

[The_Doc_Man]

It will all be about the device driver's behavior. If the device behaves like a terminal, for example, you would open the port to that device, send it some sequence, and get back a reply. If that was how it worked, you could just open it using the OPEN verb in VBA.

If the device driver is a bit more exotic, though, you might have a harder time working with it. So the first thing to do is see how the device presents itself. If you don't have a user's manual, you are - to be clear about it - pretty well hosed.