ITrack/Barcodes
Several elements of ITrack and ITrack software utilize barcodes. All ITrack products should utilize a similar barcoding scheme.
Preamble and postamble
Virtually every barcode scanner can be programmed to simulate a keypress combination before entering the barcode contents (the preamble) and after (postamble).
ITrack Pro
ITrack Pro document screens (Sales, Quotes, Purchase Orders) expect a preamble of Ctrl+b and a postamble of \n.
The document screens will take whatever value is between those characters and do a lookup by partnum (the value encoded in barcodes on ITrack Pro tags), and if no values are found by partnum, by UPC (the value encoded into the barcodes printed on most products).
Workclock
The workclock system expects the barcode scanner to provide a preamble and postamble of ':$:'.
LXW
LXW defaults to preamble '~' and postamble '\r', but can be changed via Settings: 'ITrack LX'-'Preamble Character Codes' and 'Postabmle Character Codes'
Barcode Formatting
Depending on the context, the barcode will encode different types of values.
| Objects | Barcode Contents |
|---|---|
| Inventory | *[inventoryid]* |
| Serialized Inventory | *[inventoryid]-[inventoryserialid]* |
| Location | *%[locationid]* |
| Sales Order | *S[storeid]-[salesorderid]* |
| Purchase Order | *P[storeid]-[purchaseorderid]* |
| Transfer Order | *T[transferorderid]* |
| Work Order Job | *J[jobid]* |
| ITrack User | *U[userid]* |
- Encoded location names are currently accepted as alternate location barcode formatting even though it is not standard.
| Actions | Barcode Contents |
|---|---|
| Clock the selected user into a selected job | *+CLOCKIN* |
| Clock the selected user out of an active job | *+CLOCKOUT* |
Caveats
Technically, whole-string barcode scans are treated as locations as a work-around for an existing setup. However, this behavior is NOT supported in the long-term and will be deprecated and removed without notice. Don't rely on it!
Weaknesses
List of things to fix in the current scheme that will cause trouble down the road:
- Inventory ID and InventoryID-SerialID are not prefixed, (potentially) overlapping with number-only string location names
- Inventory ID, InventoryID-SerialID, LocationID do not include storeid, requiring it to be guessed at and limiting its effectiveness if not outright causing bugs
