Card readers

[vbgladiator]

Hey,

I have a potential client that runs a martial arts school.
What he wants is for each of his students to have an access card that they will swipe each time they come for a lesson.
It will log when they come and how many hours they have trained.

Does anyone know where I can obtain such hardware?
I would need to program the card with First and LastName etc..
I would also need to populate a database with the data.

Thanks,

[rjdpa]

You might be better off just getting a barcode scanner and some laminated badges with barcodes on them. You could for instanace, use the client's phone number as their ID# and encode that to a barcode. There is free barcode software available at http://www.scansecretary.com/ . Might be cheaper for you too. And to get a cheap barcode scanner, check out eBay.

[vbgladiator]

Thanks,

Can I store more information in the barcode?
What is the limit?

thanks a lot

[ajames]

it depends. the more you spend, the more you get.

try "borrowing" one from a supermarket. they can store LOADS. just so long as your pupils don't mind being called "6 pack heiniken", "Fatty Choc Bars", "Ham and pork ready meal" etc.

[vbgladiator]

Also, I'm quite new to this so please have patience.

How would I program the card? Using the bar code reader or are those only for reading?
And where can I but those programmable cards with barcodes on them?

Thanks,

[ajames]

try this website. They are quite cheap (based in uk).
clicky
you're looking at around £10-20 ($19-38 approx.)

[szlamany]

Barcode printing is simple - it's just a different font (many available)...

Some barcode "styles" require things before and after the barcoded value - for instance one style needs an A to start and a B to end the barcode.

So if Id of the individual you want on the card is 1234, your print A1234B with the barcode font and get a barcoded representation of that 6 characters.

The readers are also very simple - they usually plug into the keyboard port on the PC, and the keyboard then plugs into the barcode reader.

That means that the scan of the barcode simply comes into the VB program like it was typed on the keyboard. No additional software or changes to your VB code is required at all. No drivers - nothing.

This is very, very simple to adopt.

I would recommend not buying a cheap reader - bad ones work very poorly and good ones work without effort.

[vbgladiator]

Thanks a lot guys,

Just one more question. How do I program the cards?

[vbgladiator]

bump**

[dglienna]

You use the font that you select, and you print them yourself, either on paper cards, or labels.