Re: 5250 Field Exit hex code

The variable length input needs to be one of the first two fields. Both of those fields would be defined as Field Exit required. That way, whether the field is filled or not, the cursor would remain in the field after the character input. The Field Exit would advance to the next field. The final field would be one of the fixed length inputs and would be defined for both Field Exit required and automatic record advance. The barcode would fill the field and Field Exit would trigger automatic record advance.

The scanner is USB attached to a Win7 PC running iACS 5250.

The scanner sends ASCII. I tried all the control characters, but none replicated a Field Exit.



-----Original Message-----
From: James H. H. Lampert [mailto:jamesl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 7:33 PM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: 5250 Field Exit hex code

On 2/3/17, 4:44 PM, Justin Taylor wrote:

A TAB can't trigger a submit back to the server, and I can't figure out how to code a Field Exit.

You're right; a Field Exit will trip an auto-enter, a tab won't. I forgot that little detail; it's been a few years since I wrote our emulator. But if a barcode runs you off the end of a field and either falls into the next one, or trips the auto-enter, a Field Exit will (barring certain field specifications that will keep you from falling through to the next field, if I remember right) put you in the wrong field, just the same as a tab.

At any rate, unless I somehow missed it, you haven't said *what* this barcode scanner is connected to. Obviously either a terminal, or something that is emulating one, and I'm guessing that the scanner is somehow emulating a keyboard. The $64 question is in the details of what the scanner is feeding to . . . whatever it's feeding.

If it's feeding ASCII, rather than scan codes, then you've got it easy:
ASCII only has 31 control characters (32 if you include x'7F', Delete, a throwback to the days of punched tape), and you already know that it's not x'09' (horizontal tab). X'0D' (carriage return) could be Field Exit, or it could be Enter.

If it's feeding scan codes, then you need to know WHAT scan codes. If it's emulating a PC keyboard, then you might try a GOOGLE search on "PC Keyboard Scan Codes"; you'll find dozens of references. If it's feeding scan codes to, say, a 3487, then you'd need to find somebody with the keyboard specs for InfoWindow 5250 terminals (all keyboards for InfoWindow and InfoWindow II terminals are interchangeable).

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JHHL