Credit Card Readers

[kltino]

Is it possible to install a credit card reader and have it used against a
particular record in an Access table?

 

[John W. Vinson]

Is it possible to install a credit card reader and have it used against a
particular record in an Access table?

I'd expect most credit card readers are "seen" by the computer as if the data
were coming from the keyboard, so you could setfocus to a textbox on a Form,
scan the card, and the number would fill in to the textbox. You could then use
it just as you would use any other keyboard input - to enter it into a table
field, use it in a search, or whatever.

You might want to check the websites of the reader manufacturers for details
of how their reader works.

 

[Ray]

Most credit card readers are serial devices. With a proper driver or serial
interpreter, it is possible to have the data appear as keyboard input.
However, most simply send the data to a serial port, and leave it to the
programmer to receive and interpret the data. Keep in mind that there are
multiple pieces of data (name, card number, expiration date, etc) that are
read from the card. Unless you simply want to dump all of it into a single
text box/field, you will need to parse the data to extract what you need.

Hope that helps.