Scanning barcodes via a WiFi connection?
Scanning barcodes via a WiFi connection?
I've never encountered a WIFI router. Barcode readers function like keyboards. You might locate a tablet with a built-in scanner, though it's not inexpensive. For scanning into a Google document, consider a budget Android tablet paired with a Bluetooth scanner, or a budget Windows laptop combined with a Bluetooth or USB reader. Launch the document on the device and proceed. Tablet offers the smoothest experience. Most basic portable scanners lack the capability to open modern documents like an outdated Windows CE version.
Many of these devices offer serial connections or appear as USB keyboards. When you read a barcode, the unit sends a sequence of data plus control signals. It’s simple to capture this stream using an ESP32 (similar to an Arduino with wireless capabilities) and transmit it over the air to another device or a network site. Alternatively, you can run software on a different machine that periodically checks the web page and retrieves the most recent scans.