Scripting: Customize process & Automate tasks

Almost every data collection solution, whether it is around green screen terminal emulation or newer web based applications, requires customization. Our scripting capability provides a robust and flexible way for customizing our solution using our TE and Browser.

The scripting engine is based on JavaScript and allows you to automate any manual interaction with our application. JavaScript is an open standard scriptable language, which is familiar to programmers and non-programmers worldwide and is extensively used for building rich web applications. Scripts are saved as plain text files and may be edited and tested right on the device. Scripts can be also imported to or exported from the device. The scripts may be embedded within a Web page, bound to a physical key or invoked via one of several "event" triggers.

The Scripting capability is built into our TE and Browser products and provides an interface to:

  • Manage the device OS (read write files, interact with device registry, launch and terminate other applications, hide Start bars, play beeps, sounds etc.)
  • Control the device peripherals (intercept barcode scanner / RFID reader data for parse, validation, manipulation and reformat, send jobs to printer, read Magnetic Stripe Reader data etc.)
  • Programmatically interact with application (search for or submit text on a TE screen, dynamically inject HTML into Web page, exchange data between sessions, reposition cursor, prompt user for input etc.)

These capabilities provide the foundation to build any customized data collection application. They can help you transition to web applications and add capabilities to existing TE applications.

JavaScript.
Our Scripting capability uses the industry standard JavaScript scripting language. This powerful language is familiar to programmers and non-programmers world-wide as the core of rich web applications. With JScript, the Microsoft version of JavaScript, additional features are available such as the ability to use ActiveX objects in scripts.
On-device Script Editing.
Scripts are saved as part of our application configuration and can be edited and tested right on the mobile device. Scripts can be imported and exported via text files on the device as well as loaded dynamically from files.
Cross Session Scripting.
All our TE and Browser products allow up to 4 simultaneous sessions. Scripts can access and control any or all sessions. For example, you could extract text from one TE session and insert it into a different TE or web browser session and vice versa.
Automation Objects.
Automation Objects are available to access and control the state of the application, the state of a TE or web browser session, the mobile device, and the Windows CE Operating System. Together these objects provide a rich set of features to simplify routine steps or build complex applications. For example, you can use an automation object to examine the current screen contents to trigger special actions.
Enriched Web Browser Applications.
Our Scripting engine can interact with a web browser session to enrich existing web applications that were not written for a mobile device. For example, key bindings can be added to activate items in the page and scanned barcode or RFID data can be directed to input elements.
Workflow Automation.
Scripts can be used to automate routine tasks. The task may be a simple login process or a complex set of steps in your host application.
Event Activated Scripts.
There are several events within our TE and Browser that will automatically run associated scripts. For example, when a barcode is read, the script "OnBarcodeRead" will execute, if it is loaded, and will allow arbitrary processing of the barcode data before it is submitted to the TE or web browser session.
Key, Button, and Menu Activated Scripts.
Like most other application actions, scripts can also be tied to any key combination, a toolbar button, or a context menu.
Timer Activated Scripts.
Scripts can be scheduled to run at a future time or run periodically.
Host Activated Scripts.
Host applications can also invoke scripts using special commands within the TE data stream.