How can I read barcodes without having the user focus a text box first?

Question

I recently acquired a Metrologic Barcode scanner (USB port), as everyone already knows it works as a keyboard emulator out of the box.

How do I configure the scanner and

Answer 1

Usually barcode scanners can be configured to send some characters before and after the string. So if you append eg "F12" before the barcode string, you can capture that and move the focus to the right field.

Check the barcode scanner manual how to do that.