Multiple Scanners

[stoops]

Hello,
We have a server running Windows 2003 with terminal services; all of the clients are thin clients running windows ce, not windows xp embedded. Several of the users enter orders into the system from mailed in order forms. We would like to be able to scan those forms in to the system so that we can have them viewable to everyone through our order processing software and they don’t have to go to the file room every time they need to see the original order.
I already have put together the software to scan and save the images to each order. I got an AnywhereUSB box made by InsideOut networks that allows us to have USB ports attached to our ethernet network; USB over IP. The server attaches to the box using their proprietary software and the USB ports look like local ports to the server. We can put an AnywhereUSB box at each user’s terminal, that gets the scanner to each user’s desk where they will be doing the scanning.

The problem is how can I attach more scanners of the same brand/model to the server and the data sources be kept straight. I also need a way to be able to programmatically select the appropriate scanner for each user’s terminal.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you,
Jerad

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I need to know if TWAIN can select from multiple identical webcams attached to the same computer. The webcams are Logitech QuickCam Pro.

Thanks,
Cosmin.

[Kaij]

Hi Cosmin,

This is definitive not possible. But is not a limitation of TWAIN. The limit is in the lower layers of WIA and USB.

Best regards,
Kai

[stoops]

Well I successfully got two (I’m fairly certain that it will work for more) identical canon scanners hooked to the system with twain. It’s clear that it’s not really a limitation of twain. It took some registry hacking to get things going. I can even change the names that show up in the twain source selection to name each scanner according to its location.
The key to keeping things straight is to setup each scanner one at a time. First plug one in to a usb port and windows will auto install it into the system. Then I rename/reconfigure the canon registry info. (This holds the datasource name and what directory the datasource is in. It also holds what usb port the scanner is hooked to.) and rename the datasource directory in windowstwain_32. Then when I plug another scanner into another usb port and windows auto installs it the other scanner(s) setup doesn’t get overwritten, then repeat the process. Surprisingly simple. It’s pretty cool to see it work so well. I only wish that there was a more standard, abstracted way of doing this that would work with any brand/model of scanner.

[spike]

I kind of want to disagree with Kai (while still appreciating all the support work he is doing on this forum!) – I know that you can plug in multiple Logitech Quickcams – they get different id’s somehow and are all distinct devices at the USB, and video driver level. Unfortunately TWAIN has no concept of multiple units of the same device, so all QuickCams on a system appear as a single TWAIN device. At least, without hacking such as stoops (above) is talking about. Within the QuickCam TWAIN dialog you can select which camera you want to use, but there is no way to control that through TWAIN.

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