Browser Keyboard Input Steam Handler (for parsing-out SGN barcodes)

barcode-input-handler.js

$(document).ready(function() {
	console.log("Ready!");
});

$("#target").submit(function(event){
	event.preventDefault();
});

function parseBuffer(key, buffer){
	var index = buffer.indexOf(key);
	var value = null;
	
	if (index > -1) {
		value = buffer.substring(index + key.length, buffer.length);
		$('h1').text(value);
	}
	
	return value;
}

var inputBuffer = "";
var barcodes = [];

// Handling the 'keypress' is critical. If you use keyDown or keyUp, 
// you won't be able to reliable detect the special characters.
$(document).on('keypress', function (event) { 

	if (typeof(event.keyCode) == 'undefined') {
		return;
	}

	// If carriage return was detected, search string and dump buffer.
	if(event.keyCode == 13) {
	
		var barcodeLookup = [
				{key: "201|", type: "processorder"}, 
				{key: "mon|", type: "mfgorder"},
				{key: "SGNID|", type: "sgnid"},
				{key: "BOATID|", type: "boatid"}
			];
	
		barcodeLookup.forEach(function(obj, index, array){
			var code = parseBuffer(obj.key, inputBuffer);
			if(code) {
				barcodes[obj.type] = code;
			}
		});
	
		// Access barcode value like so: barcodes[typename]
		$('#barcodeOrderNo').val(barcodes["processorder"] || "");
		$('#barcodeBoatID').val(barcodes["mfgorder"] || "");
	
		// Dump buffer.
		inputBuffer = "";
	}
	else {
		// Fill the input buffer.
		inputBuffer = inputBuffer + String.fromCharCode(event.keyCode);		
	}
});

Still to do is deciding which barcode is which, and then populating the proper target input--and swapping contents if necessary.

Updated to accommodate multiple barcodes read into a collection for easy access. Page level variable "barcodes" persists the valid barcodes.