Member Avatar for chrisbrandon

I work at a transport company that my co-workers and I would like to see join in on the wonders of the 1980's. We use a lot of paper and ink (not to mention time) writting down stuff that a barcode scanner could do for us.
I got to sit in on a discussion between my boss, his boss, and an IT guy. After a lenghtly discussion, and a lot of evasive answers, the answer was that a scanner wont work. I spoke out of turn, (I was expected to remain silent,) and asked, "companies all over the world do this, why can't we?." He said that truckmate will not exchange information with other programs.
Truckmate is a freight tracking software. Does anyone have experience with this program? Can anyone tell me how to find info on it? I have found lots of sites telling me how great it is, but no real information on it's capabilities.
I know this is a specialised kind of question, and this may not be the best place to look for answers, but any help, or ideas on were to look for help will be very much appreciated.

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described a manual data-capture workflow that the team wants to replace with barcode scanning, and correctly pushed to find who holds the vendor/support contract. Practical next steps and realistic integration paths follow — they focus on identifying what TruckMate actually exposes (files, DB, exports, or a programmatic interface) and on low‑risk ways to prove a scanner can be used without breaking production.

  • Identify the installation and backend: check the TruckMate "About" info, installation folder, running services, and any listed database (SQL Server, Oracle, DBF files). Presence of a SQL engine or ODBC driver makes direct access or safe imports much easier.
  • Look in the app for Import/Export/EDI/Interfaces or Reports->Export options and any “incoming” folders used for batch loads. Vendor import templates, if present, are the preferred route.
  • Quick live test: set a handheld scanner to HID (keyboard) mode so scans act like typed input and try entering values into a data-entry screen. This often works with legacy apps without any integration work.
  • If terminal/DOS style, investigate terminal-emulation scripting or screen-scrape automation as a temporary bridge; if GUI-only without exports, consider a middleware that converts scanned CSVs into whatever batch-import format TruckMate accepts.
  • If direct DB writes are contemplated, insist on vendor guidance or documented table/schema to avoid corrupting application state.

Cautions: always trial changes in a test environment, keep full backups, validate data mappings, and implement simple checks (duplicates, required fields). If the vendor still claims "no integration," request written interface docs or escalate via the support/maintenance contact suggested. A small POC — keyboard-emulation scan into a real input screen or a CSV-to-import test — will prove feasibility with minimal cost.

Member Avatar for Salem

Ask your IT guy where the support contract for this program is placed.

What kind of program is it? It seems like it's some 40 year old DOS fossil from the way you describe it.

> We use a lot of paper
So your process is something like
- you write stuff on paper
- a typist transfers that to various on-screen forms of truckmate
- truckmate prints something


> He said that truckmate will not exchange information with other programs.
This is mostly bull-honkey
It's got input and output, so whilst it might be hard, I don't think it would be impossible.

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