ENTER or FIELD EXIT, that is the question

[gregwga50]

Not sure if this belongs in the DDS section but I couldn't find a better spot

We have some scan guns that have a keyboard in which ENTER and FIELD EXIT do the same thing. We purchased some new scan guns for which that is not the case. We have some users that are accustomed to both keys performing the same function. So when they have a numeric field that contains 300 and they key 56 in front of the 300 and press ENTER, it produces 56300 when they expected 56. I am told by the mgmt that mapping both keys to do the same is not an option (it will lead to other issues, I am told). I am told that doing this programmatically is the only option if it can be done at all.

[Barbara Morris]

I'm don't completely understand, but here's some thoughts I have about whether it's possible to do it correctly, programmatically.

Would the entry field start out blank, so they first type 300 and then try to fix it with 56? If so, I don't think there's any way to handle that programmatically. Even if you know it's that type of scan gun, I don't know how you could tell that 56300 is supposed to be just 56. Especially if they coded 123 first and tried to change it to 45. Should you assume that 45123 was 123 first and they tried to change to 45, or assume that it was say 23 first, and they tried to change it to 451.

Or would the 300 have already been there, and they are trying to update it with 56? If so, you MIGHT be able to disregard the 300, if you can be sure they didn't actually update it with 56300.

I guess if you know the value is too big, you could prompt again for the correct value. But if they first put 4 and then 5, so you get 54, it might pass a length check.

[MFisher]

Seems like you need to know where the cursor is when they hit <enter> , and take the values to the left of the cursor that were just entered, disregarding the rest of the field.

[Peder Udesen]

Some years ago I suggested a change in Access Client Solutions to "left justify values when entering numeric field and right justify when leaving".
This would solve the problem you, I and all other have.

https://ibm-power-systems.ideas.ibm.com/ideas/IBMI-I-1981

Users today are not used to use Field Exit and are maneuvering around on the screen using arrow keys, tabulator or by using a mouse.

Unfortunately thsi was rejected as all other requests for enhancement concerning DDS.
I'm not sure if IBM has stopped changing DDS for displays. It hasn't changed since 2013.