Win32 GUI Input or Event

[perldiverx]

I'm creating a program that will take credit card swipe from a USB swiper or the credit card info can be entered manually. I've got a loop currently to read the credit card data being entered from a swiper and I have some buttons on the bottom of the window that the user can press to bring up fields to enter the credit card info into manually (ie card number, expiration date, etc). The problem is that while I'm looping to look for the credit card swipe I cannot accept the user's mouse click on the buttons. Has anyone every done this before/any ideas as how to do it?
Current code:

#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;
use diagnostics -verbose;

use Win32;
use Win32::GUI qw(ES_WANTRETURN WS_VISIBLE WS_VSCROLL );

my ($DOShwnd, $DOShinstance) = Win32::GUI::GetPerlWindow();
#Win32::GUI::Hide($DOShwnd);

my $desk = Win32::GUI::GetDesktopWindow();
my $dw = Win32::GUI::Width($desk);
my $dh = Win32::GUI::Height($desk);

use vars qw/$window $status_bar $button1 $button2 $button3 $card_field
            $sale_field $event_field $card_number_label $option_flag/;

$window = Win32::GUI::Window->new(
    -name      => 'main',
    -text      => "Credit Card Authorization",
    -pos       => [170,130],
    -size      => [625,450],
    -helpbox   => 0,
    -resizable   => 0,
    -maximizebox => 0,
);

my $transaction_info = read_psin();
my @transaction_info = @{$transaction_info};

my $card_type = $transaction_info[0];
my $sale_amount = $transaction_info[1];

$status_bar = $window->AddStatusBar(
    -name     => 'status_bar',
    -text     => '',
);

$window->Change( -onMouseMove => sub {
                     $status_bar->Text('');
                     },
);

$button1 = $window->AddButton(
    -name         => 'manual_dial',
    -text         => '1',
    -size         => [60,25],
    -pos          => [120,355],
    -onMouseMove  => sub {
                         $status_bar->Text('Manual card entry with dia
+l-out for approval');
                         },
);

$button2 = $window->AddButton(
    -name         => 'swipe_phone',
    -text         => '2',
    -size         => [60,25],
    -pos          => [270,355],
    -onMouseMove  => sub {
                         $status_bar->Text('Swipe card entry with phon
+e call for an approval');
                         },
);

$button3 = $window->AddButton(
    -name         => 'manual_phone',
    -text         => '3',
    -size         => [60,25],
    -pos          => [420,355],
    -onMouseMove  => sub {
                         $status_bar->Text('Manual card entry with pho
+ne call for an approval');
                         },
);

$window->AddLabel(
    -name     => 'header',
    -text     => 'Credit Card Authorization',
    -pos      => [160,10],
);

$window->AddLabel(
    -name     => 'card_type',
    -text     => 'Card Type:',
    -pos      => [20,40],
);

$window->AddLabel(
    -name     => 'amount',
    -text     => 'Sale Amount:',
    -pos      => [20,80],
);

$card_field = $window->AddTextfield (
    -name     => 'card_field',
    -text     => $card_type,
    -size     => [180,20],
    -pos      => [90,39],
    -readonly => 1,
);

$sale_field = $window->AddTextfield(
    -name     => 'sale_field',
    -text     => $sale_amount,
    -size     => [180,20],
    -pos      => [90,79],
    -readonly => 1,
);

$event_field = $window->AddTextfield(
    -name      => 'event_field',
    -size      => [360,180],
    -pos       => [120,160],
    -readonly  => 0,
    -multiline => 1,
);

my $card_input = $window->AddTextfield(
    -name      => 'card_input',
    -size      => [480,40],
    -pos       => [90,119],
    -multiline => 1,
    -visible   => 0,
);

$card_number_label = $window->AddLabel(
    -name     => 'card_number_label',
    -text     => 'Card Number: ',
    -pos      => [280,40&],
    -visible  => 0,
 );

$window->Show();
$window->DoEvents();

$event_field->Append("Initializing modem... ");

init_modem();

$event_field->Append("initialized\n");

$card_input->SetFocus();

$event_field->Append("Please swipe card... ");

$window->Show();
$window->DoEvents();

my $input1 = $card_input->GetLine(0);
my $input2 = $card_input->GetLine(1);

while ($card_input->GetLine(1) !~ /\?$/) {  #swipe ends second line wi
+th a question mark
    $card_input->SetFocus();
    $input1 = $card_input->GetLine(0);
    $input2 = $card_input->GetLine(1);
    $window->DoEvents();
    # Win32::GUI::Dialog();         ####working here to take in the cl
+ick event####
}

$event_field->Append("swiped\n");

print "\$input1: $input1\n";
print "\$input2: $input2\n";

my $cc_number;
if ($input1 =~ /^\%B(\d{16})/i)  {
    $cc_number = $1;
}

my $exp_dt;
if ($input2 =~ /\=(\d{2})(\d{2})(.*)/) {
    $exp_dt = $2 . $1;
}

sleep 1;

$event_field->Append("Connecting... ");

[SuicideJunkie]

You didn't mention what you're using to show the GUI... that may be important.

In any case, check out the section "Coexisting with Other GUI Main Loops" from Mastering Perl/Tk

Try using a repeating timer event to check the USB device on a regular basis without preventing window events from being handled

[BrowserUk]

Personally, I'd have a button on the display "Swipe card" and only enter the read loop when the button was pushed.

Alternatively, put the swiper loop in a thread.

[kejohm]

I have never used a credit card scanner but, if they're like barcode scanners, I'm assuming they simply enter their content in whatever has focus, in this case your hidden $card_input textfield. You could use a Change() event on the textfield to tell you when the card has been swiped. Example: (untested)

...
# Create controls

$event_field->Append("Initializing modem... ");

init_modem();

$event_field->Append("initialized\n");

$card_input->SetFocus();

$event_field->Append("Please swipe card... ");

$window->Show();

Win32::GUI::Dialog();

sub card_input_Change {
    my $input1 = $card_input->GetLine(0);
    my $input2 = $card_input->GetLine(1);

    $event_field->Append("swiped\n");

    print "\$input1: $input1\n";
    print "\$input2: $input2\n";

    my $cc_number;
    if ($input1 =~ /^\%B(\d{16})/i) {
        $cc_number = $1;
    }

    my $exp_dt;
    if ($input2 =~ /\=(\d{2})(\d{2})(.*)/) {
        $exp_dt = $2 . $1;
    }

    sleep 1;

    $event_field->Append("Connecting... ");

    ...
}

[perldiverx]

Figured it out. What I did to get this to work is loop checking for one of two flags. The DoEvents method coupled with a while loop checks for both outcomes, albeit not concurrently. I had to put a short sleep timer in the loop or the click would not register. I've also removed the onMouseMove params from the buttons because the mouse clicks were not registering with them on their.

So here's what I changed to get this to work:

use Time::HiRes qw(usleep); #added 

use vars qw/$cc_number $exp_dt/; #add these two

my $input1 = ''; #added these here so I 
my $input2 = ''; #could use them in subs
my $swiped = 0;
my $clicked = 0;

# ...
#old code matched in this section
# ...

$event_field->Append("Please swipe card... ");

$window->Show();
$window->DoEvents();

while ($swiped != 1 && $clicked != 1) {
    $swiped = check_swipe();
    usleep(750000);
    $window->DoEvents();
}

if ($swiped == 1) {
    $event_field->Append("swiped\n");
}

sleep 1;

$event_field->Append("Connecting... ");

sub check_swipe {

    $input1 = $card_input->GetLine(0);
    $input2 = $card_input->GetLine(1);
    
    if ($card_input->GetLine(1) !~ /\?$/) {
        $card_input->SetFocus();
        $input1 = $card_input->GetLine(0);
        $input2 = $card_input->GetLine(1);
        $window->DoEvents();
    }
    
    if ($input1 =~ /^\%B(\d{16})/i) {
        $cc_number = $1;
    }
 
    if ($input2 =~ /\=(\d{2})(\d{2})(.*)/) {
        $exp_dt = $2 . $1;
        return 1;
    }
    return 0;
}

sub manual_dial_Click {
  
    $card_number_label->Show();
    $clicked = 1;
}

[perldiverx]

This old solution was not very good. What I ended up doing was using the keydown event handler and regex'd on that string.