Some customers or in-house procedures will required that a barcode be decoded or outputted.
Products that need to get tested have a traveler (document which contain the history of the product) and related to the UUT serial number and or part number.
When a project requests that serial number or UUT identification be tie in to the testing consider a Barcode scanner (one that can read Linear and 2D type barcodes)
A barcode scanner can be tied in to the keyboard via a special cable or be USB device.
With a properly configured barcode scanner the data can be accepted as text which can be parsed with string functions to extract the needed information.
Use the parsed information you can then related the Testing of the UUT to the UUT’s identification information and create Text,spreadsheet(MS Excel), or a database(ex MS Access(small projects), MS SQL server(bigger projects).
At time the output document requires a barcode of it own or your testing must create document and labels for placing on a passed UUT.
Other departments can used the barcode for shipping or quality purpose, or returns for upgrade or reconditioning.
Some Barcode companies provide ActiveX barcode products which may simplify the tasks
Also dont forget about a barcode printer and label paper( for labels to be place on UUT and/or Documents.