I have an application to acquire periodic information on approximately 300 condos. The form begins with unit and owner description fields in the following order:
Unit Address
Owner Name
Owner Email
Unit Description
I would like to be able to be able to scan a bar code upon entry and have it populate these fields. Current plan is to use a laptop and key in the info but . . . typing errors, time, look up list, etc, all problems with this approach. Any thoughts?

This should work.
http://zbar.sourceforge.net/index.html

Have you seen the new square bar codes that use an all new approach.More info stored.

William not knowing the requirement, but I would think that information would not be stored on a bar code but in a database. If the current data is available all that is needed is a code. 300 separate codes is not many in the form of a code. From memory and I could be wrong but 4 letters give over 300,000 combinations 3 letters nearly 20,000.
What I am saying is use a 3 letter code to interrogate the database to populate the form. randomize the 26 letters to give a 3 letter code that is checked for uniqueness for each address. Cuts out the need to scan, bad scan prints etc.As, instead of a scan on a piece of paper you have ABC or CBA >>20,000 that is all that needs to be typed in. Each condo has its own assigned code, only change is occupants and that is a database update/correction. Add a Condo produce a unique code> add data to database.