It appears that the typical window.onkeypress events are not readily available as in a standard web application. However, one potential solution could involve automatically focusing on an invisible/transparent/hidden TextInput when no other TextInputs are currently engaged.
import React, { useEffect } from "react";
import { StyleSheet, Text, TextInput, View } from "react-native";
export default function App() {
const invisibleRef = React.useRef(null);
useEffect(() => {
invisibleRef.current.focus();
}, []);
const focusInvisibleInput = (e) => {
e.preventDefault();
if (invisibleRef.current) {
invisibleRef.current.focus();
}
};
return (
<View style={styles.container} onTouchStart={focusInvisibleInput}>
<TextInput
ref={invisibleRef}
autoFocus={true}
autoCorrect={false}
autoComplete={false}
style={{ opacity: 0 }}
onChangeText={(text) => console.log("hidden", text)}
/>
<TextInput
style={{ height: 40, borderColor: "gray", borderWidth: 1 }}
placeholder="Type something here"
onChangeText={(text) => console.log("visible", text)}
/>
<Text>A nice react native app!</Text>
<TextInput
style={{ height: 40, borderColor: "gray", borderWidth: 1 }}
placeholder="Type some thing else here!"
onChangeText={(text) => console.log("visible", text)}
/>
</View>
);
}
const styles = StyleSheet.create({
container: {
flex: 1,
backgroundColor: "#fff",
alignItems: "center",
justifyContent: "center",
},
});
Additionally, you might consider implementing a generic input handler to measure the speed of text input and determine whether it is automated scanning or manual entry. For example, receiving 20 characters within 50ms could indicate a scan rather than manual input.
While there may be more efficient methods for achieving this goal, I have not found any alternative solutions at the moment.
I hope this information proves helpful!