Android - keep a soft keyboard when using an external keyboard

I am trying to get android tablets and phones to keep the soft keyboard when using an external keyboard. We have a bluetooth barcode scanner that disables the soft keyboard when connected to a device. Is there a way to allow two keyboards to be used so that they can type and scan without changing the input every time?

In particular, we are using Samsung Tab3 but are looking for a solution that works on all androids on all device. More specifically in a web browser. We will be writing a jQuery mobile web application.