CASH REGISTER/POS Filemaker Integration
Lewis
I'm wondering if anybody has had any success with incorporating a point of
sale type system into filemaker?
Is there a plugin of somesort available?
Cheers,
Lewis
Nicolay Flaaten
I am not sure, but maybe this is what you are looking for?
Cash register, but in German....
Nicolay
Helpful Harry
> Hi there,
> I'm wondering if anybody has had any success with incorporating a point
> of sale type system into filemaker?
> Is there a plugin of somesort available?
>
> Cheers,
> Lewis
A well-built FileMaker solution can act as a full cash register / POS
system quite easily.
For a small shop you can get away with just a computer and printer
running FileMaker (regularly backed up with backups stored off-site of
course). No plug-ins are needed. The user simply manually enteres data
via a keyboard, perhaps picking items using a two-step pop-up menu
system, eg. menu one says "Food Items" and menu two narrows down
products to just food so they can choose "Cadbury Chocolate Bar".
For a more "sophisticated" (read as "expensive") system you can add a
handheld barcode scanner and even an electronically opening cash
drawer, but you would probably need at least one plug-in so that
FileMaker can choose which "printer" to use (the printer for the
receipt or the "printer" to open the cash drawer) at the appropriate
step in the process. The barcode scanner itself doesn't need a plug-in
and can be set-up to convert the barcode to the appropriate code number
and then tab to the next field (either Quantity to be manually entered
or the net item line ready for the next scanned code), with the
operator starting and ending each transaction process.
I've never looked into it, but it may even be possible to link the
FileMaker solution to credit card / EFT-POS / cash card purchases as
well, but many shops do these as two separate processes anyway.
Helpful Harry
Hopefully helping harassed humans happily handle handiwork hardships ;o)
-- Posted on news://freenews.netfront.net - Complaints to ne...@netfront.net --
Nicolay Flaaten
<nflaaten_deltetethis@online_hatespam.no> said:
Sorry, here is the url that I forgot to add to my last posting.
http://www.fileworker-service.de/
Nicolay
Lewis
We just bought a cash drawer/receipt printer & Barcode scanner which hooks
up via USB.
I guess the problem I'm having is we already have a very complex Filemaker
database in use (with our inventory mirrored on our website), and I'm
having trouble getting my head around how to incorporate a standard retail
pos into the equation. I was hoping someone here might have an fp7 I might
have a peak at?
To Nicolay,
Fileworker does look suitable, but I'm assuming it is not open source, I'd
like to be able to tweak it... unfortunately Ich spreche kein Deutsch!
I found something similar here,
http://www.christianjames.net/products.html but that seems like an
all-in-one solution.
Thank you both very much for your helpful suggestions!
Cheers,
Lewis
--
Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/
Lewis
Is it possible to have a separate "Kiosk" style setup in filemaker that
can access my existing Filemaker database? E.g; one file containing my
inventory and contact tables, the other (Kiosk) generating invoices and
operating the POS system?
Please excuse me if it seems obvious, I'm a bit of a novice!
Cheers,
Lewis
Helpful Harry
<lew...@iinet.com.au> wrote:
> I have a more clear idea on what I'm after now...
> Is it possible to have a separate "Kiosk" style setup in filemaker that
> can access my existing Filemaker database? E.g; one file containing my
> inventory and contact tables, the other (Kiosk) generating invoices and
> operating the POS system?
> Please excuse me if it seems obvious, I'm a bit of a novice!
> Cheers,
> Lewis
You can have a separate file or under newer versions of FileMaker Pro
you can simply separate Tables within the same file. Either way you
would have different Layouts for different purposes: entering
transactions, printing a receipt / invoice, keeping track of stock,
etc.
Basically you would probably need to have a Table for individual
Transaction / Invoice records which uses a relationship to another
Table for Invoice Items (ie. one record for each line item on the
invoice - one for "5 x widgets" another for "6 x doohickeys", etc.). As
it is created each line item record would automatically copy the
current price from the Inventory Table.
Then, depending on how your existing inventory system is set-up, you
might need a button to run a script at the end of processing each
transaction which prints the receipt and subtracts the appropriate sold
items from the inventory. Or you might be able to have the Inventory
Table automatically work out the remaining stock using a Relationship
from the Inventory Table to the Invoice Items Table.
Either way, you would also need a method to add back when new stock
arrives, which you might already have or could require another new
Table (Stock Orders), which could mean the Stock Remaining could be a
calculated number using Relationships, based on product codes, to the
InvoiceLineItems and StockOrders Tables.
eg.
StockRemaining = Sum(StockOrders::Quantity)
- Sum(InvoiceLineItems::Quantity)
FastWolf
>I have a more clear idea on what I'm after now...
>Is it possible to have a separate "Kiosk" style setup in filemaker that
>can access my existing Filemaker database? E.g; one file containing my
>inventory and contact tables, the other (Kiosk) generating invoices and
>operating the POS system?
>Please excuse me if it seems obvious, I'm a bit of a novice!
This sounds like it would be a fascinating project to work on. Yes,
you can have a separate FMP file for your Kiosk. That's how I would
do it. Keeping the inventory and POS systems separated but linked
would be more reliable. And backing up (and testing retore of)
everything regularly is a must.
Good luck.
--
FW
FileMaker Pro 8.5 Advanced on Windows XP Pro SP2
FileMaker Server 8.0 on Windows 2003 Server R2
Lewis
Have you Made a POS system in Filemaker before?
On Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:25:28 +1000, FastWolf
<wolfs...@nospamcomcast.net> wrote:
> On Sat, 05 Jul 2008 12:39:28 +1000, Lewis <lew...@iinet.com.au> wrote:
>
>> I have a more clear idea on what I'm after now...
>> Is it possible to have a separate "Kiosk" style setup in filemaker that
>> can access my existing Filemaker database? E.g; one file containing my
>> inventory and contact tables, the other (Kiosk) generating invoices and
>> operating the POS system?
>> Please excuse me if it seems obvious, I'm a bit of a novice!
>
> This sounds like it would be a fascinating project to work on. Yes,
> you can have a separate FMP file for your Kiosk. That's how I would
> do it. Keeping the inventory and POS systems separated but linked
> would be more reliable. And backing up (and testing retore of)
> everything regularly is a must.
>
> Good luck.
>
--
MAP
> On 2008-07-03 04:19:17 +0200, Lewis <lew...@iinet.com.au> said:
>
>> Hi there,
>> I'm wondering if anybody has had any success with incorporating a point
>> of sale type system into filemaker?
>> Is there a plugin of somesort available?
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Lewis
>
> A well-built FileMaker solution can act as a full cash register / POS
> system quite easily.
>
> For a small shop you can get away with just a computer and printer
> running FileMaker (regularly backed up with backups stored off-site of
> course). No plug-ins are needed. The user simply manually enteres data
> via a keyboard, perhaps picking items using a two-step pop-up menu
> system, eg. menu one says "Food Items" and menu two narrows down
> products to just food so they can choose "Cadbury Chocolate Bar".
>
> For a more "sophisticated" (read as "expensive") system you can add a
> handheld barcode scanner and even an electronically opening cash
> drawer, but you would probably need at least one plug-in so that
> FileMaker can choose which "printer" to use (the printer for the
> receipt or the "printer" to open the cash drawer) at the appropriate
> step in the process.
Depends. The driver for the Receipt printers I work with (Epson
TM-T88IV) includes an option to open the drawer before or after printing
(the cable to to drawer actually conects to the printer itself). BTW,
previous models of this printer (TM-T88III) used to be very slow when
used with Filemaker, but the TM-T88IV is plenty fast.
HTH
Marc
FastWolf
>Thanks for your support Wolf!
>Have you Made a POS system in Filemaker before?
Can't say that I have.
--
FW
>
>
>On Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:25:28 +1000, FastWolf
><wolfs...@nospamcomcast.net> wrote:
>
>> On Sat, 05 Jul 2008 12:39:28 +1000, Lewis <lew...@iinet.com.au> wrote:
>>
>>> I have a more clear idea on what I'm after now...
>>> Is it possible to have a separate "Kiosk" style setup in filemaker that
>>> can access my existing Filemaker database? E.g; one file containing my
>>> inventory and contact tables, the other (Kiosk) generating invoices and
>>> operating the POS system?
>>> Please excuse me if it seems obvious, I'm a bit of a novice!
>>
>> This sounds like it would be a fascinating project to work on. Yes,
>> you can have a separate FMP file for your Kiosk. That's how I would
>> do it. Keeping the inventory and POS systems separated but linked
>> would be more reliable. And backing up (and testing retore of)
>> everything regularly is a must.
>>
>> Good luck.
>>
FileMaker Pro 8.5 Advanced on Windows XP Pro SP2
Lewis
I'm not completely sure how newsgroups work, but I think I deleted a
really informative message from someone regarding this & the use of the
TROI plug-in, is it possible for it to be re-posted?
Lewis
--
Lewis
I'm not completely sure how newsgroups work, but I think I deleted a
really informative message from someone regarding this & the use of the
TROI plug-in, is it possible for it to be re-posted?
Lewis
Helpful Harry
<lew...@iinet.com.au> wrote:
> Hi everybody,
> I'm not completely sure how newsgroups work, but I think I deleted a
> really informative message from someone regarding this & the use of the
> TROI plug-in, is it possible for it to be re-posted?
> Lewis
Usenet Newsgroups are public bulletin boards, so you can't delete a
message as such ... so always think carefully before clicking on the
"Post" button that you do actually want the entire world able to read
it for the rest of time. :o)
Depending on how you are reading newsgroups, you can mark messages as
"read" on your computer so that it decreases the amount of messages and
clutter you see. You either have to re-load old messages (which can
depend on how long your newsserver retains messages) in your
newsreading program or use somewhere like Google Groups which has a
longer retention time than most ISP-based newsservers (although you may
have to wait a day or two for new messages to appear).
I can't see anything about the Troi plug-in, but for the "back issues"
of this topic, try this link:
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.databases.filemaker/browse_thread/th
read/f661fa47d758e236/2080f78140dea87a?lnk=st&q=%22CASH+REGISTER%2FPOS+F
ilemaker+Integration%22#2080f78140dea87a
Jens Rasmussen, Fimano, Denmark
Just wanted to add that I have done someting similar to a POS system.
Not with a drawer, but with bar codes. The investment in a bar code
scanner should be well worth it. Symbol is a good brand and is now
owned by Motorola, btw. It has a stand so you can place it on the
counter.
If you test the input from e.g. a EAN-13 bar code in TextEdit, you
will probably find that a trailing CR is hard to get rid of. But this
can be used if you have a custom dialog appear when the user is
expected to scan an item.
Jens Rasmussen
Helpful Harry
<53494eec-2bb6-4f46...@27g2000hsf.googlegroups.com>,
With at least some barcode scanners, you can use a barcode in the
manual to change the settings of the scanner to include a Tab on the
end instead of a carriage return ... which of course make a POS system
easy since you can scan the barcodes continuously with FileMaker using
the trailing Tab to jump to the next field / Portal row.
Helpful Harry
Harry <helpfu...@nom.de.plume.com> wrote:
> In article
> <53494eec-2bb6-4f46...@27g2000hsf.googlegroups.com>,
> "Jens Rasmussen, Fimano, Denmark" <fim...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Nicolay, good to see you here!
> >
> > Just wanted to add that I have done someting similar to a POS system.
> > Not with a drawer, but with bar codes. The investment in a bar code
> > scanner should be well worth it. Symbol is a good brand and is now
> > owned by Motorola, btw. It has a stand so you can place it on the
> > counter.
> >
> > If you test the input from e.g. a EAN-13 bar code in TextEdit, you
> > will probably find that a trailing CR is hard to get rid of. But this
> > can be used if you have a custom dialog appear when the user is
> > expected to scan an item.
> >
> > Jens Rasmussen
>
> With at least some barcode scanners, you can use a barcode in the
> manual to change the settings of the scanner to include a Tab on the
> end instead of a carriage return ... which of course make a POS system
> easy since you can scan the barcodes continuously with FileMaker using
> the trailing Tab to jump to the next field / Portal row.
The other way is to leave the carriage return and simply use a looping
script which pauses for the user to enter the barcode. You can use a
barcode of "0" (for example) to signify that scanning has finished for
each individual transaction and so end the loop.
Lewis
I have completed the invoicing system, but have no idea how to trigger the
cash drawer which connects to the computer via USB through the POSIFLEX
PP-7000II which I have tested as working with MYOB retailbasic. Is there a
script I can run to open com ports & trigger the drawer to open? How do I
format the receipt?
Cheers,
Lewis
Helpful Harry
<lew...@iinet.com.au> wrote:
> Hi,
> I have completed the invoicing system, but have no idea how to trigger the
> cash drawer which connects to the computer via USB through the POSIFLEX
> PP-7000II which I have tested as working with MYOB retailbasic. Is there a
> script I can run to open com ports & trigger the drawer to open? How do I
> format the receipt?
> Cheers,
> Lewis
I've never used a cash drawer, but as far as I understand it you should
be able to simply "print" something to the drawer and it will open. The
problem is that FileMaker itself can't change printers, so you would
need a plug-in or use AppleScript / Windows equivalent to do it.
Another way might be to plug the cash drawer into the back of the
receipt printer (or vice-versa) so that printing the receipt also
triggers the cash drawer.
FastWolf
<helpfu...@nom.de.plume.com> wrote:
>In article <op.ugp9l...@monkey.local>, Lewis
><lew...@iinet.com.au> wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>> I have completed the invoicing system, but have no idea how to trigger the
>> cash drawer which connects to the computer via USB through the POSIFLEX
>> PP-7000II which I have tested as working with MYOB retailbasic. Is there a
>> script I can run to open com ports & trigger the drawer to open? How do I
>> format the receipt?
>> Cheers,
>> Lewis
>
>I've never used a cash drawer, but as far as I understand it you should
>be able to simply "print" something to the drawer and it will open. The
>problem is that FileMaker itself can't change printers, so you would
>need a plug-in or use AppleScript / Windows equivalent to do it.
Harry, this is brilliant! I was puzzling over how to do this all
weekend and you just nailed it like it was nuthin! Bravo, man.
Lewis, this is from a Windows perspective: now that Harry's gone and
solved the thing, it should be fairly straightforward to write a
simple batch file that sends *some* signal to a com port if that's all
it takes to trigger the drawer. You can call that batch file using
the Send Event script step.
hope this helps
--
FW
drwe...@gmail.com
I am searching a simple POS solution made in Filemaker to use during our annual event. It would be nice if I could get your file to have a look on how to get started and modify it to our needs...
Thanks in advance !
Kurt
www.cu-lan.be