New POS version 6.39a released on 6-27-06

[Dale Harris]

Bug fix. The new APRINT2 program which sends the print data to USB printers would spool thousands of pages then crash if you tried to print any “Report.” This has been fixed in version 6.39a
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In the sale screen the "Stock number" and "Description" columns have swapped positions.
Click here to see the new screen http://keyhut.com/pos.jpg


New features this time are all in the “Groups” feature. To use “Groups” go to the stock table (where you can enter new items) and press [F6].

New “Groups” menu…

[F5] Do not use groups.
[F6] Use groups as an option.
[F7] Use groups as the default.
[F8] Groups default, menu default.
[F9] Use stock table as default.

The “Groups” feature allows you to pick items from a menu and then from the stock table as the default method of entering items into a sale.

The first change to “Groups” is that if you use options [F7], [F8], or [F9] then from either the groups list page or a stock table page you can press the [+] key to total the sale without first returning to the normal purchase screen.

Next, if you use menu option [F7] then after picking an item from a stock table page you will be returned to the same stock table page, you have to press [ESC] to return to the list of “Groups.” The thought here is that if you pick one item off of a stock table page that the next item will be from that page also. Use option [F8] to always return to the “Group” list after picking an item from a stock table page.

Here is a new feature for stores with a really small number of items in their stock table. It was designed with something like a snack bar, theater concessions stand, etc. in mind but will work for any store with few items.

If you have very few items in your store (less then 40) then using the “Groups” list is kind of pointless. It is much better just to go directly to the stock table.


If you go to the stock table and press "[F6] Groups" you will have an additional option of "[F8] Stock table default" This will make the first page of your stock table the default method of entering items into a sale. Now when you go to "1. Purchase" in the POS.EXE program the first page of the stock table will be displayed like...

<pre> 1|A|SMALL POPCORN | 2.50
2|B|MEDIUM POPCORN | 3.25
3|C|LARGE POPCORN | 4.00
4|D|EX. LARGE POPCORN| 4.75
|E| |
5|F|SMALL SODA | 1.00
6|G|MEDIUM SODA | 1.25
7|H|LARGE SODA | 1.50
|I| |
8|J|HOT DOG | 1.75
9|K|POLISH | 2.00
10|L|BAG OF CHIPS | 0.75
11|M|SMALL CANDY | 1.00
12|N|LARGE CANDY | 1.50
13|O|SOFT PRETZEL | 1.50
14|P|NACHOS | 2.50
15|Q|EXTRA CHEESE | 0.50
16|R|CUP CAKE | 1.00
|S| |</pre>

Now to ring up an item into a sale you can type in the stock number and press [ENTER], scan the lightbar down to the item and press [ENTER], or press the letter displayed to the right of the stock number (you will not have to press [ENTER] ).

After selecting the item you will be returned to the regular purchase screen to enter the price and the quantity and then returned to the stock table to pick your next item.

However if you have set the "Scanner" feature in the POSCONFG.EXE program to "Always scanned" the program will use the stock table price as the price and a quantity of "1" and you will not leave the stock table. In this case to ring up another of the same item all you will have to do is press [ENTER] because the last item rung becomes the default for the next item to be rung.

Another new feature is that pressing [+] from the stock table page will total the sale just like from the regular purchase screen.

If you are in the stock table page pressing [ESC] will return you to the regular sale screen so that you can do reductions, park, discounts, etc. Pressing [F1] from the regular purchase screen will return the stock table page to the default.

So what does this mean, really? Well you will not have to put stock numbers on things because they are all displayed on the screen. If you have more than 20 items you can display additional pages by pressing [PG UP] / [PG DN].

And you can ring up items really quickly. (Assuming that you have the scanner set to "Always") all you have to do to ring up 3 medium popcorns and 2 small sodas it to press [B] three times, [F] twice, then [+], then you are at the point of choosing the payment method.

Pretty easy, pretty quick.

<center> http://keyhut.com/pos3.htm </center>

When you go there you will notice that you have the option of downloading only one file or downloading two smaller files that will each fit on a separate floppy disk.

[Granita]

Yippee!!!!!!!!

Thank You!

Did this include any updates to Aprint2?

[Dale Harris]

APRINT2 was not changed. Jon ran into problems with APRINT2 but with information supplied by Jon I was able to solve the problem by modifying the FILEINFO program.

[Sulk]

I've been reading the groups feature. It's a time saver. Unfortunately, it's a bit to small for our business. Maybe you can put in a lot more groups than the initial 20, as well as having a deeper submenu in the future.

Since we're running a hardware/construction store, I'm planning to put in the first layer of groups would be paints, lumber, electrical, screws, nails, etc. Then the submenu of paints would be: gallon, liter, 1/4, 60ml. Then the submenu for that would be, enamel, acrylic, tinting, etc. And so on.

Just my 2 cents.

[Andrew]

Sulk,

The entire purpose of the groups function is focussed on stores with an inventory of only a few items, as Dale mentioned - or to get for larger stock tables, get access to popular/frequent items.

It is to allow quick access to those few stock items they do have, not provide a means of navigating a large stock table in it's entirety.

[Dale Harris]

Sulk,

Actually the purpose of the "Groups" feature is to sell things that are difficult to stick barcode / price labels on, like prepared food in a restaurant. Ever try to stick a label on scrambled eggs, real messy.

Or if you have a lot of stuff but most of the things that actually get sold are from less that 40 stock numbers. For example I have about 500 different things I sell in my keyshop but 95% of what I sell are from 15 stock numbers for keys.

If you have a bajillion different things in a hardware/construction store then it is expected that you will be using stock numbers/UPC codes/a scanner to ring up almost everything in your store. In the rare case where a customer comes up with something that does not have a stock number on it then you use the "search" feature in the stock table to find it.

You can use the "groups" feature to ring up groups of things like a consolidated "screws" stock number but the program was never intended to be able to place thousands of items in multi-level groups. It is much easier to just use the stock numbers.

[Sulk]

I see. Thanks for clearing it up.

[ChrisKraus]

Ever try to stick a label on scrambled eggs, real messy.

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This works. Just remember to scan the barcode before cracking open the egg.

- Chris

[Dale Harris]

That is why I specified a <u>scrambled</u> egg.

An egg still in the shell is easy.

[ChrisKraus]

Couldn't find any pictures of scrambled eggs with barcodes.

[Dale Harris]

Of course not, that is my point exactly.