6.41

[EST]

Any idea when you will be releasing v6.41 of DHPOS? What will it include? Will it have an improved interface? Will it have more features? Will it be 2-station compatible? Or, will you just roll out v6.5 or v7.0?

[daleadmin]

The next version of the program (excluding just bug fixes) will be 7.0.

Quite a wish list you have there, let me cover them one at a time.

New Interface
Are you referring to a Windows interface? Since that is not possible from DOS software like DHPOS it isn't going to happen. If you are referring to some how changing the DOS interface, every time I have changed the sales screen it has been met with howls of protest. It is not someting I would contemplate easily. But if you have a suggestion or two I will listen.

New Features
Well new features are the point of new versions. The next major new feature will be ticket sales. Probably followed by X-Charge credit card processing.

More Bug Fixes
Well of course, who does not want bug fixes?

2-station Compatibility
If you are refurring to multiple registers in the same store sharing the same database over a network the program already does that.

Less restrictions
The only restriction the program has is that you cannot sell it. Unless you mean someting else by "restrictions." If said restrictions are becasue this is DOS software then we are probably stuck with them.

Re-designed website
Well I can work on the website or work on the software, remember that there is only one of me. Since I only know HTML code (no java, no purl, etc.) this is about as good a website as I can put up.

Serial & USB compatibility
Some folks think that the software currently drives serial printers just fine, they are delusional but there you go. Ask them and I am sure that they will be more than willing to suspend their lives to help anyone get their serial printer to be fully functional with DHPOS. If you use APRINT then the program will now drive USB printers. So there you go, both are covered. However if you want functional native support for serial and USB printers it isn't going to happen in DOS.

Version 7.0 should be out in a month if I can just find the time to work on it and all goes well.

[EST]

The next version of the program (excluding just bug fixes) will be 7.0.

Quite a wish list you have there, let me cover them one at a time.

New Interface
Are you referring to a Windows interface? Since that is not possible from DOS software like DHPOS it isn't going to happen. If you are referring to some how changing the DOS interface, every time I have changed the sales screen it has been met with howls of protest. It is not someting I would contemplate easily. But if you have a suggestion or two I will listen.

New Features
Well new features are the point of new versions. The next major new feature will be ticket sales. Probably followed by X-Charge credit card processing.

More Bug Fixes
Well of course, who does not want bug fixes?

2-station Compatibility
If you are refurring to multiple registers in the same store sharing the same database over a network the program already does that.

Less restrictions
The only restriction the program has is that you cannot sell it. Unless you mean someting else by "restrictions." If said restrictions are becasue this is DOS software then we are probably stuck with them.

Re-designed website
Well I can work on the website or work on the software, remember that there is only one of me. Since I only know HTML code (no java, no purl, etc.) this is about as good a website as I can put up.

Serial & USB compatibility
Some folks think that the software currently drives serial printers just fine, they are delusional but there you go. Ask them and I am sure that they will be more than willing to suspend their lives to help anyone get their serial printer to be fully functional with DHPOS. If you use APRINT then the program will now drive USB printers. So there you go, both are covered. However if you want functional native support for serial and USB printers it isn't going to happen in DOS.

Version 7.0 should be out in a month if I can just find the time to work on it and all goes well.

Cool thanks for the reply. I wish for just a couple things to be added...
> Function shortcut for receipt printing (for example: F10 prints receipt but doesn't TOTAL the sale), for price look-ups
> Membership Cards (like you type or scan the barcode of the membership card, and they get there discount and points), kind of like the Subway card, OfficeMax Maxperks, or Best-buy Rewards Zone. You could keep track of all your card members (like gift card feature) and see how many points they have, set there % off, and what the points equal (like 10 points = $1 off).
> Is there a way to make the TOTAL screen not disappear automatically or by pressing a key when the cash drawer is open. Like I work at McDonald's, when the cash drawer is open it will beep at me to close it after 15 seconds, and the screen will not disappear (a security feature).

[IAN]

new features! dale has the the ideas what i wanted

print receipt would be good by a button press (not having to dance around pressing yes or no to every transaction asking print receipt) or use a button to act as a function control button press that and you can press another load of F buttons.. like you can do lets say F1-F11 and F12 would give another load of options on the F1-F11

[Andrew]

Ian, "ask before printing sales receipt" is an option you can change in POSCONFG under "Printer Setup".

[cb_papi]

i would like pos 7.0 to be able to change its interfece language and the ability to see the gift card number of each customer

[EST]

Ian, "ask before printing sales receipt" is an option you can change in POSCONFG under "Printer Setup".

No, I don't like that option, because most of the time, I just print and total, I don't always need the receipt only. I agree with IAN, it would be better to have function keys menu. It would be a little easier than "ask before printing sales receipt" option.

[Andrew]

Ian, "ask before printing sales receipt" is an option you can change in POSCONFG under "Printer Setup".

No, I don't like that option, because most of the time, I just print and total, I don't always need the receipt only. I agree with IAN, it would be better to have function keys menu. It would be a little easier than "ask before printing sales receipt" option.

It's one keypress, either way!

[EST]

Ian, "ask before printing sales receipt" is an option you can change in POSCONFG under "Printer Setup".

No, I don't like that option, because most of the time, I just print and total, I don't always need the receipt only. I agree with IAN, it would be better to have function keys menu. It would be a little easier than "ask before printing sales receipt" option.

It's one key press, either way!

Incorrect.
Current Way: If you wanted to total press + & total, if you wanted to print receipt only press + & print. TWO KEY PRESSES
My Way: If you just wanted to total press +, if you wanted to print receipt only just press "F--." ONE KEY PRESS

[daleadmin]

And two key presses instead of one is how much extra effort?
Maybe pressing the extra key will help everyone lose weight from the extra exercise and develop muscles like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Of course the downside is that you will only get those muscles on your finger.

Dale

[Andrew]

*shakes head*

Personally I think having the system ask you the question with *gasp!* one more keypress is easier for new trainees (and forgetful folks) than yet another function keypress, I'm not even sure there'd be room for it to be displayed in the status bar area. We seem to have coped for all these years, and I don't think Dale's been sued yet for someone suffering RSI/OOS by having to press an extra key if the administrator of the DHPOS system decides to enable the "ask before printing sales receipt" option.

[EST]

*shakes head*

Personally I think having the system ask you the question with *gasp!* one more keypress is easier for new trainees (and forgetful folks) than yet another function keypress, I'm not even sure there'd be room for it to be displayed in the status bar area. We seem to have coped for all these years, and I don't think Dale's been sued yet for someone suffering RSI/OOS by having to press an extra key if the administrator of the DHPOS system decides to enable the "ask before printing sales receipt" option.

All I wanted to know if it would be possible to have function keys menu. I think people would like it, if you asked. I know one extra key press won't hurt, but having options on the functions keys is easier than going throw menus.

[daleadmin]

Rather than covering the concept of using function keys to choose between printing or not printing receipts I am going to explore the concept of not printing receipts in the first place.

What, are you NUTS???

Do not think of receipts as a waste of paper or something that customers can use to annoy you with returns or exchanges. Instead think of receipts as a way to make sure that your employees are not pocketing the money from sales and leaving you holding the bag.

Here is what happened at one of my sister keyshops. I went there and had to print out a week's worth of journals to see if the shop was opening and closing on time. To do this I looked at the time stamp on the opening and closing receipts, pretty simple. Since I had the journals anyway I went through all of the transactions (about 30 a day) to see if anything else weird was happening. When a uncompleted sale is voided the host store register marks that fact on the journal along with the amount of the sale when it was voided (a feature that I may add to DHPOS.) So looking at the journals I see many many uncompleted sales and within a minute of each of them a NO SALE was rung up which then opened the cash drawer. This happened about 20 times during the week.

Does anyone want to guess what was going on?

OK, time's up. The employee was ring up a sale, telling the customer the amout due, then voiding the sale. He then did a NO SALE to pop open the drawer to give change. The amount of the sale he then put in his pocket.

What fun.

To stop this we had the following sign put up in the shop...

Code: Select all

      ABSOLUTELY
No refunds or exchanges 
   without a receipt.

    MAKE SURE YOU
    GET A RECEIPT

Now it is each individual customer that is making sure that all transactions are properly rung up on the register because they will insist on getting a receipt.

Of course this only works if you print a receipt for every transaction.

Dale

[mmioperations]

You could always disable the no sale option for your POS system, thus making it more difficult to perform this type of fraud. Also you could also implement a void policy (we have one at our grocery store), where voiding any more than 3 percent of a cashiers sales triggers an audit, or you could have a threshold based on the dollar amount, that if it goes over a supervisor will have to use a password to continue the void.

[daleadmin]

In my program no sales can be password protected. But a 1¢ sale will still open the register. You can also password voiding an incomplete sale but the folks in the key shop work alone so there would be no one to enter the password.

However the sign and printing a receipt for EVERY customer worked like a champ. The problem has completely gone away.

Dale