Sending reports

[biglog]

Hi,

I am having issues using the ftp and smtp to send reports.

Has any one got these working with servers using different protocols ie SSL and SFTP?

Log

[brucef2112]

I've used DHPOS the last 10 years or so and I've tried at least 4 times (in the early years) to get it to work.
Each time I tried I was overwhelmed with unwarranted optimism which turn into despair without any success each time.
To avoid further disappointment I stopped trying to get it to work.

Later I came up with a solution using a VB script, WinZip command line tool with a WinZip Job file(.wjf), and Windows Scheduler to zip the files and FTP and email me the ED and FD reports along with the Daily Journal a few hours after the store closes. I also have another script that runs at the end of the month to zip and send me entire month's reports.

a DOS batch file is used to start DHPOS which has code to know when the register is closed for the end of day (as oppose to Temp Close) and re-names the daily ED and FD reports with more human friendly date names which gets them ready to send via FTP .

All works well for me.
After register is closed for the day I have auto report set to run ED and FD reports. these two reports along with the Daily Journal are automatically encrypted with WinZipped and then FTP to my server and also emailed to me. Works about 98.63% of the time. Data is never lost. The 5 times or so during the year it may not automatically send (maybe windows update; my FTP server; AOL Mail Server messes it up???) I just manually send the files the next day.

The setup of WinZip jOB file is not an easy process to configure to auto adjust for file names based on the current date (reports)*.
But once configured and added to Windows Scheduler it is an automated process that needs no intervention.

*( WinZip automation job files are "hashed" so Winzip will know if they have been modified and will stop running the job and prompt for a confirmation to run the Job. I did figure a work around so it would run and FTP and then the script would rename the file once it was on the FTP server.)

One downside is the Passwords in the VBscript file is not encrypted and will show in plain text if the script is opened.
But i figure if 'they' got to my PC and are looking in my POS directory it doesn't matter at that point.

[biglog]

I found a work around by setting up MEGAsync (I assume Dropdox or similar would work if they had an automatic sync). I automatically sync the POS PC report locations to the cloud. Meaning we can view them from anywhere as long as we have internet connection. I could probably sync the entire pos directory if I wanted to help staff with trouble shooting while we are away.

After a few days of getting the above working we stopped using a forwarding provider for our emails and viola, the email reports that I had already setup started working.

Log

[biglog]

When I got the emails working I was using Vista and running DHPOS directly in DOS.

We have just set up a new store, the PC I have used for the new store is running windows 7 and I am running DHPOS in VDOS.

Everything is working well apart from the emailing of the reports. Is it possible to email the reports in DOSBOX or VDOS?

thanks

Log

[brucef2112]

There is a program called SendMail.
I have not tried it but you may want to investigate. It seems to be able to automate the sending of files through SMTP.
It is command line driven so setting up a batch file ( vbscript, or other.) to run it seems to be the way to go. Using Windows Scheduler, you would set your batch file to run at a specific time. Say an hour or two after your store closed.

You can find info about the program here http://caspian.dotconf.net/menu/Software/SendEmail/
There is a windows version for download http://caspian.dotconf.net/menu/Softwar ... l-v156.zip

Start with sample.
SendMail is command line driven (with tons of switches and options), you may want to start with a sample of how to use SendMail: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/send-autom ... scheduler/

hope it helps.