Remote viewer

Dale Harris · Post by **Dale Harris** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 11:21 pm

Here is a weird little program suggested by Crocker. Its purpose is to allow someone in the office to look at the server's screen and see what is being rung up on up to 6 registers in real time. Of course this assumes that all of the computers are on the same network.

The way to program works is that it takes the "pole display" output from each of the registers and displays it in one of 6 boxes on the screen of the server. Don't worry, even if you do not have a pole display the output for the pole display is saved to the hard drive where this program will find it.

Load this program into the GLOBAL folder on the server. When you run the program it will ask for the PATH to the LOCAL folder of 6 registers. Fill in as many PATHs as you wish. Remember to enter the PATH from the global folder to the local folders, not local folders to global folder.

After entering the PATHs press [ESC] and the pole display output from those registers will start displaying. As each register is used additional information will be added to each register displayed on this program's screen, up to the last 600 lines. By pressing [TAB] you can toggle through the register displays making each one "ACTIVE" in turn. You can use the direction keys on your keyboard to scroll through the "ACTIVE" display. Press [ESC] to exit the program.

This is something that I whipped up in 2 days. I did not spend a lot of time on it and that shows. If anyone likes it and wants to use it then post here and I may bring it up to the standards of the rest of the POS program. I might even add new features to the program if you suggest them.

Here is the link http://keyhut.com/remotexx.zip

Alan · Post by **Alan** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 6:35 am

Another program that I use is the freeware RealVNC program, which can remotely control or view another PC's screen. IIRC it will only see POS if its running in a window.

You can also disable the users keyboard & mouse remotely if you want to take over.

http://www.realvnc.com/

Alan

Post by **Andrew** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 7:33 am

Not bad Dale, even for a quick program.

Alan,

At my old job as a computing tutor, monitoring the machines was important as we got a lot of time wasters and we used an AWESOME program, called "Tutor Control" which was also inexpensive from AB Consulting in the UK.

http://www.abconsulting.com/

http://www.abconsulting.com/assets/imag ... tLarge.gif

http://www.abconsulting.com/assets/imag ... tLarge.gif

http://www.abconsulting.com/assets/imag ... dLarge.jpg

peachey13 · Post by **peachey13** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 9:17 pm

I reconmend RealVNC because it is free and and it is easy to use.

bob5731 · Post by **bob5731** » Sun Jul 25, 2004 12:57 am

Hi all
The pos viewer work so ****** good.

Dale Harris · Post by **Dale Harris** » Fri Jul 30, 2004 9:53 pm

Well I guess from the lack of replies that no one wants me to finish this?

PosMan · Post by **PosMan** » Fri Jul 30, 2004 10:33 pm

Well I think you should finish it. I dont completely understand why only a few people have responded to this thread.

Good job on the quickie program. *Thumbs up*

Chas · Post by **Chas** » Sat Jul 31, 2004 12:46 am

Dale,
I downloaded the remote viewer & I think its an awsome feature!! What else has to be done with it? I know that new features can be troublesome as everyone wants this that & that added to it. The only ideas that i can come up with is to put a label on top of each square LANE 1, then LANE 2, LANE 3 and so on.... Or Register 1, REG 1, or just the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and somewhere on the bottom of the screen maybe you can have a label of some sort such as REMOTE VIEWER or TERMINAL MONITOR.

Hope my ideas helped!!
Chas

Post by **Andrew** » Sat Jul 31, 2004 6:28 am

My suggestion would be to have a list view in addition to the boxes - whereby a simple log scrolls up the screen as each register does something (ie POLE.DAT) changes.

So that it has a row containing date/time (which would be when remote detected the POLE.DAT changed, the register ID and what happened, ie scanned item xxx...

Then the list just moves up as a new entry is added. This could also allow you to perhaps connect more register's to remote?

Chas (Not logged in) · Post by **Chas (Not logged in)** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 12:06 am

I liked the remote viewer so much that I integrated it into pos by using the F4 Mystery feature. Now when I press F4 the viewer program pops up as it should, but when I press Escape to quit the Remote.exe the program doesn't go back into pos it just goes to a command prompt. Is there a way to correct this in my Nextfile.dat file????? The only Line in the file is Remote.exe
Thanks in advance,
Chas

Dale Harris · Post by **Dale Harris** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 1:41 am

Andrew & Chas,

Well I guess that I am going to have to get off my lazy butt and finish the "Remote" program.

I had thought of the [F4] thing to launch the Remote program. The secret is that the other program (Remote) has to call the POS program to restart POS. Of course it will be no problem to do that when I finish Remote. I will make it so that if you start Remote from POS that it will automatically return to POS when you exit Remote but if you start Remote any other way then it will just end when you exit Remote. I will also let you program the [F4] key in the POS program by just pressing one key in the Remote program so that you only have to start it manually once.

Any other ideas? How about a better name although I should call it "POS Viewer" because that is the name that Crocker originally came up with.

Chas · Post by **Chas** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 2:42 am

Some more names! Maybe everyone can vote on one or maybe you could make an input field in setup so each person could could type in their own (prob more work though)

Sales Monitor
POS Monitor
Terminal Monitor
Register Viewer
Register Monitor
Lane Viewer
Network Monitor
Activity Monitor
Activity Viewer
Til Viewer
Active Stations
Active Terminals
Active Registers
Active Lanes
POS Activity Viewer

Post by **Andrew** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 4:05 am

Short and simple..."Supervise!"

- StoreWatch
- Store Supervisor

Dale Harris · Post by **Dale Harris** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 1:05 pm

Here is what I have come up with for the new version of POS Viewer...
<hr>
This program allows one of the computers on your network to display the sales on up to 6 of your registers to be displayed as they are being rung up. This will allow supervisors to look for unusual activity happening on the sales floor. Discounts, reductions, price changes, payouts, refunds, and other subtractions will be highlighted.
It does this by displaying each register's output to the pole display on the screen in one of 6 windows. This will work even if your registers do not have actual pole displays because pole display output is saved to a disk file even if a register does not have one.
While only 6 registers can be displayed at any one time you can setup up to 50 registers for monitoring and then switch the registers being displayed in the windows at any time.
Even though each window will display only 11 lines you will be able scroll through each register's total transactions for the day and be able to print out text you select.
<hr>
More suggestions?

Dale Harris · Post by **Dale Harris** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 1:08 pm

BTW,

In the future if it is found neccessary to post screen shots on the forum can the please be reduced. The full sized ones really make the rest of the messages hard to read because you have to scroll the screen left and right.

DHES

Remote viewer

And another type

pos viewer

No response

Remote Viewer

Use of F4 Mystery feature for Viewer program

Finish

More Name Samples

New Viewer

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