POSnet - The concept

[Dale Harris]

Since this note was originally posted the network version has been released.
<hr>
Well folks since the beta version of POSnet will be released this weekend I thought that it would be a good idea to explain how it needs to be set up and how it will work. I know that some of you out there just can't wait to start complaining about it so here's you first chance to do so.

First of all your computers will have to be hooked up to a network to run multiple computers at the same time that will be able to access the same data files like the stock table.

The stand alone version of the POS program and the network version of the POS program will be the EXACT SAME PROGRAM FILES. To convert POS into POSnet all you will have to do is to enter a network PATH into the POSCONFG.EXE program and give each register a register letter, A-Z.

For each register you will have to have a folder on that computer that will hold the program files and the "local" data files for that register. Yes, the program files have to be on each register even though the computers are networked together. To upgrade to future versions you will have to load the new program files on each register's computer.

"Local" data files apply to only that register, for example printer settings, the journal, the .REC file, etc.

On one of the networked computers you may have a "local" folder so that computer may be a register and it may also hold your "global" folder. The "global" folder can also be on a backroom computer that is not used as a register as long as it is on the same network. However it is a very good idea to have the "global" folder on one of the register computers because if your network dies you will ony be able to ring up sales on the register that also has the "global" folder on it. The other registers will not function until your network goes back up.

"Global" data files are those files that are shared by all the registers, for example the stock table, customer database, parked sales file, employee database, etc.

Also in the "global" folder you will have to have yet another copy of the POS program files.

The "global" folder holds all the data files that are shared by all the registers.

Once you have each register loaded with a POS folder and the program files loaded into that folder, and you have created the "global" folder on one of the computers, you must run the POSCONFG.EXE program. If you already have been running the POS program on the computer load the register file, if not you must create a new register file. The register file on each computer MUST have the same name.

Now go to the "Network" feature of the POSCONFG.EXE program. Here you must enter the PATH to the "global" folder. You must also enter a letter for your register A-Z, each register must have a different letter, the program will not check to see that each register will have a different letter. DO NOT set "GLOBAL" to "YES" leave it set to "NO".

When you leave "Network" the program will copy data files to the global folder if they are not already there.

You must now repeat this process on the other registers.

After you have done all the registers you must then go to the global folder and do the same thing there except that you must set the "GLOBAL" setting in the "Network" feature to "YES".

Now you can start your registers. They should work almost the same way as when the program does not run on a network.

However there will be some changes...

When POS is used on a network, moving lines around in the stock table while other registers are actively ringing up sales will be a REALLY BAD IDEA.

Sales parked on one register may be picked up by any register. However while one register is using the parking feature the other registers will be locked out. Note; once you have picked up a sale you are no longer in the parking feature and other registers may use it.

When you close a register only the sales from that register will be printed on the closing receipt. "Tips" however will be from all registers. From the register you will not be able to reset the merchandise data when closing.

After you have closed all the registers you must then do a "close" on the global folder. You will then get a total from all the registers and you may reset the merchandise data.

On the receipts, following the transaction number, will be printed the letter you set for that register, example 2568B. The sales record file, and therefore VOIDS, are "local" To void out a sale, or look one up, you must use the register that it was rung up on. Transaction numbers and the journal are also local.

Yes, it would be swell if any data, from any register, could be accessed and changed from any other register. This is not going to happen. Please feel free to start complaining now.

Do you have other comments?

[Dale Harris]

BETA TESTERS WANTED!

If you have read the note above and are still stupid enough to want to beta test this thing, the link is below.

Print out the instructions above.

Set up a NEW folder on your drive and copy your POS files into it. Now down load http://keyhut.com/pos3.htm into your new folder and unzip it. It will replace your old POS.EXE, CF2.EXE, FILEINFO.EXE and POSCONFG.EXE files. RECEIVE.EXE and CONVERT.EXE are not done yet SO DO NOT RUN THOSE PROGRAM FILES.

Things I need tested.

For those without a network I need to know if the program still works in stand alone mode so just run the program as usual.

For those with a network I need to know if the program crashes, if it locks up, but mostly if information that is entered from one register is available from the other registers. For example if you sell and item on one register is that item subtracted from inventory on the other registers? If you do a merchandise report from another register does it show up as being sold? Can you look up customers entered on one register from the other registers? Can you pick up a parked sale that was parked from another register? Stuff like that.

Note: In the "Network" feature of the POSCONFG.EXE program you cannot yet enter the "Global" indacator.

[Guest]

Hey Dale,
CONGRATS on your new Network version of DHPOS. So far so GOOD!! I don't know how many other Beta testers you have so I just wanted to let you know how I made out!! For the time being I limited my testing to just two computers, Register A and Register B. One DOS machine Running Lantastic and one Win XP Machine with Lantastic. Register A is the DOS machine and the Server and of course B is the Windows Client....

To make a long story short the program worked VERY WELL. I was able to ring sales at the same time, park and get sales, look at reports and all the other good stuff! I was able to go into the stock table and change a price on one register and the price was updated as I rang the item on the other register. The only MINOR thing was that if you add a new Item into the stock on one register and try to ring it on the other the item is not found until you exit all the way out of the program and go back in. Like I said MINOR, but maybe this tidbit of info is helpful. The only other thing I noticed is is minor as well. The program Version reads 4.23 not 5.0.

Well that's all for now!! Thanks for all your hard work!!! Going to go dig out some more registers to test POSNET out on.

Thanks Again for POSNET!
Chicky_01

[Guest]

Dale,
I just tried to add a new Employee in the POSNET version (option 9 from the pos.exe) and I wasn't able to succeed on any register. The DISK ERROR window pops up and I have to choose #4 Problem unknown or insurmountable, quit program. When I try it through the POSCONFG I get the message Path/File access error in line 0 of module POSFIG2 at address 34EC:4B20 Hit any key to return to system.

Chicky_01

[Dale Harris]

I have fixed the problems posted here and on chat last night and you can download the new files here http://keyhut.com/pos3.htm

You can use these new files to overwrite the POSnet files you downloaded previously.

In this test when one register is accessing the parked sales the other registers will be blocked until the first register is finished. However in case of a network or computer problem with the first register the other registers will be allowed to access the parked sales after waiting 3 minutes. Since it should only be a couple of seconds to actually park or retrieve a sale this should not be a problem.

[bnow]

HI
i am going to setup pos net and i know on every register need the networked path for it but do you the same on the (server) ?

[Guest]

Hello,
What I did was make a copy of all of the files into a folder called POS on each computer including the server. On the server I made another folder called POSNET for the global files. On each register C:\pos I called up the Local pos.exe file and went into File Maintanence then into Network and supplied the path to my Server. f:\posnet\ and selected the register letter. When you log onto your server at the c:\pos\pos.exe you need to go into file maintenance then back into Network and change the path to C:\POSNET\ (or whatever folder you set up for Global) and set the register letter. So far things are working GREAAAAAAAAAAT for me!!

Good Luck
Chicky_01

ps make sure you get the latest POSNET release that Dale has posted!!

[bazza]

hi dale,

just having a test of the POSNET version.

i've got it running on two computers.

a few things i've noticed:
- when i press [+] to finish both sales sometimes it says "cannot using this function at this time" and at others it lets me.
- sometimes after a sale is completed it sits there on the purchase screen.
- it takes an awful long time to go back to the main menu.

Also:-
- "Go To Next Sale" feature has been removed in this version.


Any more bugs, i'll find 'em!


barry.

[Dale Harris]

Well nuts, see what happens when you try to maintain two versions? I will stick the "Return to sale" stuff back in.

The delay is probably caused by the program opening and closing the files when they are not actually being accessed. The old version just left them open. This is to limit the amount of time that multiple registers are accessing the same files to make the program more reliable. I have noticed a lag whan using an older Win 3.1 computer but not on newer ones. Of course the network that you are using could also affect it. Try it on one computer but not in the network mode. If the delay is still there then it is the computer and not the network, please lt me know.

[Dale Harris]

Ok, I have put the "go to after sale" feature back in. I have also made the change you suggested so that when you finish a return / payout you will go back to the main menu instead of the next sale even if you have chosen to go back to the next sale after the end of the previous sale.

I have also found two places that did not close a file correctly at the end of the sale and then when the program wanted to open the file again there was a 5 second delay for each one. I have fixed that.

Some people wonder if beta testers really serve a purpose. The answer is "Yes", I could not do this without you folks, thanks.

The new files will be uploaded later and will be announced here then.

[Bazza]

Just a quick question Dale,

What version did you initially change for the networked version of POS?

The program Version reads 4.23 not 5.0.

So, when you began converting the program to POS, did you include or fix up the parts from v4.23 to v4.28 to become POS 5.0 beta, as the "Go to next sale" feature, as said wasn't included.

Barry.

[Dale Harris]

Barry,

I started writing the network version by copying 4.23 to a new folder and then making changes in the new folder.

Since I knew that this was going to be a LOOOOONG process I continued to make small upgrades to the old version so I could make bug fixes and minor upgrades to the program until POSnet was ready. This also meant that I had to make those same upgrades to POSnet. I guess that the "Go to after sale" feature did not make the trip.

So the bottom line is that POSnet should have all the features of version 4.28 and work on a network too.

[Dale Harris]

Ok, a new POSnet file has been uploaded here http://keyhut.com/pos3.htm The new version is 5.03 BETA

New stuff...
The “Go to after sale” feature mysteriously disappeared from the earlier uploads, it is in this one.

You will have to use the new file to go to the “Network” feature in the POSCONFG.EXE program and set the folder type to GLOBAL in the copy of the program that is running from the global folder.

Let know what you think of the “Architecture” screen.

Copies of the program that are running from local folders will not be able to reset the merchandise data when the register is closed. Only the copy of the program running from the global folder will be able to reset the merchandise data at close.

The following options have been removed from the main menu if the program is running from the global folder.
1 Purchase
2. Return
4. No sale
5. Voids
6. Lock register

When closing the register from the global folder you will print the sales total from the whole store. (All registers added together, not the individual sales for each register.) You will not be able to print / save the journal because the global folder has no journal. You will be able to reset the merchandise data.

[bazza]

hi dale.

i have done some testing in this version and have got a few questions.

[1] Staff can be logged into more than one register at time, is it a 'feature' or could it be prevented?

[2] In the global register, it still asks for opening fund. I guess it doesn't do anything to harm it, but it guess it shouldn't be there is no possible register.

[3] I do believe POS net can handle now 36 registers instead of the original 26. I have used both registers with Register 1 and Register 2!

P.S: the Architecture screen looks great, it is very simple to understand how it works!

Barry.

[Dale Harris]

[Q1] Staff can be logged into more than one register at time, is it a 'feature' or could it be prevented?
[A1] I am willing to go with "feature" if you are. With the way the program is currently written there is no way for one register to know who is logged on on the other registers. I could do something about this in the future but until then try just smacking your employees if they log on to two registers at the same time. Let me know how that works out.

[Q2] In the global register, it still asks for opening fund. I guess it doesn't do anything to harm it, but it guess it shouldn't be there is no possible register.
[A2] As you probably can figure out the "stand alone" version, the "local network" version and the "global network" version of the program are actually all the same version. It just morphs from one version into another depending on the application. Since blocking or unblocking stuff in the different modes takes space and could possibly cause errors in the program I have decided to leave in some things that are pointless in some versions. My tactic is to just ignore them and so far this is working out pretty well. I imagine that they will be blocked out eventually.

[Q3] I do believe POS net can handle now 36 registers instead of the original 26. I have used both registers with Register 1 and Register 2!
[A3] Actually the POS program itself does not have any limit on the number of registers that you can have on the network at one time. You can actually use any ASCII character as the register letter although I would probably not use the first 33. That still leaves 223 registers but I wonder if the network can handle that? And of course you can give the registers duplicate letters or no letters at all but that way leads to madness.

P.S: the Architecture screen looks great, it is very simple to understand how it works!
Yep, it is amazing what you can do with ASCII graphics when that is all you've got.