Programming for Touch Screens

[Homer J Simpson]

Further to this post, my client wants to incorporate this into a POS
(point of sale) system

I have at the moment just one question.

Does anyone know (or have experience with) POS systems in so far as, do I
need to code the process of "opening the cash drawer" when a certain
button on the touch screen is pressed or is this an automatic process?

I would question doing this when the systems can be purchased off the shelf
already. Support will be much better that way.

If you still want to do a one off, do some research on these as you may find
all of your problems are already solved.

 

[Michelle]

Thanks Homer for your comments.

My client does not want to purchase an off-the-shelf product as it is a new
product and they want to develop it from scratch and that is why I posed the
question.

If anyone knows of any sites (or a better discussion group) that I can
research some of these questions I would be most appreciative. I will be
writing it in vb .net so I thought this would be the best forum for it.

Cheers
Michelle

 

[Don]

I used to work for a company called TouchMenus. We wrote POS software.

To answer your question, your application has to send a specific
escape code to the port where the cash register is connected to open
the drawer. But . . . With due respect, I believe you're getting way
ahead of yourself. There is considerably more to a POS app than most
people know.

First, work on the application's functional requirements and the
programming logic. SPEND A LOT OF TIME ON THIS. If this is a
networked, multi-user application you will be in pretty deep water.
Even if it's single user app it will be a pretty steep climb.

I don't mean to discourage you, just to warn you. TouchMenus had a
very good, stable product but it took a team of very smart and
talented developers many years to achieve it.

BTW: Don't worry about the touch screen except to make the screen
elements large enough to accommodate human fingers. We provided
screens that looked like number keypads and keyboards so that users
didn't have to hook-up a keyboard except to do management tasks that
required extensive keyboard use.

Good luck,

Don

 

[Michelle]

Thanks Don for your post. It is much appreciated

So far the logic and the requirements are not that far different from what I
have previously done. The only difference is this project is now touch
screen (ie: obviously different user interface) and some other interesting
areas that I asked about (ie: opening the drawer).

I'm not sure that the client realises the amount of work involved in doing
something like this and before undertaking such a project I wanted to do as
much background research as possible.

There are other products available for what my client is after, just not HOW
they want it that is why they don't want to purchase an off the shelf
product.

Is it possible that I post to you directly and ask some other questions of
you since you have had experience in this field? (remove the no_spam in my
email address).

Cheers
Michelle

 

[Homer J Simpson]

Thanks Homer for your comments.

My client does not want to purchase an off-the-shelf product as it is a
new product and they want to develop it from scratch and that is why I
posed the question.

I trust they have a reasonable idea of the costs involved, which could run
well into 5 figures and beyond.

If anyone knows of any sites (or a better discussion group) that I can
research some of these questions I would be most appreciative. I will be
writing it in vb .net so I thought this would be the best forum for it.

I'm unaware of any, however if you get as much manufacturer literature as
you can you will find out if there are any standards you can stick to.

 

[diego]

hi michelle,

programming a touchscreen-enabled application is just like programming
a mouse-enabled application. and since all (most) windows-based apps
support mouse, then there is no need for you to change anything. the
only thing that you would be considering is your a screen layout,
because you can use either your fingers or a stylus (or anything) to
click the controls on your screen, you need to make your controls a
little bigger.

as for the drivers, there are two widely used drivers (i'm sure there
are others out there): ELO and MICROTOUCH (you can do a google for the
sites). the driver that you need will depend on the hardware that your
client will purchase.

hth,

diego