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Cash Drawer

Submitted by Guest on Tue, 11/10/2011 - 21:44
in

Background: I have a cash drawer (from POSnow) which I would like to open when the OpenVPMS creates a paid invoice. 

Tony's suggestion (if I understood correctly) was to set the cash drawer up as if it were a printer so that when the signal is sent to print, the message will be received by the cash drawer and open the drawer. 

I put this to POSnow. They have come back with the response below. Tony can you please respond..

 

 

 

Could you please ask Tony if he is able to send any signal such as a string to a COM port (serial port) installed on the computer? eg. sending a string to COM5.

 

This is because our USB trigger we use acts as a virtual serial port, so when installed, it will create a serial port in the computer, and any signal sent to that will trigger open the cash drawer. (I would imagine that if you add a printer with the serial port, that represents as a cash drawer, and just Print to that, it will work)

 

Also I am not sure what OS your software is running, but our trigger has drivers for Windows (XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7), Linux and Mac OS X, so that shouldn't be a problem.

 

Let me know their reply. Thanks.

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Re: Cash Drawer

Submitted by tanderson on Tue, 11/10/2011 - 22:16.

Its possible. The main issue is that it is non-standard - what works for one cash drawer won't work for another.

I notice the drivers are OPOS compatible - this is the UnifiedPOS mapping for a POS application running on the Windows operating system. Be nice if they provided a JavaPOS version which is what OpenVPMS would be using.

-Tim

Re: Cash Drawer

Submitted by tony on Wed, 12/10/2011 - 16:26.

Hi Matt,

Currently we cannot send anything to the Till as this feature is not developed but if we developed that is the way I think I would initially implement.  Most if not all till devices look like a Com port or have specific drivers that make the device look like a COM port.  We typically then just add a printer  using a generic text or raw printer driver to pass the text sent in the print job directly to the COM port which triggers the draw.  The benefit with this approach is these printers can then be readily accessed from the machine that runs the OpenVPMS server, no special software or protocols required .. just network printing.

Of course Tim is also correct that specific POS based standards and software can be used to control this equipment but I am not sure if they would need to be somehow connected diretcly to the OpenVPMS server machine or need special networking hardware to make them accessibel from this server. The different variations of POS standards and different operating system support may also make life a bit more complex.

Anyway lets keep discussing it so we can get a project together ..

Cheers Tony

Re: Cash Drawer

Submitted by Matt McL (not verified) on Thu, 13/10/2011 - 08:53.

Thanks for your comments.

I have passed them onto the company that make cash drawers (POSnow). 

They were wondering if the OpenVPMS can send a signal at the correct time (eg when the invoice is paid, not before and not after) to open the drawer. I have added their exact comments below.

Let me know your thoughts.

Cheers, Matt.

 

 

 

So basically he say that he can add a printer and pass some text and it will trigger, I am aware of that and I am confident it will work too.

 

What you will need to find out from him is if he is able to send the "signal" to the printer (which is connected by serial port) at the right moment.

 

Eg. When an transaction is created, is he able to send a short string to the printer defined or whenever you want the cash drawer to be opened? (in this instance it will be the trigger, pretending to be a printer)

 

Re: Cash Drawer

Submitted by tony on Fri, 14/10/2011 - 07:56.

Hi Matt,

As this is a proposed development project you , the users, can specify when the trigger may occur. ie

  • When finalise payment or refund.
  • When clearing till.
  • A special No Sale key sequence or button ?

Also we need to ascertain whether we prompt user to open or do it automatically?

Once defined we can write the specifications, cost etc.

Cheers Tony

Re: Cash Drawer

Submitted by Matt C on Mon, 17/10/2011 - 11:21.

Hey guys,

I would suggest to timings:

 

1. When finalising a "Payment" of type cash or cheque (Some practices might prefer to be any payment type as they store EFT slips in their tills).

2. Adding a button to Reports->Till Balancing that opens the draw on request.

 

I think this option should be a configurable setting for Practice Location->Cash Drawer with different COM strings being able to be sent. If no cash drwaers defined for a practice location, the buttons dont appear  and sequence is not triggered at payments.

 

Matt C

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