POS Cash Drawer with Internet Explorer?

[Scott A. Keen]

Hi,

I'm getting tasked with writing an ASP application deployed throughout the
company's intranet where all the workstations will be running Internet
Explorer 6.0.

It's a retail business, and some of the workstations are Point-Of-Sale and
will need to have cash drawers and bar-code scanners.

The project managers want this as a web-application because of the ease of
deployment and updates to the other stores. The problem is, I don't know how
to activate the cash drawers from within IE. Is there any kind of ActiveX
control which can be plugged into IE to allow control over the cash drawer
from within IE? We don't have the cash drawers purchased yet, and are
waiting to find out if anyone makes an ActiveX plug-in control and cash
drawer which will work from IE.

Suggestions and recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Scott

[Chris Barber]

Reliability would be horrible.

Who the heck thought that one up? Let me know what brand the stores are - I
reckon I could have a big shopping spree coming up!

You would probably need a custom written browser add-in to be able to do
anything (unless you run it as a .htc and you could then instantiate local
side DLL's to do the work). But .... how to get the DLL's to the client
machines and get them installed - oh the fun we could have messing with
that!

Chris.

"Scott A. Keen" <sc***@scottkeen.com> wrote in message
news:Op**************@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...

Hi,

I'm getting tasked with writing an ASP application deployed throughout the
company's intranet where all the workstations will be running Internet
Explorer 6.0.

It's a retail business, and some of the workstations are Point-Of-Sale and
will need to have cash drawers and bar-code scanners.

The project managers want this as a web-application because of the ease of
deployment and updates to the other stores. The problem is, I don't know how to activate the cash drawers from within IE. Is there any kind of ActiveX
control which can be plugged into IE to allow control over the cash drawer
from within IE? We don't have the cash drawers purchased yet, and are
waiting to find out if anyone makes an ActiveX plug-in control and cash
drawer which will work from IE.

Suggestions and recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Scott

[Chris Barber]

.... PDAs ... good point.

Cheers,

Chris.

"Tom B" <sh*****@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:u3**************@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...

Not much point in using PDA's as Cash Drawers were specifically mentioned.

Everything else I agree with. I'm sure you could write a bunch of ActiveX
controls to be downloaded and installed on the IE client. But you're
probably better off writing an actual application anyway.

"Chris Barber" <ch***@blue-canoe.co.uk.NOSPAM> wrote in message
news:%2****************@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...

Still - fraught with issues - not least of all security and the potential

for fraud by IE savvy employees.
Believe me - I've fired a few when I used to run bars a few years ago.

Still - if they can use WinNT for service station internet kiosks and
display screens then I suppose anything is possible. Have you considered
wireless PDA's with bar code scanners on them - my business partner has had

a fair bit oif experience with that stuff. As long as no cash changing

hands

then it should be OK.

Have fun.

Chris.

"Scott A. Keen" <sc***@scottkeen.com> wrote in message
news:Oa**************@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...

LOL! It's in the concept planning stage. It's for a couople of local

health

clubs which have a low-volume point-of-sale counter for the occasional
member who wants to buy a bottle of water or a protein bar. Not high

volume

retail.


"Chris Barber" <ch***@blue-canoe.co.uk.NOSPAM> wrote in message
news:OB**************@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
> Reliability would be horrible.
>
> Who the heck thought that one up? Let me know what brand the stores

are -

I
> reckon I could have a big shopping spree coming up!
>
> You would probably need a custom written browser add-in to be able to do > anything (unless you run it as a .htc and you could then instantiate

local

> side DLL's to do the work). But .... how to get the DLL's to the client > machines and get them installed - oh the fun we could have messing with > that!
>
> Chris.
>
>
>
> "Scott A. Keen" <sc***@scottkeen.com> wrote in message
> news:Op**************@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> > Hi,
> >
> > I'm getting tasked with writing an ASP application deployed throughout the
> > company's intranet where all the workstations will be running Internet > > Explorer 6.0.
> >
> > It's a retail business, and some of the workstations are Point-Of-Sale and
> > will need to have cash drawers and bar-code scanners.
> >
> > The project managers want this as a web-application because of the

ease

of
> > deployment and updates to the other stores. The problem is, I

don't

know

> how
> > to activate the cash drawers from within IE. Is there any kind of
ActiveX
> > control which can be plugged into IE to allow control over the

cash drawer
> > from within IE? We don't have the cash drawers purchased yet, and

are > > waiting to find out if anyone makes an ActiveX plug-in control and

cash

> > drawer which will work from IE.
> >
> > Suggestions and recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Scott
> >
> >
>
>

[Tom B]

To control the cash drawer and bar code scanner you'll have to lower the
security settings on the browser, and have Activex components control them.
You could use Citrix like Ray suggested, but I suspect that would be pricey
and has a little bit of upfront configuration.

If you wrote a fat client application, that gets updated automatically by a
server, you could have the best of both worlds.

Just my opinion.
If your committed to using IE, then you'll just have to bear in mind the
limitations that are there, and be sure to code around them.
"Scott A. Keen" <sc***@scottkeen.com> wrote in message
news:uz*************@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...

What's the main beef with using IE for the client? Is it that it's too much hassle to write ActiveX controls to download to the client? Or is it that
savvy users could mess-around with the URL and post bogus data?

We're really looking to make a thin-client app, with all the processing done by the server. It also makes deployment of updates much easier.

I guess we could also write an ActiveDocument that gets loaded as an app
inside of an IE web browser. I always thought that sort of thing was kinda
kludgy.

Really, the goals are:
1) thin client
2) easy deployment
3) works with cash drawer and bar code scanner devices

I hope this isn't one of those, "pick any 2 out of 3" deals.

"Tom B" <sh*****@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:u3**************@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...

Not much point in using PDA's as Cash Drawers were specifically mentioned.

Everything else I agree with. I'm sure you could write a bunch of ActiveX controls to be downloaded and installed on the IE client. But you're
probably better off writing an actual application anyway.

"Chris Barber" <ch***@blue-canoe.co.uk.NOSPAM> wrote in message
news:%2****************@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...

Still - fraught with issues - not least of all security and the potential for fraud by IE savvy employees.
Believe me - I've fired a few when I used to run bars a few years ago.

Still - if they can use WinNT for service station internet kiosks and
display screens then I suppose anything is possible. Have you considered wireless PDA's with bar code scanners on them - my business partner has had

a fair bit oif experience with that stuff. As long as no cash changing

hands

then it should be OK.

Have fun.

Chris.

"Scott A. Keen" <sc***@scottkeen.com> wrote in message
news:Oa**************@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> LOL! It's in the concept planning stage. It's for a couople of local
health
> clubs which have a low-volume point-of-sale counter for the

occasional > member who wants to buy a bottle of water or a protein bar. Not high
volume
> retail.
>
>
>
>
> "Chris Barber" <ch***@blue-canoe.co.uk.NOSPAM> wrote in message
> news:OB**************@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
> > Reliability would be horrible.
> >
> > Who the heck thought that one up? Let me know what brand the stores are -
> I
> > reckon I could have a big shopping spree coming up!
> >
> > You would probably need a custom written browser add-in to be able to

do

> > anything (unless you run it as a .htc and you could then instantiate local
> > side DLL's to do the work). But .... how to get the DLL's to the

client

> > machines and get them installed - oh the fun we could have messing

with

> > that!
> >
> > Chris.
> >
> >
> >
> > "Scott A. Keen" <sc***@scottkeen.com> wrote in message
> > news:Op**************@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > I'm getting tasked with writing an ASP application deployed

throughout

> the
> > > company's intranet where all the workstations will be running

Internet

> > > Explorer 6.0.
> > >
> > > It's a retail business, and some of the workstations are

Point-Of-Sale

> and
> > > will need to have cash drawers and bar-code scanners.
> > >
> > > The project managers want this as a web-application because of the ease
> of
> > > deployment and updates to the other stores. The problem is, I

don't know
> > how
> > > to activate the cash drawers from within IE. Is there any kind of > ActiveX
> > > control which can be plugged into IE to allow control over the cash > drawer
> > > from within IE? We don't have the cash drawers purchased yet, and are

> > > waiting to find out if anyone makes an ActiveX plug-in control

and cash
> > > drawer which will work from IE.
> > >
> > > Suggestions and recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > >
> > > Scott
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>

[Jeff Cochran]

On Mon, 21 Jul 2003 13:16:38 -0400, "Scott A. Keen"
<sc***@scottkeen.com> wrote:

It's a retail business, and some of the workstations are Point-Of-Sale and
will need to have cash drawers and bar-code scanners.

Okay, here's where you're thinking too hard. :)

Bar code scanners usually are a keyboard wedge type. That means
anything read by the scanner is simply input the same as if a user
typed the characters at a keyboard. There's nothing at all special
about the bar code scanners in terms of IE or your app.

Cash drawers are also pretty simple. It's usually triggered by a
command over a serial or parallel port similar to printing. All it
does is release a latch on the cash drawer, a spring pushes the drawer
out. Again nothing specific to IE or your app, though you might need
a control in your app to send the command signal or trigger the
utility that comes with your cash drawer.

Call the supplier of your POS hardware and ask for programming specs.
Tell them what you're doing, they will provide the code to do it.

Jeff

[Ray at]

That's a damn good point, Jeff.

Ray at work

"Jeff Cochran" <jc*************@naplesgov.com> wrote in message
news:3f***************@news.easynews.com...

On Mon, 21 Jul 2003 13:16:38 -0400, "Scott A. Keen"
<sc***@scottkeen.com> wrote:
Bar code scanners usually are a keyboard wedge type. That means
anything read by the scanner is simply input the same as if a user
typed the characters at a keyboard. There's nothing at all special
about the bar code scanners in terms of IE or your app.