I am going to develop a program that will open a cash till and I was wondering how you hook up a till to a P.C. and then how to open it. Is there a Windows API call that can do that?
thanks,
adam
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The cash drawers that I've worked with plug into a receipt printer. There's usually an ASCII character that you send to the printer that fires the cash drawer.
Some receipt printer drivers include the option to fire the cash drawer any time there is activity on the printer without any specific direction from the application printing to the printer.
You shouldn't need an API call. OPEN "COM1" FOR OUTPUT AS #1 and Print #1... will do it.
I've worked with both types of cash drawers. The printer type is usually very easy and you can download sample code and ActiveX controls from the manufacturer. The serial type require you to send FF, 00, FF to a particular address. I once had a nice little ActiveX control to do just that. Let us know what kind of cash drawer/ reciept printer you have and we can help further.
Sifugreg,
I like what u r saying here. Do u recommend any type of cash drawer and make and if so why? also, for a bonus 50 points does anyone know how hard it is to develop an app which will later hook up to a touch screen - whats involved with touch screens are they plug and play etc?
but if nobody has a clue about touch screens then ignore.
regards,
Adam
Sounds to me like you're doing exqactly what I did a couple of years ago, a complete touch screen point-of-sale program, only I wrote the whole thing in MS Access. I don't have the cash drawer make and model with me here at work but I have a set at home. I'll try to remember to get you that info. I'm sure they all work basically the same though. No special considerations need be made for any touch screen work I've done. You might want to establish a direct conversation with me as support@mninc.com if that is permitted
I've recently completed a retail point-of-sale system written in VB. I've used MMF cash drawers with my own software and other systems I've been a reseller with in the past. I've been very pleased with the MMF drawers. Touch screens don't require special software work on your part. It's all taken care of by hardware and the related drivers.
adamgernon:
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by: leavinmatePosted on 2003-01-28 at 19:47:55ID: 7834917
If I recall correctly, most cash tills connect to a serial port on the PC.
On the Till itself, there should be some dip switches that are set to the ASCII code to listen for.
So what you would do is open the com port, send the ASCII character, and the till will respond by opening the draw.
If I am correct, you can just use the MSCOmmCtl so there would be no need for API calls.