Writing standalone EPOS system using PHP - possible?

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groovyjon
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Writing standalone EPOS system using PHP - possible?

Post by groovyjon »

I need to create a prototype of a very specific EPOS (electronic point of sale) system - basically an app that will allow barcodes to be scanned in, update a database, interact with a printer to produce a receipt and open a cash drawer.

My main expertise lies in PHP, but only for web apps. Time is of the essence to get the prototype produced so my question is whether it is feasible to write such a thing in PHP. I guess it could basically still be a web app running under some local web server such as Apache. But I have no idea how I'd go about interacting with peripherals, printing, etc - not something I'd usually have to consider for a web app!

Is this likely to be more trouble than it's worth, or could it just be possible with PHP?

Jon.
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Christopher
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Post by Christopher »

I don't think PHP is going to be your problem because if you are building it client/server, and server side language would probably work. However doing what you want with a web client may be a challenge -- but hopefully not too much of one. If you can connect to the necessary supporting software you should be fine.

barcodes - The readers usually send a text stream to some device. It could be the keyboard or some other port. Once you get that connection sorted out you should be fine, but something has to poll.

open the cash drawer - If there is a software interface to this, then PHP could exec() that program to open the drawer. It is conceptually the same a ejecting a disc.

Good luck.
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feyd
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Post by feyd »

viewtopic.php?t=25369 may be of interest.
groovyjon
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Post by groovyjon »

Well I don't know whether I'm missing something, but each post in that thread just seems to say "removed". The title does look like it would be of interest though!
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Weirdan
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Post by Weirdan »

That is, infolock has decided to retract his code from our forums. Nevertheless, you could contact him, he's the guy who implemented POS in PHP&JS ~1.5 years ago.
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phpScott
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Post by phpScott »

groovyjon
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Post by groovyjon »

Excellent, thanks. I had tried using my friend google, but I guess I hadn't used the right keywords!
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infolock
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Post by infolock »

i removed it because this is now a copyrighted application. if you are going to use any of this code, please contact me first. Sorry, I should have made this clear when I removed the app originally from the forurm.

Anyways, if you need any help with it, let me know. I've spend the past 2 1/2 years developing it and redesigning it, so any issue you are going to run into I probably have a solution to.
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Christopher
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Post by Christopher »

infolock wrote:i removed it because this is now a copyrighted application. if you are going to use any of this code, please contact me first. Sorry, I should have made this clear when I removed the app originally from the forurm.
I never saw the code and I am sure people will respect your request, but if you posted the code without a copyright or license then anyone who received the code then can probably do what they want with it.
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infolock
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Post by infolock »

Yeah, I am completely aware of that fact. That is what happens when you act without thinking sometimes ;) But that's why it was deleted. The older version of the client was just that, an old version. Just trying to save myself any headaches on down the road =P
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