a Few Issues....

[Ali]

Hi Emre, JohnS and everybody,

Hope you guys enjoyed the new Year.
Firstly before I ask about some issues I am having, I would just like to congratulate you guys on such a great forum and a great piece of software you guys Have.

I have been playing around with the software for a few days Now I have Installed sql Express and also set up RDP to connect a  android device to it. Today I have been playing a litttle with the reports ad table designs.

Im based in the UK and i do know a little about POS software and I have designed my own with help from a friend which works really well but its restricted as its based around ms access but unfortunalty thats about as farr as my experience goes. i would love to learn c# and maybe this would be a good software to start on.
Although my software that i have created works good its not ideal for a restuaurant enviroment as you cant add amend an order ones its printed its there and I cant really change that not but syaing that This samba POS really Rocks. I just love the way it works etc
and I have been looking for a while of a way to make something work in my family resturant with android/Apple and i think this will.
Im going to in the next few days set up a fresh machine and set it up in my family restaurant and see how it goes and test it out on maybe 1 tablet etc.

Also I have been using forums for a number of years and its helped me a hell of a lot and i think its time i gave something back to the online forum community.
after Reading different posts on this forum regarding samba pos ver 2 (I dont know much about ver3) I believe that a lot of users have been
having some issues with the caller id.
It took my a while to work this out in the uk but i did.  :-). The best and easiest way is used modems and although limited there are a few
caller id enabled ones but the problem is out of every 10 calls maybe 1 or 2 the modems dont seem to pick up.
also there is a company in the uk which does a dedicated caller id box which works extremely well and im sure it can work in other countries.

Emre I read on a previous post that you were working on caller id but you had some issues. If you would like i can get some source code over to you which works with modems al you have to do is change the string to enable the modem for caller id. the only problem is its in vb and works with ms comm control but you can use the rs232 control. also I managed to find a guy in america who has written a book on serial communcations which includes caller id if you want his details he is a very helpful chap.


Also I seen on samba POS there is not much in for delivery side such as delivery driver management, postcode/zip search, mapping software?
I think with them features samba pos wont just be a great POS but the greatest in my opinion.

In uk delivering food is a major part of a restaurant/takeaway fast food outlet.
What i  think why make samba pos just a pos to handle and manage orders why not make it a marketing tool also so for quiet periods why not put some offers on and let your customers know..... How do you this??? well as mobile phones increase why not SMS them?? Firstly caller id will capture customers telephone number and then  with there mobile number just send them a SMS out of 100 customers even if 5 order thats a persons wage bill paid for.

In my family resturant we have over 20k customers in our database so i think SMS id deffinalty a good way forward.

Ok now to the issues....

There are a few but im working my way through them and some I am figuring out.

my question is if we print a order and then we go back into the order i click on the print button it goes -1 etc but noting prints out. if i click print bill that prints out fine.

Also I have read on the forums about main course and starters etc but can it be so for example when the waiter takes the order and selects the table it changes colour to when they have been seated. ordered, eating corresponding with different colours?? so waiters can know when a table will be coming free roughly??

also say a 2 guests orders starters and mains can there be a setting so if starters take more then 20 mins it flashes up on the screen??



Sorry for the long eassay guys and Emre I hope i didnt mean to offend you if i said about some of the ideas I had but I quite like this forum and I would like to my little bit to help if I can. and Samba POS is deffinaly a million times better then some of the paid ones here in the uk

[emre]

Hello Ali,

SambaPOS is a community project.
There is no difference between the project you created and SambaPOS. You own both of them.

The only difference is you own it like you own the community park in your city. That means every other community members owns that too. So you can use it like your own park... (but you can't sell like your own park

But not too much people knows what open source means, how open source projects runs and how everyone should feel a bit of responsibility about the project.

Thank you very much for understanding it and for trying to give something back...

The problem with the caller-id is not technical. We'll release a modem solution on next version but like you said modems are not stable enough for that task. There are better devices on the market but there is no communication standard like modems have. Every device model should programmed individually and there are really lots of different models I don't have enough personal time and resources to afford a universally working solution. In fact even every commercial software companies can't afford that.

But we can use our community powers to solve that. On some countries we have friends who commercially supports SambaPOS and they are willing to implement local solutions and release them to the community. They only need a simple communication / plugin API. I'll do my best to develop that API.

The question is will we able to spread that solution to every countries? This is up to SambaPOS community. I personally try to keep my relationships warm and support everything I can and this is what I could do by myself. It is really hard to imagine possibilities if we'll be able to build a collective power that works for the project. What I'm thinking everyday is how we can achieve that.

******
I couldn't understand the question about printing. There should be a single button labelled as "Print Bill" for printing tickets. As you print tickets it's counter will increase to indicate how many times it printed. This is just for security. If you can give more details about the problem I'll be glad to help.

One of the greatest features of upcoming V3 version is "State / Workflow Tracking" You'll be able to define custom states for nearly anything (tables, orders, tickets, customers, etc..) and automate SambaPOS to do certain things (changing color, changing order price, adding discounts, create notifications, etc..) for certain states. I tested it for many different cases and all I can say is if works great. We'll solve a lot of problems with that.

I wrote more than I've planned.
Phew.. We really have lots of new posts today!

Have a nice day.

[Ali]

Hi Emre,

hope your well, sorry for the late reply I been a little busy working at the restaurant.

Yes you are right about it being a community project and also one main advantage of this is if you make something your self and only
you know how it works any problems sometimes become very hard to work out where as open soure you have a community of people to help out.

Ok I understand the caller id issue you have from your side. I think what you say about modems are right but the problem is they are becoming
less as the need for them goes especially with broadband and high speed internet.
I think I may have a solution over here we have a company who have a great working caller id which also shows time how long was the call for and even call recording, they also provide a active x control and .net software which makes it really easy to integrate and talk to the caller id hardware. Also a supplier who i bought Epos equipment for my restaurant has a caller id with source code and the best part is he gets them
direct from a company in china so to make a inversal for all countries could be a possibility.

They both however are a little pricey at around £120 but I think that is well worth it considering how much time they save and eliminate errors in entering numbers by hand.

I did a lot of research a few years back and hours in my restaurant ringing the phone and testing so see if i get it working. over the years I have improved on this with better working units.

Also as far as the string of modems are concerned if you want to go down that route what you can do is in the local setting where the database connection is have a textbox there for the caller id string.
Modems have a handfull of strings which get the caller id working such AT+VCid=1 etc and thats the only thing that needs to be changed.

If you would like I can possibly order one and send it to you if you want.

Also as i mentioned in my post I found some source code which is written in c# for sending SMS messages which connects to a modem device with a simcard facility which they can use to send messages and offers to customers. (works great for marketing and offers).


I figured out the print problem, that print button was set for only printing new items/lines ordered so i think i may have to set up another one with
a print button called re print to print the whole order if the kitchen looses or with the heat the paper goes all black etc.

there are a few more issues but im just working my way through them and some i am figuring out.  next few days im looking to do a fresh install on a pc and install it on there and set up the menu tables etc on there, also ordered a Ipad to test it out with 1 initally then see how it goes.

When will version 3 be out?? also another point you talked about provijg was online services?? is this like providing online ordering website??
this would be a great idea even if you charge for hosting I think it will be worth it.

You mentioned some commercially suppprting samba pos ?? is that they are selling samba pos or supporting for using it??


After using Vb and access for a number of years I really want to move up and learn programming in a better language and database ie c# and sql and i think this project will do that.
But looking at all the files etc its a Beast of a project and hugh. also is it also written in xml or wpf?? I dont know that language lol.

any Ideas on best tutorials etc??

Kind Regards

[emre]

Hello;
We can find better solutions for the caller id device support after releasing the modem module. I think it will be easily modified for other devices.

I'll release V3 beta 1 soon. I'm trying to finish warehouse support.

Like all open source programs it is possible to sell SambaPOS but it is up to customer to buy, copy from a friend or download from our website. Of course what people selling is not SambaPOS usage permission. It is setup, training and support services.

It is a XML based "UI definition language" called XAML. Might seem complex at first but this is the easiest UI building tool in the word. (at least for me). Googling for XAML should bring lots of resources.

[Ali]

Hi Emre,

Thanks for the reply, yes I think you maybe right there with creating a modem module.  I will be looking forward to
reviewing V3 And I will be happy to test out the caller id if you require.

Oh I see, I understand so although samba pos is free some people can install or sell it somewhere but charge for the installation training support etc.
I Think this product would be easily bought here in the UK especially for the restaurant side.

Oh I see, yes it does look a little complex but I think looking a little more into it and reading up on it might become a little easy but your knowledge and my knowledge on this is a world apart so I think a lot of reading and looking in on my behalf might be needed. lol