Multiple terminals, own reports

[Marco]

Hi

I've been successfully been using Samba Pos in the kitchen of our community organisation.

However, I now would like to roll out a terminal in the bar. I had chosen to set up two terminal records, and two department records, hoping that this way each terminal would print only their own end of day products/sales etc.

However it does not seem to work that way. Printing e.g. the Item Sales Report from terminal, prints the sales from both. As the persons behind the bar and the kitchen work independent, I do not want this cross over.

What did I do wrong? Should I create a second instance on the database server and keep these in separate databases?

Thanks
Marco

[lemmings]

Creating a second instance will not work, I dont think its possible to split sales between terminals as this information is not recorded in the ticket only the department.

You can assign a terminal to a department as they work independently this should work in your set-up.

Assign the terminal to the relevant department and then your sales will be split between dept and therefore each terminal.

[JohnS]

If you are using the same database, then all sales will be grouped to some degree.
Sales are tracked by department and user, but are listed all together on the Work Period Report.

The only option to have completely separate reports is to have 2 databases which means you can not share any information.

[Marco]

Thanks lemmings & John

As they also would like to have their own work period etc, I think that separate database is the best. All their products are different, so their is little or no cross-over.

So then, how do I go about this.

I think that the database NEEDS te be called 'sambapos2' thus cannot just have a second database on the same SQL server instance. Is this correct? Or can the connection string be configured to specify a differen database name?

If I need a separate named instance of SQL server, in order to have a second database with the same name, any hints on how to go about that? Do I just install SQL server (express) a second time on the same machine?

Kind regards and many thanks for your help!

Marco

[lemmings]

If you have two separate terminals you could install SQL Express on each and then they will run as separate entities - although you will have to set each one up individually, as John stated you will be unable to share information.

You can add another database to an SQL instance but I dont think that will work as Im sure the database name is hardcoded so it will not be possible to refer to both databases from SambaPos.

I will give it a try with my test set up but I think you will probably end up installing SQL Express on both terminals - thats of course if they are both have Windows OS ?

[lemmings]

Just ran a second setup of SQL Server on my test machine and called it SambaPos2 - but it consumes extra RAM  - so I hope your hardware is up to it ?

I was able to access it via a second version of SambaPOS v2.99 running on my laptop (after changing the connection string) and it does work.

I have not fully tested but SambaPos starts up on both machines and they access there separate databases, so in theory you should be able to accomplish what you are trying to do ?

Good Luck

[JohnS]

You can add another database to an SQL instance but I dont think that will work as Im sure the database name is hardcoded so it will not be possible to refer to both databases from SambaPos.

Using a separate SQL Instance will work. Yes the DB name is hardcoded.
Use on one terminal
data source=MyPC\INSTANCE1; User Id=sa; Password=password1234
and on the other
data source=MyPC\INSTANCE2; User Id=sa; Password=password1234

I will give it a try with my test set up but I think you will probably end up installing SQL Express on both terminals - thats of course if they are both have Windows OS ?

Having SQL Express only on one computer means that computer will need to be on for the other terminal to work. I would have SQL Express on each with their own database so they can work independant.

[Marco]

Thanks.

I have a dedicated server, so two db instances each with a Sambapos2 database would be possible.

Thanks a lot for the information.

I'll give it a go.

Cheers
Marco