barcodes? how to setup a database...?

[balooka]

Hi,

I could be posting this in the wrong forum but since there are people in here that know what they are talking about I choose this one.

I was asked to bid on a solution that uses a barcodereader for stock and sales. I've read posts here and it's getting clear on how this all works (with cash drawers, printers etc...) What I'm wondering about is the way you setup the DB that goes alongn with it.

My prospect has over 5,000 items in stock, so those can be coded. But if he enters a new shipment, for lets say Item#1, should I (the DB) create one new record where the user can add the volume (say 1000 pieces). What if he sells 500 pieces and get a new shipment... should a new record be created or should it add the new shipment to the first record. Or maybe it should create a new one and after it has been entered a script should 'merge' records, so that a fresh record is created with the new amount of pieces in stock??

So, in a nutshell, should every code have only one record? I don't think it should add 1000 new lineitems, since the DB would grow real fast. Im asking this since I can imagine a situation where the user scans itemcodes, and if its only one record containing the amount of items, he/she should also manualy add the new amount...

How do you do this??

TIA

JP

[balooka]

Hi

I did a little test on the merging and deleting in a single db as described above (file attached) but I'm wondering if this is the correct way to go about it. The script used could also be used to subtract an amount of a specific item from the POS db. What I'm wondering about is if the globals (setfield) will hold up if there are more POS added... will this work in a multi user enviroment?

Thanks in advance for your input,

JP

RecordMerge.zip

[jasonwood]

Hi JP,

You only want one record per product in your product database, which typically has a field to show the qty in inventory.

On your purchase order, you'll have purchase order line items for every item you order. Don't worry about the volume of line items. The db can get pretty big before you'll have problems!

When you receive items, you'll typically click a button on the line item which sends the data to the products database and adjusts inventory accordingly.

Every product has a unique serial number and a bar code, which you can use interchageably on an invoice.

I didn't have a look at your files, but there's not much to worry about with globals in a multiuser because globals are separate for every user on the network. The main concern with multiuser is "record locking" where someone clicks in a record and then that record can't be modified by another person (not even by a script!).

[balooka]

Thanks Jason,

Your post helped me alot!

JP