For retail point of sale solution, we want to be able to scan item after item without having to click 'New' to create a new record, and without having to input the quanity (quantity remains at one for every scan, which is easy to set). And if the same item gets scanned in again, the program can automatically group it together with the other item and increment the quantity however much.

She also mentioned that Walmart has a cool system where if they have an item on sale for 2.95 each and 2 for 5.00, if one is scanned in, the price comes up as 2.95, but if a second one gets scanned in, the second price would come up as 2.05 (2.95 + 2.05 = 5.00).

Can anybody give me some pointers here as to how this can be done, maybe in the define fields, define scripts area, regarding automatically bringing up a new record when one item has been scanned in, and regarding the grouping?

All suggestions would be much appreciated.

The basic use of a scanner in FM is this. Have a script start, get prepared, go to a global field, then pause. Scan. A scanner is an input device like a keyboard. It will just dump what it sees into whichever field the cursor is in. Hit enter. Script picks up, checks the data, if satisfied, makes a new record, populates needed fields, checks for same record done previously, etc.

I can see scripting in all the requirements you mentioned quite easily.

I have a hand-held scanner that scans book EANs into a database in FM 6. There is a lot of info here about various ways to use scanners with FM.

Steve Brown

Edited December 21, 200520 yr by Guest