All of the code within the CES TS Software plus any 3rd
party import and export utilities are written using
Microsoft Visual Foxpro v6 SP5 and Microsoft Visual Foxpro
v7 SP1.
Visual Foxpro is a database development language that also
allows us to access and use any Active-X components that are
needed for various hardware, such as EFT Transactions, Card
Readers etc
We also use Refox MMII for security as this product allows
us to encrypt our releases beyond even our own means of
reverse engineering.
All the data within the CES TS Software is held within native
Foxpro Tables. This allows the data to be exported/imported
easily from other Foxpro Tables or CSV files, Excel
Spreadsheets etc.
Two methods of data transfer are commonly available and these
are via two routines that we have developed that allow when
first loading and when running the End of Day routine the
system to check for transfers etc.
Data may also be transferred to other systems using the
Microsoft ODBC drivers for Visual Foxpro. We do not use
Triggers within our Tables, so any transfers done in this way
will need to be controlled by the other party.
Currently we split some data between common data (Stock,
Customers etc) (which is located on the server) and temporary
data (which is stored on the POS). This allows us to take
speed advantages of POS systems rather than creating
additional network traffic.
We are in the process of developing UNC based data-handling
routines. Using these will allow the POS to use the Server for
these common files, however a local copy of these files is
also maintained.
Therefore should the POS be disconnected from the Server, the
Operator will be informed but will be allowed to continue
using its own latest copy of the Common Data and when the
connection to the Server is re-connected, the POS will update
the Server and continue as normal.
Due to the nature of how the data is stored we are modifying a
number of tables to take into account any status that will be
needed.
CES TS Software uses Visual Foxpro Free-Tables, Compact
Indexes and Memo Files.
Visual Foxpro utilises Rushmore and we make full use of that
technology when performing many of our data searches and
update.
Databases and Tables are the basis of Visual Foxpro and so
data handling and manipulation is an integral part of VFP
making it very fast and easy to use.
Due to the nature of vulnerability of data when a POS goes
wrong we have used methods that only open data and
access/update it when necessary and once done, close it down.
These methods ensure that should a POS crash (for whatever
reason) in the middle of something (say a Sale) then when the
POS is back in the software the information that was being
entered should be there, or should have cleared and not
updated (to save half information being updated).
However should the POS crash in the middle of a data update
then it is possible that data may be corrupted. Whilst there
are a number of 3rd Party Tools to help correct corrupt Visual
Foxpro Data we use none of these as these tools cannot
guarantee full data recovery. Therefore our policy is for data
to be restored from backups whenever signs of data corruption
are seen.
It is not our responsibility to ensure that the data is backed
up, we leave this to the Dealer from whom the software was
purchased to handle.
Visual Foxpro has it’s own Report/Label Generation tool that
is built as part of Visual Foxpro.
We have developed a number of ‘Generic’ front end reports that
may be used to generate the data needed for a report, then all
that is needed are the report files themselves to be attached
to the correct front end and a new report is added.
You must take note that Visual Foxpro 6/7 is needed to be able
to create or modify existing reports.
Crystal Reports may also be used as it is able to access the
CES TS data but we do not currently support this.
