Opportunity to make some Cash

General FreeBASIC programming questions.
Gablea
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Opportunity to make some Cash

Post by Gablea »

Hi All,

I Have a proposition I would like to put forward.

I currently have a EPoS application that I have been developing in FreeBASIC but I need someone who has some more smarts then myself to sort out a
few issues I'm having the issue are
1. Can not retrive data correctly from a MySQL database (I know I would have to drop DOS if MySQL is integrated again)
2. Would need to create the Multibuy Module
3. Update the screen so item could list from the top down (with a blue highlighting bar)
4. Update the system so the Time and date can be display independently of the Keyboard loop (so the time and date is always correct on screen)
5. Create a function that handles the barcode reader (serial interface) independently to the Keyboard function
6. Make the code base more stable ( 1 in every 20 start up crashes the software)

IF someone has a look at my code and says It would be quicker to rewrite it then that's fine all I would ask is for the new code to be comments so i
could carry on development work after you are done.

I am willing to pay for this to be done as I love the system in Linux (so much faster than a Windows app) I am even happy if it done by someone who as retired or is a hobby programmer (as long as the work is done right you can be a 15 yr old school person for all I care)

Please Feel free to contact me via private messages / on here and we can talk about what I want to be done.

Just so you all know i am being serious this is my business (http://www.algpos.co.uk) I have FULLY working VB.net code based PoS at the moment (the reason why i want to move away from Windows is the COST of the liances and I want to move onto a OS that would allow me to run the machines like they was the old DOS machines again)
vdecampo
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Re: Opportunity to make some Cash

Post by vdecampo »

Why not move to Linux and use VB under Mono? Its just like VB.NET, and its free. Depending on how your VB code is written, it may work with little or no modification.

Nothing against FB. Just seems like the right tool for the job.

-Vince
Gablea
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Re: Opportunity to make some Cash

Post by Gablea »

I would use wine but the machines are not powerful enough to run a full desktop as well as a VB Applications

I also would have the problem with the Drivers for the Printer etc as they use OPoS (and I have read bad things with people trying to use OPoS and Linux under wine)

But hey I am game for a laugh :) I may install linux on on of my newer machines (2.5ghz 1gb ram) and see if that can handle the VB version
MrSwiss
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Re: Opportunity to make some Cash

Post by MrSwiss »

Sorry, but I'm led to believe (by your own writing), that you can't possibly be serious, because:
  • the outdated HW (hardware), you seemingly want to use (a "no go" thing, IMHO)
  • the total lack of decent project management (as displayed in the current code-base),
    as well as the current list of existing problems.
  • you also seem to be unaware of the costs (professionals want to be payed decently)
That's it in a nutshell only.
(I've seen your code a while back and, wasn't impressed at all. It simply doesn't resemble a professional attempt.)
Gablea
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Re: Opportunity to make some Cash

Post by Gablea »

@MrSwiss

That's is because I'm not a profreasional basic programmer the language I know the best is Visual Basic.

The old hardware works perfectly fine with FreeBASIC and framebuffer graphics (as I would have liked a native Linux app to run)

I am well aware of the costs that professional programmer would charge but I wanted to give someone who knows FreeBASIC and who is retired etc a change as making some income.
vdecampo
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Re: Opportunity to make some Cash

Post by vdecampo »

I've run Linux with the Mono framework on a $35 Raspberry Pi computer with 1Gb RAM and my c# app ran fine (and it was graphic intensive). I would imagine a POS app would run just fine. Many assemblies or DLLs for .NET can be used on Mono. And there is always more than one way to approach a problem.

-Vince
MrSwiss
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Re: Opportunity to make some Cash

Post by MrSwiss »

@Vince,

it isn't exactly helpful, to compare a relatively new SOC (R-Pi), with "stone-age" PC-HW ...
(as comparing Apples and Bananas, while both are "fruit's")
Gablea
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Re: Opportunity to make some Cash

Post by Gablea »

The Other problem is Mono does not have full sort yet for Visual basic code (it has support for C code) and the other problem would be the
OPoS Drivers that control the Printer cash drawer etc

I have tried a few time to convert my VB.net app into mono but the last time i tried i got 2045 errors (most was because it was written in VB and not C even though thier website says they support the VB syntax)
caseih
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Re: Opportunity to make some Cash

Post by caseih »

There's also Gambas, which is very much like VB6, but works on Windows and Linux.
Gablea
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Re: Opportunity to make some Cash

Post by Gablea »

I have looked at gambas but I can not work out how to make a mdi form (as that is how the vb version is)

A friend of mine has said to me I should do the project in HTML & perl (my knowledge of both is even less then of FreeBASIC.)
caseih
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Joined: Feb 26, 2007 5:32

Re: Opportunity to make some Cash

Post by caseih »

Don't listen to him! Building a working, polished app using HTML for the presentation layer requires a pretty advanced knowledge of several different language and problem domains: HTML, CSS, Javascript, Perl, a Perl web API, a web server, etc. It gets complicated in a hurry. The older I get the more tired all that makes me.

I guess any language or platform you choose to work in requires some knowledge in a variety of problem domains, though, as you are currently struggling with the SQL problem domain.

I have enough time to post apparently, but not enough time to take you up on your offer, even for money!
BasicCoder2
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Re: Opportunity to make some Cash

Post by BasicCoder2 »

caseih wrote: It gets complicated in a hurry. The older I get the more tired all that makes me.
As I found out when It attempted to learn all that stuff. Things were much simpler in the c64 days.
After looking at mysql and the terse freebasic examples I decided that was all too much as well.
If I wanted a data base I would write one tailored to my needs rather than try and learn some complex generic offering.
.
St_W
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Re: Opportunity to make some Cash

Post by St_W »

Gablea wrote:A friend of mine has said to me I should do the project in HTML & perl (my knowledge of both is even less then of FreeBASIC.)
I would also use web-technologies (HTML, JavaScript, CSS, ...) for the front-end nowadays. There are many possibilities for the backend, but I probably wouldn't choose perl :-)
However, if you're not used to web-programming you should rather try to keep your existing code. In your situation I'd go with Mono. For hardware specific stuff you can also use native libraries (e.g. written in FreeBasic) and call those using P/Invoke.
dodicat
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Re: Opportunity to make some Cash

Post by dodicat »

Hi Gablea.
I have never used sql, so I cannot help there.

Regarding the date and time on the screen while in a loop using input.
Why cannot you create a separate time executable, fix it's position on the screen and fix your posscreen also.
(going back to ypur first post in your thread) http://www.freebasic.net/forum/viewtopi ... =3&t=25486

Here could be your time executable

Code: Select all

'fbtime.bas
'compile with -s gui
#include "fbgfx.bi"
#include "vbcompat.bi"
screenres 200,32,8,,FB.GFX_NO_FRAME or FB.GFX_ALWAYS_ON_TOP
screencontrol 100,65,490 'set at 65,490 on the screen
dim as any ptr i=imagecreate(200,32,0)
line i,(0,0)-(199,31),15,b
width 200\8,32\16
color 0, 15

dim as string t1,t2
do
    t1=time
    screenlock
if t1<>t2 then 
    put(0,0),i,pset
    draw string(10,15),Format(Now,"dd/mm/yyyy"),15
    draw string(100,15),format(Now,"hh:mm:ss"),15
end if
screenunlock
sleep 900
    t2=t1
loop until inkey=chr(27)
imagedestroy i
beep
end

 
and here is your pos code using the fbtime.exe

Code: Select all

#include "vbcompat.bi"
#include "fbgfx.bi"
shell "start fbtime.exe" 

declare Sub PoSScreen
dim shared as integer AppVersion=2017
dim shared as integer totaldue=13
dim shared as integer BarcodeNumber

Sub StartPoSMode
 
   dim as string _in
      Do 
         PoSScreen                'Displays the screen
         Locate 26,54 : Input "Barcode : ", _in
         barcodenumber=vallng(_in)
      Loop until  left(lcase(_in),1)="q"
      shell "taskkill /F /IM fbtime.exe"
      end
     ' MainMenu
   End Sub
   dim as long w,h
   w=650
   h=500
 screenres w,h,8,,FB.GFX_NO_FRAME
 width w\8,h\16
 dim as integer xpos,ypos,x,y
 screencontrol 100,50,50
 
startposmode


 Sub PoSScreen
   ScreenLock
   Cls
      Print " " & Chr(201) & String(76,Chr(205)) & Chr(187)
      Print " " & Chr(186) & "algPoS                                                             SimplePoS" & Chr(186)
      Print " " & Chr(186) & "EPoS Made Simple                                             Version " & AppVersion & Chr(186)
      Print " " & Chr(204) & String(76,Chr(205)) & Chr(185)
      Print " " & Chr(186) & Chr(201) & String(30,Chr(205)) & Chr(187) & " " & Chr(201) & String(41,Chr(205)) & Chr(187) & Chr(186)
      Print " " & Chr(186) & Chr(186) & String(30," ") & Chr(186) & " " & Chr(186) & String(41," ") & Chr(186) & Chr(186)
      Print " " & Chr(186) & Chr(186) & String(30," ") & Chr(186) & " " & Chr(186) & String(41," ") & Chr(186) & Chr(186)
      Print " " & Chr(186) & Chr(200) & String(30,Chr(205)) & Chr(188) & " " & Chr(200) & String(41,Chr(205)) & Chr(188) & Chr(186)

      Print " " & Chr(186) & Chr(201) & String(74,Chr(205)) & Chr(187) & Chr(186)
      Print " " & Chr(186) & Chr(186) & String(74," ") & Chr(186) & Chr(186)
      Print " " & Chr(186) & Chr(186) & String(74," ") & Chr(186) & Chr(186)
      Print " " & Chr(186) & Chr(186) & String(74," ") & Chr(186) & Chr(186)
      Print " " & Chr(186) & Chr(186) & String(74," ") & Chr(186) & Chr(186)
      Print " " & Chr(186) & Chr(186) & String(74," ") & Chr(186) & Chr(186)
      Print " " & Chr(186) & Chr(186) & String(74," ") & Chr(186) & Chr(186)
      Print " " & Chr(186) & Chr(186) & String(74," ") & Chr(186) & Chr(186)
      Print " " & Chr(186) & Chr(186) & String(74," ") & Chr(186) & Chr(186)
      Print " " & Chr(186) & Chr(186) & String(74," ") & Chr(186) & Chr(186)
      Print " " & Chr(186) & Chr(186) & String(74," ") & Chr(186) & Chr(186)
      Print " " & Chr(186) & Chr(186) & String(74," ") & Chr(186) & Chr(186)
      Print " " & Chr(186) & Chr(186) & String(74," ") & Chr(186) & Chr(186)
      Print " " & Chr(186) & Chr(186) & String(74," ") & Chr(186) & Chr(186)
      Print " " & Chr(186) & Chr(186) & String(74," ") & Chr(186) & Chr(186)
      Print " " & Chr(186) & Chr(186) & String(74," ") & Chr(186) & Chr(186)
      Print " " & Chr(186) & Chr(204) & String(74,Chr(205)) & Chr(185) & Chr(186)
      Print " " & Chr(186) & Chr(186) & String(74," ") & Chr(186) & Chr(186)
      Print " " & Chr(186) & Chr(200) & String(74,Chr(205)) & Chr(188) & Chr(186)
      Print " " & Chr(204) & String(76,Chr(205)) & Chr(185)
      Print " " & Chr(186) & "                                                                            " & Chr(186)
      Print " " & Chr(200) & String(76,Chr(205)) & Chr(188);
      locate 12,12
      print "barcodenumber";barcodenumber
   
        Locate 6,5 : Print "Total"
        Locate 7,5 : Print "  Due"

        Locate 6,38 : Print "Cashier"
        Locate 6,65 : Print "Trans"
        Locate 6,74 : Print "PoS"
        
        Locate 7,38 : Print "0000 ********************"
        Locate 7,65 : Print "00001"
        Locate 7,74 : Print "001"

   
      If TotalDue = 0 Then
         Locate 26,5 : Print "Next Customer Please"
      Else
         Locate 26,5 : Print "Next Item Please"
      End If
      
         

       ' Locate 29,4 : Print Format(Now,"dd/mm/yyyy")
     '   Locate 29,16 : Print Format(Now,"hh:mm:ss")

   ScreenUnLock
   sleep 1,1
End Sub 
Put all the stuff inside one folder of course.
pressing q exits the program.
(does it work in Linux?)
Gablea
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Re: Opportunity to make some Cash

Post by Gablea »

@dodicat

I'll try that and I shall let you know
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