[DUG] In case you're interested (or buy stuff)

[Trevor Jones]

I'm sure that most of you shop or have shopped at The Warehouse.

Next time you're in, there's a chance that your sale will be processed by a
BDS 2006 app.

The Delphi POS is currently installed in the Albany store, and the Fraser
Cove Liquor store.

I tell you this not so you can tell me about crap service or things that you
may dislike about the program, but rather that you can have a certain warm
feeling knowing that it is all Delphi.

The Delphi POS looks very similar to the old BP7 POS, so it is hard to tell
them apart.  The Delphi POS has a digital clock in the top right-hand corner
of the screen, the BP7 POS is obviously running in text mode.

The database is Firebird, and it is driven with IBX.  I have yet to find a
problem with IBX and Firebird.  The search functionality is written entirely
in SQL and is blazingly fast.


POS for The Warehouse is alarmingly complex, and requires all sorts of
things that may be attached to a sale or a sale line (or both).  Kiwi
Rewards, Gift Vouchers, Gift Cards, Laybys, Rainchecks, Returns and funny
tender types were all implemented using interfaces and objects that can
conditionally support them.

Warehouse specific code lives in a loadable module (.bpl) which overrides
and enhances the default functionality.  Extra modules can be loaded to
provide the stuff that liquor stores (or other stores) need.  So far, I
think that this is the only system that can safely UNLOAD a module without
the need for a restart.

Devices such as barcode scanners, weigh-scales, printers, card-swipes and
even EFTPOS solutions can be added or removed while the program is running
and none of these actions require a restart of either the program or OS.

Feedback from the business is (so far) universally complimentary.  The
Delphi solution has never crashed.  The team leaders for the project have
stopped looking stressed, and the ancillary projects (code also written in
Delphi) are working well.

I wrote most of the stuff in D7, then switched to BDS2006 'coz it is better.

Just saying is all.

Trevor