Zebra Plastic Card Printers.

Zebra Plastic Card Printers come in a variety of styles and price ranges, including single-sided printers, dual sided printers, and security printers

Healthy Solutions for Healthcare.

The healthcare industry benefits from barcoding. Barcoding enhances patient safety and operational efficiency.

Seagull Scientific Products

Seagull Scientific BarTender is an industry-leading label design and barcode software. Seagull Scientific also develops true Windows printer drivers for bar code and thermal printers.

MC 9190G

The Ability To Satisfy Your Company Software Requirements.

Wireless Broadband

The unrivalled Motorola portfolio of Point-to-Point (PTP), Point-to-Multipoint (PMP), and Mesh Wide Area Network (MWAN), WLAN and VoWLAN solutions make governments, enterprises, and service providers more agile by helping them deploy voice, video, and data applications right where they need them.

Tuesday 23 December 2008

Data Acquisition Software TWedge 2.0 Released

Merry Christmas!
It's Christmas. In Austria that usually includes snow, silence (for some people), last-minute gift-shopping (for most people) and holidays. For TEC-IT customers this also means that the new version of the data acquisition software TWedge was released to the public.

New and Flexible Data Acquisition Software
TWedge version 2.0 captures data from serial, USB, Bluetooth or TCP/IP based devices and forwards this data to arbitrary applications or databases.



The highlight of TWedge is the embedded scripting language (based on JavaScript). Using this scripting language any user can embed custom logic or data acquisition functions. It is very easy to extend the functionality of this software wedge, even direct database access functions (via ODBC) and file access methods are available.

Downloads
Check out the demo version: scriptable data acquisition software
Press release: Universal Data-Acquisition Software

Example (Simple)
After adjusting the interface for data acquisition (e.g. serial port COM1, 9600 baud, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no parity) TWedge should be supplied with at least one script which is called whenever data is received via the configured interface.

The perfect place for this script is the the OnData() section. TWedge also offers OnStart(), OnStop(), OnTimer() and OnHotkey() - I assume you guess what these scripts are for.

A very simple OnData() script looks like this:

// start of script
SendKeyStrokes(DATA);
// end of script

The function SendKeyStrokes() simple converts captured data into virtual keystrokes. In other words: Using this simple command TWedge works as keyboard wedge. The captured data is available in the variable DATA by default (TWedge ensures correct device communication).

Example (Complex)
A more complex script writes captured data into a database. OnStart() is used for database initialization and it gets called by TWedge automatically whenever the user invokes device communication:

// start of script
// open the database
if (!myDB.Open("DSN=TWedge_Sample;"))
{
MessageBox("Could not open database TWedge_Sample!");
return;
}

// delete all records stored in a previous session
myDB.Execute ("DELETE * from tbl_Scans");
// end of script

Each time TWedge receives data from the external device it calls the function OnData(). The OnData()-code below enters captured data into the database (along with the hostename and the current date/time):

// start of script
// get the current date and time
var d = new Date();
// d.getMonth returns the month zero-based (e.g. 0=January, 11=December); thus add 1
var sDate = (d.getMonth() + 1) + "-" + d.getDate() + "-" + d.getFullYear();
var sTime = d.getHours() + ":" + d.getMinutes() + ":" + d.getSeconds();

// build the INSERT statement
var insert = "INSERT INTO tbl_Scans (ProdID, ScanDate, ScanTime, Host) VALUES (";
insert += "'" + DATA + "', ";
insert += "'" + sDate + "', ";
insert += "'" + sTime + "', ";
insert += "'" + "localhost" + "');";

// execute the INSERT statement
var nRet = myDB.Execute(insert);
if (nRet < -1) MessageBox ("Error during INSERT:" + myDB.LastError); else if (nRet == -1) MessageBox ("This should not happen when executing an INSERT statement"); else MessageBox (nRet + " record(s) inserted!"); // end of script


Nice - But I don't know JavaScript!
Don't worry. TWedge comes with predefined scripts for common usage scenarios (e.g. keyboard wedge functionality). Just select the template which matches your requirements. Or contact TEC-IT for support.

End of Post
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Monday 15 December 2008

Sports Apparel Case Study

One Step Retail Solutions performed another Retail Pro case study with Sportech, an athletic footwear and apparel store in Port Chester, NY. The store opened 16 years ago and manager Soung Kim talked about her experience with Retail Pro:

"We got on Retail Pro in 1995. You can figure the math there but that's the only system we've used. The store, when we first got it, was about 2000 square feet and now we are at 5600 square feet, so keeping track of our inventory has definitely helped us make larger profit margins, as well as not over-purchasing, so we were able to turn out a profit and expand the store. "

See full case study at:
http://www.onestepretail.com/profiles/sports_apparel.php

Swimwear Case Study

In a case study with Gone Bananas located in San Diego, CA, owner Tom O'Hara speaks about his experience using Retail Pro point of sale software.

When asked about financial benefits, Tom said:
"We have now grown to where we're one of the largest single operations of swimwear in the US. Sales and profits have increased to levels which we would have never dreamed of. We're also online now and have synched our online store to our inventory. This feature of Retail Pro makes the online sales aspect of our store much easier. We'll be seeing more sales through the Internet as well."
Full case study at:
http://www.onestepretail.com/profiles/beachwear.php

Monday 8 December 2008

Round Table for Retail Execs

One Step Retail Solutions is holding an exclusive Round Table for retail executives. The topic is "Are You Crazy Enough to Expand in This Economy?"

Kevin McAdam, author of "Success in the Retail Business During Economic Stress" will present a proven strategy that will enable retailers to open new stores and actually expand in 2009, despite all the doom and gloom economic headlines.

This special open-mic Round Table is an excellent opportunity to speak with Kevin and other retailers about expanding while everyone else is trembling.

December 10, 2008
11:00 AM (PT)

Limited to only 25 attendees! Reserve your space now!

Send Email with your name, company, title and email address and you will receive instructions to join the meeting: sales@onestepretail.com or call (800) 266-1328.

Thursday 4 December 2008

New Book Release


One Step Retail Solutions has released a new eBook, "Succeeding in the Retail Business during Economic Stress" by Kevin McAdam which offers insight and strategies for retailers suffering at the hands of a struggling economy.

Looking at trends in retailing and current industry news spouting doom and gloom, Kevin McAdam gets to the bottom line with survival strategies that help retailers adapt to changing technologies and the new realities of the marketplace.

“This book is very timely because of the current economic conditions, and Kevin really gets into the necessities of what retailers should do during challenging times,” says Scott Kreisberg, CEO of One Step Retail Solutions. “His strategies point out how retailers can not only survive, but thrive during these conditions. I can personally vouch for the validity of his strategies, since I passed on these strategies to him and have watched my clients remain profitable during three economic recessions over the past 20 years as a result.”

This book is a compilation of articles from Kevin's column in a newsletter published by One Step Retail Solutions, advising its retail customers how to get through the economic climate of decreased sales numbers.

Alicia Kreisberg, Chief Operating Officer at One Step claims, “Retailers will find this book very insightful, particularly because the approach and principles outlined in Kevin’s book are taken from the same practices we use at One Step with our clients. No matter what the economic climate is, we make sure that our clients have the tools to succeed.”

Retailers will find in-depth methodologies for such matters as weathering a storm in the retail business, increasing sales through channels of retailing, having the right product at the right place at the right time, how retailers should focus on their core strengths, and adjusting a retail business to changing economic times.

The eBook version is now available as a free download at www.onestepretail.com/retail/ebook.php.