school checkout app help

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    Okay this may be kinda sorta long, but I need help. I am a second year engineering student at my school. We are fairly big into basketball and our games are usually packed. at our concession stands our the students do the math in there head, and they have a hard time keeping inventory. My engineering teacher asked if I could possibly build an app solving this issue (using android).

    The first thing I thought of was ShopKeep (a POS system on an iPad that my moms store uses (Please login to see this link. )) We discussed a general layout on how she would like it setup. we only accept cash at the basketball games so I don't have to deal with credit cards and stuff.

    So I need the app to do a few things. When an item(s) is clicked display those item(s) in a tab on the right of the screen labeled checkout, and then to add them up for a total amount due. I need to be able to display lots of items on the screen so the ability to scroll threw items or pages of items. The ability for the person taking stock to see how many were sold at the end of the night to subtract that from there stock paper. And the price of each item, and ability to change that if needed.

    Please login to see this attachment.

    (kinda the layout I am aiming for (this was done in photoshop) The cash screen would be where the student would enter in the $ amount the person handed them and it would show them there change, and then pop back into the main screen.

    The items sold screen would show the stock person the number of items sold, that game (and maybe total money made that day if that's possible)
    and at the end of the day after all of the stock has been taken there be a button that would wipe the numbers from that day so it would be clean for the next game.

    I will do the graphics and make it pretty but first issue is getting a working app. Any help would be amazing! This isnt an assigment so there is no due date. She would like it done soonish though before our larger tournaments.

    Thank you
    Gage~

    Gage, I'm sure this can be done, but to code something like this would not be easy in my opinion. These type apps are expensive and are used in a lot of stores, bars, arenas and so forth. How many items are you talking about? And the other issue would be the screen size of the phone if used! If a tablet was used, it would be better. There are members here that could do something like this, but I think they would want to be paid for the app. Like I said, it's not easy to do in my opinion. I would ask the school for funding for a register or ask them to buy iPads and get a POS app already made for this type thing.

    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]Please login to see this link.
    Please login to see this link.

    If you wanted to take it on as a challenge then I say go for it. However if they are looking to save money, having their own app made isn't likely to save them money. Even if you are doing it for free, you wouldn't want any loss of sales due to bugs.

    A quick google search returns this: Please login to see this link.

    Its free and appears to have a bunch of features.

    Thanks Danworth I will talk to her about it next time I see her. Until then I would still like to get some work done one the one I am making incase the one you suggested isnt what they are looking for.

    Would you or KLiK-iT have any suggestions on how I should go about all of this?

    I don't see why it would be so difficult, infact it seems quite straightforward IMO, unless i'm missing something?

    You could accomplish this all with some basic extensions/controls (List, Edit, Button, string parser and an Array/INI to store it all), or, what would be more advanced and difficult is to setting up a mysql database and using PHP & GET object to update/store purchase history, get inventory etc.

    But if its just to basically add items, calculate the total, calculate the change and record the purchase, then its quite accomplishable. If you have any questions on any piece of it, just ask here and i'm sure someone will be able to help you with individual parts you get stuck on.

    I've not created an app for Android so not sure which extensions you can or can't use. However for storing the data my first choice would be SQL. Due to the requirement of a network connection I don't think having the unit directly connect to a SQL database is the best option. I would store the data locally using SQLite (not sure if it's available for android) or the array object and then have the app sync with the SQL database. This will enable you to have the units upload their transactions to a global DB where you can run reports off per device daily, weekly, monthly and so on.

    If you wanted just a basic setup where the data isn't uploaded or backed up you could just use SQLite/Array object to store the data locally.

    You would need a table for the stocklist (product code, description, price and discount available) another table for sales history and then maybe another to store some global settings such as tax, device id and so on. If you are using SQLite you can create these individual tables. If you are using the array object you could either have separate array objects for each table or have each table on its own Z axis of a 3D array.

    SQLite would make things easier if you wanted to check how many of X the device has sold using a query like: SELECT count(*) FROM tblSales WHERE `product_id` = 'ID_YOU_WANT_TO_QUERY'; If you wanted to do something similar using arrays you would need to start a fastloop which iterates through the array checking for the product id and adding to a value each time the product is matched and then returns the value at the end for the total. If you wanted to check the total takings of the device it would need a similar process SQLite: Total = SELECT sum(`price`) FROM tblSales; Array: Would need fastloop to iterate through the array and add the sale price to a value.

    Edited once, last by danworth (December 11, 2014 at 12:49 PM).

    I don't think SQLite is available for android unfortunately, it would make it a whole lot easier for database interactions!\
    You can use GET object to POST/GET to a PHP script, which then would interact with a database.

    Though a database is probably best practice, it sounds like for "gagegage926" application he could get away with something more simple if he's never done any PHP/Database stuff, and just use an array/ini to store the data, then when it comes time at the end of the day to collaborate everyones totals, use Jeffs high score example/or some sort of basic online high score, and instead post the amount and the date!

    Sweet thanks Danworth, and Macca02. I have some coding experience (mainly C, Arduino, and some extremely basic JavaScript.) I have been reading quite a few examples and playing with them. Going to take awhile of messing around with the array object but I should be able to get it.

    Thanks for the tons of help guys!

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