Installation Instructions and Manual

version 1.1

Gregory Wilson
gwilson.sq1@gmail.com

miniPOS is part of the Public Domain

Contents

1. License
2. About miniPOS
3. Windows Installation
4. Linux Installation
   1. Linux - Running miniPOS from the command line
   2. Linux - Installing miniPOS using setuptools
   3. Linux – Installing miniPOS using Easy Install
   4. Linux (Ubuntu) – Creating a launcher for miniPOS
5. miniPOS Manual
   1. Getting Set Up
   2. Point of Sale
   3. Sales Records
   4. Inventory
   5. Program Settings
   6. Language Settings
   7. Resetting the Program's Database
   8. Saving and Restoring Database Files
   9. Printing Product Sales Reports and Receipts
6. Questions and Suggestions

I. License

miniPOS is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

miniPOS is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with miniPOS. If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.

II. About miniPOS

miniPOS is a simple Point-Of-Sale (POS) program, used to record and manage sales data. It is useful for small to medium retail stores with a low to medium volume of sales. The program allows you to...

• quickly and easily tally up customer purchases and provide receipt numbers
• edit receipts with the click of a button
• manage inventory information, such as identification number, name and price
• see gross sales information for any period
• see sales info for any product for any period
• print product sales reports
• print receipts on a standard printer
• customize the language
• add additional languages, using any existing language as a starting point for translation

The program is designed to give the user a very high degree of control while staying relatively simple. This means that anyone can make changes to prices and past receipts whenever they want. In some businesses, this increases the exposure for potential fraud. This program was designed for small, sole-proprietor owned businesses, where the owner or family members would be the only ones using the program.

New Language Form

Sales Records Page

Inventory Page

Program Setting Menu

miniPOS in Armenian

Point of Sale Page

III. Windows Installation Instructions

For Windows, I highly recommend you use the miniPOS Setup.exe file. This is a standard installer that will guide you through the setup process.

[WARNING!] - You will get an error if you install miniPOS in a directory where you do not have full read write privileges. You can either change the folder's permissions (WinXP, Win7), or reinstall in a different folder, such as 'My Documents'.

IV. Linux Installation Instructions

[WARNING!] - You will get a SQLite Operational error using miniPOS if you install the program in a directory where you do not have full privileges. To remedy this, you can install the program from a different location, or preface the command line argument with 'sudo' to run the program as the root user.

Linux can run miniPOS directly from the source files or install using easy_install (from setuptools). Both options require that you have both Python 2.7.2 and wxPython2.8 (unicode) installed on your computer.

For Python 2.7 go to http://www.python.org/download/ and download the correct installation files for your operating system.

For wxPython2.8 (unicode) go to http://www.wxpython.org/download.php#stable and download the correct installation files for your operating system.

If you're planning on installing the program from the source code, you will also need the setuptools module, which can be downloaded from:

http://pypi.python.org/pypi/setuptools#installation-instructions

Linux -

IV.i - Linux: Running miniPOS from the command line -

1. Make sure you've installed Python 2.7 and wxPython2.8 (unicode).
2. Open up a terminal (Applications => Accessories => Terminal OR CTRL + ALT + T).
3. Use the 'cd' command to navigate to the 'source' folder.
4. Type: ~/path/to/source/python mini_pos.py

As long as the 'source' directory is in a location with full read / write privileges, the program should work fine.

___IV.ii - Linux: Installing miniPOS from the source code - ___

1. Make sure you've installed Python 2.7, wxPython2.8 (unicode) and setuptools.
2. Open up a terminal (Applications => Accessories => Terminal OR CTRL + ALT + T).
3. Use the 'cd' command to navigate to the 'source' folder.

4. Type and enter: ~/path/to/source/sudo python setup.py build

5. Type and enter: ~/path/to/source/sudo python setup.py install

6. If the program is installed successfully, you should be able to type in mini_pos.py in the terminal (while in any directory) and miniPOS will start.

IV.iii - Linux: Installing from an EGG file using easyinstall -_

1. Make sure you've installed Python 2.7, wxPython2.8 (unicode) and setuptools.
2. Make sure you are connected to the internet.
3. Open up a terminal (Applications => Accessories => Terminal OR CTRL + ALT + T).
4. Type and enter: ~/any/path/sudo easy_install miniPOS
5. If the download and installation are successful, you should be able to type in mini_pos.py in the terminal (while in any directory) and miniPOS will start.

IV.iv - Linux: Creating a Launcher (Ubuntu) -

If you chose to install the program, you can create a launcher that opens the program when you click on it. This method has been tested with Ubuntu 11.04.

1. Right click on the Desktop and select 'Create Launcher...'
2. Set 'Type' to 'Application'
3. Enter 'miniPOS' in the 'Name' field
4. Enter 'mini_pos.py' in the 'command' field
5. Click on the icon and select the miniPOS.svg file is located in the ~/source/mpos/resources directory
6. Click OK

V. Manual

V.i – Getting Set Up -

After you have successfully installed miniPOS, the first thing you should do is enter your inventory. It's good to have consistent, logical names that uniquely identify each product. Consider using the following product name format:

Product Name, Manufacturer (unique trait) (Kg) [SKU]

Product Name examples:

• Yellow Corn, Green Hill's Farm (Kg)
• 14” Latitude D630 Laptop, Dell [1982773646]
• Chair, Lefty Bros' Furniture (Mahogany, Padding) [8376219992]

Having good names will help you find products easier with the search engine, and will ensure that you are recording your sale correctly. Remember: Garbage in, garbage out.

If the product is sold in bulk, be sure to click the 'Bulk Item' box, and enter the per unit of measurement price for the product.

V.ii – Point of Sale -

The Point of Sale panel is where you create receipts for customers. Use the search bar on the top-left side to quickly search for any product. When you find what you are looking for, single click on the item in the Products list. This will bring up an 'Add Item to Receipt' box, where you enter the quantity (in fractions, if the product is sold in bulk), and change the unit price if necessary. When you've entered a price and quantity, click 'OK', and the product is added to the receipt list.

If you would like to edit an item already on the receipt list, just double-left-click on the item in the receipt list to bring up the 'Add Item to Receipt' box again. To remove a product from the receipt, just right-click on the item in the receipt list.

Once the receipt is finished, simply click the 'Complete Transaction' button to record the sale. To clear the receipt and nullify the sale at any time, click the 'Cancel' button.

NEW FEATURE - CLEAR SEARCH BAR

You can now clear the search bar by clicking the cancel button inside the search bar on the right hand side, or by pressing the F11 key.

While miniPOS does not print receipts, it does provide receipt numbers on the upper-right corner of the panel. It is good practice to use a simple receipt printer to record the date, time and total amount, then write the receipt number on that paper receipt for the customer. This will help verify any future revisions of the sale.

V.iii – Sale Records -

The Sale Records panel is where you look up information on past sales. You can filter sales by date, using the tools in the upper-right corner. Using the drop-down menu, you can choose to look at sales for the day, the past week, the past month, or the past year. If you want a more specific time period, you can click on the 'Start Date' or 'End Date' buttons.

The 'Period Sales Records' list on the upper-left side of the panel will show all of the sales made between the start and end dates currently selected. Click on any sale-entry in the 'Period Sales Records' list to bring up the receipt, which is displayed directly below in the 'Sale Record Receipt' list. If you wish to edit the receipt currently selected, click on the 'Edit Receipt' button, located on the very bottom-left of the panel.

The sub-total, sales tax and total sales for the selected period are shown directly below the start and end date functions, in the 'Sales Summary' box. Below that, the unit sales and total sales for each product are shown for the selected period. Use the search bar to look up specific products.

V.iv – Inventory -

The Inventory panel is a simple tool for browsing your inventory, adding products, and editing product information. Use the search bar to look up individual products in the Products list. Click on a product, and its information will be displayed on the upper-right corner of the panel.

To add a product, simply click the 'Add Product' button and enter the price, quantity, and specify whether or not the item is sold in bulk, then click 'OK'. To edit a product's information, first select the product in the Products list, then click the 'Edit Product Information' button.

NEW FEATURE - CLEAR SEARCH BAR

You can now clear the search bar by clicking the cancel button inside the search bar on the right hand side, or by pressing the F11 key.

V.v – Program Settings -

From the menu bar, click 'Edit' => 'Program Settings' to open up the Program Setting menu. Here you can select the language of the program, set the currency format, and set the sales tax rate, if any.

Note: Changing the language will cause the program to restart.

V.vi – Language Settings -

miniPOS is designed to be especially flexible in regards to language. From the menu bar, click 'Edit' => 'Language Options' to open up the Language Options menu. Here you can add a new language, or edit an existing language. Since all the languages except for English were translated using Google Translate, the translations aren't great. If you successfully edit any of the language files, please email me the updated .csv file.

To edit an existing language, select any language from the drop-down box and click 'Edit'. This will open up a new dialog with all the program's words and phrases listed individually on the left hand side. On the right hand side, you can enter anything you like. Click the 'Save' button at anytime to record your changes. Use the 'Next' and 'Previous' buttons at the top to navigate through all of the word and phrases for the program.

To add a new language, enter the name of the new language and select a 'from' language, then click 'Add Language'. This will bring up the same dialog with the 'from' language on the left, and the new language's empty fields on the right. Write the translated words or phrases in the right hand fields. When you're finished, click save, and the new language file will be created. Those words or phrases which you cannot translate will default to their original 'from' languages. You can edit them at anytime using the 'Edit Language' feature.

V.vii – Reseting the program's database -

miniPOS uses a SQLite database to record and manage product and sale information. This file (pos_data.db) is located in the 'resources' directory. If you would like to reset the database (delete all your product, sale, and receipt records), you can go to the menu bar and select 'File' => 'Reset Database'. I highly recommend you backup the data_pos.db file before resetting the database. Do not change the name of the .db file, as miniPOS will no longer recognize it. I recommend saving it in a clearly marked and dated directory.

V.viii – Backing Up (Saving) and Restoring (Opening) the miniPOS Database -

As miniPOS is an ongoing project, it is a good idea to keep records of the miniPOS database. These files will store a date stamped copy of your miniPOS database on your hard drive. You can use this file to...

restore the miniPOS database
use your database on a different computer
or preserve your records when updating the program

Use the options under “File” to save and open your miniPOS database files.

V.ix – Printing Receipts and Product Sales Reports -

If you would like to print a receipt for a customer, first complete the sale on the “Point of Sale” panel. Then go to the “Sales” panel and select the receipt in the sales list box. Finally, click the “Print Receipt” button at the bottom of the panel.

To print a Product Sales Report, select a sales period, and click the “Print Product Sales Report” button at the bottom right of the panel.

VI. Questions and Suggestions

miniPOS was written as a study program to develop a template for Python/wxPython based programs that could be easily distributed, especially on Windows computers. As such, it is limited in scope, and the coding is far from perfect. However, it has some potential as a useful tool, and I will consider any suggestions for improvement.

If you have any further questions about the program, feel free to email me.

Thanks for using miniPOS!