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Hey guys I have a question that has been asked a million times but i have a little twist that i can not seam to find.

I am building a POS system that is web based. I need to be able to open a cash drawer. I know that i can not control a usb device from a web site but what im thinking would work is if i use Microsoft visual basic and use the web browser that is built with in the program could i some how use an event listener that would wait for a button that would say Hey time to open the cash drawer. This way the button is passing the action to the program then the program that is installed on the customers computer trigger the usb port that would open the cash drawer?

Kelly
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  • I think the answer is no. You could use a server to control an usb device, but you couldn't use a visual basic controlled web browser (a client) to control an usb device. At least not without using writing a server to do it anyway. – Elliott Frisch Oct 18 '14 at 01:54
  • what do you mean as to a server? – Kelly Oct 18 '14 at 01:55
  • What do you mean by a POS system that is web based? Please provide some additional details about the architecture and how is the application web based. Is this something like a thin client that acts as a front end to a cloud based calculation engine or do you want to have a web browser based application or what? There is a Java POS standard for Java POS applications with the necessary device interface controls. – Richard Chambers Oct 18 '14 at 02:01
  • I suggest you read [Lesson 1: Socket Communications](http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/socket-140484.html), to whet your appetite *A server program typically provides resources to a network of client programs.* – Elliott Frisch Oct 18 '14 at 02:01
  • Why not just write a local program that runs on the computer and displays the button and then controls the local USB device? Why does this have anything to do with a browser or web technology? That local program can be in pretty much any language (Visual Basic, C#, .NET, Python, etc...). – jfriend00 Oct 18 '14 at 02:01
  • @RichardChambers to answer your question the point of sale program is a program with will give users the power of a cash register and a way to tie there web store together in one package. My idea is to turn a normal computer with no expansive software or hardware that will run the store front. all transaction item updates will be sent to the web server automatically updating the web site. but i sill need to be able to control the drawer – Kelly Oct 18 '14 at 02:09
  • If you're willing to stipulate what browser is used, you could use a browser add-on to talk to the USB hardware and have your web page talk to the browser add-on. Any solution will require some custom code installed on the computer though because you can't get to a USB port from a standard browser. – jfriend00 Oct 18 '14 at 03:06
  • So it sounds like what you are wanting to do is to run a web store from a point of sale terminal however you need to have interfaces to devices in the terminal such as the electronic payment terminal, receipt printer, and cash drawer. For a starting place take a look at this stack overflow [do signed java applets have access to usb peripherals](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5694337/do-signed-java-applets-have-access-to-usb-peripherals-when-run-in-the-browser-sa) and linked to postings. You may also find this [JPOS FAQ](http://www.javapos.com/downloads/JavaPOSfaq.pdf) helpful. – Richard Chambers Oct 18 '14 at 03:34

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