Aloha and Positouch question 3

[jraymond4321]

Hi,

I am trying to find out if it is possible to run a 3rd party application on a terminal that is running either Aloha or Positouch POS software. I know that both of them run on Windows OS, but not sure if they "lock down" the machine some how.

I am interested in running a background program that will "pop up" messages on the terminal to the waitstaff. Once the waitstaff press a button on the pop up screen, it will go back to sleep in the background.

Is there anything specific in the way Aloha or Positouch terminals work that would prevent this?

Thanks

 

[Circle9]

I believe this would be possible if using Aloha, I don't think it "locks down" the terminal in any way.

 

[SwampGas]

It is possible to run 3rd party applications along with the Aloha FOH terminal application simultaneously or even be able to call an executable from a menu option.

Scripting a function to launch an executable, then return to the POS application is fairly straightforward. Just be sure your application is written to steal focus and ensure it stays on top of the POS application. Also, making your application cover the entire screen helps to easily make sure the end user cannot select back to the POS application until they acknowledge a response on your application.

 

[alohatech2]

Right - it is way easy to touch the aloha screen and have it come back to front unless your program is set to stay on top until touched.

 

[SwampGas]

Another thing we do is with our custom apps is add code to ensure that if a previous instance is detected that you either kill the previous instance, or have your new instance of the application exit. This will keep multiple instances of the same executable from ever being able to run and possibly waste memory or cause conflicts if you are accessing data.

For example, we have an application that will verify the cashiers age before allowing the cashier to go into the alcoholic beverages submenu. Since this relies on a COM object call to Aloha, you do not want your app to hang by having multiple instances logged in at once.

 

[jraymond4321]

Thanks for the answers. Does anyone know if the same thing applies for the newer Micros platforms?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Circle9]

I think Micros will not let you install any 3rd party programs, but I'm not sure.