Common Functionality
In order to make user experience simple, uniform & consistent with LinkedPOS, there are certain operations that have the same concept everywhere. These operations are explained in subsequent paragraphs.
Toolbar
The image above shows all options that are available on one table. Based on the type of contents of the table, visible options may be less but the type of operation behind each toolbar button is the same. Each option is explained below:-
View button opens up the highlighted record in a separate window as read-only.
OK button is usually visible on lookup tables. When this button is clicked, it means the highlighted record is the choice for further action.
Select All button is usually visible on lookup tables. When this button is clicked, all records available in the table are selected for further action.
Online button is visible on tables where online resources are available and can be downloaded.
New button is visible on the majority of the tables and clicking it opens up a window for adding new objects such as items, quotations, customers, suppliers and much more.
Modify button is visible on the majority of the tables. Clicking on a row in the table and then pressing this button opens up a window with full details of the highlighted item and allows for modification of its values.
Delete button is the least visible button on the tables because most of the data cannot be deleted. Clicking on a row in the table and then pressing this button will delete the record permanently.
Print button is the least visible button on the tables. Pressing this button prints currently displayed records in the table.
Show Images button represents a powerful feature of the tables for showing the images of records displayed in the table. For example, if pressed on the items table, then, the images of items are displayed in the table.
Refresh button reloads the current page from the database.
Search toolbar is the most powerful feature of LinkedPOS that can be used to filter the data of tables as per requirements. First control of this bar is the dropdown list of columns names displayed in the table. Select the column name from this dropdown list and then enter the full or partial text in the next text box and press the search button. For text-type columns, partial information can be entered, while in the case of date-time columns, starting and ending date ranges can be selected.
Mandatory Field marker appears beside certain fields which hints that the adjacent field must be completed before proceeding further.
Paging Bar Of Tables
Most tables of LinkedPOS have a paging bar at the bottom of each table. This helps in navigating from page to page.
First Page button will load the first page of table irrespective of the current page number and helps in quick navigation.
Previous Page button will load the previous page relative to the current page number in numerical order. If the current page is the first page then it will not do anything.
Current Page Number/Total Pages displays the currently active page number and the total number of pages against the currently entered search criteria.
Next Page button will load the next page relative to the current page number in numerical order. If the current page is the last page, then it will do nothing.
Last Page button will load last page of the table irrespective to the current page number and helps in quick navigation.
Image/Picture Capture
There are quite a few entities in LinkedPOS that support adding images along with other details. For example, items, products, customers, suppliers etc. This control is visible to help in a variety of ways. Each possbility is explained below:-
Download button is always visible but it is enabled in very few places. This button is enabled at places where related images are available online. For example when adding new item/product, free images of items/products can be downloaded from an existing stock of images. Pressing this button will display a list of images. Simply click on the image and then press the OK button. Online images are already optimized for direct usage.
Browse button pops open the file dialog and allows the user to select PNG, JPG or JPEG format images from the local computer.
Capture From WebCam This is one of the most powerful features of LinkedPOS that helps capture images/pictures directly from a webcam attached with the computer. Clicking on this button will pop up the image capture dialog.
Press the button to start viewing a preview from the webcam. When the view is settled, then Press the and this action will capture the current frame from the webcam preview as a picture.
Scan From Scanner This is another powerful feature of LinkedPOS that helps in capturing images/pictures directly from a Scanner.
Cropping Image This is another powerful feature of LinkedPOS that helps in cropping a portion of an image/picture that is required. When an image/picture is browsed, captured from a webcam or scanned from a scanner, it will be opened in the image editor as shown in the image below. A variety of operations like zooming in, zooming out, rotating clockwise and anti-clockwise can be applied. And finally a marker rectangle can be moved on the image to focus on the part of image that is required to be cropped. Finally, click on the DONE button and the cropped image will be placed in the image control.